Desiderata

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Why Tea - 27 Apr 2009 00:12 GMT

Is this the original text: http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm?

At the end of second paragraph, it says
"they are vexatious to the spirit".Shouldn't it be
"vexations" instead of "vexatious"?

/Why Tea

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Pat Durkin - 27 Apr 2009 16:37 GMT

> Is this the original text: http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm?
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> /Why Tea

There are "predicate adjectives" and "predicate nouns". In this case,
either of your choices is OK, but this is poetic use. (I think that in
simple prose, I would leave off "to the spirit", if I were to use either
word at all.)

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Pat Durkin
durkinpa at msn.com
Wisconsin

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John Dean - 28 Apr 2009 01:08 GMT

> Is this the original text: http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm?

It seems to be

> At the end of second paragraph, it says
> "they are vexatious to the spirit".Shouldn't it be
> "vexations" instead of "vexatious"?

'vexatious' is what Ehrmann wrote and seems to be a deliberate choice of
his. OED has cites for the adjective going back to the 16th C. These days
the term is mostly used in a legal context - the "vexatious litigant" is a
well known phenomenon. See, eg,
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courtadmin/aoc/vexatious.htm
Ehrmann was a lawyer so maybe that influenced his choice.

'vexatious' appears in mastertexts.com with examples mainly from the
Brontes, Jane Austen and George Eliot though Walter Scott and Henry James
are there too.

"they are vexatious to the spirit" is outnumbered about 3 to 1 by "they are
vexations to the spirit" in an online search which shows that a majority
think as you do and would rather go with their gut feelings than do some
serious fact checking.

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John Dean
Oxford

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Why Tea - 06 May 2009 01:35 GMT

> > Is this the original text:http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm?
>
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> well known phenomenon. See, eg,http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courtadmin/aoc/vexatious.htm
> Ehrmann was a lawyer so maybe that influenced his choice.

In "vexatious litigant", vexatious is an adjective to the verb
litigant. But in Ehrmann's "... vexatious to the spirit", is
"vexatious" an adjective?

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Peter Duncanson (BrE) - 06 May 2009 09:22 GMT

>> > Is this the original text:http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm?
>>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>litigant. But in Ehrmann's "... vexatious to the spirit", is
>"vexatious" an adjective?

"(the) litigant" is a noun meaning "a party to a lawsuit; someone
involved in litigation".

In "vexatious litigant" "vexatious" is an adjective qualifying the noun
"litigant".

In "they are vexatious to the spirit" "vexatious" is an adjective
qualifying the pronoun "they".

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Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

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BMCT2010 - 16 May 2009 16:47 GMT

> Is this the original text:http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm?
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> /Why Tea

Either one of them is appropriate.

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009

Desiderata