Baffled

[erastes]

So, Crispin's hair is incalcitrant.

Except it's not.

It can't be because the word doesn't bloody exist.  I thought it was Word being stupid and not knowing the spelling, or perhaps I wasn't spelling it right (although generally I spell like a god (that would have to be a spelling god, though, an educated one like ... Athena not some grunt like Mars)) so I go and look it up on my Igoogle dictionary widgets. No sign of it.  Ok...so I MUST be spelling it wrong.  I had the brainwave of typing it straight into Google, because that's idiot friendly and often asks me "Did you mean to search for beautiful cook sucker?" when I've googled for something it clearly doesn't understand. And it's there in Google but I can't trust that 1,820 people know how to spell it, either, so I check my book dictionaries.

ITS NOT THERE!  Impossible! Incroyable! Last resort. the Online OED. My Bible.

I sit staring at the screen. IT’S NOT THERE!!!!!!!

OK. I use a word that doesn't exist. How is this possible?

Comments

Why not

[naturalfractual.livejournal.com]

Donaldson did it -

recalcitrant?

[aunty_marion]

The word is 'recalcitrant'.

Re: Why not

[erastes.livejournal.com]

*feels dim*

Who's Donaldson?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes, I linked to the article about it.

[lilian-cho.livejournal.com]

I've always used recalcitrant and never thought of the "again" meaning.

Interesting article on the subconscious of vocabularies =D

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

Shave his head. End of hair problem.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

*LOL*

"messy" works well too

Re: Why not

[naturalfractual.livejournal.com]

Stephen Donaldson - the Revanant series - I had to read him for a lit class. I have a vocabulary in the 95% range - in the first five chapters he used six words I had never heard of - turns out two were made up.

[sinick.livejournal.com]

Nah, he needs to go bald, because of friction from all those maneuvers under the sheets.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Chapter 8 and not even a kiss so far. I think I've lost my Porn-jo.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I like learning stuff. Reading good.

Re: Why not

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Ah the whining leper rapist! Remember him well...

:)

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

I think it's an elegant blending of 'recalcitrant' and 'intractable'. :)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'll have to use Slithy Toves too.

:)

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

That would be brillig!

Re: Why not

[naturalfractual.livejournal.com]

Exactly - After five chapters, I refused to read anymore and gave my reasons why - I said I could review the book based on the first five because I found the main character to be a rotten piece of meat - I did the review, the instructor gave me an A.

(I am a technical writer for a major American automotive company - we make up words all the time!)

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I've used recalcitrant but as soon as I saw 'incalcitrant' I thought 'OMG that's the right word. I've been getting it wrong'. It just LOOKS so right!

[mallorypath.livejournal.com]

You may not think much of the source, but WordWebOnline believes you (with the qualifier that it's non-standard):

Adjective: incalcitrant
Usage: non-standard

1. Stubbornly resistant to authority or control
- fractious, refractory, recalcitrant

2. Marked by stubborn resistance to authority
"the University suspended the most incalcitrant demonstrators"
- recalcitrant

[erastes.livejournal.com]

HURRAH!

*campaigns to get it into the dictionary *

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to what that Parrott guy had to say. Interesting speculation on the sophisticated information people don't realise they have! (Mind you, I think adventurat's theory has a lot going for it.)