melancholy?

[Richie Stan]

How come this word is used in nearly every book I have every read, some time many time, and yet I've never heard it spoken in conversations.

[andy-hughes]

I used it a few days ago, it accurately describes the music and poetry of Leonard Cohen, as i said "... his music is not depressing, it's melacholy, which is a different thing ..."

[rojash]

Maybe Richie Stan, you just don't converse with the right people.
Andy-hughes - good example, except for one thing: the music of Leonard Cohen is just plain depressing! :-)

[heathfield]

Sadly, I agree ;-)

[crete]

i agree with andy

[gary baldy]

I use it all the time in conversation.
Thats mainly because
a) i'm a right smart @rse who likes to use big words and
b) i'm a miserable old sod who does actually feel quite melancholy alot of the time.

In the olden days it was actually a medical condition before we understood depression better.

Perhaps you should hang around with me if you want to hear it more often......
.......or perhaps not eh?

[happygirl122]

back in the old days, people's personalities were classified into melancholic, sanguine, phlegmatic or choleric.

If you got ill, you were treated according your personality type...(using leeches to suck out whatever blood that wan't in balance with your personality type...nah just kidding)

but anyway, the melancholic person tended to get depressed, the choleric person tended to catch cholera, the phlegmatic person caught colds etc...you get the pic?

[stephyker]

Happygirl, and what about the sanguine personality? I'm intrigued.

[tictactoe]

I have Dean Martin singing "My Melancholy Baby" on an LP...