To be bamboozled is to become a laughing stock, IWSG, Quotes, Being Thankful

 Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's phrase is: Be a laughing stock

The word stock has a long and storied history with multiple meanings. You can find much more information here, 

here, and here. But for today, I'm going to narrow things down quite a bit.

The word stock comes down to us through Middle and Old English from the Proto-Germanic word stauk, which means "tree trunk." The use of stocks, as in the picture above, came into practice in Europe in the early the thirteen hundreds. However the use of stocks as punishment goes back all the way to Ancient Greece and many countries have had their own versions. 

The first recorded use of the phrase "laughing stock" is from Shakespeare (who else?) so it was probably something that was in common use at that time. It's easy to imagine the humiliation of being locked into stocks and being laughed at. 

You'd think, in this day and age, that the use of stocks as punishment would be long gone, but as recently as 2020 a town in Columbia put people in stocks for a few hours for violating curfew during the COVID pandemic. 

Today's Weird Word is: Bamboozle

Like many Weird Words, the exact origin of bamboozle - meaning to cheat, trick or swindle - is a guess, but it's been around since at least the early 1700. Some think it comes from the Scottish words bombaze or bumbaze, meaning to confound or perplex. Or, it could be related to bombast, meaning high sounding or inflated. Or, it could be from the French word embabouiner, meaning to make a fool of. OR, it could come from Italian, bambolo, bamboccio, bambocciolo, meaning a young babe, or being babyish, thus by extension describing an old dotard.

Whatever it's origins, I love the way the word feels as it rolls out of my mouth. It's one of those words that sounds just like it means.

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Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts:  Feather Stone, Janet Alcorn, Rebecca Douglass, Jemima Pett, and Pat Garcia!

This month's question is: Some common fears writers share are rejection, failure, success, and lack of talent or ability. What are your greatest fears as a writer? How do you manage them?

I've never been afraid of rejection because I know and understand that art of any kind is subjective. What I may like, someone else may not like at all. That's just life and the way human beings are. As an example, I'm not fond of Picasso's art but I love Dali. I'm also not fond of Hemmingway, but I love Steinbeck.  

Success is also subjective. I feel successful just by the simple fact that I have managed to get some stories, articles, and books published. For me it's not about monetary gain, it's about personal satisfaction. You'd think, because I have managed to have a few things published, that I'd be fairly confident about my talent and/or ability. But that's where I get hung up. Even writing up these blog posts there's a sneaky, weaselly part of me lurking in the shadows that snickers and snorts and whispers snarky and niggling things at me like, "You forgot a comma (snort.)" "You STILL can't spell that word? (tsk, tsk)" "What kind of sentence structure is that?(snicker)" "Fingers fumbling with the keys again, eh?" etc, etc, etc. How do I manage it? I plow ahead anyway. I fumble and bumble and stumble and I tell the little sh*t to shut the f**k up!

Quotes of the Month

No man is quite sane. Each has a vein of folly in his composition -  a slight determination of blood to the head, to make sure of holding him hard to some one point which he has taken to heart. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is not good for all our wishes to be filled; through sickness we recognize the value of health, through evil the value of good, through hunger the value of food, through exertion the value of rest.

Greek Proverb

One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.

Carl Sagan

Being Thankful

Today I'm thankful that my cataract surgery went well. My eyes are still adjusting, 

but I'm liking how I'm seeing so far. 

Particularly COLORS!

I'm also thankful that my sister will be arriving in a few days and 

staying for most most of month of May.

What are you thankful for? Ever been a laughing stock? Ever been bamboozled? What is your greatest fear as a writer?