Word Nerd Wednesday: Bad Behavior
Welcome back to Word Nerd Wednesday! Since I was on vacation last week, I’m offering two word stories today. Such a benevolent soul, am I. Let’s venture forth.
Carly, Madison, and Renata are a group of hipster, foodie types who decide to host a pepper tasting. From the most mellow bell pepper to fiery peppers that would score a ten on the hotness scale, this group of friends is ready to expand their palates. Eager to try something new, Carly takes a big bite of a lovely-looking pepper. Suddenly fire burns her mouth and she begins to feel dizzy, her body weakening with every second.
“Oh no!” Madison cries. “That was a ten you ate!” Yes, Carly has inadvertently taken a bite of one of the hottest peppers.
“A ten you ate” = attenuate (uh-TEN-yu-wait), meaning to weaken or lessen, to reduce the vitality of something. When Carly shoves that freakishly hot pepper into her mouth without checking the facts, her health is significantly attenuated. The lesson here, kids, is always make sure you know what you’re putting in your mouth.
Moving right along to our second word story…
Julia has been invited to a glamorous cocktail party. Fancy clothes, fancy foods, fancy people. She eagerly dons her finest dress and steps into a wonderfully decorated party. As tends to happen to women alone at parties, she draws the attention of a rather smarmy guy.
“You look amazing,” he says. “You’re the most beautiful woman here, maybe even in the world. You have to dance with me!” But Julia’s not into it and she finally tells him to leave her alone. Walking away, she finds a group of other women to hang out with who commiserate over the man who simply cannot stop brandishing outlandish flattery. The host learns about the man’s behavior and tosses him out, because ain’t nobody got time for that. Meanwhile, Julia has found herself a fantastic new group of friends.
To “brandish outlandish flattery” = blandish (BLAN-dish), which means to coax with flattery or cajole. And while we can all agree that genuine compliments are great, flattery intended to manipulate is just plain wrong. And with every day, people (women especially) are becoming less willing to put up with that. So be genuine or keep your mouth shut, that’s pretty much the lesson I see here. Don’t blandish, people. It just isn’t right.
So there you have our new words for this week: attenuate and blandish. Go forth and call out that dude at work for blandishing the ladies and if you’re lucky, that will attenuate his bad habits. At the very least, it will confuse him long enough for everyone to get away from him. Words really are weapons. Use them wisely.