Puddles and Beau Traps

Hello,

After a few lovely warm and sunny days here, we’ve got a rather rainy Monday in progress today. It reminded me that I’ve half of “Words Weather Gave Us” written, including the chapter about rain words. So here, to hopefully cheer you up on this damp day, is an extract about puddles and their sinister cousins – beau traps.

Puddle & Beau Traps

{extract from “Words Weather Gave Us” copyright Grace Tierney 2024}

A puddle, which has been with us since the early 1300s, is defined as a small pool of dirty water. Puddle-jumping enthusiasts will point out that they’re also perfect entertainment locations for small children and life-loving adults, especially when approached with suitable footwear.

In line with the idea of making lemonade when faced with an excess of lemons, wet countries should adopt puddle-stomping as a national sport. Free, accessible to all, energetic. It could be the next big thing at the Olympics. Synchronised jumping for a team event perhaps?

The word came about as a diminutive of pudd (ditch) in Old English and is related to the charming German word pudeln (to splash in water). Originally puddle was used for pools and ponds as well which explains puddle-duck (a domesticated duck) which we’ve had since the 1800s. Beatrix Potter published her book “Jemima Puddle-Duck” in 1908.

The stealth version of the puddle is the beau trap. My home city, Dublin, has plenty of these. A beau trap is early 19th century slang for a paving stone which is loose enough for rainwater to gather underneath. Dublin city dwellers will know water gathers under some of the large Georgian stone footpaths (sidewalks for my US friends) and unless you avoid those slabs or hit them in the exact right spot it “tips up and pumps half a litre of rainwater up your trouser” (as Terry Pratchett points out in “A Slip of the Keyboard”).  This rainwater is always a murky grey shade and invariably ice-cold.

Douglas Adams once created an alternative word for this, the affpuddle.

Why is it called a beau trap? The elegant young men of the 1800s (also known as beaus) wore those tight white stockings to show off their well turned ankles and calves. A sinister pool of city rainwater was a terrible trap for those beaus.

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

p.s. Want more Wordfoolery? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter “Wordfoolery Whispers”. Sign up to avoid missing out! Don’t forget to click on the confirmation email, which might hide in your spam folder. There will be a new issue this week

The Colourful History of Bellini and Carpaccio

Hello,

Between editing “Words Christmas Gave Us” (my next Wordfoolery book, releasing in 2024) this month, I’ve been working on my downloads for readers. Did you know I have a downloads page with free articles? I’ve created some wonderful ones for the Christmas release (not yet available, sorry) and I’ve started work on “Words People and Places Gave Us” for the same page. It will contain all the eponyms and toponyms I’ve stumbled across since publishing “How to Get Your Name in the Dictionary”, a sequel of sorts. As these downloads go live, I’ll mention it here.

One of those eponyms was the bellini. It’s a word Venice gave us. Sometimes we can forget that Venice was a hugely influential city state, but its influence remains in the English language. We have all of these words thanks to Venice – gondola, regatta, quarantine, zany, bellini, and carpaccio. I’d make a case for casanova too.

The bellini cocktail was invented in the 1930s or 1940s by Giuseppe Cipriani, the founder of Harry’s Bar in Venice. The drink mixes puréed white peaches and the Italian sparkling wine called prosecco, sometimes with a dash of raspberry or cherry juice to enhance the colour. Initially this was a seasonal tipple as white peaches are only in season from midsummer to early autumn, but now the peach purée is more widely available.

Cipriani named the drink the bellini because its unique pink colour reminded him of the toga of a saint in a painting by the 15th-century Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini. Its variants are also eponymous. If you replace the peach with mandarin you get a puccini (Italian composer), a rossini (Italian composer) uses strawberry purée and a tintoretto (Venetian painter) deploys pomegranate juice.

Cipriani was an inventive chap. He also created carpaccio, the raw beef dish, which is named for Vittore Carpaccio, the Venetian painter known for the red and white tones in his work.

Now all I have to do is come up with an excuse to sample a bellini in Venice.

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

p.s. Want more Wordfoolery? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter “Wordfoolery Whispers”. Don’t forget to click on the confirmation email, which might hide in your spam folder.

p.p.s. this post contains affiliate links which make a small payment to the blog if you choose to purchase through them. #CommissionsEarned. Alternatively, you can use my digital tip jar to say thanks for this year’s words.

Wordfoolery Books – Signed Copies and Coming Soon

Hello,

Thanks for sticking with me this week as I chatted about my books. Today’s all about how to lay your hands on them, signed copies, and my plans for future books.

Where can I get a copy? I’m lucky enough to have readers all around the world so the answer is always dependent on where they’re located and if they prefer paperback or ebook. The full stockist listing is here and includes Irish independent bookshops (shout out to Irene at Academy in Drogheda and Gwen at Company of Books in Dublin), ebook editions on various platforms, and online bookstores in the UK, Europe, North America, and further afield. If you’d like to stock the books please get in touch by commenting below. If you know me in real life, give me a shout and we’ll work out something.

As for signed copies you have two options currently. 1) pick one up at Academy Books, Drogheda or 2) read the details here and get in touch with me. I absolutely love sending off my books worldwide and am happy to inscribe them for friends and family. I use An Post (the Irish national postal system) for deliveries and strongly advise orders by 11th of December 2023 at the absolute latest if you want a copy within Ireland or UK for the 25th.

Also, did you know you can buy ebooks as gifts? You can buy kindle books for someone else – click on BUY FOR OTHERS and add the recipient’s email address and Amazon will send them the link together with any message you want to add. Perfect for last minute shoppers!

What’s Next for Wordfoolery Books?

I’ve been asked this often in the last few weeks. The best way to keep up with Wordfoolery is here on the blog and via my lovely new newsletter “Wordfoolery Whispers” (subscribe here and remember to click on the confirmation email). One subscriber won a sneaky look at a chapter of “Words Christmas Gave Us” last month. You never know what little gem I’ll include.

My detailed planning for 2024 will take place over the Christmas-New Year break but the main plan is to complete and launch “Words Christmas Gave Us” in paperback, ebook, and hardback in 2024. It should have been out in 2022, but my mother’s ill-health was more important. This year will be my first Christmas without her.

2024 will also see my usual round of weekly blogs, weekly episodes of serial fiction on Channillo.com, the newsletter, my local newspaper column, monthly Wordfoolery Wednesdays on the radio, NaNoWriMo participation, research work over the summer, and as much writing as I can fit in. My youngest will also be sitting her state exams in June and hopefully moving on to university, so no stress there <laughs nervously>.

Those of you who’ve read the books will have seen my list of “Coming Soon” books at the back. I am usually working on about four books at a time (yes, I need my head examined) – some in publishing mode, some in drafting mode, and some in research mode where I gather candidate words from a zillion different sources. My research for a book takes years.

Currently, “Words Christmas Gave Us” is in publishing mode. “Words the Weather Gave Us” is in drafting mode. “Words Stories Gave Us” is in research mode and may skip ahead of Weather. Several topics are simmering in research mode with front-runners being Colours and French. Which topic would you love to see next? I always welcome word suggestions – pop it in a comment below. If I use a suggested word I thank the suggester in the acknowledgements of the book.

Thanks for joining me in chatting about my books this week. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Normal word blogging will resume next Monday.

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

p.s. Want more Wordfoolery? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter “Wordfoolery Whispers”. Issue Three is due in mid-December. Don’t forget to click on the confirmation email.

The Charisma of Modern Words

Hello,

It’s day four of Wordfoolery Book Week and time to celebrate modern words thanks to my digital-only book “Modern Words with Old Roots”, my fourth book, which I released in 2022. I particularly enjoy discovering modern words which have ancient origins. It’s easy to miss the history which is literally under our nose, plus it’s fun to surprise my teens with the roots of their supposedly cool “new” word.

The book reveals the astonishingly ancient history of a hand-picked selection of 50 modern words from avatar to zarf.

It’s time to login (inspired by an actual piece of wood), open your kindle (inspired by Vikings), forget about the latest world crisis (thanks to an ancient Greek doctor), skip the doomscrolling (with a nod to William the Conqueror), and set off in hot pursuit (from the Age of Sail) of some juicy language facts. You may be surprised by what you discover.

Words change constantly, acquiring new meanings, and finding fans in new generations. Let’s rejoice in their evolution. This one is good for word geeks and anyone who’s ever wondered about the roots of the latest trendy word.

One modern word you won’t find in the book, because it’s impossible to keep pace with teen slang, is rizz. It was named Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2023 this week so it seemed a good time to explore it.

Rizz and Charisma

If you don’t have a teen nearby you may be asking what rizz means. Oxford tell us that rizz is somebody’s ability to attract another person via style and charm. It formed as a shortening from the middle of the word charisma. Other words formed like this include fridge from refrigerator and flu from influenza. It’s worth noting that rizz up is a common use. This means to chat up or seduce somebody.

Of course now that the boring grown-ups have noticed rizz, it’s probably been redefined as old-fashioned. That seems to be the pattern with youthful slang in my house.

Where do the old roots come in? Two words – Greek gods.

Charisma joined Middle English around 1500 when it was spelled karisme and referred to a divine gift. This sense was retained when it became charism in the 1640s and charisma in the 1800s. By the 1930s the meaning focused on the gift of leadership with a little side influence from German and it became personal charm in the 1950s, and of course rizz in more recent times.

Where was charisma before Middle English? It was a Latinised form of a Greek word kharisma (divine gift) which came from kharis (grace, beauty, kindness). One of the three attendants of the Greek goddess Aphrodite was called Charis and presumably she was beautiful, kind, and graceful. Kharis is related to the verb khairein (to rejoice at) from a Proto IndoEuropean root word gher (to like, to want).

Being charismatic has been a gift from the very start and always associated with love, longing, and attractive traits. Some things never change, but I doubt too many will think of Aphrodite’s attendants when trying their rizz today.

If you enjoy stories like these then pick up a copy of “Modern Words with Old Roots” by Grace Tierney in ebook from Amazon. It’s a digital-only exclusive, a quick read to keep you going until “Words Christmas Gave Us” (launching in 2024).

I’ve been talking about my books every day this week, so stay tuned for how to order signed copies and my book plans for 2024 tomorrow. Normal word blogging will resume next Monday.

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

p.s. Want more Wordfoolery? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter “Wordfoolery Whispers”. Issue Three is due in mid-December. Don’t forget to click on the confirmation email.

Raise a Toast to Words The Vikings Gave Us

Hello,

It’s day three of Wordfoolery Book Week and time to raise a toast to “Words the Vikings Gave Us”, my third book, which grew naturally from my sea book when I noticed how many English words wouldn’t exist without the influence of Old Norse. We wouldn’t have egg, window, they, or thing, for example. We would struggle to create an everyday sentence without their help. Perhaps more surprisingly I found enough romantic words for an entire chapter. They were much more than warriors.

Launched in 2021, it’s perfect for history buffs and anybody who has ever longed to hurl an axe. The book explores the Viking history of more than 300 words and phrases like kiss, ombudsman, bluetooth, frisbee, thing, and hustings. I drew from ship life, Viking food, farming, norse romance, myths, politics, modern Vikings, anatomy, place names, daily life, and of course how to fight like a Viking.

The blog has also featured many Viking words such as – slang, hug, gift, ugly, and sky.

I grew up in Dublin, founded by Vikings, and while Ireland (and countries as far apart as Canada, Russia, and Italy) were settled by Vikings they haven’t left behind a built legacy in the way the Romans did (despite their maritime empire lasting far longer). The Christian monks who wrote their histories weren’t big fan either because of their monastery looting. Their lasting legacy, for me, is their influence on English, which isn’t that surprising considering they ruled parts of the United Kingdom for more than 700 years.

One Viking word which shows how little we respect Viking society when decrying them as mere raiders is thing {note extract is copyright Grace Tierney 2021}.

Thing

Thing is a massively useful word in English. It can stand in for almost any noun when the correct word escapes the mind for a moment and it has been joined with other common words to create a range of popular words including anything, nothing, everything, something, plaything, and thingamajig.

Thing’s roots lie in Viking power structures. Thing entered Old English spelled as ping from Old Norse and the term was initially for a meeting, assembly, or discussion. This political root can be traced in Viking history with ease and spotted in the second half of the word hustings.

Iceland’s national assembly is called the Althing. It’s the oldest parliament in the world, having been founded in 930, and it originally met in the thing fields outside Reykjavik.

Similarly the Thing Mote in Dublin, Ireland was a raised mound near the location of Dublin Castle today, where the Vikings met to agree laws to rule the city during centuries of Norse rule. It stood until the late 1600s.

A thing meeting could be attended by all free Viking men, there were no restrictions of status or property (it took another 1,000 years for that to be true of Westminster). The meetings were regular and organised by a law speaker (who could recite all laws previously agreed) and the local chieftain. Disputes were resolved and laws made. It was a cross between a parliament and court of law. Things could be small local affairs, city level like Dublin, or national like Iceland’s Althing. Things often lasted for a few days and attracted community activities like trade and weddings on the sidelines.

With time a thing became something which was discussed at a meeting, rather than the meeting itself. By the 1300s it indicated a person who was pitied or a personal possession. By the 1600s English had settled on thing to be the word for the object you can’t name at the moment and it joined with other words to provide words for everything and anything (pun intended).

{end of extract}

If you enjoy stories like these then pick up a copy of “Words The Vikings Gave Us” by Grace Tierney in paperback or ebook from Amazon, or the many other stockists. All the places to buy it are listed on this page.

I’ll be talking about one of my books every day this week, so stay tuned for “Modern Words with Old Roots” tomorrow. Normal word blogging will resume next Monday.

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

p.s. Want more Wordfoolery? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter “Wordfoolery Whispers”. Issue Three is due in mid-December. Don’t forget to click on the confirmation email.

Sail Away with Words The Sea Gave Us

Hello,

It’s day two of Wordfoolery Book Week and time to chart a course in “Words the Sea Gave Us”, my second book, inspired by my lifelong love of the sea. I wish I could say that having grown up within earshot of foghorns, ships, and curlews that I’m a keen sailor, but with the curse of motion sickness my sea-going is limited to filling my home with model lighthouses, nautical books, and visits to as many lighthouses, beaches, and harbours as I can manage.

Launched in 2020, it’s perfect for beachcombers, sailors, and wannabe pirates. It features more than 370 words and phrases from parts of the ship, sail names (some real beauties there), crew, surfer slang, marine monsters and fables, fashion, weather, navigation, flags, and most importantly how to talk like a scurvy pirate because one day Cap’n Jack will call and I’ll be ready.

Along the way I discovered how the sea has infiltrated English. The first worker’s strike came from sailing ships, the original skyscraper wasn’t a building, cyber started on boats, and so many phrases we use every day got their start on ships. Plus, how could I resist words like baggywinkle and gollywobbler?

Of course the blog has also featured many nautical words such as – heave ho, hot pursuit, making a pass, scuttlebutt, tonnage, binnacle, flotsam, doldrums, and buccaneer. I’ve been researching for this book since I was a teenager listening to the “Seascapes” programme on RTE radio and it was a total joy to feature there talking about my book. My first radio spot, but not my last as I now talk about word history every month on LMFM radio. You never know where writing a book will bring you. For snippets from various shows – check out my Listen Page.

One nautical story which was completely unknown to me previously was how we got the word strike for an industrial dispute (note copyright Grace Tierney 2020).

Strike

The original meaning of strike is to make level and smooth. The word arrived in Old English as striccan with influences from various German, Dutch, and Norse words with similar senses and spellings.

In a nautical context to strike the sails is to lower them and smooth them away until needed later. It’s that action which gives English the noun strike for an industrial dispute when workers down tools until their demands are met by their employer.

In 1768 London a docker’s dispute in the East End gave English the word strike, and cost seven men their lives. The industrial revolution was in full swing, with workers moving from the fields to the cities, and the East End of London was crammed with workers. King George III persisted in installing his personal favourites as Prime Minister causing political riots.

Coal fueled industry and came by canal barges to the East End where heavers, mostly Irish immigrants, worked long hours loading it onto ships. Their employers, called undertakers, also owned the bars where they drank. The undertakers charged well for the booze. Workers, who even had to rent their shovels from the bosses, sometimes ended up owing money at the end of the week to the undertakers. When new equipment reduced the number of men needed, anger flared amongst the workers.

The heavers boarded the coal ships, climbing the rigging, and struck the sails. They also removed the top masts confining most of the fleet of London to port, a disaster for the shipowners. Fights broke out between the sailors and heavers and several were killed. The army was sent in and seven of the heavers were hung as a lesson to the others.

1841 gave us the first use of strike in a baseball context. In 1942 strike took on another meaning – a sudden military attack.

{end of extract}

If you enjoy stories like these then pick up a copy of “Words The Sea Gave Us” by Grace Tierney in paperback or ebook from Amazon, or the many other stockists. All the places to buy it are listed on this page.

I’ll be talking about one of my books every day this week, so stay tuned for “Words the Vikings Gave Us” tomorrow. Normal word blogging will resume next Monday.

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

p.s. Want more Wordfoolery? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter “Wordfoolery Whispers”. Issue Three is due in mid-December. Don’t forget to click on the confirmation email.

The Festive History of St Stephen’s Day / Boxing Day

Hello and Happy Saint Stephen’s Day!

Regular blog readers will know that I’m working on a new book “Words Christmas Gave Us” for release in 2023. As my blog post day this year falls on the 26th of December it feels right to share a draft extract from the book relating to this special day.

{Extract from “Words Christmas Gave Us” by Grace Tierney, copyright 2022}

Boxing Day / Saint Stephen’s Day

This entry will be a contentious one for any Irish reader so let me be clear before the shouting begins. Both these terms relate to the same date, the 26th of December. Boxing Day is the more common term in Britain, while Saint Stephen’s Day is adhered to by most living in Ireland. If you want to provoke a Christmas argument, try using Boxing Day to anybody Irish.

Boxing Day does have a charming history behind it. The term originated in the U.K. and is celebrated in several former British colonies such as Australia and Canada.

Since the Middle Ages, alms boxes were placed in churches to gather donations for the needy. The boxes were opened on Saint Stephen’s Day and the contents distributed, thus making it Boxing Day.

As early as the 1600s (it was was mentioned in Samuel Pepys’ diary) it was customary for tradespeople to request tips for good service throughout the year on the first weekday after Christmas (often Saint Stephen’s Day). Box in this sense referred to a gift, although in some cases the box was a literal box which the tradesperson or apprentice cracked open at the end of the day to count their riches.

The wealthier members of society gave their servants the day off, possibly with a Christmas bonus, and the servants would bring their own boxes (gifts) home to their families.

The association of gifts to tradespeople has continued up to the present day, although perhaps less commonly now. My mother always gave a festive gift to the bin collectors (garbage men in American English) and postman (mailman), for example, and it seems only right to recognise the hard-working delivery people as they work long hours during December.

Who was Saint Stephen though? He was the first martyr of the Christian church, stoned to death for his faith. The 26th of December is his feast day. In art he is usually depicted as a young man carrying a small church building.

[end of extract}

Other Christmas words associated with this day are the Wren Boys, Wenceslas, and pantomine, all explained in the book, but they’re stories for another day.

Until next time, Merry Christmas and happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,
Grace (@Wordfoolery)

Wordfoolery’s Favourite Books of 2022

Hello,

I love reading as much as I love unusual words. I have an annual tradition to look back at my reading (62 books so far) during 2022 with help from my Goodreads account. Here are ten of my favourite books of the year. They’re not all recent releases, as books wait in my Towering To Be Read Pile and because I’m still working my way through the 501 Books to Read Before You Die List (my favourite from that this year was “The Periodic Table” by Primo Levi, a memoir of his life in chemistry). I’d recommend any of these books. If you order through the links provided, a tiny fee is paid towards supporting this blog.

If you prefer posts about the history of unusual words, normal service will resume next Monday.

They’re listed in random order. I can’t rank books, I love them too much.

The Man Who Died Twice – Richard Osman

Another twisty tale with the four feisty elderly detectives. Cosy but fun. Very well observed on the older characters and about time we have more of them in fiction.

This is Going to Hurt – Adam Kay

Witty, engaging, and thought provoking diary of a junior doctor in the UK. One warning – might avoid if you’re currently pregnant as the details are graphic. He is scathing on homeopathy (as it is mostly water the only thing it treats is thirst).

The Ring Breaker – Jean Gill

Engaging coming of age tale set in Viking Age Orkney. It follows Skarfr (bard’s foster son) and Hlif (Jarl’s housekeeper and cursed daughter of a disgraced father) through court intrigues, sea voyages, and a world where dual belief systems still rule society. Great hist-fic.

Jean used my Viking book as a research resource!

The Paris Apartment – Lucy Foley

Another well written and very cleverly structured Lucy Foley murder mystery. Jess visits her brother in Paris. He’s living in one of those elegant tall buildings in the city centre, sub divided into apartments with a concierge for parcels and maintenance. One issue – he’s missing and all is not as it appears in this building.

Lud-in-the-Mist – Hope Mirrlees

Recommended by Neil Gaiman. Early fantasy, and by a female writer too! It has a folkloric quality to a tale of a law-abiding town who dreads incursion by its neighbours, the fairy folk. It reminded me of the Shire in Tolkien’s stories but really it is unique and well worth a read by any fantasy fan. You won’t find dragons here, or mystical rings and swords, but spells, strange characters, and a touching level of heart.

Dark Blue Waves – Kimberly Sullivan

If you love Jane Austen and have always wondered what it would be like to live in her world, this is the book for you. When Janet, an American architecture and literature student arrives in England, she has no idea a cricket ball to the head will send her spinning back in time. The author knows the period really well and it’s charming to watch a modern woman navigate, and enjoy, society and romance in the past. But will she stay with her Mr. Darcy?

A Man with One of Those Faces – Caimh McDonnell

Laugh out loud funny, fast paced thriller set in Dublin and Wicklow (Ireland). Great dialogue and good twists. Can’t wait to read more in this trilogy. Reminds me of Colin Bateman and Christopher Brookmyre (in a good way). I hope Dorothy, the 83 year old gun-toting posh grandmother is in the next book!

H.M.S. Surprise – Patrick OBrian

I love this series. Great nautical detail. If you love the Age of Sail you’ve probably already read these but if you haven’t, get started! This time they sail to India with Jack still seeking his fortune and Stephen still madly in love with Villiers despite her being the mistress of another man. Storms, new crew, sea battles and a duel. What more could you want?

Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom (duology) – Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows – Fantasy heist, two words I love to hear. Throw in a great cast in the crime gang and I’m happy. Particularly loved the tank scene. Fabulous writing here, cool character arcs, perfect foreshadowing, a touch of twist and cliffhanger to setup for second book.

Crooked Kingdom – The gang’s back and they’re in trouble as usual. Drama, grief, twists, and heists. Wonderful resolution to the duology.

Lords and Ladies – Terry Pratchett

I’m currently re-reading the entire Discworld series. The heart of Discworld is the city of Ankh Morpork, but I think the soul may be in the stories set in the remote kingdom of Lancre. This one has great structure, we get backstory on Granny Weatherwax (the most kick-ass witch ever), great elf villains, and the ongoing romance of Magrat and Verence (former fool, now king). Plus, I loved the smith and the Morris dancers. The funniest, most intelligent fantasy series ever. If you haven’t read them, try them.

The Wordfoolery Books

My four books inspired by this blog are out now in paperback and ebook (all the ways to get them are listed here). “Modern Words with Old Roots” delves into the astonishingly ancient history of 50 modern words from avatar to zarf. “Words the Vikings Gave Us” explores the influence of Old Norse and modern Scandinavia on English. “Words The Sea Gave Us” covers nautical words and phrases from ahoy to skyscraper. “How To Get Your Name In The Dictionary” records the lives of the people whose names became part of the English language including Guillotine, Casanova, and Fedora.

Right, that’s enough book chat. Next week I’ll be back with the history of unusual words. Wishing you happy reading in 2023.

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

p.s. this post contains affiliate links which make a small payment to the blog if you choose to purchase through them. #CommissionsEarned. Alternatively, you can use my digital tip jar to say thanks for this year’s words.

p.p.s. My fav books from 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018 are also available.

Modern Words with Old Roots

Hello,

For the last few years I’ve released a book for Christmas each year. This year, 2022, my plan was to release a book about Christmas. Real Life had other ideas. By August I recognised there was no way I could get “Words Christmas Gave Us” ready for release in time while also juggling the other balls in my life. Very reluctantly I set it aside for 2023.

Then I began to get “When’s the new book coming?” messages from readers and friends.

“Modern Words with Old Roots”, a new digital exclusive ebook released today, is my answer to those queries. It’s taken three months from start to finish because it’s shorter and I have skipped the paperback formatting, indexing, and cover steps. I hope you enjoy it and that it tides you over until “Words Christmas Gave Us” comes out in paperback, ebook, and hopefully hardback next year. Thank you for giving my first ever Wordfoolery “mini book” a try.

This time Wordfoolery takes a lighthearted look at the astonishingly ancient history of a hand-picked selection of 50 modern words from avatar to zarf.

It’s time to login (inspired by an actual piece of wood), open your kindle (inspired by Vikings), forget about the latest world crisis (thanks to an ancient Greek doctor), skip the doomscrolling (with a nod to William the Conqueror), and set off in hot pursuit (from the Age of Sail) of some juicy language fact hunting. You may be surprised by what you discover.

Ideal for word geeks, history buffs, and anybody who’s ever wondered about the roots of the latest trendy word in the dictionary.

“Modern Words with Old Roots” is out now on Kindle worldwide (Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.de etc.) at the mini price of $0.99, £0.99, or €0.99 as an early Christmas gift from me.

As always, thanks to the wonderful community of readers who enrich the Wordfoolery blog with their passion for language.

Thank you for reading,

Grace (a.k.a. Wordfoolery)

Please note – This blog is an affiliate associate to Amazon US. I’m paid a small fee for any purchase you make through the Amazon links provided which helps support the running costs of the blog. Thank you.

Bangers – Edible, Musical, and Explosive

Hello,

This week’s word is banger, a word which has a multitude of meanings despite it’s apparent simplicity.

For me, because it’s October now, the primary meaning of banger is a loud firework. Technically fireworks are illegal in these parts but it doesn’t stop enthusiasts traveling across the border to Northern Ireland (where they are legal) and stocking up in anticipation of Halloween parties. Inevitably there’s a temptation to let them off early and in some places this can start as early as September. It’s a nightmare for pet-owners and not much better for writers working from home.

The bangers must be cheap as they are in plentiful supply. They don’t make a display in the sky but they’re loud – hence the name. I was sure this was Hiberno-English but I checked my copy of “The Dictionary of Hiberno-English” by Dr Terence Patrick Dolan and the only listing there is one I never heard before – a banger is “someone on, say, a football team who is over the age limit” and presumably thus able to out-play the opposition due to size or skill. Sneaky, eh?

Bangers of the edible variety

The Cambridge dictionary backs me up on the firework definition and adds – sausages, old cars, and popular music with heavy beat and good for dancing. Urban Dictionary adds that a banger can be a party, presumably where such music is played. My teens definitely use banger in the musical sense more than for anything else.

Banger as a term for a sausage has a fun etymology which I found in the excellent “Outlander Kitchen” cookbook and in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Bangers and mash is a traditional British meal of sausages (the bangers) and mashed potatoes, usually served with an onion gravy. Sausages were nicknamed bangers during World War I when meat shortages encouraged sausage makers to be more inventive than usual. After all there are two things you should never see being made – laws and sausages – a motto often attributed to Otto von Bismarck but mythbusted here. Filling them with too much water caused the sausages to explode when cooked – hence bangers.

Bangers as a word pre-dates the old sausage story however and gets back to the whole noise issue. Banger entered English in the 1600s to describe anything which banged. By the end of that century we also had a word which has evaporated since – a bangster – a muscular bully. I could see that one coming back, although perhaps a bangster nowadays would be associated with music?

Banger led me further back to the verb bang (to strike hard with a loud blow). It joined English in the 1500s, possibly from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse banga (pound or hammer). Ever since I launched my “Words the Vikings Gave Us” I’m being haunted with Old Norse!

Since the 1500s bang wriggled its way into a few different meanings and phrases:

1810 – bang-up – meaning something is of top quality – a bang-up meal, for example

1855 – a sudden, loud, explosive noise

1864 – as slang for being very large

1937 – as slang for having intercourse

Bang and bangers are yet another example of thinking you know a modern word and finding a variety of phrases and origins when you go looking. Now I’m feeling hungry for sausages for my lunch, so long as they don’t explode.

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

p.s. In fun book news – my nearest independent bookshop, Academy Books, will be stocking “Words the Vikings Gave Us” from this week.

p.p.s. This post contains Amazon.com affiliate links which make a small payment to the blog if you choose to purchase through them.

p.p.p.s. The Journal, an Irish online newspaper, had a fun word origin quiz this morning which you might enjoy. One note though – the question about “smashing” is incorrect according to that Hiberno-English dictionary. Shame, it’s a good story.