This week, my Wordy Wednesday word is nesh. It’s commonly used in The Midlands and the North of England to describe someone who can’t cope with the cold. You Southerners are so nesh.
The original meaning, according to my trusty dictionary, is delicate, weak or feeble – of a person. Its origin is Old English hnesce, which is of German origin and related to the Dutch dialect nes meaning soft or foolish.
Do you have a word where you live that describes someone nesh?
Recently, while I wait to get an accurate prescription for glasses following cataract surgery, I have been listening to audiobooks rather than reading. I started off with a book of Agatha Christie short stories, which I really enjoyed. The word countenance has appeared several times, for example she had a pleasant countenance. It struck me that this word is little used today but I felt it worthy of a Wordy Wednesday.
It is another word with several distinct meanings; the first as above, to describe a person’s appearance. Other meanings are to support, she gave her countenance to the event. It also describes when we do not accept or tolerate something, for example she wouldn’t countenance such behaviour.
Originating from the 13th century, the word is from the Old French, contenance referring to bearing or behaviour, from contenir (contain).
My word today is confabulate. I used this word last week and the person I was talking to said, ooh that’s a great word. My trusty dictionary, The Oxford English Dictionary, gives two distinct definitions. The first is to talk / engage in conversation. The other, which I’m more familiar with, is to fabricate imaginary sentences in compensation for loss of memory.
The origin of the word confabulate is Latin and from the 17th century. Confabulari – con = together, and fabulari from fabula, fable.
Apologies in advance for any typos – my eyes are a bit blurry for writing following cataract surgery!
Nev, from my children’s book, The Clocker, does a lot of talking with his best friend, Samantha. My Books
My word today is chuffed. According to my weighty tome, The New Oxford Dictionary of English, it originated in the 1950s from chuff meaning plump or pleased.
It’s a word I love and associate with The Midlands/ North of England rather than the south. The saying, I’m dead chuffed, or right chuffed sums up its meaning of being pleased.
Do you have a word or phrase meaning you’re pleased where you live? I’d love to hear from you.
In the morning, as I enjoy my second cup of tea, I like to do a selection of word games on the NYT games app. This generally starts with Connections, followed on by Wordle. A few weeks back I struggled to find letters that would go with the ones I’d got right in Wordle and resorted to random choices. Having nearly exhausted the possibilities, I put in ‘maven’ and it was correct. Not being familiar with the word, I headed to my trusty dictionary. Here I discovered that a maven is an expert, a connoisseur with extensive knowledge in a particular area, for example a fashion maven. The word’s origin is from the Yiddish, mevyn which in turn comes from Hebrew mevin, meaning to understand.
In my children’s book, The Clocker, Nev gets embarrassed by his dad using out of date slang words. My Books
Whether you love or hate sport, you’d be hard pressed not to have noticed that both Wimbledon and the football World Cup are currently playing. With that in mind, I have two words this week.
In tennis, the word love relates not to romantic love but a score of zero – she was 15-love down. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origin comes from play for love, that is for the love of the game. Folk etymology also links the word with the French, l’oeuf, referring to a similarity in shape to an egg and a zero.
Moving on to football, I do enjoy seeing all the strips from different countries playing in The World Cup. This made me wonder why it’s called a strip, meaning the identifying kit worn by members of a sports team. The Oxford English Dictionary says this possibly comes from the idea of the clothes that players strip down to.
Did you know that, in my children’s book, The Clocker, the main character makes up his own words? My Books
I was on the bus recently (great place to pick up story ideas) and the two people behind me were chatting about a man they both knew. They were speculating as to whether he was ever going to find a partner.
“I wouldn’t ask, if I were you,” one said. “He takes umbrage at personal questions, that one.”
I smiled as they got off the bus, thinking there’s my next Wordy Wednesday.
To take umbrage means to be upset or offended by something someone says or does. I hadn’t thought about the meaning as it relates to providing shade, coming from the Old French umbrage. This in turn is from the Latin umbrâticus, which relates to shade – umbra shade. (Collins Dictionary)
Amazing what comes from a trip on the bus.
Two things coalesced this month in preparing my piece for the writing group I attend. Firstly, the prompt, which was to use pair idioms. Second, was a comment from a reader, on a previous Wordy Wednesday, using the word kenning, where two words are used to describe something or someone. I remembered how much I enjoyed learning about kenning poems at a writing group and decided to combine a kenning and pair idioms.
Pause for a Kenning
Aloof charmer, people calmer
Tail flicker, nose tickler.
Bright and early, out and about
Here and there, back and forth.
Bed maker, sleep taker
Fence climber, two-timer.
Up and down, leaps and bounds
Heads and tails meet and greet.
Tux wearer, stripe bearer
Sofa scratcher, mouse catcher.
Sooner or later, peace and quiet
Fair and square, they’re always there.
Recently, a friend introduced me to the phrase, ‘having a benny‘. She was describing a situation where she’d avoided ‘having a benny’ because she’d had lots of friends round at the time. I’d heard the term before but not for some time and I immediately thought it’d be a good one for Wordy Wednesday.
To have a benny is to throw a tantrum or get angry about something and is used widely in The Midlands. There are many other phrases used to refer to the same thing. What do you say where you live?
For today’s word, I decided to open a page of The New Oxford Dictionary of English and look for a word I’d never heard of before. On my quick scan of the pages from Madeira to magic lantern, I found the word ‘madrilene’. Spell check attempted to push me toward mandrill and mad riding; I held my ground.
Madrilene is, I discovered, a clear soup that is usually served cold. It comes from the French ‘consommé à la madrilene’ – the literal translation being ‘soup in the Madrid style’.
As the saying goes, you learn something new every day.
Have you any words to share? I’d love to hear from you.
I’ve (hopefully temporarily) lost image playground for my usual images – apologies and grr!
