It's my goal in life to create stories, to write, or to wright, to play make believe on grand scales that would make the six year old me green with envy. I wonder, though, how one creates something smaller... something more concise and direct... not a story, not a character, but a word. Just a word.
Someone invented the words we say. Lots of someones. Every so often a new word becomes a thing. It is said. It is liked. It spreads, like a virus. That doesn't make it sound good, but that's what happens. It embeds itself into a person's vocabulary and if other people like it, it carries on.
So earlier, last night actually, I was typing some stuff, some words, onto the Facebook wall of my pal, Ira (a playwright in his own right, writing about what he thinks should be written). In doing so, I typed the word 'playwrightic' --- like poetic (which I also typed), but from playwrights. And it was later brought to my attention by my friend Merri, through the delightful commenting system that now permeates society, that I should, if at all possible, trademark the word 'playwrightic.' I don't know how to, or if one can, trademark a word; but if 'playwrightic' did actually spring forth into the world in that Facebook posting, I'd like to take credit for it. If it's not new.... please let me know where you've seen it before. I like it. It's like 'filmwright' --- it's similar in tone to an existing word, but more aptly describes what I want it to describe. In this case, instead of poetic, which --- according to Merriam-Webster --- is defined as:
a : of, relating to, or characteristic of poets or poetry
b : given to writing poetry
: written in verse
: having or expressing the qualities of poetry (as though aesthetic or emotional impact) <her poetic beauty>
...playwrightic could be defined as the following:
a : of, relating to, or characteristic of playwrights or playwriting
b : given to writing plays
: written in narrative form, using dialogue and scene description, as designed for live staged performance
: having or expressing the qualities of stage plays (as though aesthetic or emotional impact) <his life is quite playwrightic with all that surprising drama>
In looking up some terms, apparently the word playwriting (the act of writing plays) is first recorded as being used in the year 1709, whereas the word playwright (the writer of plays) is recorded in use as early as 1616, which --- incidentally --- is the year that William Shakespeare died (I linked the Bard there on the extreme off chance that someone reading this doesn't know who he is --- the education system being what it is; but if you don't know who William Shakespeare is and yet you're reading my blog, I have no words to explain that paradox). Since playwriting wasn't in use until the 18th century, it makes me wonder what they called the act of writing plays until 1709. Perhaps they just called it writing. I love that the word write sounds so much like the old word 'wright' --- which comes from the Middle English, from Old English wyrhta, wryhta worker, maker (Merriam-Webster). While that wright was more about crafting physical things, working with wood, etc., I enjoy how the idea of making something, of creation, of being the artist or craftsman who shapes something into existence is still associated with the word playwright. 'Write' means, at its base, to inscribe characters onto a surface. It also means to communicate through those characters. That's why I love that the two forms to describe what I am and what I do use the roots of both wright and write (playwright and playwriting), because I both create and communicate. Now, I'll just add playwrightic to describe a sense what that is. I don't expect it to catch on --- it's actually kind of grating said aloud... best left on the page perhaps. Still, it's fun to wright words whilst writing. Don't you think?
Thoughts. From my brain. Anything to do with how we tell stories and the stories we tell each other. Literally and figuratively.
Writer. Husband. Father. Effulgent dreamer. A Fightin' Irishman (@NDdotEDU '01). A playwriting Bobcat (MFA in Playwriting, @OhioU '13). I write plays. I'm a geek. I wanted to be an astronaut. I go places in my head.