Wordsmith... Tunesmith... Blacksmith... Bleusmith

I noticed in my last blog entry I used the expression 'wordsmith.' In the post before that I used the word 'tunesmith.' It bothers me a little since I don't like to sound repetitive (I'm obviously a bit obsessed unhinged well adjusted and getting along fine with the rest of my species). It used to bother me when I read other students' papers, but then again, I'm sure those students were the same ones who thought that a thesaurus was some sort of pre-historic reptile. It amazes me to this day that people can get into college without even mastering the use of pronouns, or writing a grammatically correct sentence for that matter. Anyhow, I got to thinking about the name Smith. Derived from the Anglo-Saxon word 'smitan' meaning to smite or strike. It's obviously one of those names derived from the trade associated with the family profession. Derivatives include Smyth, Smythe, and my personal favorite Schmidt (nothing says smite quite like a bunch of harsh consonants all grouped together like an angry, surly Saxon mob) which seems to go well with the German word rammstein which means (loosely translated) "thing you use to batter down the castle gates." I guess that since metalworking was such a ubiquitous trade back in the day, the result is that the name is now the most common in the Western world. Incidentally my last name is also derived from a trade. It's French for wheelwright, and a wright is essentially a construction worker. Making the wheels is not quite as cool as inventing the wheel, but it seems that it must have been a pretty important job all the same.

I'm not sure exactly what a bleusmith is, since I made it up. I'd like to think it's a person who specializes in making a certain moldy cheese. Really I was just trying to sound a bit like another wordsmith I have long admired who was a toonsmith to boot.