Plus ça Change – May 17, 2026
This is what writing is like; for me anyway.
Odds are really good “birl” is a new word for you. English is a fantastic language. (I know two, so I do have some basis for comparison. I love the other one, too.)
Marie Laveaux is a dancer. In another novel I have a dance scene, and the word I hunted for back then applies to her. In fact, I’m gonna go find a place where I can drop this word into Laveaux: Mother. Likely the opening chapter.
— Adapted From 2021
Yesterday I hunted various thesaurus/dictionary sites looking for the right verb for a sentence. Probably spent 15-20 minutes, I didn’t time it, but I was stuck on this. One. Word.
The process is like this: read the sentence, no, too redundant. I used that verb two sentences ago.
Need something…
Rewrite – no that still sucks. Not crisp enough, too many words
Rewrite, try another synonym I already know. Nope, didn’t use that word the first time for a reason.
Hunt, find a possibility. Ah, didn’t think of that. Rewrite. Nope. Shit.
OK, let’s try coming at it from a different direction. Rewrite. Shit.
Hunt again. What the fuck word is that? Look up definition. Spot on, but too obscure. I cant use that. If _I_ have to look it up, it’s a weird word.
Hunt. Nope, nuthin, all the rest are just whack-job words for this idea.
Let’s try that weird word. Rewrite.
PERFECT!
Because English has six (nine, fifteen, ninety-three) ways to say the same thing except that each has a twist, a flavor, an aroma, a color, a subtlety (see what I did there) that refines the impression created in the reader’s mind. I use synonyms, similes, metaphors, even neologisms to get the idea across.
The image I want is a wild carousing, the equivalent of:
Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Lewis Carroll
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
Neologisms, nonsense words, yet everyone knows what it means. I am in AWE.
For me, already used: spin, whirl – simple, easy words
Rejects: rotate, revolve, swivel, roll, gyrate, pirouette (and gimbal)
Because: several of these have mechanical flavor to them, great to describe a gear or orbital mechanics, not so good for dancing.
Pirouette is good, but I used that a bit earlier, one of the characters pirouettes. Not a word to overuse. Besides, it implies agency (a pirouette happens on purpose) and I want the opposite – he is spun around out of control, it happens TO him. He was pirouetted? Nope. Technically, I need an intransitive verb here.
The word: birl
The usage (in 2021): The gift of time embraced him in its dancing birl, and then spun him out of its circle…
Requirement: using a dictionary is optional. I think the phrase “dancing birl” does it. If you don’t know specifically what birl means, “dancing” gives you enough context that you can just blow on by. If you’re an insane crazy person like me, hey, you’ll go look it up and I just gave you a new word.
And, I am reminded when I find this obscure word, OH YEAH! Birling is what log drivers did on rivers. (I used to work in a sawmill, logs are my friends.) It’s even a sport – two guys, one log, see who ends up wet. I knew this, once upon a time.
And that is precisely the image I want. It happens to my boy, time spins him around and tosses him out on his ass, back to reality.
ENGLISH: what an amazing language. Little random gift, “birl” sounds like “whirl,” and there you have it. Happy Sunday!
