Is It Me?

Or has anybody else been wondering; does the increasing popularity of BlueTooth make conventionally mad people look normal or visa versa? Just a thought…

... of the Week (#9):

This week - Word of the Week (#8):

usquebaugh

n. The water of life. A compounded, distilled, aromatic spirit; the Irish sort is particularly distinguished for its pleasant and mild flavour. The Highland sort is somewhat hotter; in Scottish they call it whisky.

mmm, whiskey...

… of the Week (#8):

This week – Word of the Week (#7):

This week’s word was actually the first, and by far the most successful, word that I picked when restarted this experiment a while ago. That was before I decided to share my experiences in this with t’ interweb, and I can’t resist picking it again. So, back by (my own) popular demand and dedicated, with thanks for the memories - past and yet to come, to David;

evagation

n. The act of wandering.

… of the Week (#7):

This week – Phrase of the Week (#1):

This week, instead of just the one, I am giving you a whole bunch of words of the week. I’ve even strung them together to form a real phrase. Just to shake things up a little.

Bad (or Good) Egg

19th Century. To describe someone as a good or bad egg is to suggest that they are decent, reliable or dependable (or not as the case may be). The expression bad egg came first and was used in 1855 in Samuel A Hammett’s novel Captain Priest. The analogy used in the book draws on the fact that an egg can appear on the outside to be fresh, and yet when the shell is broken it may turn out to be rotten inside.

At the beginning of the 20th century, some students began reversing the phrase and describing decent people as good eggs.

I am a fan of this pair of phrases, and I have tried over the years to incorporate them into my vocabulary – I seem to remember my friends at school remarking on it when we were younger… I hope that you can find a chance to use one (or both) of them this week.

... of the Week (#6):

This week – Word of the Week (#6):

This week we have a slightly more contemporary word:

mummerset

n. An invented English dialect that mimics the stereotypical English Westcountry accent (it is not, however, specific to any particular county).

The name is a play on words: the combination of "mummer", a slang term for a folk actor, and the name of the largely rural county of Somerset.

Anyone who’s heard Round the Horne will know this accent from a character called Rambling Syd Rumpo. These days though, it’s probably better recognised – particularly among my friends – in phrases such as “a’right my luvver” when spoken by non-native Westerners.

Apparently I have lately been subconsciously using this accent, saying words such as “foin” instead of “fine”… I really hope that folk will have a play with this week’s word, even if it’s adopting the meaning rather than the word itself.