A Word With You
June 22nd, 2009
quix⋅ot⋅ic
kwɪkˈsɒt ɪkShow Spelled Pronunciation [kwik-sot-ik] Show IPA
–adjective
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1. |
(sometimes initial capital letter ) resembling or befitting Don Quixote. |
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2. |
extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical, or impracticable. |
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3. |
impulsive and often rashly unpredictable. |
Also, quix⋅ot⋅i⋅cal.
Origin:
1805–15; ( Don ) Quixote + -ic
I’m sorry but I had to do another Q. Q’s are woefully neglected and oft forgotten. Besides, quixotic is one of my all time favorite words. And I do so love a literarily inspired word. Good old Don Quixote, windmill tilter of old. Like the Q, the man was oft-misunderstood. According to Wikipedia:
Even faithful and simple Sancho is unintentionally forced to deceive him at certain points. The novel is considered a satire of orthodoxy, truth, veracity, and even nationalism. In going beyond mere storytelling to exploring the individualism of his characters, Cervantes helped move beyond the narrow literary conventions of the chivalric romance literature that he spoofed, which consists of straightforward retelling of a series of acts that redound to the knightly virtues of the hero.
Again quixotic is another one of those great veiled insult words. To be labeled quixotic is, in a word, to be called a flake. Not that I’m trying to give you insult words, still, they go down so much easier if they have literary backing. And begin with a Q.
Grammar Punk Sentence. T O 4 Adv. ,
Notoriously quixotic and unreliable, Jezebel was no longer included in the planning sessions for the Annual Cartographers Correction of the World’s Atlases Conference.
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