"Lackluster"

       Hearing a performance being described as "lackluster" made me aware again of the peculiarity of a word composed of a verb and a noun, the whole word becoming . . . an adjective.

       It reminded me of the wonderful word "stick-to-itiveness."  In this case we have a verb, a preposition, an impersonal pronoun; the "ive" makes it an adjective; and the "ness" makes the word finally--a NOUN.

       Praise the gods of language--they pull off some mighty tricks!

            (For my tribute to the latter word's fortitude, please visit my post on stick-to-itiveness here.)


       [There was no blog hiatus; I kept doing one each day.  But I guess my flu confusion knocked the blog off-kilter, and I couldn't figure how to enter anything till son David came over and solved it for me.]