PASTICHE

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 25 August 2011

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PASTICHE  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) an artistic work incorporating different styles or composed of elements from various sources
2. (n.) an artistic work that imitates the style of another artist or style
3. (n.) any hodgepodge; mixture

Useful information for game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: HEPATICS, PISTACHE
• Longer extensions: -UR, -URS
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: PASTICCIO, PASTICCI
• Related Forms: PASTICHEUR (n.)

Epilogue:
A PASTICCIO was an Italian pie consisting of a mixture of meat and pasta (from pasticium, “pie”), with an extended meaning of any “confused affair.”  English language speakers liked the word so much that they borrowed the French form, PASTICHE, too, and that spelling is now the more common one in English.

It is not unusual for words referring to a mixture of foods to gain an extended meaning of “any mixture of things”: GALLIMAUFRY, HODGEPODGE, OLIO, POTPOURRI, SALMAGUNDI, and SMORGASBORD can all refer to a tasty assortment of foods as well as to any assorted mixture of things.

This week’s theme: A pastiche of words starting with the letter P

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