Whacks Aplenty For She Who Confuses Her Waxing

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday November 25, 2006

RUTH WAJNRYB

LAST WEEK, WE considered wax as a noun. Now it's wax as a verb. At least two of these exist. The first is a clear offshoot of nouny wax: it is to wax, as in "I put my car in to be waxed" (that is, to be polished with wax). Or "she went to the beautician to be waxed" (to have wax applied for hair removal). So here wax equals doing something with wax.

This verby wax has a homonym (same pronunciation-spelling, different meaning), which derives from the Old English weaxen, to grow bigger, and is related, believe it or not, to "waist".

Now bigness can be a matter of size, number, strength or intensity; and fortunately, verby wax is adept enough to cover all bases.

The connection to "waist" is odd. The waist is the narrowest part of the (idealised) hourglass figure. While every part of the body waxes (grows) in girth, not so the (idealised) waist. (Note I differentiate between idealised and real. For those non-idealised sorts, we of the dud-deal clan, stand in line behind me as I lodge a class action.)

This verby wax is about changing size. It's in the context of a changing moon that it best emerges. We know the moon changes shape and size over the month. It waxes and wanes. Though the moon doesn't actually increase, it's only the illuminated area visible to us down here that changes.

Lunar associations aside, "wax" also has a particular meaning within a larger verb category called "verbals". These are verbs of "saying" (not doing, behaving, sensing, or existing).

For a lovely range of examples, see any Mills and Boon romance novel, where the repetitiveness of "he said/she said" is relieved through a host of near-synonyms, such as whispered, uttered, cried, shouted, pleaded, beseeched, moaned.

"Wax" is one of these and typically it's immediately followed by the specific kind of utterance being engaged in - like, waxing lyrical, waxing nostalgic, waxing eloquent, waxing poetic, or waxing on about waxing.

So, what it comes down to is that verby wax can be about removing or growing. And nowhere are these more distinct than at the beautician's salon. When you roll up for your Brazilian or your landing strip (who's flying?) you don't want to find your wax is about growing hair, not removing it.

ruth@laraconsultancy.com