Patricia Stoltey

Author

K is for Kaput

By:

Once again consulting the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:

Kaput

“Main Entry: ka·put
Variant(s): also ka·putt kə-ˈpu̇t, kä-, -ˈpüt
Function: adjective
Etymology: German kaputt, from French capot not having made a trick at piquet
Date: 1895

1 : utterly finished, defeated, or destroyed
2 : unable to function
3 : hopelessly outmoded”

————————–

How That Applies to Me

Today my get-up-and-go has gone kaput. I have no desire to work on my manuscript submissions or my critique group submission.

It’s just one of those days.

In an effort to re-energize, I’m going out to the garage with my new handy-dandy box cutter, and I’m going to . . . cut boxes. Lots of boxes. We’ve gone over to the new smaller trash container plus the bigger recycle container on wheels. I can finally get rid of the collection of cardboard boxes we’ve accumulated.

And I still haven’t had a chance to plant those pansies, so I’m going to do that before the poor things keel over dead in their tiny little pots.

I’m already yawning, and I haven’t even left the computer yet.

Maybe I’ll take a nap after all that hard physical work.

See what I mean? Kaput!

More from my site

Comments

  1. I was kaput earlier, then I got back on the computer, and found your blog!! I got into blogging just a week ago, after being propelled by Karen Gowen (Coming Down the Mountain), and my publisher who will publish my debut novel in summer 2010. Reading your profile, I think I can relate to you in many ways, and so I’m posting this and putting myself here as a follower. I like what I see on your blog and look forward to coming in again and spending more time checking out all the interesting links–and eventually buying your published books. Next to memoir and YA, I love murder mysteries!!!

  2. I think your word is brilliant the most commonly used one yesterday was Kindness so you went outside the box and I love it!

    I also think this applied to many of us yesterday! I know I feeling rather defeated on my revisions until I took a friends idea and grabbed some ice cream (she said cookies and chocolate milk but I had to compromise!) and sure enough I realized that I didn’t need to revise I needed to rewrite and viola words went onto paper!

  3. I think my Aunty used to use that word all the time. Did Sergeant Shultz and Colonel Clink use that word? I like pansies. I’d have thought it was too cold to plant pansies now. Happy gardening.

  5. Hi,
    There are a lot of days I would like to go Kaput, too! Ha. Somehow, I get the energy to go on and the day quite often turns out well. Sometimes it is better to just say, “Okay, Kaput it is,” and take a day of rest.
    Ruby

  9. Sometimes working on something else can give you time subconsciously work out kinks in your story. I’d chalk it up to a research/planning day. =)

  11. I love this word – although I’ve always used it as meaning ‘broken’ as well. It just sounds great – it’s the hard ‘k’ and the ‘p’. Not used enough in my opinion.

  13. Terry — I had only heard it used as “broken” as well, but it seemed to fit my day and was a “k” word as well.

    Actually, this is kind of a time warp post — I wrote it yesterday and scheduled it for release this morning, but brain was apparently kaput as well because I wrote it as though it was happening today (Tuesday) and it actually happened yesterday. FYI, I cut the boxes and planted the pansies and took a nap. Today is going much better…