Word of the Day: Venerability
What James Earl Jones offered up to the world.
adjective
ven·er·a·ble ˈve-nər(-ə)-bəl ˈven-rə-bəl
1a : calling forth respect through age, character, and attainments
a venerable jazz musician
broadly : conveying an impression of aged goodness and benevolence
encouraged by the venerable doctor's head-nodding
b : impressive by reason of age
under venerable pines
2 : deserving to be venerated
—used as a title for an Anglican archdeacon or for a Roman Catholic who has been accorded the lowest of three degrees of recognition for sanctity
3 : made sacred especially by religious or historical association
venerability ˌve-nə-rə-ˈbi-lə-tē ˌven-rə- noun
venerableness
ˈve-nər(-ə)-bəl-nəs ˈven-rə- noun
venerably
ˈve-nər(-ə)-blē ˈven-rə- adverb
In W.P. Kinsella’s novel “Shoeless Joe,” an Iowa farmer hears voices that tell him first to carve a baseball diamond out of a cornfield and then to find the reclusive novelist J.D. Salinger. The movie version (renamed “Field of Dreams”) changes the author to the fictional Terence Mann, and casts [James Earl] Jones in the part, relying on the actor’s venerability to sell Mann’s sudden change from irascibly reluctant to a true believer in the hero’s cause. While the film can get awfully hokey, Jones’s speeches about baseball, America and hope always ring true.
| Noel Murray, James Earl Jones Movies: From Darth Vader in ‘Star Wars’ to Mufasa in ‘Lion King’
