Amscray (v): (Pig Latin) to leave quickly; to scram

Patrick was not one of us.

I’m not exactly sure who “us” is, but old Pat certainly had resigned any position with the normal flow of the human race and had decided to take the body he stole from his parents and use it for strange causes.

It started when he was a junior in high school. Pig Latin became popular.

Now, I must confess that I’ve always found it annoying and pretentious–one of those things that if you chose to pursue, it was an admission that you had no life and little intention of ever socializing with others.

But Patrick was not satisfied to stop with Pig Latin. Sensing there was a whole barnyard of possibilities, he started trying to teach us cow calls and goose garbles.

When he got into llama language, I found myself, like others, trying to see him coming and racing to escape him on the other side of the school.

By the time we reached graduation, Patrick spent most of his time talking to himself in his animal tongues, and didn’t seem to mind in the least that no one wanted to be around him, completely enamored with his own creative conclusions.

I lost track of him for about ten years, but later found out that he had taken a position as Director of Operations at a Department of Motor Vehicles.

Considering the level of communication that normally goes on at a DMV … Patrick was perfect.

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix