In a never-completed essay that she began in 2002, Jeanette Hardage admits to being a “word addict,” prone to studying not only dictionaries but also any written words put before her, on everyday objects such as a cereal box or a medication information pamphlet. She begins to muse a bit about favorite words, warning that “asking a word addict to choose a favorite word is like asking a mother to choose her favorite child.” Nonetheless, she goes on to select the word “smarmy.”
Since the meaning of “smarmy” is about as far from Jeanette’s character as one can get, it is hard to imagine what she would have said about that word and why she was so strongly attracted to it. Alas, the draft essay ends there with “to be continued.” Presumably she had dissected this word until it had revealed its secrets, as she says in the poem below, which is included in her Faith and Other Matters anthology.
Meaning
Words hold secrets.
Knock them around,
chop them apart,
torment them until they tell all.If you listen with your whole self
they’ll drive you to your knees.
Epiphany.