Holy Holophrase! Naming Your Favorite Aggravations

"Delightful book of observations of everyday life ... an engaging style that entertains yet unveils wisdom with the humor."

- S

"Another Title for My Book Club!"

- E

"This book will put a smile on your face and will lighten your heart."

- T

"A high spirited romp. Just what we all need in this stressful time."

- F

I first discovered the holophrase in the pages of the Washington Post, in the years before the Post disappeared into its Bezosian darkness behind a paywall. The paper hosted an annual neologism contest. Most winners were holophrases — that is, a whole phrase expressed in a single word. For example:

"Flatulence (N.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller." And this one, anticipating our need in a pandemic year: "Coffee (N.), the person upon whom one coughs." OK, and one more: "Rectitude (N.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists."

For whatever reason, this linguistic form struck my adolescent mind as very funny, and for weeks after I read the Post's winners I found myself dissolving into laughter at the most inappropriate moments. And that was in the day before we were hiding behind masks.

Well, now my friend El McMeen, doctor of polymathy, has published a book dedicated to the art of making these words. I'm doomed. You probably know El as one of the greatest living finger-style guitarists. (Check Wikipedia on his accomplishments. And listen to the music that's out there!) I pity you if you know him as a lawyer, unless he was representing you.

In Holy Holophrase he invites readers to name their favorite aggravations. The peeves are described in detail, and readers must render them in holophrase. El breaks all human annoyance down into a few categories: cats, motor vehicles (drivertickyouoffitis), doctor's office, and so on.

The book is a sustained exercise in wordsmithing and will delight my friends who have a fondness for cleverness, belly laughs, and poetry. And cats, of course.

- Mike Aquilina

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