Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The word of the day is elasticated:

< elastic adj. + -ate suffix3 + -ed suffix1.
Of cloth, etc.: woven or stitched with indiarubber thread and so made stretchable. Also fig., rendered flexible.  (OED)

"The moral of the film, however, is that you can't believe anything at all, not with Steven around.  Mendacity is his proper state.  Not content with a sheaf of dodgy credit cards, he pretends to be the chief financial officer of a major company, and thinks nothing of adopting the weighty tones of a judge, on the phone, to get himself bailed.  This brand of shape-shifting is as easy as pie for Carrey, and I like the idea of all that elasticated verve and boundless good will being turned to nefarious ends."

 - Anthony Lane, "Punch Lines: 'The Fighter' and 'I Love You Phillip Morris'", 13 December 2010 The New Yorker

Still not entirely sure what he meant.  I think switching the noun and the adjective would make more sense,  "spirited elasticity", for example.  Unless he's using "verve" to meant talent, not enthusiasm, in which case I guess he means talent in being elasticated, but then I would probably go for something to the effect of "talent in elasticity".  Either way, I think the work it's doing in the sentence means it should be a noun, not an adjective.

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