"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, 13 March 2011
Tergiversation
Tergiversation is the act of turning one's back; abandoning something or someone; betrayal; the act of turning from a clear course of action; equivocation; fickleness.
Mr. Scriptor, I tried to send a pdf to you in this message window, but in keeping with words being words, I couldn't pin them down. If there is a way to send the pdf to you offline I would prefer to do that. The words in question? From your words words words blog. Wondered if you might like to see what one of your readers did with them? I enjoy your blogs.
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
Mr. Scriptor,
ReplyDeleteI tried to send a pdf to you in this message window, but in keeping with words being words, I couldn't pin them down. If there is a way to send the pdf to you offline I would prefer to do that. The words in question? From your words words words blog. Wondered if you might like to see what one of your readers did with them?
I enjoy your blogs.
I looked at your personal profile but there isn't one, Karen. If I had an email for you I'd send you mine!
ReplyDelete