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I don't know why, but these didn't seem like possibilities to me. Call me 'naive', although my name is Hope, I thought plants lived until they died. Until they were overwatered or not getting enough light. It honestly never occurred to me that a plant had a lifespan. It doesn't just live until it dies. Even with all the right amounts of water and light, and repotting it, and giving it the best care in the world, it could still die. Like humans and animals, there is a typical age for a plant. An average lifespan. I imagine this is the adult-version of finding out the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny are both your mom. Mind. Fucking. Blown.
I recently purchased Foyle's Philavery, self-described as a treasury of unusual words. Foyle is the gentleman who wrote this book's surname. A philavery, one word found in the book, is a collection of uncommon and pleasing words. He basically created his own unique, time capsule of a dictionary. There are a few words in the book that are still alive and kicking, like alopecia and palindrome. But, there are so many other words that we no longer use. Cacolet. Not that we need more words, but these are fun and exciting! Piblokto. I don't know how they sound -- anythings game. Suggillate. There's rarely a pronunciation. Legerdemain. Sometimes there's a bit of background, where and how the word was used. Galoot. Maybe a slight opinion or backstory. Acephalic. These words are beautiful, fun, and quirky and they are dead because we've ceased giving them life. I didn't realize words have a lifespan too because, like plants, it seems that some words just fade away over time and no longer exist. Like new plants grow over last year's garden, vernacular alters, shifts, and updates. There is always a loss in the shift.
Sidenote: Foyle's Philavery is the book that the great Catherine O'Hara used for her character Moira Rose on Schitt's Creek. This is where her vocabulary comes from.
THAT BOOK.
This blows my mind, truly. Plants eventually die. Words can stop being used and cease to exist. Yet I find the graveyard for retired ice creams at Ben & Jerry's was adorable! The passing of ice cream flavors doesn't bother me quite like plants and words. Plants and words give me life, ice cream gives me gas and a bellyache. At least for those flavors there's a memorial. What about all of the life loss? What about all of the conversations dulled and potentially lacking? *Cue, P!nk, "What About Us"*
I'm curious if this is just me -- anyone else every think about this? An ode to all of the plants we've lost and the words that have gone extinct. I hope to resurrect a few words along the way...
But, no flapdoodle! The persiflage along the way might get me a one-way ticket to tunket on an abada. #WordResurrection #AnOdetoPlantsAndWordsLost #Wild #Thoughts #JustMe #LookEmUp