Quacksalver

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I decided, after choosing "quacksalver" for my inspiration, if I could fit in a lot of obscure "Q" words and still be able to maintain a narrative/make a point. I don't know if the end result is entirely successful--that is up to the reader--but I like it anyway!

Definitions:

Quacksalver--one who falsely pretends to knowledge of medicine

Quicksilver--common name for mercury, which was widely used for medicinal purposes, both in its liquid and salt forms.

Quaffing--drinking; imbibing

Quatsch--nonsense

Qually--used to describe wine as cloudy ot turbid

Querical--of the nature of queries

Quisquous--perplexing; difficult to deal with

Quiddity (pl. quiddities)--unique essence; eccentricity

Quisby--suspicious or odd

Quop--to writhe; to pulsate; to undulate

Quob--to throb; to quiver

Querimony--complaint

Quintessence--the most essential part or embodiment of something

The quacksalver’s quicksilver cure-- slathering a salt salve or quaffing mercury-- might sound like quatsch, a bad wine of qually quality, but remember a time when faith aligned with alchemy, before the querical became the enemy of the clerical, the quisquous nature of faith mirrored that viscous commodity; when quiddities were not quisby oddities and to quop and quob before mysteries did not portend holy querimony but recognition of the quintessence divine.

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Sara Kendrick

Date: 8/6/2023 8:17:00 AM

Congratulations on this winning work in Constance's contest. Way to go. Thanks for sharing this one with us. Now we know that mercury builds up in the body and is deadly even with one dose. Sara