Friday, November 22, 2013

braggadocio--a personal instance

It's not hard to know what this one means, although I was surprised to learn that it can mean either a braggart or his (or her) empty and pretentious bragging.  Or just strutting around in a swaggering, cocky manner.

I assumed in had come from Italian, too, but no--it's from Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, and is actually the name of a character who, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, is the "personification of vainglory". Spenser coined it with the exotic non-Anglo-Saxon ending (actually it was Braggadochio, like Pinocchio)  because Italian was much in vogue in the 1590s, another interesting fact I didn't know, though I suppose Shakespeare should have clued me in on that one.

 
 
Actually the word came to mind because I'm going to brag a bit here about something I've already bragged of already--the epitome of braggadocio,  I'd say. I found out that the story I wrote for the One Teen Story workshop was picked as one of several they've published in its entirety on their website. If you'd like to read the whole of  "Inconstant Moon" (it's not too long), you'll find it HERE. The paragraph formatting didn't completely survive its transition from my documents to their website, but hopefully it won't be too confusing. And if you like that kind of thing there were two more picks, one which is called "Ziggy Starbucks", by Anne Paris and another which will be up in a few days. You can find links to all three on the OTS blog.
 
No, I am  not a teenager, although I sometimes act like one. But luckily this wasn't a hinderance.
 
 

7 comments:

  1. Congratulations. I'd say a bit of braggadocio is called for. Just don't go so far as to exhibit hubris.

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  2. Thanks, Peter. I don't have a huge problem with ignoring the everyday purposes of this blog for a little self-promotion, but on the current trajectory, hubris is extremely unlikely.

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  3. Oh, what a wonderful story! Congratulations, Seana, and thanks for announcing the good news here!

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  4. Thanks, Kathleen and Julie. I really appreciate you both taking time to read it, busy people that I know you are.

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  5. Good story about among other things teen siblings being responsible for and caring for each other. Congratulations! I don't read the YA book reviews, but it's one of the ascending sections of the library, along with easy readers.

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  6. Thanks for reading it, Nancy! Yes from my time in the bookstore, I know how popular YA is, and I think there is some great stuff out there. But the fact of my writing a YA story is pure happenstance. I just was intrigued to take a short story workshop and this was the one that was offered. Although I am now considering subscribing to their official magazine.

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