Last night I was distracted off and on when my wife finally asked me why I kept checking my laptop. I replied that I was checking my Blogger account. She laughed at me giving me a look I know pretty well. I contended that, no, I am not an "attention whore". While the number of views were steadily going up was impressive I maintained that I was looking for comments. I value comments very highly. I crave interaction and the grinding of ideas upon other ideas. If my commentary is way off base, or if there is another way to see what I've read, or even if I'm spot on then I want to hear about it. I never think of myself as the be all end all authority...especially on something I've only just read and haven't ruminated on for at least a decade. I am, thankfully, a perpetual student who is all to familiar with being dead wrong or half right in most instances.
All that to say to those who viewed at all, "Thank You" and to those who commented "Thank very much". Many have +1'd which I greatly appreciate as well. I'm very new to this whole Google Blogger process, however I very much recognize the value of every +1. I thank you. Also, if you look on the right by the picture of my son you can subscribe/follow and I'm sure every edition will make its way to you at least through Google+.
Now, as I was saying... Slattern
In talking about the Word Nerd side of my journey through the 100BYSRBYD I have to begin with slattern. I've watched quite a lot of BBC films and shows. In all my years of enjoying my severe Anglophilia I had always taken the word "slattern" to be spoken in the same manner and tone as "strumpet" and so have a similar meaning. I used to just "absorb" meaning through examining the tone if spoken and through sentence context if read. It was lazy, I know. Part of the reason I'm doing the whole "Word Nerd" aspect is to correct such defects in my self-education. I've even gone so far as to use the word "slattern" to a girl who was involved in "strumpety" (strumpish?) behavior because I knew she'd take it with a laugh.
So, when Jane arrives in Lowood and they start throwing around the term "strumpet" for children I was understandably shocked and confused. Inigo Montoya immediately popped into mind and I was committed to not being Vizzini. I looked it up in the dictionary. Alright, an online dictionary, but I did go the extra mile to use the OED. By heaven I'd love to have a hard copy of the full OED. That's Hardcore OG Word Nerd right there.
Slattern: (noun) dated A dirty, untidy woman.
Fair enough.
It's only when we Americans get ahold of the word that we make it mean slut/prostitute. We make everything dirty, apparently. A nation of slatterns...in the original sense...although there may be an argument made...never mind.
Oddly this is a far more "cerebral" book than Pride and Prejudice but somehow I'm finding less words per page that I am unfamiliar with. Now it is time to...
Define all the words!
Caviller: One who raises irritating and trivial objections
Bilious: 1. Affected by or associated with nausea or vomiting 2. Spiteful; bad tempered
Captious: Tending to find fault or raise petty objections.
Opprobium: Harsh criticism or censure
Fagging: To work or run errands for a senior pupil.
Convulvulus: A twining plant with trumpet shaped flowers (includes Morning Glories)
Execration: The act of cursing or denouncing
Parterre: A level space in a garden or yard occupied by an ornamental arrangement of flower beds.
Pelisse: A woman's cloak with arm holes or sleeves, reaching to the ankles.
Rushlight: A candle made by dipping the pith of a rush in tallow.
Inanition: Lack of mental or spiritual vigor and enthusiasm or exhaustion cause by a lack of nutrition
Animadversion: Criticism or censure.
Meed: A deserved share or reward.
Expostulation: An expression of protest.
Assiduity: Close or constant attention to what one is doing.
Chilblain: A painful, itching swelling on the skin, typically on the hand or foot, caused by poor circulation in the skin when exposed to the cold.
Exigency: And urgent need or demand
Hebdomadal: Weekly. (LOVE this unnecessarily long word for something so simple.)
Perfidious: Deceitful and untrustworthy.
Tucker: A piece of lace or linen worn in or around the top of a bodice or as an insert at the front of a low cut dress.
Excrescence: A distinct outgrowth on a human or animal body or on a plant, especially one that is the result of a disease or abnormality.
Organ of Veneration: A phrenology term that denotes piety and saintliness.
Fervid: Intensely enthusiastic or passionate, especially to an excessive degree.
Barmecide: Illusory or imaginary and therefore disappointing.
The only other thing I wanted to mention on the "Word Nerd" front was....by heaven she likes semicolons and colons. I've never seen the like in any other I've ever read. I had to remind myself how to process them by reading the sentences out loud, much to the confusion of my three year old son.
Pax,
W
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