Fashion Girls

Word Usage Question du Jour

Can someone have a "sleek gait"? As in, "He crossed the room with a sleek gait."

I apparently wrote the sentence, but now it sounds bizarre to me.

Mindy, re-reading chapters of SORCERY and wondering who ensorcelled her!
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Posted on Apr. 25th, 2006 at 08:37 am | | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Comments


[info]karistan

It's a horse you're talking about, right? Otherwise, I agree that it would sound bizarre.
Posted on Apr. 25th, 2006 01:04 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mindyklasky

Nope, a cat-like person. And the comments here have convinced me to change the line :-)
Posted on Apr. 26th, 2006 12:55 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]engineerinhell

It sounds rather odd to me as well, though it might not be that bad in context...also, if you look at webster's definition, it's not an inappropriate usage of the word. Then again, I'd probably flag it for the author's consideration if I was proofreading, simply because it's a weird phraseology.

As regards proofreading, I haven't gotten to the point where I've been paid for it yet, but I've proofread about 114,000 words of fiction since mid-January. Of course, I also proofread other writing, especially technical documents; I've got one that's about 100 pages waiting for me to deal with it tomorrow.
Posted on Apr. 25th, 2006 01:10 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mindyklasky

I'm expecting galleys to arrive in about a week - I'll become Queen of Proofing, for a very short time :-)
Posted on Apr. 26th, 2006 12:55 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]engineerinhell

Sounds like the sort of thing that I'd enjoy—for me, writing it in the first place would be the hard part ;-)
Posted on Apr. 26th, 2006 07:54 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]suricattus

A horse can be described as having a sleek gait (A cat might be sleek-moving but doesn't have gaits). So if you want to bring to mind the image of a person moving like a lean-muscled racehorse, you're in the clear. Otherwise....
Posted on Apr. 25th, 2006 01:23 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mindyklasky

My person is a cat, not a horse. Almost literally :-) Thanks for the input, o Madam Editor!
Posted on Apr. 26th, 2006 12:56 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]suricattus

Interestingly enough, I had a larger problem with "gait" than "sleek," as many things are sleek but very few are specifically gaited...
Posted on Apr. 26th, 2006 01:05 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]sartorias

'Gaint' brings horse to mind...so if you're describing a person, the two words kind of work against one another.
Posted on Apr. 25th, 2006 01:53 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]sartorias

gaint, not gaint. Migraine day.
Posted on Apr. 25th, 2006 01:53 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]mindyklasky

Gait, of course. I hope the migraine is better by today!
Posted on Apr. 26th, 2006 12:56 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]sartorias

I can't believe I still did the error. No, I can. I am amazed I got through yesterday--the kids had to finish ALL my sentences for me.

But the migraine passed about at the end of the looooong faculty meeting.
Posted on Apr. 26th, 2006 01:22 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]ramblin_phyl

Not too words normally seen together outside the horse world. Sometimes that strange juxtoposition works. Sometimes it doesn't. Have to see the whole paragraph and maybe some of the other descriptions of him to tell.

p
Posted on Apr. 25th, 2006 03:34 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mindyklasky

Thanks, Phyl. Actually, this passage is very simple and straightforward - no great literary tricks. But an awkward phrase that has to be modified now :-)
Posted on Apr. 26th, 2006 12:57 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]sorairo_laina

It doesn't sound quite right to me...I usually think of sleek as describing texture rather than movement.
Posted on Apr. 25th, 2006 04:45 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mindyklasky

I most often think of "sleek" with hair - like water streaming off of smooth hair. But that's just me :-)
Posted on Apr. 26th, 2006 12:57 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

Civil Rights Compliance Review

I'm an attorney and I need to introduce as evidence the Civil Rights Compliance Review of the USDA on the Virgin Islands. I understand you were able to locate it with a URL that worked previously. What is that URL? Please help!!!
Posted on Apr. 28th, 2006 01:20 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mindyklasky

Re: Civil Rights Compliance Review

I sent a reply to the email that you sent - if you didn't receive it, post back here and let me know.

Posted on Apr. 28th, 2006 01:14 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply