December 10, 2012
Foetry (Faux-etry)
A funny thing happened after I published the following post. I found out the word I thought I made up was actually a real word. I did what I always do in such situations—panic. I “unpublished” the post before the scandal that surrounds the real “foetry” could leave a mark on my permanent record.
After the panic subsided (with a little help from a mug of mulled wine), I decided to publish the post anyway because:
A. I didn’t have a back-up post.
B. Maybe my mistake will teach others to practice due diligence before posting things on the internet that will be available to the entire world to read forever. Unfortunately, I know from experience that I probably have not learned my lesson yet.
Below is the now obsolete post, although I think a vote is still appropriate. After all this hoopla, I’m sure the word will make the dictionary someday. But I think I’m getting ahead of myself…
A few weeks ago a new word came to me. I’m not sure if it was a humorous inspiration from my muse, or a dig about my poetic posts from my hyper-critical internal editor. The word came to me after I visited the Query Shark and read:
”Bad poetry is very easy. Good poetry is hard. Poetry that illuminates and enhances art work, uses language for developing minds, and doesn’t bore the pants off the adults reading it either…well, that’s a real trick.”
-Query Shark aka Janet Reid
Reading that brought to mind the few poesies that had flowed with relative ease out of my head and onto my blog—The Ubiquitous Earworm:A Ballad and Black Friday Blues— to name a few. And I felt a tremor of anxiety. It hadn’t occurred to me when I posted them that they might in fact, be taken as serious poetry or even worse, that someone might think I had taken them as serious poetry.
Robert Frost a true poet.
Then it hit me. What I wrote wasn’t poetry. I wrote foetry. Or was it fauxetry?
Before I could enjoy the new-found word, I encountered the dilemma. Which way should it be spelled? Both rhyme with poetry, and although foetry makes more sense and looks better, it will inevitably on occasion, be pronounced fo-tree, thus rendering it useless. Fauxetry, on the other hand, is very awkward. But the chances of mispronouncing it are rare, unless one is unfamiliar with the word “faux” and those people won’t care about the spelling anyway.
Blogging foetry/fauxetry sensation
I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Merriam or Collins get a hold of this word. It’s imperative that we, the people, decide the spelling now while it’s in our hands. But in order to make an informed decision some pertinent information, such as the definition, is needed.
Foetry/fauxetry improved upon but still bad.
Definition of FOETRY/FAUXETRY
fo·et·ry/faux·et·ry\noun \ˈfō-ə-trē
Examples of FOETRY/FAUXETRY
- Any verse that contains the word Nantucket is an example of foetry/fauxetry.
Related to FOETRY/FAUXETRY
If “bucket list” can make the cut…
Dave said,
December 11, 2012 at 5:34 AM
I prefer a different spelling – Phauxitrie
Dawne Webber said,
December 11, 2012 at 7:32 AM
You are very creative, but maybe it would be better to focus that creativity elsewhere.
Doggy's Style said,
December 11, 2012 at 7:14 AM
Well, to be honest I don’t think I’m even able to say that word let alone spell it, but today I learned something knew.
Thanks.
Dawne Webber said,
December 11, 2012 at 7:35 AM
I’m glad you learned something new. As for saying the word, you’re not missing anything. It sounds kind of funny.
Doggy's Style said,
December 11, 2012 at 7:37 AM
I know I just realized that I wrote Knew instead of New, I was thinking on Knowing, well, there you go lol
Dawne Webber said,
December 11, 2012 at 7:47 AM
Don’t you hate when that happens. Then there’s no way to go back and edit your comment.
I knew what you meant though.
Abby said,
December 12, 2012 at 7:13 AM
Considering the fact people spell things incorrectly on purpose, use phrases like “cray cray” and “nom nom” etc., I’m convinced there are no new words. However, “fauxetry” makes much more sense than 99 percent of them. I like it
Dawne Webber said,
December 12, 2012 at 8:17 AM
Thanks, Abby. I have a confession though. I’m not sure how new it is. I found out yesterday it’s already an entry in the Urban Dictionary. It’s a word for the poetry emo kids write.
I think my muse committed plagiary when she inspired me. Sometimes she’s more trouble than she’s worth.
countingducks said,
December 14, 2012 at 9:06 AM
You made me smile with your word invention. But most of all, I have to say, your publishing my mistake, trying to retract and all the rest of it, made me feel less alone. I’ve done my fair bit of that kind of stuff
Dawne Webber said,
December 14, 2012 at 9:51 AM
I guess it’s an occupational hazard. At least I caught it early. It would have been quite embarrassing to publish it and have someone point out the mistake in the comments.