Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Wednesday's Word: Friend-Fection

Today’s word is friendfection. This is what happens when your friends rub off on you. Do not be frightened.  It happens to everyone.

Have you ever found yourself using words that your friend uses? Or picking up an accent without realizing it? Ask Madonna…she’s British now and it’s all due to friendfection.

Most of us know what it feels like to be in a solemn situation and have the diabolical laughter of a friend spread to us. Maybe you were in church when this happened, or school. The last time it happened to me, I was in a PTO board meeting. The principal has never looked at me the same. It took until my thirties to be labeled the bad kid.

When it comes to our writing, we are directly influenced by friends. We base our characters at least partially on certain traits stolen from friends, family, and co-workers. Where we would be without the added flavor they bring? The more diverse the better, because the more points of view we see in any situation, the more we grow as people and writers.

Friendfection is the only disease worth catching…and spreading.


And that, my friends, is the Word.

7 comments:

  1. I love friendfection!!! Great word. And yes, I do find myself picking up words friends use.

    I agree, diversity of friends and aquaintances is very important to writers. And it's more fun.

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  2. Oh Marsha. Succumb to Twitter this very hour. Am I rubbing off on you yet? Then instal tweetdeck. You can thank me later.

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  3. :) I know exactly what you're talking about. My friends' slang always ends up in my vocabulary, sometimes leading to interesting discussions about who started saying what first. :)
    And, of course, giggles are always infectious!

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  4. omg so true! like, whenever i read Jane Austen i'm always wondering why i don't have an accent and every other word i use isn't 5 syllables long.

    oh to be best friends with Jane Austen would be so awesome.

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  5. I do it frequently, it nearly creeps them out how accurate their 'characters' are in my MS *grin*

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  6. I've got a bad case of friendfection. LOL. It comes in handy, sometimes. :)

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  7. I'm so totally tempted to have a character that makes up words like this! lol!

    I was just thinking about this yesterday. A neighbour got me mad, and even after I got over it, I knew I'd still blog about it. And I thought, "Poor neighbour." It's a hazard being in the friend circle of a writer sometimes.

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It helps to know I'm not just talking to myself.