Brackish – Nicholas Sparks uses this word a lot.  I think it appears at least once in each of his first several novels.  And, I love that it does!  When I first read it in The Notebook, I fell in love with it right away.  It is used to describe water that is slightly salty, which can be a mixture of salt water and fresh water.  (It can also be used to describe things as unpleasant or distasteful, but I have never come across it used this way, and I hope I don’t any time soon because it may just ruin the word for me!)

To me, something brackish has been softened or muted, but is not entirely changed or completely diluted…I’d like to use the word in this sense in writing applications other than describing water.  Perhaps the best way will be to compare something to brackish water, or is that the easy way out?  I wonder if the usage of the word to describe something unpleasant is more common than I realize and if using it how I would like will even work at all.  Maybe brackish might be effective in describing someone’s attitude or disposition.  I think I will try it and see if it works.

~Melissa 🙂