Copy/Pasted from a comment I made in jekesta's journal

[capri0mni]

Just thought the world should know:

I'm not behind in NaNoWriMo yet, but I am so far off my original pace I fear I may be soon. If writing were a verb like walking, I'd say: "Suddenly, it feels like I am writing through a big lake of treacle."

I am hoping that it's just a deep puddle of Treacle in the middle of the road, and if I just push through, I'll get to dry ground again, soon, and maybe find a place to wash my proverbial shoes.

I have decided that if alchohol is known as "Dutch Courage," Chocolate should be called "Swiss Inspiration."

Edit: No, on second thought, I think that should be "Mexican Inspiration" since it was the Aztecs who introduced the poor, uncivilized Spaniards to the glory that is chocolate.

Also. I'll be right on track with the 30-day NaNoWriMo schedule if I reach 20,000 words by 11:59 pm, November 12. I'm at 19,338 right this moment. If I can get to 20,000 before midnight (which seems highly doable, if I don't stay up much longer; promised Manda-bear I'd come to bed as soon as I was finished with lj), I will take a break from actual writing at that point, and from then until midnight, I will do some planning, and lay out an outline with characters and synopsis of plot for the story from here on in, which is why, I think, I've gotten so bogged down -- I've been filling word counts without any forward momentum, and I'm getting bored with my own story -- just not as eager to visit it in my own head.

Then, on Sunday, I will treat NaNo as a race to write a 30,000 word novel in 18 days, instead of a 50,000 word novel in 30. That will be a lot less Daunting, I think.

Aside: If "Daunting" is a gerund, how come we never hear the word "Daunt" as a verb?

[Edit: On third thought: I think I really do like "Swiss courage" better. The Aztecs may have introduced chocolate to the Europeans, but the Swiss figured out how to make it into the sweet, milky solid we are so addicted to, today.

And yes, I know: "Daunting" is not a gerund (a noun masquerading as a verb), but an adjective. ... is there a special word (like 'gerund') for an adjective masquerading as a verb?

Comments

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

We do hear 'undaunted'. I'm not sure if I've seen 'daunted' or just 'daunt'.

[drox.livejournal.com]

And there's 'dauntless', right? Though I fear 'dauntless' is a bit like 'ruthless'.

How is it that one can be ruthless, but never 'ruthful'?

And who is this Ruth anyway?

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

"Ruth" is an antique word for "mercy" (perhaps Old English, but at least Middle English). So if someone is ruthless, they never show mercy.

I vaugely remember coming across the word "ruth" somewhere, probably in Chaucer, and thinking: "hey, that's cool!"

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

I think I've seen "daunted" in older works of poetry, from a couple of centuries ago (one of the advantages of being an English major).

I looked up "daunt" in the dictionary, right after I posted that question. It is there, and there's no extra commentary about it being obsolete, or anything (its a transitive verb, btw). I think it's just one of those words that's fallen out of fashion.

It's Middle English, from French, From Latin -- the intensification of the Latin verb "to tame."

[drox.livejournal.com]

I vaugely remember coming across the word "ruth" somewhere, probably in Chaucer...

Yeah. Maybe "daunt" would have been common usage in Chaucer's time too. Today, though, it seems we just have "dauntless". And "ruthless". The words are only (mostly?) used in the negative.

Which has me wondering... what other English words are like that?

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Hey, maybe we should start keeping a "word watcher's life list" -- like some do with bird watching, to keep track of rare species. But instead of birds, do it with words.

... or maybe not.

[pedanther]

I was going to say that you'd be able to tick off your entire life list the first time you read through it - but I suppose it only counts if you see them in the wild, yes?

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yes. In their natural habitats, or (as linguists and writerly types may say), "contexts."

They must be found mingling with other words as they would naturally, and performing their natural function. This means they shouldn't be ticked off if you see them in a dictionary of antique and obsolete words, for example (though such a book would be useful in compiling your list).

Words in a dictionary are like taxidermied animals in a museum: mounted and displayed for our edification, but still, rather dead and stiff.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

"Some people are daunted by technology"

(IE, usually a VT)

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remembered that kind of use (and I think the sentence that popped into my mind was "Some are daunted by computers"--heh!).

That's just one of the dangers of posting to LJ at three in the morning.

But I've never seen anything like: "The idea of sharks in the water daunts many would-be swimmers" (until now, that is).