Monosyllabic Words

Words of Wonder #6

One-syllable words get a bad rap, but they are great for both Scrabble and self-expression. Irony of ironies: the word “monosyllabic” has five syllables.

Dreich

Dreich is a word used Scotland. In fact, it was named the most iconic Scots word by the Scottish Book Trust. Is the weather there really that dreary? I need to buy a plane ticket to find out. I’ll make sure to pack for a week of smurr.

Zarf

Is “zarves” the plural of “zarf”?* If so, it may be the namesake of Miss Zarves, the teacher on the nineteenth story of Wayside School in the series by Louis Sachar.

There is no nineteenth story in Wayside School. There is no Miss Zarves. A paradox best pondered over a cup of coffee.

*A glance at the Wikipedia entry for zarf shows the plural is “zarfs.” The mystery deepens.

Skein

Flocks of Canada geese hang around the neighborhood pond behind my house from late autumn through early spring. They’re beautiful in flight. On the ground, however, they are not everyone’s favorite bird.

My neighbor tries to scare the geese from his lawn with fireworks, an air horn, and, occasionally, a shotgun blast. The geese take off in a rush of wingbeats. They stay away for the afternoon. Come the next day, they’re back in greater numbers. Their honks sound like laughter.

Plash

Plash is like “splash,” but so much more poetic. The negative form of this word appears in one of my favorite final lines of poetry, in one of my favorite poems, by one of my favorite poets. I first encountered A Bird came down the Walk in SING A SONG OF POPCORN: EVERY CHILD’S BOOK OF POEMS—the book I credit for my lifelong love of words and pictures. Okay, Emily Dickinson, take it away:

A Bird came down the Walk—
He did not know I saw—
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,

And then he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass—

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad—
They looked like frightened Beads, I thought—
He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger, Cautious,
I offered him a Crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home—

Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam—
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,
Leap, plashless as they swim

Next week’s Words of Wonder: Random Words

Please comment with your favorite weird, wonderful, one-syllable words; I’m always on the lookout for future Words of Wonder.

---

You can pre-order my new book POETRY COMICS and receive a signed print! Visit the Chronicle Books page for details.

Colby Sharp

recently featured POETRY COMICS on his excellent kid lit Substack, Sharp Read. I love his story of sharing it with his fifth-grade students, and I might have to steal his quote to use on the back cover:

“It is one of the coolest and most unique poetry books that I have ever read.”

Thanks, Colby!