JC
OKAAAAY. THIS CLASS IS NOT FINISHED – PLEASE CAN YOU HELP!!
PICK A TAYLOR SONG FROM OUR TOP 52 (LISTED BELOW) AND WRITE A SHORT REVIEW! IN THAT REVIEW, YOU MUST USE A BEAUTIFUL AND INTERESTING CREATIVE WORD WHICH ALL STUDENTS CAN THEN AIM TO INCORPORATE IN THEIR OWN WRITING! IN SOME CASES, I’VE MADE A SUGGESTION OF A WORD THAT MIGHT FIT – BUT FEEL FREE TO USE A DIFFERENT WORD ENTIRELY!
SEND YOUR REVIEW TO jc@soundofpen.com OR POST ON TWITTER OR ON INSTAGRAM.
I’VE BEEN USING WORDS FOUND AT MENTAL FLOSS AMONGST OTHER PLACES. YOU MIGHT WANT TO SEARCH: ‘MENTAL FLOSS WORDS BEGINNING WITH ___ ‘.
ALTHOUGH DO TRY TO AVOID USING VOCAB THAT IS COMPLETELY ARCHAIC/OBSOLETE.
THE WORDS CHOSEN SHOULD ALLOW OTHER STUDENTS TO ADD PERSONALITY AND PANACHE TO THEIR WRITING. AS AN EXAMPLE, YOU CAN LOOK BELOW AT THE REVIEWS ALREADY COMPLETED.
THEN PICK A TRACK FROM THE TOP 52 LIST THAT HASN’T BEEN REVIEWED YET.
THERE ARE 2 SONGS PER LETTER. YOU’LL FIND THE THE LETTER YOU NEED TO USE NEXT TO THE SONG TITLE. FOR EXAMPLE: IF YOU’RE REVIEWING ‘BEJEWELED’, YOU NEED TO INCORPORATE A GORGEOUS WORD BEGINNING WITH ‘P’; IF YOU’RE REVIEWING ‘OUT OF THE WOODS’, YOUR CHOSEN SPECIAL WORD NEEDS TO BEGIN WITH ‘H’.
THIS ACTIVITY IS OPEN TO EVERYONE – WHETHER OR NOT YOU’VE BEEN INVOLVED WITH SOUND OF PEN BEFORE!
TAYLOR SWIFT’S BEST 52 SONGS!
52. Cruel Summer: captures the zigzaggery nature of relationships without compromising any of Swift’s zazziness.
51. Getaway Car: if the stories are true and Calvin Harris is the person Taylor’s fleeing from here, there’s something of the zwischenzug about her decision to use Tom Hiddleston as a getaway car!
50. Dress: in coarser hands, the thrilling, elegant ‘Dress’ might have ended up as the narrative for a modern-day yellow-back!
49. Enchanted: as much a metaphorical yump as it is a song, ‘Enchanted’ perfectly articulates the feeling of leaving solid earth and departing for the land of love.
48. Midnight Rain: on every level, a xyresic masterpiece.
47. cardigan: somehow as xilinous as it is xiphoid, the bittersweet ‘cardigan’ is a triumph.
46. When Emma Falls In Love: the wind can wuther all it wants, but ‘When Emma Falls In Love’ is the sound of our dreams refusing to blow away.
45. Look What You Made Me Do: when the world tried to take Taylor down, of course the writative pop star did what she did best – she penned a lyric that ensured no one would ever come for her again!
44. All Of The Girls You Loved Before: less attention-seeking than some of the ‘Lover’ material, perhaps, but just as vivifying!
43. If This Was A Movie: ‘If This Was A Movie’ is as veracious as it is fantastical – and it’s Taylor Swift’s ability to mix the real and the romantic that makes her music so powerful.
42. dorothea: the ululations of Taylor’s speaker here make perfect sense: the girl has gone, the world is changing, and ‘dorothea’ somehow captures the sound of that great distance between what once was and what will now be.
41. Haunted: U
40. illicit affairs: T
39. Begin Again: Tripudiate
38. You’re On Your Own, Kid: Saccadic
37. This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Sanguinolency
36. Cornelia Street: R
35. Picture To Burn: R
34. the 1: Q
33. We Are Never Getting Back Together: Q
32. Sparks Fly: P
31. Bejeweled: P
30. Death By A Thousand Cuts: O
29. Castles Crumbling: O
28. champagne problems: N
27. Gorgeous: N
26. Wildest Dreams: M
25. Fifteen: M
24. Snow On The Beach (feat. More Lana Del Rey): L
23. betty: L
22. Paper Rings: K
21. Wonderland: K
20. Anti-Hero: J
19. Better Than Revenge: J
18. no body, no crime: I
17. Mr. Perfectly Fine: I
16. Out Of The Woods: Halcyon
15. Ready For It?: H
14. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince: G
13. Mine: G
12. Blank Space: F
11. Should’ve Said No: F
10. the last great american dynasty: E
9. Long Live: Effervescent
8. You Belong With Me: Diaphonous
7. The Man: D
6. Style: Cynosure
5. Stay Stay Stay: C
4. exile: B
3. Our Song: B
2. Love Story: A
1. All Too Well: A
And here’s your glossary…
Thanks to PAUL ANTHONY JONES & MENTAL FLOSS – and also Reader’s Digest – for many of the definitions!
Zigzaggery
A zigzagging course or route? That’s a zigzaggery.
Zazzy
Slang from the 1960s for something showy or colorful. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it might be a combination of “zippy” and “jazzy.”
Zwischenzug
borrowed from the chess world is zwischenzug—literally an “intermediate move”—in which a player makes an unexpected or seemingly unwise move, either to play for time or to force their opponent to change their tactic, thereby taking more control over the game. In general use, zwischenzug can likewise refer to any interim step or tactic that buys time, or changes the course of events.
Yellow-Back
In Victorian England, some book publishers began mass-producing cheap, sensationalist novels to compete with the increasingly popular penny-dreadfuls. The books—totaling more than 1000 different titles—were printed and bound in bright mustard-yellow jackets to attract readers’ attention, and were put on sale not in book stores but as impulse buys in tobacconists, train stations, and other everyday locations. Although the yellow-back publishing trend didn’t last, the name has remained in use in English to describe any sensationalist, mass-produced, and often poor-quality novel.
Yump
When a car leaves the ground when it crests a hill at speed, it yumps.
Xyresic
Means “razor-sharp.”
Xilinous
Something described as xilinous resembles or feels like cotton…
Xiphoid
… while something described as xiphoid resembles a sword.
Wuther
As Emily Brontë herself explained in her 1847 novel, “Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff’s dwelling. ‘Wuthering’ being a significant provincial adjective descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather.” Also spelled whither or whudder, wuther first appeared in the language in the mid-1400s, when it originally meant “to move with great force.” It’s likely descended from an even earlier Scandinavian word, meaning “to move or knock back and forth.”
Writative
If you’re writative, then you love or are inclined to write.
Vivific
Anything that enlivens or gives life is vivific. The process involved is called vivification.
Veracious
Honest and truthful.
Ululate
To howl like a wolf.
Tripudiate
To dance or leap for joy, or to stamp your feet in triumph or celebration, is to tripudiate.
Sanguinolency
You may have heard of “sanguine,” which can mean both “happy and hopeful” and “red, flushed, or related to blood.” But that word is small potatoes compared to its almost-extinct cousin “sanguinolency,” which is a way, way nicer way of just saying “something bloody” or “something related to blood.”
Saccadic
Characterized by discontinuous or sporadic movement; jerky.
BONUS WORD: Syzygy
Refers to an alignment of celestial bodies or planets. This might be our new favorite word! The metaphorical alignment of two people, ideas, or events.
Halcyon
Denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful.
Effervescent
Bubbly; (of people and their behaviour) excited, enthusiastic and full of energy
Diaphanous
Here’s another word with a somewhat regal sound. Despite its phonetic oomph, this word actually means “sheer and light; almost transparent” or “delicately hazy.”
Cynosure
A person or thing that attracts notice, esp because of its brilliance or beauty.
Here’s some advice that will help you to structure this (or any) A-Level essay.
Once you’re done, please do send your ideas in.
Then have a go at another Taylor lesson!