Words

Do you remember vocabulary books? These were slim exercise books given out at school in which we would write new words. I only recall them for a brief period of time; perhaps they were superseded by changes in curriculum and chaotic lessons. But I rather liked them, so I have decided to resurrect the idea.

Every time I discover a new word it gets recorded in my notebook. I have a guess what I think the words means and then look it up later when I get a chance. Here are a selection for your amusement!

Word: Lexical

I think: Correct terminology
Actual meaning: A dictionary term or definition
How close was I? Not bad

Word: Inchoate
I think: Incoherent
Actual meaning: Just begun, not fully formed, rudimentary
How close was I? Not even vaguely! Although I can see my thought pattern – same word family, right? (Wrong!)

Word: Coterie

I think: Group
Actual meaning: Small group with shared interests, exclusive to others
How close was I? Spot on

Word: Amanuensis
I think: Some sort of teacher
Actual meaning: Performing a function by hand, i.e. writing down the words of another. In Latin a  manual labourer / secretary
How close was I? Way out

Word: Simony
I think: Traitor or treachery
Actual meaning: Paying for a position within church, trafficking for money within spiritual things
How close was I? Close but no biscuit

I love discovering new words and am always rather thrilled when I am reading and a word leaps out that I've never seen before. I like reading around it, trying to guess, seeing if there are any clues. Sometimes these guesses can put an interesting slant on sentences, one the author had not foreseen. Hence the notebook!

Almost there!

It’s a beautiful day, hey hey… Good morning world! I am feeling positively chipper today despite the grey moody sky and have a list of things as long as my arm to crack on with.

(Incidentally, is it just me or do you also hate ending sentences with a preposition? In my eyes it makes a sentence look unfinished, weak, and a bit needy, like it wants a cuddle. What do you think?)

I also have to say that I’m struggling slightly as my internet connection is pants and my elderly computer is showing signs of early circuit dementia. I am frantically bailing memory hogging applications so I can continue the finishing touches to the novel, but it’s a bit touch and go. I fear this computer will soon have to be retired and start its new life as a dust covered ‘ornament’ adorning the spare room. Somewhere in the spare room (the Spare Room of Doom) is my old iMac computer which cannot even remember its own name. I am terrified of binning it in case identify theft bastards somehow pounce on it in the local dump and manage to chisel out my bank details. They surely would have to be Neo from The Matrix, but in this day and age it’s a legitimate (but paranoid) worry, isn’t it?

The local ‘dump’…I never thought about it before (probably because I thankfully don’t spend much time musing on the word ‘dump’) but it is slightly onomatopoeic, not that it is going to be added to my favourite word list any time soon. I wonder if our local dump has a real name - perhaps something like ‘Neighbourhood Household Refuse Too Big to Get Away with Concealing in a Black Bin Bag’. Although God knows folk around here like to chance their arm – I walked past what looked like half a tree sticking out of a pile of bin bags the other day.

Anyway where was I? Ah yes. Doddery computers. So currently my internet connection is on a drip.



What you can see there is masking tape holding my broadband in place. So if anything looks shonky around here (great word invented by the lovely Kit Courteney) then you know the reason why.

And now I really do have to prise myself away – got two days off real work in order to work my fingers off getting the novel ready. Almost there, folks! In fact, I rather think this weekend will be It. Eek!

And on that happy note – I shall leave you with Abigail and Ginger. I think you can guess which is which!

Favourite words

People always laugh at me when I say that one of my favourite words in the whole wide world is rhododendron. Go on, say it out-loud now (no one’s looking) ‘rhod-dod-den-dron’. Isn’t it just lovely to say? It might in fact be my very favourite word, with ‘shimmy’ a close second, were it not for the racing drivers of Formula One.

Okay, they might be ‘names’ rather than ‘words’ as such, but in my book they still count as marvellous words to say out-loud. Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Räikkönen. These names are gorgeous, they simply roll off the tongue, and they are glorious to say aloud! Never mind who drives what and who has just won what, I love them to bits (the names, that is), and welcome any opportunity to repeat them, at length, sometimes even in context.

The Grand Prix yesterday gave me many happy Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Räikkönen opportunities, as well as reaffirming my belief that Formula One racing drivers destiny is set the moment they are christened. I mean they all sound like racing drivers for a start; you just wouldn’t get a Jenson Button working in a call centre, or a Rubens Barrichello at the desk next to you balancing paper clips.

Formula One, and its lullaby of names, is for me the equivalent of Radio Four’s shipping forecast, or the old Saturday afternoon football results, all famous for their hypnotic qualities.

The shipping forecast is much loved by many that don’t have ships for example. The waters around Britain are split into different areas, and all have a strange poetic appeal – Viking, Hebrides, Fair Isle, FitzRoy, Biscay… It becomes almost hypnotic as you listen to broadcasts such as:

Viking, Fair Isle, southeast veering southwest 4 or 5. Rockall, Shannon, southwest gale 8 to storm 10, veering west, severe gale 9 to violent storm 11. Rain, then squally showers.

Especially when you don’t know what any of it means, but what you do know is that you are safe tucked up in bed and not out there in ‘Shannon’ battling a squally shower.

As for Grandstand’s Saturday afternoon football results, Final Score I think it was. This may be a thing of the past now, but I remember well my dad and brother watching to see if Spurs had won, while I was counting down the minutes to The A Team. But I was soon lulled in by the warmth of announcer Len Martin’s voice, as you could try and guess from his tone who had won. The results would be read like this, with little pauses for the other team’s score, and occasional rising tones suggesting a mild surprise that Nottingham Forest got 3 goals, for example.

Tottenham Hotspur 3, Middlesbrough… 1
West Bromwich Albion 2, Nottingham Forest… 3
Aston Villa 1, Crystal Palace… 1

And onwards he would read, giving all the Divisions results and placements so those at home that did the Football Pools would know if they were millionaires (or whatever it was in the early 80’s). Apparently Len Martin said that his worst result to read out was: Forfar 5, East Fife 4. I love that.