Espy, Vermin, Preface, Pedantry, Pickle, Scold
A squib is neither a squab nor a quip. Instead it owes its being to the stroke of a malicious penster. My awareness was reawaked by Dean Krenz, an old, tired, former publisher of the Journal (alas not THE JOURNAL, but instead The Sioux City Journal ). In an article on the Stock Market (4/11/97), its baffling swings and the answers of the writers of economic fiction which suffice as logic, Krenz wrote that "those charged with writing the daily SQUIBS to explain what happened tell us that ...." With an explanation for ever turn in the road (and the detours as well) these writers and their pablum have more lives and energy that the Everready(tm) charged toy (and are about as useful in providing real value.) Now this would have passed unnoticed if I had not been reading a book by Van Wyck Brooks entitled, The World of Washington Irving and which seems totally unrelated to the topic of stock market crashes, squibs, &c;. But as I crept through Brook's description of the definitive world of the early 1800s, I encountered his discourse on John Richard Desborus Huggins' diatribes (a bitter, sharply abusive denunciation, attack, or criticism, (see reference 5). For more on diatribes the link with criticism (see reference 4), includes caveling and carping as well as blurbs and puffs) against the establishment. And, lo and behold, SQUIBS. I could hardly pass this by.
"Barber, Huggins, whose fame as a wit had spread from Georgia to Maine when having shaved Tom Moore and Joel Barlow, he began to write squibs (a) and satires (b) to emulate them. His epigrams (c) on Jefferson, Randolph and others had long been the joy of the Federalist in the Evening Post and all the wits and fashionables had thronged his shop in order to be able to say they had been barbered by Huggins. The jokes (d) and lampoons (e) of all the wags had been stuck on this Pasquin (f) of New York, and they had even collected in a volume of Hugginiana , with woodcuts by Alexander Anderson and designs by Jarvis."
n.b. The (letter) is added to permit referencing of the word.
From pages 201 and 202. This delightful book puts in perspective the literate environment in which much of America's prose came to be. This is definitely not a book about Washington Irving.
Now for the chase, who was "Barber, Huggins"? Hugginiana or Huggins' Fantasy is a collection "exposing the art of making a noise in the world without beating a drum or crying oysters; and shewing (sic) how, like Whittington of old, who rose from nothing to be Lord Mayor of London, a mere barber may become an emperor, if he has but the spirit enough to assume, and talents enough to support the title". It is long out of print and unavailable except in a few university libraries. But Huggins was a master wordsmith as recognized by Brooks. As a roadmap of terms, I have had to refer to the following references, others would likewise be useful, I am sure:
1) Pocket Oxford Dictionary of Current English , Compiled by F. G. Fowler and H. W. Fowler, 4th edition, reprinted with corrections ... 1960.
2) Modern English Usage , First Edition
3) The New Modern Encyclopedia , Wise & Company, 1947
4) Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms , First Ed, 1951
5) Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language
6) Modern English Usage , Second Edition
7) Modern English Usage , Birchfield's bastardization of the Fowler brother's work
--- a ---
Squib(1) - Small firework of rocket kind thrown by hand; lampoon
n.b. Not too hard to see how the word took on the meaning of hurling insults, &c;.
--- b ---
Satire(1) - Form of literary medley among the ancient Romans; composition in which vice or folly or person as guilty of it is held up to ridicule, use of ridicule or sarcasm or irony to expose and discourage vice and folly, thing that serves to expose false pretension. Given to cynical observations of others.
Humor(2) - So much has been written upon the nature of humor, wit, satire, sarcasm, invective, irony, cynicism, the sardonic, that it would be presumptuous and unnecessary to attempt to further disquisition. But a sort of tabular statement may be of service against definition of the words is offered, but for each its motive or aim, its province, its method or means, and its proper audience, are specified. The constant confusion between sarcasm, satire, and irony as well as the now less common between wit and humor, seems to justify this mechanical device of parallel classification/but it will be of use only to those who wish for help in determining which is the word they really want.
(arranged in sequence by: word, motive/aim, province, method/means, audience)
humor - discovery, human nature, observation, the sympathetic
wit - throwing light, words/ideas, surprise, the intelligent
satire - amendment, morals/manners, accentuation, the self-satisfied
sarcasm - inflicting pain, faults/foibles, inversion, victim/bystander
invective - discredit, misconduct, direct statement, the public
irony - exclusiveness, statement of fact, mystification, an inner circle
cynicism - self-justification, morals, exposure of nakedness, the respectable
the sardonic - self-relief, adversity, pessimism, self
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Satire(3) A kind of literary verse or prose composition in which wickedness or folly is censured and held up to reprobation. --- Ridiculing the follies of the world with dramatic liveliness and gay humor ---
Satire(6) For rough distinction from some near-synonyms (see humor). Here it may be added that satire has recently been suffering vulgarization. A word that suggest the powers of an Aristophanes, a Juvenal, or a Swift, and an impulse of _saeva indignation_ is prostituted when it is applied to mere snook-cockers of whom it has been said by one critic, jealous for the integrity of the word, that their only concern is to find someone who is doing something - no matter who, no matter what - and fling a few insults at him and by another that their conception of satire is a "cannibal dance round the idea of authority".
n.b. snook-cocker, a gesture of defiance, disrespect or derision. To cock a snook or cock one's snook is to thumb the nose. Snook is to sniff or smell the air, as if searching for or trying to identify an odor. (from the Scandinavian or Norwegian snoka - to snuff, smell. (5)) This is definitely different from the fish that inhabits the waters of Florida. The snook known for its distinctive stripe along the side is delicious - of course day old snook may smell.
-- c --
Epigram (1) - Short poem with witty ending; pointed saying
Epigram (4) - Aphorism, apothegm, saying, saw, maxim, adage, proverb, motto.
n.b. see saying(4)
-- d --
Joke (1) - Thing said or done to excite laughter, jest; ridiculous circumstance
-- e--
Lampoon(1) - Piece of virulent satire.
n.b. virulent as in hated or abusive
-- f --
Pasquin (1) - Lampoon, Pasquino, name of statue in Rome on which printed matter was posted.
-- g --
Aphorism (1) - Short pithy maxim; definition
n.b. This definition would be incorrect, or incomplete according to (5)
Aphorism (5) - a terse saying embodying a general truth, as "Art is long, and life is short."
-- h --
Apothegm (5) - a short, pithy, instructive saying; a terse remark or aphorism
Saying (4) - saying, saw, maxim, adage, proverb, motto, epigram, aphorism, apothegm, agree in denoting a sententious expression of a general truth.
saying - a brief current or habitual expression of whatever form. (ex. The saying is true, "The empty vessel makes the greatest sound", attributed to Shakespeare)
saw - an oft-repeated, and now usually ancient, saying. (ex. Full of wise saws and modern instances, attributed to Shakespeare)
maxim - a rule or precept sanctioned by experience, and relating especially to the practical concerns of life. (ex. Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise, attributed to Franklin)
proverb - an adage couched, usually, in homely and vividly concrete or figurative phrase. (ex. Accused of being penny-wise and pound-foolish)
motto - usually a maxim or moral aphorism adopted by a person, a society, or an institution as a guiding principle or as a statement of aim or idea. (ex. Manners makyeth Man, attributed to William of Wykeham)
epigram - implies known authorship and a conscious literary quality. Epigram gets its effectiveness from its terseness and a witty turn of phrase; it characteristically presents a paradox or a cleverly pointed antithesis. (ex. the right divine of kings to govern wrong, attributed to Pope)
epigram - a dwarfish whole, Its body brevity, and wit its soul (Coleridge)
aphorism - implies known authorship and a conscious literary quality. An aphorism is a pithy epigram that gives good food for thought. (ex. Heaven for a climate, hell for society, attributed to M. Twain)
apothegm - implies known authorship and a conscious literary quality. An apothegm is a sharply pointed and often startling aphorism (ex. Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, attributed to Johnson)
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Quip (4) - jest, joke, jape, witticism, wisecrack, crack, gag. These all come to mind when a remark, comment, story or sometimes act is intended to invoke laughter.
jest - now seldom retains its older implication of taunting, jeering, or other ill-natured raillery (good-natured ridicule or banter (5) (as, "Might he but set the rabble in a roar, He cared not with what jest" - Cowper) Although it still may imply raillery, it carries a stronger connotation of lightness or sportiveness and suggest banter, persiflage (frivolous style of treating a subject (5)) or the like; as, "genial table-talk, or deep dispute, and graceful jest" (Tennyson)
joke - applies not only to some thing that is said but quite as often to an act or incident that is intended to excite uproarious laughter; as, to play a joke (usually a practical joke) upon a friend. When applied to a remark, comment, or story, it usually suggest a sportative sally designed to promote good humor without wounding the feelings of its object; as, "He takes his chirping pint, and cracks his joke" (Pope).
jape - a word that has become obsolete before Spenser's and Shakespeare's time, was revived by Lamb and others early in the nineteenth century and still occurs occasionally. In earliest use, it denoted a diverting or amusing story or anecdote (as, "Thomas, that jape is not worth a mite", Chaucer); in its more modern use it comes nearer to jest or joke.
quip - applies especially to a quick, neatly turned jest flung off in banter, raillery, or sarcasm; as, "Quips and Cranks and wanton Wiles ... And Laughter holding both his sides" Milton.
witticism - the polite or bookish term, wisecrack or crack the slang term, for an especially clever or witty retort to a question, comment on a situation, or the like. "There was a current witticism ...that you called her (a frequently divorced and remarried woman) Eudora because it was the only one of her names of the continuity of which you felt at all certain!" (Austin)
n.b. wit, sal atticum, literally attic salt, referring to the refined elegance, i.e., taste of the ancient Athenian intelligentsia. Byron refereed to punning as "Attic salt" (from Buckley's Amo, Amas, Amat and More. And of course, Fowler has a comment on puns.
gag - (literally something thrust into the mouth to prevent an outcry) was originally theatrical slang for an interpolated joke or witticism, or sometimes trick, or other amusing piece of business. In current use, however, it applies also to any joke, witticism, or the like, forming a part of the script or text, or to any amusing remark, anecdote, trick, or the like, intended to make its subject appear ridiculous or ludicrous.
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Squib (4) - libel, skit, lampoon, pasquinade (see libel for distinctions)
Lampoon (2) - lampoon, libel, pasquinade, skit, squib. There is often occasion to select the most appropriate of these words, and the essential point of each may be shortly given.
lampoon - a bitterly published attack (on an individual(6))
libel -(in popular usage (6)) is a defamatory statement made publicly or privately
pasquinade - (now rare (6)) is a published attack of unknown or unacknowledged authorship (posted in a public place (6))
skit - is a making game of a person or his doings, especially by (caricature or (6)) or parody
satire (6)- holds up prevailing vices and follies to ridicule
squib - (now rare (6) a casual published attack (short and sharp (6)) of no elaboration
Libel(4) - libel, skit, squib, lampoon, pasquinade, pasquin, pasquil. Used to mean a public and often satirical presentation of faults or weaknesses, especially those of an individual.
libel - is now the correct legal term for any statement or representation (such as a cartoon), published or circulated without just cause or excuse which tends to expose a person to public contempt, hatred, or ridicule; in earlier and now only historical use, the term applies specifically to a leaflet or handbill publicly circulated or posted in a public place and containing a scurrilous attack, especially on an individual (ex. cheap senseless libels were scattered about the city,
attributed Clarendon)
skit - applies to an amusing satire (originally a comment or remark, now often a dramatic sketch or story that may be more humorous or ironical than satirical) of no very great weight or seriousness; the term seldom connotes malice, bitterness, or abusiveness, but often suggest the infliction of a sting; (ex. He did not deserve your skit about his "Finsbury Circus gentility", attributed to Fitzgerald)
squib - originally and still literally a kind of firecracker, applies to any short and clever, or often more or less malicious, piece of satirical writing that makes its point with a sharp thrust and evokes laughter or amusement (ex, No one was more faithful to his early friends, particularly if they could write a squib, attributed to Disraeli)
Roast - to ridicule or criticize severely or mercilessly.(6)
n.b. current vernacular for make play with ones adversary's frailties (morally weak, easily tempted) and foibles (minor weaknesses or failing of character; slight flaw or defect).
Cavil - Washington Irving particularly liked this word and used it to often describe the rantings and ravings of politicians in Knickerbocker's History of New York. Thusly, to jeer, scoff, quibble, or find fault, raise inconsequential, frivolous, or sham like objections. Perhaps to be picayune or petty. As opposed to carping.
Scurrilous - abusive, opprobrious, vituperative, contumelious (see abusive, abuse(n), abuse (v).
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Fowler has the last word and laugh in his discourse on pedantic humour. In putting us all in place, he wrote; "A warning is necessary, because we have all us, except the abnormally stupid, been pedantic humourist in our time. We spend much of our childhood picking up a vocabulary; we like to air our latest finds; we discover that our elders are tickled when we come out with a new name that they thought beyond us; we devote some pains to tickling them further; and there we are pendants and polysyllabist all. The impulse is healthy for children, and nearly universal - which is just why warning is necessary; for among so many there will always be some who fail to realize that the clever habit applauded at home will make them insufferable abroad. Most of those who are capable of writing well enough to find readers do learn sooner or later that playful use of long or learned words is a one-sided game boring than boring the reader more than it pleases the writer, that the impulse to it is a danger-signal -- for there must be something wrong with what they are saying if it needs recommending by such puerilities -- and that yielding to the impulse is a confession of failure...." He goes on to give a number of examples, homeopathic (for small or minute), sartorial (of clothes), interregnum (gap). And further, in discussion of pedantry, he notes; "my pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education, and someone else's ignorance. Lest one think Fowler is defending the use of lesser terms to convey information, one need only to read further to see that he is much in favor of hurling purist and purism those "who insult us by finding not good enough for him some manner of speech that is good enough for us.... for purism is ... a needless and irritating insistence on purity or correctness of speech... Pure English ... is so relative a term that almost every man is potentially a purist and a sloven at once to persons looking at him from a lower and a higher position in the scale than his own." And, he writes, that to judge the value of the critic, one needs to know the place on a scale wherein resides that illustrious one.
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Would that I could have such a grasp of my own native tongue and understand its nuances as did the Brothers Most Fowl.
Just when I thought I had listed all the variants of a theme, and decided that in Krenz' hand a squib is just filler needed to make the columns and pages come out square, and there is no etymological justification, he reenters the fray with: "Today's thought: Wisdom comes more from living than from studying." Now where in the world do you classify a "thought"? Maybe somewhere between a maxim and wit? Hmmm
Too add further fuel to the fire of descriptive writing, I have come across the use of "facetiae" in Edward Sullivan's delightful book, Rambles and Scrambles in North and South America , published in 1852. His humor in describing the mores of our Good Citizens certainly falls within Webster's definition, "amusing or witty remarks or writings."
And in Van Wyck Brooks' tour de force, he wanted to assure the reader that Huggins had a sharp tongue and pen. Not unlike my local barber who has an opinion on all that makes the world turn (at least from a Vermillion ) perspective.
It would be remise to leave this topic without introducing both Anne Newport Royall and Timothy Dexter. Mrs. Royall a writer and publisher and Lord Dexter contributed much to our understanding of the use of syntax, punctuation and proper spelling of words. I invite you to visit their web sites for a different view of english. Or, as archy was wont to say quotation mark parenthesis where will it end parenthesis closed period
1) Pocket Oxford Dictionary of Current English , Compiled by F. G. Fowler and H. W. Fowler, 4th ed, Oxford at the Clarendon Press,1924, reprinted with corrections ... 1960.
jsw
4/13/97, rev. 12/16/04
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