Wednesday word: Pecksniffian

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

Heee, such a fun word!  ^_^

pecksniffian: [pek-snif-ee-uhn]

Adjective: Hypocritically benevolent; sanctimonious; Affecting high moral principles.


Origin:1850-55; named after Seth Pecksniff, character in Martin Chuzzlewit, a novel by Charles Dickens.

"Pecksniffish" is an acceptable variation.

Comments

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

From what I've read that adjective would seem to describe Dickens himself well.

Nice choice!

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

It rather does sound like what it is, the British are so dastardly good at names!

It's all the rage to rag on Dickens these days, but I still enjoy his work. I mean if Lovecraft can be a manic depressive racist and Tessla is becoming a household word despite being an intellectual eugenist...then there's clearly room to breathe in the category of writing and admiration despite flaws. lol

Re: Nice choice!

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

You're right. The sound of this one fits the definition for sure!

It might just be my own ignorance, but I never thought of Dickens this way. He was extremely depressive in spite of his (for the most part) privileged life, but I remember passages of such compassion in A Christmas Carol. :-) Granted, that IS the only Dickens I've read. >_>

And you are absolutely right about Tesla and Lovecraft! LOL I love Lovecraft's work... but his racism, classism and misogyny--which was so VERY present in his writing-- was repellant and embarrassing! To be fair, he did get better about the racism in his later years and regretted and disagreed with much of what he thought and said in his earlier years. Either way, his imagination dazzles me, and I still love his work. ;-P

Re: Nice choice!

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

Also, Lovecraft would've been screwed if the women in his life had not catered to his extreme misanthropy (that honestly bordered -- if it wasn't formally -- Aspergers, imho); I find his psychological state as interesting as his work in conjunction with one another (it really is the exploration of his own mind) although it also did alter the current notions of sci-fi at that time.

I met someone whose mother reputedly hated A Christmas Carol for being "preachy" and there was something ironically humorous about that. I definitely needed the term Havisham and have used it readily.