I think I first came across the word ‘awry’ when I was 10 or so, probably during the month that summer when I did nothing but read The Lord of the Rings. The meaning was clear enough from the context, but how to pronounce it? I decided to apply logic. Since ‘tawdry’, ‘bawdy’ and ‘tawny’ all had the accent on the first syllable, so it was with ‘awry’. aw-ree.

This is how I said the word, often enough, for 15 years, happy to pepper my conversations with the slightly off-beat adjective. And everybody nodded knowingly whenever I asserted something had gone aw-ree, including such notable pedants as John/Eurof.

Then, one day–I believe it was at a halloween party in Washingon, DC–when, dressed up as the Taliban (hey it was 1995, they were funny then), I used the word on Tanya Epstein.

“Oh, you mean a-wry?” she said.

“No, no, aw-ree.”

A survey was conducted. Everybody said a-wry. She was right of course.

And last week, I found another such word.

Elise Galaty asked me, “what’s another word for morays?”

“You mean, like the eels?”

“No, like the social custom.” She spelled it for me.

“Oh! mors.”

“No, no, morays.” She was right, of course: ‘mores’, as in society’s prevailing moral attitude, is pronounced morays. It does not rhyme with s’mores, that tasty marshmallow snack.

But the question remains, what did John/Eurof think I was saying every time I chided him over the years with “where are your mors?”

[Sat, Nov 09 2002 – 12:15] marc (www) (email) stefan, we went through this whole awry crap in NYC in ’96 in your St. Marks abode. so i guess that means you’re also a slow learner.

[Mon, Nov 11 2002 – 06:53] eurof (email) I don’t think you ever asked me where my mores were. If you had, likely I would have dismissed it just a bit more meaningless babble. Anyway, i think it’s not “more-ays”, like the eels, but rather more “more-esz”, like Pez the candy. at least that’s how i always pronounced it, but i could be wrong.

the pun on the song “that’s amore” and reef dwelling-eel, by the way, well, i was all over that long before you thought of it, even to the extent of thinking of alternative lyrics: e.g. “Eeeet’s a gigantic eel/ That can bite off your heel,/ That’s a Moray/ (chorus, omnes, “that’s a Moray”)” and other verses like it.

[Mon, Nov 11 2002 – 15:35] Charles Kenny (www) (email) Eeets a binding custom, moral/not a fish that lives in coral/ That’s a mores.

[Mon, Nov 11 2002 – 15:48] Charles Kenny (www) (email) Where would your mores be? I don’t think you can keep them fully inside you, because they are social. I guess the analogy is the ‘outie’ belly button, both part of you and part of the world at large. But then again, maybe they are to the left of your essence.

[Tue, Nov 12 2002 – 02:03] kartika (email) Hmm that could be a corruption of the original meaning Charles. I mean, remember the Cicero quote “O tempora o mores”- “Oh what times, Oh what morals….”- I think they are well and tryly “innie” belly buttons as morals really are inside you… Thoughts?

K

[Tue, Nov 12 2002 – 10:11] eurof (email) “eet shoots out of it’s cave/ no, your arm you won’t save,/ that’s a moray”

Charles, not only are you not very knowledgeable about political philosophy, your rhymes don’t scan.

[Tue, Nov 12 2002 – 10:13] eurof (email) Kartika, maybe Cicero was in a Japanese restaurant and was misquoted. He might have been saying: “Oh, tempura? More please!”

[Tue, Nov 12 2002 – 10:22] Charles Kenny (www) (email) I think the common understanding of Cicero’s quotation has it that he is indeed talking about the state of public (customary) morality –the context of the quote would suggest that, I think. Although, let’s be honest, I’m not up to translating it: “Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia? Nihilne te nocturnum praesidium Palati, nihil urbis vigiliae, nihil timor populi, nihil concursus bonorum omnium, nihil hic munitissimus habendi senatus locus, nihil horum ora voltusque moverunt? Patere tua consilia non sentis, constrictam iam horum omnium scientia teneri coniurationem tuam non vides? Quid proxima, quid superiore nocte egeris, ubi fueris, quos convocaveris, quid consilii ceperis, quem nostrum ignorare arbitraris? O tempora, o mores!”

[Tue, Nov 12 2002 – 10:57] eurof (email) jesus. you must be bored.

[Tue, Nov 12 2002 – 11:53] Charles Kenny (www) (email) Yes I am bored, and I think I’ve got yuppy ‘flu as well. Well, youngish, flatwardly mobile bureaucrat ‘flu at any rate.

[Tue, Nov 12 2002 – 16:38] Felix (www) (email) Here you go, Charles, this should help you out.

[Wed, Nov 13 2002 – 04:08] kartika (email) I think Cicero was a vegetarian Eurof, in accordance with his clean living, self righteous stance.. So depends on the tempura…food for thought(tacky Kartika really tacky)