Monday, December 19, 2011

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True Meaning of Winter Break Part 5

actually...no...not doing one today

I really just want to talk about how great the word powder is.

POWDER

Just say it. You get a perfect, dry, puff of air from the first syllable POW.

It's like punching an open bag of flour. POW.

But not in the Batman action bubble comic fighting way. Not like POW!

But like, it's a dry winter morning, and you walk outside in your bathrobe and your slippers, and you're standing in your front lawn. There's a light dusting of snow on the ground with blades of grass still peaking through, and tiny flakes are delicately falling all around you. You take a sip of coffee from your mug and let out a quiet, muffled pop of a sound: pow.

That kind of POW. That's what I'm talking about. Everything about that first syllable exemplifies the concept of powder.

Then you have the -der. I'm not really sure what the -der is doing there. I guess it solidifies the word. You let POW out and it's more of a gas, an intangible puff of air, and the -der comes in and turns it into a loose collection of particles that falls to the ground in a little pile at your feet.

But it's a gentle -der. It's not hard like a -ter or a -ker, and powper would just sound immature. Powder is perfect. It's just the tiniest flap of a consonant to make it real.

Powder is an honest word. It sounds like what it is. And that makes it a great word.

That's just on the sound level! It also makes other words better when it stands next to them.

Sugar.

Okay, sugar is pretty great.

But powdered sugar. Oh, that's heavenly. That's fancy breakfast food you're talking about now.

WHAT?! It just made breakfast BETTER?!

Powder, you some kinda super word. Get over here and give me a hug. You can stay at my house and have the futon all to yourself. All the other words can sleep on the old rug in the basement. You get futon privileges.

And that's why I love the word powder.

TRUE MEANING OF WINTER BREAK! (haha! I fooled you! It was really a true meaning of winter break all along!)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

best one yet.