MANAYUNK, Penn. — Brunch-goer Edwin Smaddle remains totally stoked two weeks after properly using the word “liminal” in conversation, witnesses of the verbal feat reported.
“As the word left my mouth it felt like the hand of God reached down from the heavens and when I shook it we switched places,” Smaddle said of his recent linguistic razzle-dazzle. “Everyone at the table was both impressed and maybe a little jealous, like they were all waiting for the opportunity to say it but I pounced first. Since then I’ve had a bounce in my step; I’m quicker to smile and tipping better. Whenever I enter a room I instantly feel seen as an equal among other respected communicators. But it’s not all about me; I hope my use of ‘liminal’ will inspire others to cop a rush from an arbitrary word-choice flex.”
Friend and frequent brunch attendee Meg Gregory filled in the history that made the occasion so special.
“Edwin had been struggling with some big vocab swings and misses so it was nice to see him finally connect on one,” Gregory said while text-arguing with her ex about Noah Baumbach being a genius. “Recently he told a server he was going to ‘absolutely promulgate this huevos rancheros’ and then minutes later learned the embarrassing way that ‘cruciferous’ has nothing to do with Jesus getting nailed to the cross. The whole crew was starting to doubt him but dropping ‘liminal’ turned all that around. We had to be happy for him though. I will say it’s really gone to his head; yesterday he told me to ‘pretend like there’s a brain in there.’ I guess I liked him better before.”
Lexicographer Melvin Frunk warned of the fleeting glamour of zeitgeisty words and the pseudo-eloquence that comes with them.
“‘Liminal’- like Edwin- is enjoying a moment but it won’t last,” Frunk said while jabbing himself with an EpiPen following mold exposure from an old sandwich. “We all remember the ‘uncanny valley’ craze of 2011 followed by the rising tide of ‘solipsism.’ Soon everything was either ‘anodyne,’ ‘quotidian,’ or worst of all, ‘pedantic.’ But all these words met the same fate; one day we heard some moron say them and we never went near them again. Just last week nothing was hotter than ‘polycule’ but just like the ‘liminal’ rush- poof! It’s over.”
At press time, Smaddle was scrambling to make a cloaca joke before it too lost all caché.
