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Pronounced “bleet,” it’s a noun and (transitive and intransitive) verb that rhymes with “skeet” and “feet” and “teat.” Definitions as follows:
Noun:
1. The characteristic cry of a goat or sheep; a similar sound.
2. A whining, feeble complaint; a protest.
Intransitive verb:
3. To utter the characteristic cry of a goat or sheep.
4. To utter a sound similar to this cry, especially a whine, to talk complainingly, to blather.
Transitive verb:
5. To utter in a whining way.
I enjoy this word because its applications are endless and I think it’s practically onomatopoeia.
To illustrate, I’d like to call upon the assistance of my friend new friend, Bob:
Young Bob often felt defeated,
And when he was, he bleated.
As a child, he wept when his locks
got into a bit of a tangle,
and he cried some more when his diaper,
hung at a less-than-convenient angle.
He wailed at the age of eight
when his bangs would not hang straight.
And he’d blather on as a teen
at any upset in his routine.
In the middle of mass one Sunday,
Bob let out a blood-curdling wail,
causing a tremendous commotion,
all because of a small hangnail.
At thirty, he whimpered a week
when his best friend called him a freak.
Bob seemed to whine all the more with age.
So all were shocked when he was engaged.
He let out a passionate bleat
Then stared at his feet, avoiding her eye,
As his wife proclaimed on their wedding day,
she’d always wanted a sensitive guy.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
There’s sensitive, and then there’s El Bobbo.
Plaintive, almost exclamatory whining – it’s the coin of the realm in entirely too much social and political discourse these days. We don’t have elephants and donkeys, we have pink and baby blue sheep bleating at each other on four networks and fourteen thousand web sites.
I, personally, hew to the Homer Simpson approach: “Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t understand.”
Sadly enough, it’s difficult to disagree with your assessment of American politics, Rafe. The few rational voices are drowned out by the blathering on both sides.
And that was precisely my reaction (though I can’t claim to have quoted Homer Simpson), when Obama referred to voter apathy as “inexcusable” a while back.
I have not been here since I’d say, july or so, and i’m so disappointed, I forgot how much i enjoy WoW
You’re disappointed? I’m disappointed! Hah, just kidding. Well, mostly. Welcome back! I forgot how much I enjoyed you enjoying WoW.