THE FIRST WORD

writer's block

PRONUNCIATION:

(RY-tuhrs blok) 

MEANING:

noun: A usually temporary psychological inhibition preventing one from proceeding with a piece of writing.

ETYMOLOGY:

After the term 'block' or 'blocking' used to describe obstruction in mental processes resulting in an inability to do a certain task. Earliest documented use: 1950.

NOTES:

The writer's block has been described as the situation when your imaginary friends won't talk to you. But this condition is not limited to fiction writers or even to writers. Here's the composer Rossini's advice on this matter:
"Wait until the evening before the opening night. Nothing primes inspiration more than necessity, whether it be the presence of a copyist waiting for your work or for the prodding of an impresario tearing his hair. In my time, all the impresarios in Italy were bald at thirty."