Ridiculous…

‘Ridiculous’ is one of my favourite words. In fact it may be the most apt word to describe many aspects of my life. It is so versatile. I find myself using the word ‘ridiculous’ seriously, sarcastically, harshly and following up comments with a witty ‘ridiculous’. I use it as adjective, abverb and noun and relish in its usefulness throughout each ridiculous day. Perhaps I use it ridiculously but the point is, I can.

My dictionary, Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus, describes the word ridiculous as ‘deserving to be laughed at, absurd’.

The word ridiculous is of Latin origins and was used as far back as the early 1500s to mean laughable, droll. I now have an image in my head of Caesar using the word ridiculous to rally his troops and call for his wine goblet. Did he perhaps ever wonder whether a toga is in fact ridiculous? Did he cry out ‘these Centurion helmets could possibly be ridiculous’?

I am in awe of words like ‘ridiculous’ that ingratiate themselves into our everyday language and are as strong a descriptive and as poignant as they were thousands of years ago. To me the word ridiculous embodies humour, power and accusation. It is more than just a word. It is a tool to express my every thought and condense it into a valid and appropriate method of communication. This blog is at times, ridiculous. See what I mean?

Embrace the ridiculous usefulness of this word. Weave it into a sentence and challenge yourself to find it as perfectly relevant as I do. Relish in the depth of its meaning and its ability to mould to and twist every situation to its advantage. What intelligence is contained within those 10 little letters? Ridiculous. Go on, use it just once and have a little sample of my daily glee. After all, what could be more ridiculous that ridiculous itself?

Elloise Hopkins.