Charles Addams's handwritten letter to one Mr. Gadby is written on New Yorker stationery and dated January 31, 1985, when the celebrated cartoonist was 83. He reflects, "I had always, or since I was a pubert, wanted to draw for the New Yorker." There's no need to run for the dictionary; pubert is Addams's own coinage. Interestingly, Pubert is the name that he wanted to give Pugsley, the Addams Family's decidedly prepubescent boy. The suggestion was nixed, apparently for fear of the network censors (but I happen to think it was the right call regardless). Addams continues, "I sold the first drawing when in art school—which I attended for one year & thus encouraged, became a free lancer." Oh. It sounds so easy when he puts it that way.
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| Charles Addams RR Auction, September 2016 |
Note: Words are funny things. Bloggery, like pubert, is not in the dictionary—yet—despite its abundant clarity of meaning, or perhaps because of it. I'm convinced that, once the OED comes on board, other dictionaries will follow suit.
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