J is for Me

This is the hardest post for me to write in this A-Z challenge. Why?

Because J is my favorite letter.

J is for Jettison, one of my favorite words. When I start out my literature classes, I ask them to share their favorite words. They pick beautiful words, rich words, words that roll off the tongue, words that call to the mind vibrant and vivid images. Words like boink, defenestrate, onomatopoeia, snuggle, disambiguate, chaos, illustrious, turnip, mango, love, kaleidoscope, spicy, noodle, wizard, puddle.

This book is another reason jettison is a funny word.

Jettison is a brilliant word. It makes me laugh. In usage it means to lighten the load by releasing cargo. But truly the word means throwing. Today, for example, I placed my banana peel in the trash can (those of you who know me know I need to have a banana every morning or I freak out). A student laughed and said "what, you're not going to throw it across the room again?" because yes, usually I do like to jettison my scraps across the room to make a basket in the trash. I like to jettison most things. There are a few people I'd like to jettison as well.

Jettison is such a better word than throw, or toss. Blah. No feeling to it. But to jettison something? Think about it.

 I threw out my sandwich.

I jettisoned that sandwich right across the room.

See? Jettison has flavor, jettison has passion. You can't half-heartedly jettison anything. It makes me think of projectiles, jettisoning across the room. In fact, it makes me think of people lightening their loads, putting things in the fuck-it bucket. Stress? Jettison that beezy right now. Some stupid work assignment you don't want to do? Jettison that memo before it's too late. In-laws driving you nuts? Just think about jettisoning your MIL right out the window, which would in fact, not only make her a projectile, but also defenestrate her, and how beautiful is that?

The internet has everything doesn't it?

Words are powerful, far more than we think. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. Ridiculous. Words hurt many people more than sticks and stones. But words can touch the sublime as well. Words can make you laugh, make you drool, call for your spirit, make you rise up and march. Words can captivate and awaken your very soul. And words can manipulate you.

For some J is for Jesus. It fills them with hope and love, or sometimes the opposite. For some Jesus is an excellent blasphemous swear word. Drop a hammer on your foot? Jesus CHRIST! And for some, Jesus is a cousin or brother.

Jelly Belly is a Magical Orgasming Ice-cream Unicorn for kids. Is that wrong?

For others J is for Jelly Belly, the best sugar/crack-house ever invented. I'm not kidding. I grew up near the Jelly Belly Headquarters and went there on a field trip once as a child. Crates up on crates of sugar, holding court in bright colors, just waiting for kids to run their grubby kid hands through it and practice for getting diabetes. And now, years later, I literally have a jelly belly, a belly that is made of jelly. And this shiz isn't funny.


So J is now for jiggle. J is for jettison, jesus, jelly beans. J is for joke, jerk, jackass, and jeer. J is for jump! joy! Justice! J is for judge and jury. J is for jingle, jangle. J is for juicy, and J is for juniper. J is for Jews and just Jihad. Think about the power of these words; the power to evoke images and senses and feelings.

But most of all, J is me. J is the first letter in my first name, and it's the best word of all. J is me.

What's your favorite word?Is there anything (or anyone) you need to jettison?