language

Wordy Wednesday

~ my word (s) ~ 9 Comments

This week, I decided to see what the last word beginning with Q was in my Oxford English Dictionary. With that in mind, my word for today is qwerty.

I might have guessed that this would be the last Q word in the dictionary, due to its lack of U after Q. The word denotes the standard layout on English language typewriters and keyboards; you’ll even see it on your smartphone ‘keyboard’. It is a delightfully easy word to type, given that the letters appear one after the other from the left.

I can remember my mum, who was an incredibly fast typist, referring to her qwerty keys. Later, as computers took over, she complained they were too slow because they couldn’t keep up with her!

Most of us don’t use typewriters anymore but the qwerty keyboard lives on …

Wordy Wednesday

~ my word (s) ~ 8 Comments

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

Wordy Wednesday

~ my word (s) ~ 3 Comments

We are all familiar with the use of a ‘smith’ meaning a craftsperson, for example a blacksmith or silversmith. My word for today is wordsmith, simply meaning ‘a skilled user of words’ (New Oxford English Dictionary of English).

It is a very timely word, my debut children’s book, The Clocker, having been published yesterday. I like the idea of being a wordsmith. It is a craft shared by many around the world, in different languages, styles and genres. Where would we be without wordsmiths?

A special shoutout to all my fellow bloggers and to the Let’s Write group at The Writers Bureau.

https://www.writersbureaucourse.com/courses/let-us-write

Wordy Wednesday

~ my word (s) ~ 4 Comments

It’s Wordy Wednesday again and I have a Dutch word for you today. Last week I went to Bruges for five days, also hopping over the border to Sluis in The Netherlands. While perusing the menu in the windmill restaurant, a word caught my attention.

Slagroom?

I guessed this menu option was something sweet, knowing what a madeleine is; also guessing ‘met een’ was likely to be ‘with’. But what did ‘slagroom’ mean? This is what I find so fascinating about words and language. On looking it up, I was right about the madeleines and with; the sentence translated into English means “madeleines with a dollop of whipped cream”. Slagroom means cream in English. It is, of course, not pronounced slag room, more slaackroam.

What a great word. Do you have an unusual, quirky or favourite word to share? I’d love to hear from you.

Cream!