Two New-Old Words

On this beautiful March day, I have two wonderful words to relay to you all that, in my opinion, need to jimmy themselves back into our everyday lexicon. On second thought, maybe they just need to apply to the "Romance Novel Character Division" ASAP, because that's really where they belong.

Our first word. Imagine a grey and barren landscape surrounding a once handsome, but now showing signs of neglect, southern farmhouse. Inside, two women sit by the fire, debating. Jimmy hasn't been in his right mind since he returned home after being injured in the war, but with no end in sight to the horrible battles raging around them, Arabella feel duty bound to her family and her ideals. There's no way Jimmy can re-enlist, even though his wounds have long since mended themselves. Arabella sees only one option; to Transfeminate:

To turn from woman to man, or from one sex to another.
- Thomas Blount's Glossographia, 1656

It may get awkward when Arabella is captured by a group of Yankees, and even more awkward still when Arabella begins to feel an unwanted spark of attraction to the handsome, and overbearing, Yankee Captain. When Arabella catches a horrible case of pneumonia, her secret is in peril. How will this case of transfemination end for the headstrong Arabella and the handsome Yankee Captain?

Our second word. Honestly, I was writing out a plot for this word, but it was taking way too long. So I'll just give you the word. Insert it into any romance plot you see fit. It will make for a very memorable secondary character indeed.

Metromania:

A species of insanity in which the patient evinces a rage for reciting poetry. From Greek metreon, metre, and mainomai, to be insane.
- Rev. John Boag's Imperial Lexicon of the English Language, c. 1850. Read More......

Four New-Old Words.

It's been awhile since my last Forgotten English word post, so the good words have kind of piled up. Thus, I present to you four new-old words that we should bring back.

Pinchery :
A state of extreme carefulness approaching miserliness.
-Rev. M. C. F. Morris' Yorkshire Folk-Talk, 1892

A State of want or deficiency; poverty. Cumberland.
-Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary, 1896 - 1905

Spurticles :
Spectacles
-R. Pearse Chope's The Dialect of Hartland, Devonshire, 1891

*I thought it was adorable when College-Ted exclaimed "My spectacles!" Imagine how much more hilarious it would have been had he said "My Spurticles!" hahahaha.

Kintra-cooser :
A human stallion; a fellow who debauches many country girls.
-John Mactaggart's Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia, 1824

From kintra, country, and cooser, a stallion.
-John Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, 1879 revision.

* Future romance novelists take note of this word. In fact, I think you should write a Highlander novel (they are very popular after all), just so you can use this word.

And my favorite word thus far this year! Thorough Cough :
Coughing and breaking wind backwards at the same time.
-Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1796

*Ah! The mythical cough-fart! I am heartened to know that it's legend has existed throughout the ages. Also, how hilarious is it that the guy who wrote Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue had the last name Grose. I love it.

Now - go forth and use these words at your will. Expect me to. Read More......

New Year: Revival of a Good Thing.

It's a new year on the Salon, and this year I want to bring back a formerly regular Salon post, but with an added twist. I'm talking about Word of the Week! It's always been one of my favorite regular posts, and this year it will be extra easy, because I bought myself a day by day 2010 calendar of "Forgotten English" by Jeffrey Kacirk, so this way I can just post the extra interesting ones.

Today's admission:

Ackenpucky:
Any food mixture of unknown ingredients. West Virginia
- Harold Wentworth's American Dialect Dictionary

Can I get an "Ewwwwww"?! But such a good word. And one I think that could be used often. More often than one would wish.

Ode to An Hot Dog:

Oh my sweet Hot Dog,
It's sad but it's true,
Whilst eschewing meats,
My desires burned only for you.

How is it fair?
Surely I'm not at all lucky,
that my one favorite meat food
is most certainly ackenpucky.

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Word of the Week!

Cacophony:

• an unpleasant combination of sounds


• language which is perceived as harsh, rough, and unmusical


• Often purposely used in poetry for effect, discordant sounds in the jarring juxtaposition of harsh letters or syllables.

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Word of the Week!

Hello everyone,

Sorry this is soo late but you know how it goes. Anyway, here is your word of the week. Don't forget to send me any suggestions you have and I'll add them to the list of possibilities. But please make sure that the word you suggest is real to at least three people and actually has a definition. Thanks!

Curmudgeon: a crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas, or one who is Gruff, ill-mannered, ill-humored, brusque, surly, or forbidding.

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Word of the Week!

Hello again,

This week's word comes from sailing terminology and you all know my love for the hobby of hobbies, sailing. So i especially love this word because I got to look for pictures of sailboats. But don't worry this word is also fun to apply to people. Go ahead, give it a go, sport.

Yar: characterized by speed and agility

synonyms- nimble, lively, handy, maneauverable .

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Hello Saloners!

I'm here with your word of the week once again and its a real doozy this week. Try and use it sometime this week. Whenever the opportunity arises. I've tried it this weekend and its a real crowd pleaser.

Boondoggle:

do useless, wasteful, or trivial work

work of little or no value done merely to look busy

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Word of the Week!

Hello saloners,
This week's word is a little belated I realize but up until last night I was unsure if I had found a word worthy of joining this most prestigious of written records. But at last as I was reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles I found the answer I sought. In fact I found a couple of answers which might occur in the weeks to come. But this week I wanted to feature an oft overlooked word that I believe deserves not to be left in the past.

Bygones: Things that happened in the past.

Like I said it seems simple but this word has a certain panache and deserves a more common usage especially by a group that strives for just this sort of style in our every day lives.

Here is a quote from Thomas Hardy in which the word is used three times in one sentence (Bravo Hardy).

"Bygones would never be complete bygones till she was a bygone herself." Tess of the D'Urbervilles, pg. 349. Read More......

Word of the Week!

Hello Saloners,

Here again is your word of the week. Have you ever been strolling along a busy street or attending a crowded party or attending a concert and thought to yourself- "Self, I wish I had some new word to appropriately describe these masses."

Well, I have discovered the answer you've been searching for. Thanks to the indelible Chuck Bass and his recent mission to locate where rock bottom is actually located, we now have rediscovered the word Hoi Polloi.

Hoi Polloi:

An expression meaning "the many" in Greek, is used in English to denote "the masses" or "the people", usually in a derogatory sense.

The phrase became known to English scholars probably from Pericles' Funeral Oration, as mentioned in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. Pericles uses it in a positive way when praising the Athenian democracy, contrasting it with hoi oligoi, "the few". Its current English usage originated in the early 19th century, a time when it was generally accepted one must know Greek and Latin in order to be well educated. The phrase was originally written in Greek letters. Knowledge of these languages would serve to set apart the speaker from the common people who did not have that education.

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Word of the Week!

Hello again happy people,
Though it appears that this post was an Amy production it is actually I, Allison. For some reason my own log in did not like the video embed that I had in mind and so adjustments had to be made. Never the less, I persevered and here is your Word of the Week!

Indelible:
Having the quality of being difficult to remove, wash away, blot out, or efface;
incapable of being canceled, lost, or forgotten.

*word courtesy of Amy 

Need an example?
Here is a classic one, though perhaps singular to our own group:


That's right. What is more indelible than a memorably humorous commercial starring our New Zealand heart throb.

For another and perhaps more clear cut example:

That's not coming out. Rather indelible wouldn't you say?

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Word of the Week!

This is a new idea I had for a post. How often have some number of us been conversing and mentioned a word that made us wonder why that isn't used more often? This is our answer to that quandary. If you desire to bring back into common usage any particular turn of phrase, this is where you post. Or if you heard a word somewhere and thought what a wonderfully depictive, vivid, and/or eloquent vocabularial (i made that word up) tidbit, then you can post that too if you think it worthy of being shared. For this first edition I call upon my own experience of the past couple days. For I find myself using a particular word which I have come to truly admire. And so without further ado, here is our first Word of the Week!

Beleaguered: Plagued; beset by trouble or difficulty
-or- surrounded so as to prevent escape; overwhelmed; crushed


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