From Dictionary.com:
mi·as·ma [mahy-az-muh, mee-]-noun, plural -mas, -ma·ta
- noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; poisonous effluvia or germs polluting the atmosphere.
- a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere.
Good King Mortimer fell to his death from the parapet into the moat of his crumbling castle. The black water burped a miasma over the splash.
Tabloid reporters watched for the slip of a celebrity with drooling tongues out and wagging. When no slip came, they pulled whispers from the miasma over Hollywood to feed the masses.
Jerry ate a pizza with roasted cloves of garlic and Canadian bacon. That night before falling asleep, he tittered and his sleeping cat woke and ran away from where she was tucked against his ass. Alex, his partner, covered his face so the miasma from Jerry’s side of the bed wouldn’t infect his body. “Your insides are rotting inside your body, you sick, sick, repulsive human being.” Alex said to Jerry.
Alex rolled over in the middle of the night to hug Jerry and was startled from his stupor as the miasma from Jerry’s mouth hit him full force in the face. He quickly rolled back over.
On a plane over the Atlantic, Alex sat in his sweat caused by a lack of sleep and nerves. After five hours, a rough atmosphere of miasma lingered two feet from his skin, choking his fellow passengers and his loving partner.
saltine | 19-Apr-07 at 11:34 am | Permalink
I remember the first time I ever saw this word! EAPoe’s “Fall of the House of Usher”, Mrs. Bell’s seventh grade English class. My other big word acquisition that year was “tenacity”.
Current definition of miasma: fishy odor with earthy undertones that crawls through the fuselage of Qantas business class. Source: pre-boarding passengers who have been grazing the Qantas lounge buffet, filling up on crackers spread with vegemite
Junior | 19-Apr-07 at 12:33 pm | Permalink
My miasma introduction was also The Fall of the House of Usher, but it was eleventh grade. Now I feel dumb.
alex | 19-Apr-07 at 12:34 pm | Permalink
Oooooo, I like the Qantas thing. Is that something you just made up or did you read it somewhere or what?
saltine | 19-Apr-07 at 12:55 pm | Permalink
If by “made up” you mean “are those words original with Candace?”, then yes. If you mean, “is that an imaginary story?”, then no. I live in the miasma of Vegemite every time I fly.
alex | 19-Apr-07 at 4:33 pm | Permalink
I feel for you.
saltine | 19-Apr-07 at 4:36 pm | Permalink
Want me to bring ya some back from Oz next year? Yummy! You can have breath that smells like fish bait too! You can keep it in the pantry forever. It doesn’t go off; it already is off.
crumpet | 19-Apr-07 at 4:52 pm | Permalink
Heathen. Vegemite has no resemblance to fish bait whatsoever. Vegemite is a beautiful thing.
saltine | 19-Apr-07 at 6:12 pm | Permalink
If scraped off the bottom of a beer barrel can do beautiful, then, yes, it’s a beautiful thing.
(Where are the emoticons? I want crumpet to know “no harm, no foul”.)
Lynch | 20-Apr-07 at 12:22 am | Permalink
I feel somehow like a bridge between nations. I was born in the U.S. but somehow I like vegemite. On toast. In the mornings.
But I do feel your pain Saltine. If I look at it objectively I can see how you can find it less than palatable. It’s a sort of ‘Love it’ or ‘Hate it’ condiment.
alex | 20-Apr-07 at 5:59 am | Permalink
How come with this group the discussion devolves into a discussion of food? I’ve never had this vegimite, and I don’t think I’ll try it. I love the Men at Work song, though.
alex | 20-Apr-07 at 5:59 am | Permalink
And speaking of foreign-to-the-US spreads, I loves me some nutella.
MagnusFromBerlin | 20-Apr-07 at 11:34 am | Permalink
my formerly nutella-addicted brother (he used to eat the stuff straight from the jar, without making the bread detour) would be very proud… he btw was just in australia and brought back vegemite…
saltine | 20-Apr-07 at 3:51 pm | Permalink
Brought back vegemite? Why? His car needs a lube job?
MagnusFromBerlin | 23-Apr-07 at 2:37 am | Permalink
not sure what he intends to do with it… I just asked him if he had it for his breaki and he replied “Sure, it’s awful. I brought some back if you wanna to try…”
the one with the issue with jerry at Balding Angrily | 27-Apr-07 at 5:05 pm | Permalink
[…] Jerry infrequently reads the site; about two weeks ago I got sick of saying, “Hey, I added something to the blog. Go read it.” So, last night I was surprised when he said, “You’re mean, writing stories about me, making people think all I am is stinky.” […]