Friday, October 15, 2010

CRAPULOUS

Today’s secret word is crapulous. I came across the word while reading George Bernard Shaw’s introduction to his 1924 play, Saint Joan.


Shaw writes about Joan’s execution stating “… this result could have been produced by a crapulous inferiority as well as by a sublime superiority, the question of which of the two was operative in Joan’s case has to be faced.”


Crapulous. Nifty word, huh. And I can’t say I can recall crossing paths with crapulous. Initially I thought it was somehow connected to Thomas Crapper of flushing toilet fame. If I had had paid attention to my instruction on Greek roots, I would have known the word is a descendent of “kraipalē,” meaning the giddiness and headache caused by drinking wine to excess.


To the point, our secret word of the day may defined as surcharged with liquor; alcoholism; sick from excessive indulgence in drinking or eating; drunk; given to excesses.

8 comments:

JJ said...

I believe it also has roots in Latin, from the word crapula,which means intoxication, but sounds more like a bad vampire movie that one would have to be bibulous or sottish to watch.

Rick Rivers said...

Don't know about you but I have certainly had a few "crapulistic" things happen to me lately.

Walter Knight said...

A marketing tip: It is easier to sell your book in the Kindle format. For a new author to try to retail a book at street level is next to impossible.

My book series "America's Galactic Foreign Legion" is available in paperback. But, after selling as many as I could locally, it was an unexpected surprise that Kindle sales took off. I've sold a modetst couple thousand Kindle books in 3 months, and Amazon does all the marketing. If it was not for Kindle, my project would have failed.

#167 Dad said...

JJ,
It's nice to know smart people read this blog. Now I know at least four ways to call someone drunk.

#167 Dad said...

Rick,
To hear from you. How about some details on those crapulistic exploits?

#167 Dad said...

Walter,
True, but how many new authors are selling their books at junk yards and auto repair shops?
Kidding.
While I do plan to take some eccentric approaches to marketing,it sounds like I need to take a serious look at Amazon.
I think you're being modest when you refer to 2,000 books in three monts as modest sales.
Thank you for stopping by and congratulations on your success.

Walter Knight said...

Eccentric marketing? Use all approaches you can. Business contacts are a great place to start marketing.

When I first suggested to my publisher I could get free national advertising on Craigs List, they laughed at my idea. "It won't work." No one is laughing now because my idea generated sales.

Momentum gathers slowly, but once it begins, like a large ship, it is hard to stop.

I wish you good fortune. Good things happen to good people who work hard.

Guely of Sweden said...

"Crápula" in spanish. For example people that only saw Bukowski drunk and never read him or knew him better would call him "crápula" o "crapuloso"