"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Thursday 7 January 2010

Megrim

 
Megrim was an archaic term for a migraine; a fancy, a whim; a freak; or a caprice.
Megrims in the plural was a word used to refer to the blues; a state of depression.


A megrim is also a species of flatfish, a member of the sole family, caught off the Cornish coast but largely sent to Spain because we haven’t yet acquired the taste for it in this country..
 

3 comments:

  1. Wow! A migraine, depression, a fish??? Amazing!
    Today's word of the day through dictionary.com is flibbertigibbet. Do you know that one? It sounds English!

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  2. Been there, done that Shabby Girl - flibbertigibbet is one of my favourite words!

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  3. I find that fish a rather fitting image for a depression, actually...!

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