Personality Quirks: J is for Jocund

Are you a writer looking for some interesting personality traits and quirks to create characters? Or maybe you’re a logophile, someone who loves words, and wants to collect more of them. Either way, you’ve come to the right place.

Slim pickings for personality quirks beginning with J. While there was an embarrassment of riches for the H, J had only two that I could find. So I picked one of them.

Your jocund character is defined by jokes and good humor. Someone who is cheerful and lighthearted. Yes, you are right. Jocund is related to jocular and joke. We all have one in our family. Perhaps Uncle Pete is always telling jokes and pulling pranks. Or maybe Aunt Mabel just has the sweetest disposition and the kindest words for everyone.

Jocund comes to us from Latin juvare “to delight” via Old French.

I can imagine a couple of scenarios for a jocund character.

What if Aunt Mabel were targeted by a phone scammer? She wouldn’t believe anyone would actually lie to her and try to get her money. She might make excuses for the scammer, even try to help shim become a better person once she admitted heesh had flaws. Would she convert the scammer? Or would she be crushed, her jocund attitude shattered that she had so misread another person and on top of that, now be broke?

On the other hand, Uncle Pete could be hiding his mental illness behind a jocund exterior. Many comedians suffer from manic-depressive disorder. Perhaps Uncle Pete has a very dark side at odds with his jocund side. Do his depressive episodes deteriorate into violence against himself or others?

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Here are some ideas for #writers on creating jocund #characters from @RomanceRighter

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