Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Apparently "poetical" is a word--or is becoming one....

Somebody I know decided to Google it, and apparently some dictionaries list it now.

Thats pathetical.

Just read the thread that sparked this one.

Misspelled and made up words bug me in all media, even this wondrous outpost.

The one grinding my gears lately is the use of "loose" when benighted writers mean "lose".

Hey, it worked for "straightly".

Is it a verb, a noun, or both?

I�m surprised my employment of �poetical� has generated controversy. I didn�t want to seem discourteous by ignoring the fact and am grateful for Mule Deer for diverting discussion to this thread. I�m in a hurry at the moment, but if necessary, I can check an OED and/or _Garner�s Common Usage_ later.

I would argue that �poetical� was more common and correct earlier in history�say, the 18th-19th centuries--when literature and philosophy were less distinct fields and/or genres. For example, there�s lots of stuff like this published: https://archive.org/details/completepoetical01keat. I assume we�ll not fault Keats for incorrectly employing �poetical,� so I�ll assume the word is as �correct� as �poetic.�

But it is true that �poetical� is seldom used recently; �poetic� would be more typical in most contexts. However, in my original post I expressed an interest in a somewhat archaic type of writing�one that is both thoughtful, big-picture oriented, and attentive to the expressive qualities of language. In this case, I submit that my employment of �poetical� is both �correct� and appropriate, as I�m interested �poetical� writing not just �poetic� writing. (�Poetical� could also be correctly employed today to express some light irony or sarcasm or by someone exercising poetic or poetical licenses�.)

If anyone wants to submit evidence to the contrary, I�m more than happy to listen and learn. I think sometimes our early English teachers impart to us more rigid notions of correctness/incorrectness than are appropriate when talking about grammatical and stylistic choices. There are clear rules and then there are lots of gray territories. Also, language evolves (in better or worser ways) and is doing so particularly these days as new media put pressure on its conventions (texting, emoticons, etc.).

Ella

I like the word poetical. While it's not an example of a malaprop, it reminds me of Norm Crosby. Does anyone remember him? At any rate, in honour of words ending in 'al', here's...

Ode to a Testicle

The doctor said it's mystical
The nurse was ever practical
My friends were always cynical
I have an extra testicle

In school they called it magical
The tailor called it tragical
The girls all had a festival
I have an extra testicle

The jealous called it minuscule
Their thoughts so very clerical
It's all extremely medical
I have an extra testicle

A few have said it's radical
And all have called it laudable
It's totally symmetrical
I have an extra testicle

Stephen Redgwell - 1998

Gratifyingly thinkful post.....thanks!

Therefore never send to know for whom the sheep bleats; he bleats for thee...

Steve lets google "bleats"...is that a noun or a verb?

HAAAA HAAAAA HAAAAAA!!

Topographical apparently became a word too�


Topographic used to be enough.


Ironical, isn't it?

I blame political discourse and public officials for some of the butcherification of speechifying. Bush Jr was one of the worst I've seen in my lifetime. My biggest pet peeve: nucular. WTF is nucular? I've heard officials, scholars, pundits, historians use that word. It is 'nuclear'! I'm really anal about proper use of the language. There seems to be more memery of language in the last few decades, that the evolution of language is happening more quickly, and more variations on formerly proper verbiage are becoming acceptable.

I am prone to overthinkification though.

And gentlemen of the Campfire now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhood's cheap while any speaks
That waxed poetically upon this day.

-with apologies to W.Shakespeare

Bleat is usually employed in its verbial capacitance, although it is used nounially upon occasion.

My old English professor
Spoke these words most kind
'Tis apples and oranges
Unless the words all rind.

English is an enjoyable language to observe from afar.

From the Wizard of Oz:

Dorothy: If you were king, you wouldn't be afraid of anything?
Cowardly Lion: Not nobody! Not no how!

Dorothy: Not even a rhinoceros?
Cowardly Lion: Imp-oceros!

Tin Man: How about a hippopotamus?
Cowardly Lion: Why, I'd thrash him from top to bottom-us!

Dorothy: Supposing you met an elephant?
Cowardly Lion: I'd wrap him up in cellophant!

If I may be analytical, the use of �poetical�, was a systematical dumbing-down of grammatical rules by a historical group of heritical poetical poetesses whose rhetorical grammatical style was of a rather radical etymological / philological persuasion. Irregardless, rather easy peasy simple.

Well, English is a living language, as opposed to Latin, and also has some of the most convoluted spelling and grammaticalicular rules of any language. There are also endless examples of specialized usage, such as "shall" for "will," which apparently was a product of English upper classes to set them apart from the lower classes.

Then there's local usage. My friend Ron Rau, who used to write some pretty poetical (and often funny) hunting stuff for early Gray's Sporting Journals, grw up in the U.P. of Michigan. He said a lot of the local dropped or added syllables to various words. His primary example was Morial Day, but they made up for the missing syllable with "insect repellement"--perhaps because spending much time outdoors during Morial Day weekend often required quite a bit of repellement.

The problem with the English language is there is no single source for validation other than private sources like say Webster's. Spanish for example is governed by the Royal Academy of Languages and they have been the validating authority for Spanish since the Middle Ages.

I can promise you that 'shall' and 'will' in contract language can cause many an hour of meetings.

How about resiliency? What's next, doing due dilligency?