As Talking Heads alumni band Tom Tom Club once sang: “What are words worth?” Well quite a lot when you think you knew a few of them and in the space of a day you encounter two — make that three actually — brand spanking new ones. The first is colporteur. No, not some some… Continue reading What are words worth?
Tag: words
Donald Trump’s hair peace
This may be the way that it was just before Rome fell. With barbarians cradling assault rifles at the gate, the commentariat wile away the time that is left to them by worrying themselves sick about Zwarte Piet-type problems. Zwarte Piet is Santa’s cool helper and is a harmless Christmas tradition for kids that dates… Continue reading Donald Trump’s hair peace
Is there a rack where disused words are hung?
Is there a rack where disused words are hung like lost umbrellas, waiting for someone to claim and recycle them? Here’s a verb: to glimm. Sadly I am either much too young or much too old to ever utter it, but my unanswerable question is how it came to mean two totally diametrically opposed actions… Continue reading Is there a rack where disused words are hung?
What are words worth?
‘Plump’ is an interesting word. I hear you say: “Isn’t ‘plump’ just the euphemism you awkwardly use to describe that fat kid to his parents’ face?” Fairy godmothers are plump; untermenschen are clinically obese. Well, no. It carries other meanings. If you think about it, you ‘plump’ up cushions, though I guess that may be… Continue reading What are words worth?
More from the Little Cyclopedia of Common Things
More real life from the 1880s as told to readers of the Little Cyclopedia of Common Things, (see a previous post for more about the book), brought to you this time by the letter P. Every one a winner for historical novelists. First up is a listing for Paint. There wasn’t much in paint then… Continue reading More from the Little Cyclopedia of Common Things
Not from Cyprus, not so frail
How we call things at any moment in history is an interesting topic. Times change and words are re-chosen to fit the mood of the age. I thought I’d heard every euphemism there was to hear about prostitutes. ‘Ladies of the evening’, ‘women of easy virtue’ and so on were common 19th century code words.… Continue reading Not from Cyprus, not so frail
“In consequence of having had the screw put on…”
Every once in a while you bump into something you weren’t looking for, but the happenstance makes you smile. Although FH Lewisson of Auckland, New Zealand has been dead this many a long year, you have to have hoped that this small businessman’s direct, impassioned and charming appeal from Ocotber 1879 worked and he was… Continue reading “In consequence of having had the screw put on…”
Local newspapers have a death wish
On British local newspapers, traditionally that time-honoured apprenticeship of newsgathering, ill-fitted Fleet Street tricks are being aped. You can see this for yourself in headline language used to “big up” a story. “Council boss hits out over bins horror”, “Attendance at village fete plunges”, “Pensioner anguish over dead squirrel”, “Government cuts threaten charity panto”; you… Continue reading Local newspapers have a death wish