Thursday, November 23, 2006

One-word meme

One word? Moi?

Yeah, riiight.

Let's see if it can be done:

Yourself: overworked
Your partner: misnomer
Your hair: disappointing
Your mother: Casper
Your father: monumental
Your favourite item: numinous
Your dream last night: headachy
Your favourite drink: Laphroaig
Your dream car: Boxster
Your dream home: seaside
The room you are in: study
Your ex: multiple
Your fear: boredom
Where you want to be in ten years: travelling
Who you hung out with last night: cats
What you're not: naive
Muffins: chocotreats
One of your wish list items: windfall
Time: evening
The last thing you did: work
What you are wearing: tat
Your favourite weather: still
Your favourite book: Middlemarch [True!]
Last thing you ate: dinner
Your life: integrated
Your mood: resigned
Your best friends: firesigns [yeah, yeah; sue me]
What are you thinking about right now: elusiveness
Your car: red
What are you doing at the moment: musing
Your summer: restful
Relationship status: unorthodox
What is on your tv: nothing
What is the weather like: balmy
When is the last time you laughed: recently

Warning: this meme is a lot harder than you think. You might mistakenly deduce from some of the more oblique answers here that it's a word-association test rather than a questionnaire, but I was trying for maximum accuracy and scope of connotation.

And on reflection I think it was designed for people a lot younger than me. When I am less busy, I shall come up with one for persons of mature and discerning years.

14 comments:

Ampersand Duck said...

Gosh, how concise of you. I've got one word for you, Pavvy: admiration.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Oh, &D, that is very nice. I am in need of a bit of admiration at the moment.

Some sleep would also be nice. (It's marking season, as Laura and others know to their cost.)

Zoe said...

People wonder why we like these memes, but I feel like I really know you better knowing that you'd like a boxster. A little nuance I'd missed.

And I have one word for "chocotreats", Ms Cat, that word being "Ahem".

Apart from that, you have my admiration also.

Anonymous said...

I think "tat" is a very good look, cultivated by many a stylish & intellectual woman. Wendy Whiteley springs to mind.

Stegetronium said...

I want to know more about 'unorthodox'

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Bernice -- I deduce that Sylvia was taught in her undergraduate years by either Sam Goldberg or either Jock or Maggie Tomlinson, mad Leavisites to a person and all somewhat forceful. Fortunately I was not. I would have more trouble deciding which book was not worth rereading.

Zoe, I love the idea that a Boxster is a nuance. I do not particularly care about cars in general, but if someone offered -- heyyy. Re chocotreats, if you'd seen the scales this morning you would have said Ahem a lot louder than that, I can tell you.

Meredith, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who looks less like Wendy Whitely than moi, but it is a nice association.

Mikhaela -- no you don't. Trust me.

Zoe said...

It was only the attempt to pass off "chocotreats" that got me harrumphing, Dr Cat - I heartily approve the consumption of all kinds of chocolately goodness (particularly in the form of the Jules de Strooper cinnamon biscuits "enrobed" in chocolate).

And that nuance-y boxster is very much tied to you being a woman. If you were a bloke, an entirely different word would be called to mind.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Heh.

Jules de Strooper, you say?

*makes note*

Anonymous said...

J.M. Coetzee may be a recent arrival from South Africa, but Peter Temple has been in Australia for 26 years. I think that is long enough for him not to be called an 'import'.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Wow, blogging is an amazing thing, n'est-ce pas? Who knows what will happen from one moment to the next?

I have no idea who you are, anon, nor whence the aggression, nor why this comment should have turned up on this thread. I have a faint memory of having called Peter Temple an import somewhere, but I can't remember where. I would have been referring, in a strictly value-neutral way, to the fact that at some point in time he came from there to here. For what it's worth I most certainly would not having been using it pejoratively as I am one of Peter Temple's biggest fans, a fact that has been amply publicly documented.

Anonymous said...

It took me a while to work out the connotations of Casper for your mother, but remembering your various posts about walking around the garden being careful to note the changes your mum would want to know about, I finally got it. That's the word choice I admire moston your list.

Anonymous said...

I second Zoe. Single word answers can carry a tremendous amount of information, helped by context, what's already known and what's assumed.

Strangely enough, I also found "Boxster" surprising, but not as surprising as "Laphroaig". For some reason I would not have expected you to be into single malts, and Laphroaig is an acquired taste, to say the least. Unlikewise, "Middlemarch" was enjoyable, but I'm curious as to why it should top the very long list of books that you've read.

"Elusiveness" was my favourite answer.

Rest assured that you're much admired, Ms Pavlova, and not least by me.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

*Blushes*

(Mainly for having made the wimpoid remark that has elicited these kind responses. Put it down to general knackeredness.)

Susoz: good question. I think the notion that the first five things on a person's mind would be -- and in this order -- oneself, one's partner, one's hair and one's mum and dad did suggest to me a person of a certain age. I saw your version later; it was your suggestion at Elsewhere's, before you put it up, that prompted me to go Googling 'one-word meme' because I was so intrigued by the idea, and this was the version I found.

Tigtog: I wondered if people would get Casper; I don't know how old one would have to be to remember the phrase 'Casper the Friendly Ghost'.

Fyodor: for more on Middlemarch, have a look at this very punch-packing post by my friend Stephanie.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Elsewhere left a comment and it seemed to have ablog-breaking effect, as several other comments have lately. So I deleted it but this time it didn't work. Her questions were:

Sue you for liking fire signs or for turning them into one word? THE LATTER

(What is the tatt of? Have I missed something here?) TAT as in tatty -- old mismatched thrown-together clothes. I'm not the tatts type. (NTTAWWT.)