Words best left on the shelf — today: eudaemonic

Here’s a word that never got on my radar. Eudaemonic: conducive to happiness. I need a eudaemonic martini right about now.

It’s a word that’s hard to work into conversation without raising questions, though, particularly because it makes one seem like a pompous bastard like William F. Buckley. I can just imagine him using eudaemonic and looking at you with a sneer because he knows you have no idea what it means.

Also, the word as “daemon” built right into it. That’s just an archaic spelling of “demon,” which carries its own baggage in terms of connotations. And to think that demons are somehow conducive to happiness is confusing, unless you’re in a satanic cult, I suppose, or a Republican. Either way, people aren’t going to want to converse with you, so you won’t get a chance to use your fancy new word.

Better, all around, to just choose a different word. How about “blithesome”? Or “groovy”?

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