Words for Wordiness

At a recent Rotary meeting I was referred to by a friend as someone who enjoyed talking. Today’s words relate to what my friend was talking about. (I commented to someone older that we used to use the phrase “vaccinated with a phonograph needle,” but somehow the technology of mp3 players doesn’t translate. It will soon be a useless phrase, relegated to the dustbin of history.)

Logorrhea is the first and best word (for my money) of today’s list. From two Greek words meaning word and flow, thanks to diarrhea it has a less savory connotation than simply a flow of words. There is an uncontrollable sense to the word that also applies to diarrhea. The phrase “diarrhea of the mouth” is often used by those who don’t know the word logorrhea. It refers to the kind of person who might say "help me, I've started talking and I can't stop."

Prolix has a very similar meaning from the Latin words for forth and flow. It has the meaning of tiresome or long-winded, and an intentional quality that logorrhea doesn’t have. It’s still not a compliment, but it isn’t as much of a malady.

Voluble is the word my friend indicated she meant. She meant nothing negative, simply glib or facile in communication. In more words, it means making use of a lot of words.

Persiflage has the most interesting etymology. It comes from a French word (hence the pronunciation of the last syllable is a soft a and g - the dictionary has it "azh", which isn't much help if you don't speak French) that means to banter, which is pretty much what I just did. But that French word comes from per (a Latin word for through) and siffler, a word for hissing or whistling. It is the same root word from which we get sibilant, which is any consonent that has a hissing sound, like an s or sh or that zh mentioned above. So if it comes from words meaning through hissing or bantering, what does persiflage mean? It has a pretty good range, meaning any kind of writing or speaking that is light, frivolous or flippant. If the communication has gravitas it can't be persiflage.

One final word today. I encountered this word for the first time when I was asked to do a column for my Junior High School newspaper. The faculty advisor suggested we call the column "Loquacious Larry". (Maybe that's when I began to collect words!) Loquacious refers to the spoken word, coming from the Latin word for speak, and means very talkative; the noun form uses the qualifier "especially when excessive." Which, coming full circle, is what our invocator at yesterday's Rotary was accused of being.

And I will sign off before I can be accused of any of these characteristics. (Maybe I'm too late already.)