Thursday, September 20, 2018

Fireblossom Friday : Say The Word

English is a funny language. A lot of it came from other languages, and some of those words retain their foreign sound. Some remain foreign and not strictly English at all, but are used much in the manner of "Voila!" Moreover, some of them roll off the tongue very poetically, it seems to me. Even without knowing what they mean, they just sound cool. Add the meaning, and it's pretty much nerd heaven. 

What I want you to do is to take one of the following words and build a poem around it. Don't just jam it in some place where it sticks out like a sore thumb. Make the word you choose central to your poem. I think we may get some interesting results. Write, link, enjoy!

The words:

1. Schadenfreude. (German) The experience of joy, pleasure, or self-satisfaction that comes from the learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures or humiliation of another.

2. Bete Noire. (French) A person or thing that one particularly dislikes. 

3. Sturm Und Drang. (German) Storm and stress.

4, Saudade. (Portuguese) A deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves.

5. Mox Nix. (German) Bastardization of "Es macht nichts", used by American GI's in WWII Europe to mean "It doesn't matter" or "It makes no difference."  Some of them brought the phrase home with them.

6. Fahrvergnugen (German) Driving pleasure. Used in 1990 ads for Volkswagen automobiles. "Say the word!" I got the whole idea for this post from listening to a tape I made of songs off the radio from around 1990. Amid the Howard Jones and Toto songs were ads featuring "Fahrvergnugen" (for VW) and Joe Isuzu, not to mention Tubby's Submarines "No Place For Wimps." So I ran with it.



Form, length, subject? Mox nix, baby. Just get writing. :-)




14 comments:

Priscilla King said...

Thank you again, Fireblossom ;-)

Kerry O'Connor said...

A wonderful challenge! I shall return tomorrow with at least a 55-er.

Anonymous said...

Great prompt Shay! talk about words to chew on ... and interesting how "storm and stress" made its way into ... Harry Potter. Clever twist on that - so hats off to J.K. for being so thorough in her very detailed and magical mind. LOL ....

now if I could conjure some energy and magic of my own? that would be wonderful ... my brain is in a bubble but I will sit with this and consider, let it stew and steep in the cauldron and see if some thing comes to pass - may take a few days for me to recover before I can respond though.

Sherry Blue Sky said...

Hi kids, i am at the farm right now, having some tests done. Hoping to write to this but i may be late.......will read yours though later today.

Fireblossom said...

Annell, I have corrected your link.

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Cheers for an excellent prompt Shay.

Also cheers for the vid - which brought memories of days long ago back...

Anna :o]

Marian said...

How much fun is this?!? Yay! Salud!

brudberg said...

I will be back tomorrow with my poem...
Au revoir mes amies

Fireblossom said...

^^^I love how you guys are getting in the spirit of it!

tonispencer said...

Danke lieber Freund. Ich liebe diese Herausforderung!

brudberg said...

I felt I needed a dish served cold from your Smorgasbord ...

Sherry Blue Sky said...

A second poem wrote itself on the bus home, that is how good this prompt is! Or else, I have so much sorrow, I have a lot of material to mine. Either way, it works! LOL. I am now happily home. YIPPEE! It is always good heading home when home is THIS WAY! You would not believe how hard it was raining walking home from the bus........everything got soaked thru including the suitcase. As soon as I got home, it stopped. I love a good rain though. The forest needs it.

Jim said...

Had to write. my plan was to lay off for doing my income taxes. But my three semesters of German, long story there, begged me to give in.

Margaret said...

Really wanted to write to this - but had to drive to airport this weekend and send my daughter off to go live with her Grandparents for a few months as Grandpa's health is taking a turn for the worse. I will try and write to this prompt Tuesday BUT I have so much catching up to do with reading and commenting on the past few prompts - I hate to write another one until I contribute.