Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a brain stimulating meme hosted every week by Kathy at Bermudaonion.net
My entry today caught my attention because, although I’m familiar with the word, I’ve never heard it used like this. I could totally relate to this passage from Dorothea Benton Frank’s novel Folly Beach:
They say you can raise one hundred boys for the energy it takes to raise one girl and I think truer words were never spoken. I loved my ballistic girl more than anyone in this world, except for my son, and I knew her attitude got in between her and happiness…
If you agree with this statement, raise your hand. (My arm is waving). Although, I’m not so sure it’s energy that my daughter requires; more like patience.
Now, to ballistic:
ballistic \bə-‘lis-tik\ adj.
- Of or relating to ballistics or to a body in motion
- Being or characterized by repeated bouncing, like ballistic stretching
- Extremely and usually suddenly excited, upset, or angry; wild (like a teenager, I’m thinking)
Clearly, Frank is using the third meaning. A fun synonym for ballistic is apoplectic, which I also had to look up this week. Now that’s a tongue twister.
Word Nerd Workout
Use ballistic or apoplectic in a sentence.
When I came home at 2 am, my ballistic father bombarded me with a lecture on responsible behavior.
Your turn! And thanks for stopping by.
Julia
I only knew the third definition! I always just thought is meant wild and crazy. 🙂
I think the only time I’ve used this word has been in a sarcastic sense. “Don’t go ballistic on me.” 😉
Hope you’ve got some sun in your area. 😉
the rain is still nice, esp. at night with the storms. 😉
Hester,
I thought ballistic just referred to someone being angry and I thought it got that meaning from weapons for some reason. I was ballistic when my son threw a ball in the house right after I told him not to.
This definition of ballistic describes my daughters perfectly! Their little bodies are ALWAYS in motion, often BOUNCING off the the walls, and toddler mood swings and tantrums definitely lead to EXTREME and sudden excitement or despair!
Last night, my ballistic 3+ y/o didn’t want to stop running at the summer track meet. She ran four events, including a 9:38 mile. Talk about a body in motion!
Great sentences everyone! I’m thinking we can all use ballistic quite well!
I think every mother of a teenage boy knows this word! My sentence:
When the pitch ricocheted off the helment of the lead-off hitter, the ballistic coach slung his hat to the ground and stomped toward the umpire.
Not that I’ve ever actually SEEN such a thing 😉
Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the word used as an adjective in front of a noun before. I guess I’ve only ever seen it used by itself — as in, “When Mom saw the state of my room, she went ballistic.”
Exactly! Me either Dianne. That’s why it stuck out to me.