Lexical Magic

Oleilu

Words are magical

Photo by author

Hi! I’m Louise Hurd, and I’m the author of The Secret of Surviving In The Sea.

I am a logophile, or a lover of words. In fact, I collect words. Words are magical. A single word can convey a sense of wonder, a nuance, a touch. You can mess up a relationship with the wrong word. I say mess up, not destroy, because you can repair the damage with the right word. Sometimes that takes a string of words.

Words are funny. Like reconnoiter. How can I *reconnoiter if I’ve never connoitered*?

I heard someone mention animated shorts. And I couldn’t help but picture someone whose shorts are animated. What would that be like? It would be really inconvenient to have your shorts moving around as you walk, jumping up and down, or calling out to each other. I wouldn’t like to wear animated shorts. Have you thought about what it would be like to wear drama shorts? Suspense shorts? Mystery shorts? I don’t know about you, but I would much rather wear Bermuda shorts, or cut-off shorts, or even short shorts than mysterious shorts.

Shorts photo by engin akyurt, Unsplash

I like words that surprise me with an unexpected meaning, or words that are simply lyrical, like wisteria, bougainvillea, or mellifluous. Mellifluous is a perfect word to describe a mellifluous sound. I mean the word mellifluous is mellifluous by itself.

The other day I had an optical delusion. I was in denial.

Sometimes a misunderstood word turns out to be hilarious. At the end of the Tehran hostage crisis, which wasn’t funny at all, American hostages were rescued by Canada and returned home. The newscaster reported that they were all wearing Maple Leaf pins in honor of Canada. Very meaningful. But my husband turned to me and asked, “Did he say make-believe-pins?” For hostages who had been held for 444 days, it seemed like a real concern.

My favorite word today is oleilu. Ō-lā-lū. Oleilu is a perfect word. Nothing could say it better. Oleilu.

Sitting by the sea by Andika Christian on Unsplash

It means a calm, unhurried state of simply being, not about doing, achieving, or planning, but the simple act of existing in the moment.

I like to oleilu in my yard, by a river, or in the woods. To be honest, I can’t oleilu anywhere because oleilu is not a verb. It’s a noun. You can enjoy it, but you can’t do it. So, where do you like to go for oleilu?

Put your answers in the comments. Add some favorite words of your own! I would love to see them. I might add them to my collection.

The ocean in Monolithos, Santorini, Greece. Photo by author.

I like oleilu by the ocean, in the sunshine, all alone.

You can see more of my favorite words on my website at louisehurdwords.com

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My novel is The Secret of Surviving In The Sea. You can get it at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Apple Books. When you read my book, please do me a favor and leave me a review. That would be great! Bye!

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