Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"[...] the clock smiles at me 10:10=smiley face [...]" -- cacle, 2005-05-05, 22:09 (close enough, if you're looking at a clock to which the statement applies)

The fibromyalgia is kicking my butt today; I did manage to crawl out of bed twice, to feed Perrine and myself, but beyond that my big accomplishments have been to skim my friends page and staying awake long enough to watch the copy of Attack of the Clones that I taped off last night's broadcast. (So now I'm finally caught up in case I manage to see episode III in a theatre.) I'll spare y'all the complete catalogue of pains and other complaints, except to note that this is several notches beyond "a bad stair day". (And yes, I'm taking the long way 'round to get to the kitchen, not attempting the steep back stair.)

Anyhow, the bit I felt like actually writing about is this: in the novel I've been reading in bits and pieces on my PDA instead of keeping fresh magazines at the kitchen table and in the bathroom, I've been wondering whether the authors are using a word incorrectly out of ignorance (it's a particularly common error made by people attempting a certain tone); or they're intentionally having their characters use it incorrectly, knowing full well themselves what the correct usage is; or whether the characters really do mean exactly what they're saying (sometimes appropriately given the characters' egos, sometimes not, but never nicely) and just haven't been called out for it yet (halfway through the novel so far). The last case seems a little too subtle for some of the characters though, and a bit risky for the authors to expect most of the audience to notice, given how often most people who know the word get it wrong.

The word in question is 'sirrah', and the definition I've linked to is milder-sounding than most I've seen.

As I said, the characters' egos are big enough that I could see them feeling justified in saying it, but they're not taking offense when someone else says it to them ...

Anyhow, there's my linguistic public service, for folks inclined to use that word. I've been keeping it in the back of my mind to use sometime when I don't want to give someone more respect than I feel toward them but don't want them to catch on that I'm being disrespectful. The problem is that I hear it used wrong often enough that there's always a danger that it'll just slip out.