An Abject Adjective


This week I am using the Collins English Dictionary, First Edition 2006, for my random word selection. It is a straightforward text: main entry words in bold type, variant spellings and pronunciation given phonetically only for words deemed difficult. Parts of speech abbreviated, in italics.
Section A is sectioned out: eyes closed, pages flicked: the finger jabs. The first word is not especially encouraging.
Abysmal adj Informal extremely bad, awful. (Abundant is only a column away, one notes, perhaps therein the lesson?)
It is the morning, and the sun is clearing through mist. Drink tepid coffee; perform classic finger tap, ponder at the scene from the windows here. At the bottom of the abyss, Joseph Campbell asserts, there lies salvation. But abyss is a noun. Abysmal suggests that which belongs to the abyss, to the dark and distressing press. Which makes one think of media reporting and how once it had seemed serious and related to real lives and these days it is hard to tell if one is viewing a newspaper or some celebrity baiting pamphlet. Sometimes these things are such nonsense that the comedy of it almost outweighs the soul encroaching slime. At the bottom of today's abyss is a toilet for abysmal trolls. And the sooner we stop feeding them the sooner we can reach salvation. 





Comments

Wendy said…
Now see -- aren't you glad you landed on Abysmal? You created a very thoughtful post -- "thoughtful" because these are my thoughts too, and we couldn't both be wrong.
Visiting from A to Z ~
Lisa Southard said…
Thank you Wendy, it was fine once I remembered to rant :-)
Sue McPeak said…
You must be commended for being true to your 'First Stabbing'...I'm afraid I'd have slid over to abundant. I'm with yours and Wendy's conclusion...it is abysmal...the abundant soul encroaching slime. See, I cheated anyway.

I'm piggy-backing off of Wendy's comments to visit you for the AtoZ Challenge. I'm a new follower as well, and will be back.
Sue at CollectInTexas Gal
Ah, yes!

"The first word is not especially encouraging. Abysmal adj Informal extremely bad, awful. (Abundant is only a column away, one notes, perhaps therein the lesson?)"

This is very much the tack I'm taking for A to Z this month--balancing the negative and the positive.
Unknown said…
I love the word abysmal. It is so apt and appropriate at times.
colorfulpen said…
Creative idea. Good luck in the A to Z Challenge. I will return.
Lisa Southard said…
Thank you all! :-)

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