WORDS WITH CONVICTION

There are many words that once were in more common parlance – back when schoolchildren had to learn English and how to read and write in that very language – and readers of Prudence’ thoughts are all too aware that those “old fashioned” words are a great strength when expressing thoughts deeper than MSNBC commenters like to share.  Ooops, hold on a moment, there was a Prudent word right there: commenter.  A commenter is a person who comments.  Somehow we’ve all adopted the habit of saying, “commentator” instead of commenter because it sounds as if the speaker might be perceived as just a little smarter for using an extra syllable.  In the opinion of your correspondent, not many commenters achieve the erudite status of commentator, unless they come from Idaho. 

Anyway, in the “old” days one might encounter a word like “scurrilous,” a gem of an adjective.  It really means to describe someone foul-mouthed and coarse in language.  But it came to be used to describe someone of the lowest morals, particularly in terms of failing to live up to one’s promises.  Scurrilous.  Often there are overtones of hypocrisy relative to the person who is described as scurrilous, since he or she probably held a position of some prominence, pretending to be among our betters.

Mendacious is another good one, and its cousin, mendacity.  In a simple way it means untruthful, or the quality of telling lies, yet it is so much more robust than simple lying.  Everyone tells lies at some level: “How’s everything at home?” a close friend might ask, to which you answer, “Oh fine, fine.  Thanks for asking.”  Or, the querulous, “Does this pant-suit make me look fat?”  “Absolutely not,” is the answer, in case you weren’t sure.  Still, a ‘mendacious’ person is not just telling lies, he or she is adjudged to be virtually unable to tell the truth.

The British used to make common use of the epithet, “knave:” a deceitful, untrustworthy person.  We rarely use it in American English as it doesn’t sound bad enough to convey the hatred or derogation required to belittle the object of one’s contempt.  Americans of late are wont to include the ever-popular eff-word, variously applied as adverb, adjective, verb, or noun.  There is no need to further define “the eff-word.”  Even women, erstwhile civilizers of us, all, are fully aware and conversant with it.  ‘Knave,’ however, does convey a patine of intended depravity to the person so targeted.

Let’s summarize: scurrilous, mendacious knave.  Such a person really must be the worst in any group.  But, wait!  There’s more!

A fairly common, but somewhat underappreciated personification is that of “degenerate.”  It implies a person who is not only useless to others or to society, but who interferes with the advancement of others.  In other words, a person no right-thinking person would want to engage with at any level.  Indeed, such a person, a ‘degenerate,’ often appears to have regressed in his or her own humanity.  Not even “reprobate” conveys those depths.

We could go on and on but it wouldn’t be Prudent.  Most readers will process no more than four or five descriptives at the very most, some balking at just three.  So our last pejorative is a bit less obscure, the sharp and finely pointed: “odious.”  To be considered odious is to be considered offensive and even disgusting.  Thankfully, few are such, but when deserved, the term is also obvious in its application.

When so many calumnies are applicable to one person, it is rare that Prudence would waste our collective minutes in order to apply them.  Today however, there is a special case.  Imagine, if you can, referring to an individual as follows: “____ ______ is no more than a scurrilous, mendacious knave, degenerate in his personal character and odious to those who know his practices.”  Gracious!  What must someone do to earn such an uniquely low status?

In Prudence view, he would have to hold a public trust and totally besmirch it by enriching himself and his family thereby and, subsequently, with unbridled mendacity toward that public, engage in treasonous behavior in the form of altering his nation’s foreign policy for still greater personal emoluments obtained from potential enemies in exchange for that action.  In the processes of those thefts of trust and monies, he would also have to suborn depravity within his family in furtherance of financial greed.  That person would earn all of the above outlined contempts and that person has been found.  Indeed he is spoken of commonly in both high and low regard although lately, the latter has gained the greater frequency.  Simply place the name, “Joe Biden” in the blanks and the fulfillment of every accusation will be achieved.