JOdY-iSms

I often get asked, “What does JOdY-iSm mean?”

Well, it’s not an ARMY song. Rest easy. I don’t want to steal your girl.

An -ism is a suffix that represents a doctrine or a belief system. We humans like to  -ism our practicing philosophies (from capitalism to idealism, atheism to Buddhism). We even have lots of schisms over them.

Whenever I’m developing characters, I work to understand each of their personal belief systems and often find myself making a list of their -isms. My most favorite of these developed/collected -isms flows through the priceless advice of 90-ish year-old Aintin Aoife in At the Water’s Edge, as we could all stand to have a “wise auld wan” putting us in our place every now and again.

Another case in point. Growing up, here’s how I processed the world through my dad’s eyes (or, rather, his -isms):

DADism 1: Well, Snort, it’s not as long as it has been.

(Refer to the picture above for an adequate explanation of the nickname.)

DADism 2:  When you grow up, I hope you have kids just like you.       

(Three busy boys later…Darnit. He got the last laugh.)

Mostly, a JOdY-iSm is one of my various and sundry remarks (read this as ‘useless information’) that tends to pop into my head concerning my personally warped take on life (when even I least expect it). Check some of them out in my Journal of JOdY-iSms (or just make some up of your own) – if you dare.

And I double dog dare you!