Thursday, November 22, 2007

MEME: Booking Through Thursday



Joanna and Brad are asking about “connecting words,” and they don’t mean conjunctions like “and” or “but.” No, what they’re looking for are unique, or treasured words that we’ve found out and about in our daily travels, words that might not be common usage, or often heard, but which struck a chord for some reason.

This is unorthodox, of course, but here’s the thing: if you link back to Joanna’s post (which is where the rules are written), you’re eligible to win a prize. Not to mention joining in some great conversation about interesting words.
At first, I thought this was just words we've learned that are unusual. My example was going to be plethora, but somebody took it already! I was in university and working a summer job, along with my husband to be. We worked with an unusual guy, who was, well unusual. He said he had seen a movie the night before, Three Amigos, and they used the word plethora and he didn't know what it meant. Neither did we, but we were intrigued. So we looked it up and used the word everyday for quite a while. Now we use plethora when ever we can, because it is such a great word.
But reading some other posts has changed my focus. It's those words that become legend in a family, are used in a different context, and I know we have a ton of those words and phrases in our house, as my husband has a great vocabulary and is a quick wit. And he is from a family with colourful phrases.
Two, four, out the door, six, eight, we won't be late - said on the way out the door
You did that {fruit} justice - it is well eaten
fill your boots - if you like, help yourself, have what you want
bed lunch - a snack before bedtime
dress the bed - put on the sheets, make the bed
flat cheese - a processed cheese slice
fill your gob - eat a lot
When I visisted Joanna's site, linked above, I got a different view of this task. It can also be words that we've discovered on the computer that we haven't heard, or that we've used and others need us to explain. Words from around the blogosphere I've found and liked:
enbiggen - make the picture larger
flist - short form for friends list at livejournal, represents all your friends. ex - I've been a bad flist-er because I haven't been posting lately.
slash - from fanfic places, to describe the pairing focus of a story. Harry/Hermione
Now I've just been from Brad's site, and I have another perspective of what they mean. It can be words you've read that you like how they describe something. There are a bunch of British words that I love how they describe things, but I don't have the person who wrote them or I haven't kept track of exactly where they are from. And I can't really think of them right now either, because I haven't brought them into my daily life. I read them and then they disappear, until the next time I read them.
wanker - an idiot
edit: appatently wanker doesn't mean what I thought it did. Just goes to show you that reading a word in a book and understanding its context are two different things. I hope I didn't offend anyyone.

6 comments:

  1. Hi, thanks for taking so much trouble with this... and coming up with such a great list of words.

    I think I'll borrow "flist" from you :-)

    As a British speaker I thought I'd better let you know that "w....r" (your last offering) is a pretty strong insult, with sexual connotations, and not one I'd use lightly...

    Thanks for taking part

    Joanna

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  2. That is one great list. I think I am going to pick one or two!

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  3. I need to correct your "slash" definition too. Harry/Hermione isn't really slash. Harry/Draco or Harry/Ron would be slash. Hermione/Ginny would be femslash.

    And I like "fill your boots". I use that quite a bit.

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  4. Yes - don't ever use wanker in Australia. Not in formal company anyway!

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  5. Funny, I was on a forum and a lady said "fanny" had a very different meaning in Australia than we use it. It also had sexual connotations!

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  6. joanna - flist is a great word.

    gutami - don't use wanker!

    ctoan - so, slash has to be homosexual?

    lesley - oops

    chris - context is everything

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Thanks for commenting, so nice of you to visit.

(I'll try without the letters for a while - so please dont be a spammer! Let's try no anonymous users)