The worrld is treating me ba-a-a-a-ad / Misery!

[truepenny]

Writer's block is the pits.

Am stuck like a very stuck thing.

Consequently am gloomy and depressed and grumpy, especially about trying to work on anything else (i.e., the dissertation) when I'm stuck, goddammit!

Have been playing waaaaaaaaay too much Arachnid, and accomplishing precious little else.

Comments

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

*hug*

Don't make me send over five flamboyant homosexuals to sing "I Will Survive" at you.

[elisem.livejournal.com]

Well, I hope it's hokay that I have an OED question for you right now, then.

What's the origin of the term "full fig"? We were wondering, "we" being Mike and me and our gracious hosts in Charleston.

(For those that do not know, Truepenny has constructive possession of my Compact OED, on the condition that she look up a thing or two every now and then when people ask her to do so.)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Quoth the Oracle (From the OED Online, because until I get an adequate magnifier--as opposed to the inadequate magnifiers the household currently possesses--the physical text is about as comprehensible as the Rosetta Stone. Or less, even.):

Fig, n.³
1. Dress, equipment, only in phr. in full fig.

1841 T. HOOK Fathers & Sons xxi, In full fig for the ceremony. 1839 DE QUINCEY Casuistry Rom. Meals Wks. III. 269 All belted and plumed, and in full military fig. 1866 MOTLEY Corr. 14 Aug. II. 247 We all turned out in full fig the other day.

And, if we poke the etymology button, we get:

It has been asserted that in fashion prints ‘Full fig.’ (abbreviation for figure) and ‘Demi-fig.’ were formerly used for front and back or side views of the figure; but we have failed to find confirmation of the statement.]

Also a link, presumably as the more likely etymology, which leads us back to the verb form:

fig, v.⁴
var. of FEAGUE
1. trans. = FEAGUE v. 2b. to fig out (a horse): to trot out in lively condition. Also to fig up, to make lively or spirited.

1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 182 He said the horse..was figged with ginger. 1819 MOORE Tom Crib's Mem. 24 In vain did they try to fig up the old lad. 1825 C. M. WESTMACOTT Eng. Spy I. 177 Fig out two lively ones [horses].

2. to fig out: to dress, 'get up'. Also to fig up: to furbish up, make 'smart'.

1825 M. WILMOT Let. 26 Sept. (1935) 223, I figg'd up the petticoat into a broad sash for Wm's waist. 1837 MARRYAT Dog-fiend xx, Landsmen are figged out as fine as Lord Harry. 1841 THACKERAY Second Funeral Napoleon i, Cowards fig themselves out..as 'salvage men'. 1872 Punch 9 Nov. 196/1 It [a house] wants a little figging up. 1883 W. C. RUSSELL in Longm. Mag. III. 123 The waiter's costume, as he styled the dress I had figged myself out in.

3. ? To stuff. Obs. rare.

Johnson explains this: 'To put something useless into a person's head. Low Cant.'

1692 R. L'ESTRANGE Fables cccciii. 378 Away to the Sow she goes, and Figs her in the Crown with another Story.

And if we trace back to FEAGUE v., we get:

2b. (See quot.) Cf. FAKE v.

1785 GROSE Class. Dict. s.v., To feague a horse, to put ginger up a horse's fundament, to make him lively and carry his tail well.

And make a horse's ass out of ourselves. :)

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I hear ya. This whole last week has sucked giant crumbling sedimentary rocks.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Sometimes with being stuck one just has to suffer it out, rather like Pooh when stuck in Rabbit's doorway. I have come to realise that, for me, most projects have a phase in which, metaphorically if not literally, I'm pacing around the room wringing my hands for a greater or lesser period of time before things can start moving.

Writers Block

[dmsherwood53.livejournal.com]

It ends Man/ It just seem s like Eternity

[oracne.livejournal.com]

[pat, pat, pat]

This, too, shall pass.