Today, our guest is a wonderful dialect, which, although outdated, is not going to retire. It is all the more wonderful because it allows us to talk a little about literature, mythology and humor. Of course, the reader cannot do without our prompting here. We are considering the adverb “unforgettable” today, this circumstance, we hope, will last for some time in the memory of the reader.
A bit of mythology
Back in school, a person gets acquainted with Greek mythology and then stumbles upon its traces here and there. No wonder, after all, Ancient Greece is the cradle of European culture. Therefore, it’s not a sin for us to fall to this life-giving source. But there is a paradox: the source is life-giving, and we will talk about the river of oblivion - Lete. The reader is probably aware that the newcomers to the kingdom of the dead should have taken a sip from this river so that earthly joys and sorrows will leave them forever. It seems to us that such an approach recognizes a humane attitude to a person. Imagine what torment awaited those who crossed the border of non-existence, if the gods would have kept their memory, and drank it - and that's all in the past.
Next in turn is a beautiful legend about the "finger of an angel." Let's talk about the notch between the nose and lips. There is a version that it is in this place that an angel puts his finger to a person so that the newcomer will forget his past life, and possibly the time he spent outside the body. So, those who are born without it supposedly remember past lives. Although in fact this is a sad sign that development did not go exactly as Mother Nature had planned.
Value
Probably, the reader has already forgotten that we are considering the adverb “unforgettable”. And this is not surprising, since we are too carried away by legends. We return to the topic. As almost always in such cases, the dictionary cannot offer us the meaning of the dialect, but sends us to the adjective. Well, we are not proud people, so we gratefully accept even this help. So, unforgettable is “the same as unforgettable”. Okay, we’ll reveal the meaning of the last adjective: “One that cannot be forgotten, memorable with something, indelible.”
It was probably understandable from the very beginning, but high style always confuses cards.
Ivlina Vaud's novel “Unforgettable” and the ironic meaning of the adjective and adverb
We have already realized that unforgettable is an adverb of high style. But despite this, it can be involved in a joke. For example, the English classic mentioned in the title used an adjective and, moreover, called it his novel. The work is unexpected in plot and intrigue and very cynical. Therefore, high style does not guarantee anything, it does not provide security for the word. In the sense that it can always be included in unseemly contexts. Indeed, stylistic discord is a technique that helps to carve humor out of contradiction. And for this it is not necessary to use a lot of words. For instance:
- Ah, the time when I worked for a penny is unforgettable.
- As my unforgettable dad, a swindler and a swindler, said: “A day spent without deceiving the working class will be lived in vain.”
By the way, the “Pygmalion” humor of Bernard Shaw is built on the same principle when there is a stylistic disagreement in a situation: a girl from a people falls into high society - the viewer and reader die with laughter. This play of the English classic, as well as the meaning of the word “unforgettable”, is eternal.