Does this phrase catchold due to an ancient echo from the zip-a-dee-doo-dah song? As a result of the simple rhyme? Maybe it's thanks to also being a seventeen-syllable haiku, or because—with nine words—it plants a cheesily remembered definition of serendipitous events.
For those following along in your lesson-book at home, please reexamine the above paragraph and answer these two questions from last week's homework: How many portmanteaux did you notice? Any malapropisms (and, if so, what were the words you expected)? [My answer is in the comment section.]
Serendipity is best understood by providing negative examples. Like explaining that the lyrics of the song Ironic, by Alanis Morissette, contains absolutely no ironic phrases . . . is exactly where its irony exists (the song's chock-a-block with misfortunes, examples of poor planning, and whatever idiotic needle-in-a-haystack label fits for: looking for a knife in a spoon factory).
Luck does not have anything to do with serendipity. And, serendipity is definitely not eventual success after an exacerbating period of failure. Serendipity never occurs as a result of intuitive reasoning or struggle or guile or cunning.
Sere is a Latin prefix found in words like serene, serenity, and serenade - calm, quiet, evening.
End and Pity are the core words (which need no explanation).
The primary element to a real serendipitous event is that it must never have been part of the plan, can not have been expected, and can not have been factored into the expectations of any of those who eventually benefited by its occurrence.
When frail, Grampa Jang-n-the-beanstalk (with his cow) meandered along at the most opportune moment and saved my day (career) in a very miraculous way, that was serendipity (full story here).
But, when we moved to Vermont last year "garage" was on my "desires list" so we looked at several apartments/houses with attached and unattached garages. Eventually "affordable" bumped "garage" off the list (along with "fireplace" and "guest room") and then two months ago . . . after my neighbor lost her job and their garage became our garage (because we could afford the additional rent) her bad luck became our good luck. Not serendipity.
I just remembered a good example of irony from my past (just when you thought I was finished kicking that unread horse).
In the early 1990s, while stationed at Ft Benning, GA, as an agent with Army CID, I got a call to respond to a drive-by shooting with one injured victim. This was a rare occurrence on military installations (and a first for me). The crime scene was an outdoor picnic/fishing recreation area, where a large group of soldiers and their family members had been celebrating their return from deployment. I talked to some witnesses, looked for empty bullet casings, and then went to the hospital to talk with the victim.
He was in good spirits, had no idea who shot at the crowd (or why it was his bad luck to 'catch a round') and told me that the bullet must have been a dud because it only pierced his stomach muscle less than an inch deep. He said, "I walked into the ER and the nurse asked how she could help me, so I said 'I just got shot in the stomach' and she looked down, laughed, and said, 'Very funny, what can I really do for you?' which was when I realized I was wearing this shirt."
Then he opened his jacket and I saw he was wearing a t-shirt with: 'I Survived Operation Desert Storm' above a line of bleeding bullet holes. And there was one small actual hole, near his belly button, with much more real blood below and around it.
Irony. Returning unscathed from the first Gulf War and getting shot in the stomach at the welcome home party while wearing this shirt (and not remembering the shirt until the admissions nurse laughed).
more similar stories:
1 comment:
Catchold is a portmanteau.
The word easily is the expected word in the malapropism: 'Cheesily remembered'.
Post a Comment