Wednesday 10 April 2013

J is Joy - A=Z challenge - Words of change. Day 10

joy |joi|
noun
a feeling of great pleasure and happiness

Joy and Gay had a chat the other day. Gay's been a little down, even the dictionary says he's changed a lot in the last 100 years. He feels obsolete replaced by another meaning.  He’s still a verb but everybody knows that Gay has become a noun, and really can't be used without sounding a bit old fashioned or arousing a double entendre. 

Gay's only concern, is what will become of his original description? For such a small word, he needs some big ones to describe him, gleeful, showy, carefree, brilliant and cheerful. Joy and Gay concluded, if Gay can become a noun, his ancient verb status declining, Joy could take action and adopt a new meaning.

What a joy child, sounds light hearted and playful, and every gay day is now just a Joyday. We'll still keep things simple. There's no mistaking the feeling.


***

Take some time out and have a little fun, even especially if it's silly. Play games and dance with children and friends (make friends with a DJ). Colour in, tell jokes, celebrate. Rejoice, be jovial, enjoy jubilation joy-fully.


Lots of Joy
Ida.


Find out how I chose my theme by reading A-Z challenge list. Words of change.  You are welcome to add words to the list in the comments - which I'll link back to you - the more the better. 

30 comments:

  1. sick ay...(bad attempt at humour and the exact opposite of 'that's gay' - and precisely the sort of thing that might make my nephew say 'that was gay Aunty Ida') ... the 3rd meaning completely slipped my mind in as I scribbled out my ode to joy.. (Bugger! - Aussie slang for dammit!) thanks for shedding some light Nova Bug :D

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  2. ... and yes I almost missed the Good As You reference, but I didn't :) what a joyday this is going to be :)

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  3. Such a good post. It is true that this word has lost all its original meaning. Sad.

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    1. I'm sorry it made you sad, it was really just a bit of fun for Joy's sake. I know what you mean though, sometimes I wish peoples attitudes would change instead of words. Imagine if they did, we would still be able to call the varying degree's of able bodied people retarded - in a simple practical way, people think it's a bad word now that's sad.

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  4. I totally remember the phase when I was a kid when everybody said "that's so gay" when they thought something was lame (another slang!) I wonder how a word with such a lovely meaning took on other connotations?

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    1. I guess the same way, sick became amazing and bad became good. In Denmark when something is really cool, it's really fat.

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  5. This is a brilliant post, and I love your A to Z theme!! Have a joyday! :)

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    1. Dear square tooth, I love yours too - your post on integrity was spot on, love from snaggle tooth

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  6. I also remember when things were described as being 'gay' as a negative. I hope I never used it in that context!

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    1. I think most slang becomes dated eventually...I love what Klahanie pointed out in his earlier comment - GAY = Good As You...

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  7. It's such a shame the original meaning has been lost in today's society.

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  8. Wishing u so many joyful moments in ur life. :)

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    1. Dear Me, it's not the first time I have told myself that :) - I'm looking forward to more of your scribblings.

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  9. Clever way to approach word meanings.

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    1. It's not how I usually tackle things, it was a bit of fun today.

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  10. With the advent of the new meaning , it has occurred to me that the word queer is also not to be used in it's original form.

    I look forward to seeing more words that have lost their meaning.

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    1. Hi montanmuse, I wish I was clever enough to do this style of writing for words that have lost their meaning. I can only think of a few and thats a long way from the whole alphabet.

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  11. Hi Ida,

    Loving the "Joy"! I even have it as a category on my site: joy. My previous word was Happiness and I couldn't decide which to use. Joy seemed deeper somehow. Maybe it's all of the holidays cards that just say Joy. They don't say Happiness. Maybe it's just shorter.

    Thanks for posting. Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

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    1. Joy is the only J word in my deck so I was obliged to use it - but it is actually one of my favourite words, it makes me smile just saying it - doing a happy post and then a joy post would have me clutching at creative straws.... Happy Joyday :)

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  12. Thanks Salvwi, I think the same about your poems.

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  13. I thought sick was what gen xer's said as kids. Everything 80's is coming back into fashion now, I wonder what tomorrow brings :)

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    1. It looks pretty written in sand on a beach too :)

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  15. Joy is such a great word! If I had a child I would consider naming it 'Joy', although knowing my luck the child would probably grow up into a grumpy old grouch. ;-)

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    1. My mum always told me Ida meant joy somewhere in the world... Grumpy old grouches need love too, and I'm sure you could take her 'to' Abroad and cheer her up real fast :) ...

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  16. I had a joyful time yesterday eating Italian ice-cream with two little girls - and finding one of my "I" themes in the process.

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    1. I love it when that happens, i was stuck on my K post until I wrote a comment in someones blog yesterday and came up with the butterfly idea... Really why is Italian ice-cream so much better? There's a few stores here in Denmark that make homemade Italian Ice-cream, and I always wonder if they aren't Italians and we aren't in Italy how can it be Italian... ?? :)

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  17. Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you return often. I am following yours as I like how you write and plan on returning. I simply love your love story....it's heartwarming. I wish you a lifetime of happiness.

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    1. Thanks GTSV - that's very sweet of you, I enjoyed your post on Instinct and I am heading over to see today's post right now.... I wish you 10 x as much happiness as you wish on everyone else :)

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  18. Loved this post - very original!

    Stopping in from A-Z Blogging~

    Mary
    www.maryeagius.com

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Feedback and your own stories are welcome.