"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."
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Kvetch
A kvetch is a constant complainer The word comes from the Yiddish.
To kvetch is to complain; express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness
My daughter Helen commented in November 2008 in her Blog that she was now keeping a notebook of new words that she came across during her reading. "This week I bought a lovely little leather bound book to write new words in as I read them . I've added a few from "1984", but my favourite has to be persiflage (from the French persifler) which means banter." I later discovered that my older daughter, Bryony, also kept a similar notebook.
This inspired me to create a Word blog. This will include both new words, favourite words and the origins of phrases that we commonly use. A definition and some comment, perhaps even a relevant quotation, will acompany the word or phrase.
“I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me.” - Winnie the Pooh
That one was new to me, thank you!
ReplyDeleteLove that word! Even the Bible says that we are to do everything without grumbling or kvetching - ok, it says, "complaining."
ReplyDelete