Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Favourite words

Was sitting around imbibing with friends a while ago and we started talking about words we like. Below are two of my favourites. I'm going to try to start using them in sentences together.

From the Dictionary of Newfoundland English (there's a link to the right)

badness: n Phr for badness: with mischievous intent; for devilment. 1947 TANNER ii, 712 'Just for badness,' as [the Labrador trapper] says. T 100/2-64 He'll tell that story so true, for badness, that the other feller would believe it. T 325-66 Fellers dressed up and frighten 'em. They used to do that for devilment. It was badness they used to do that for. C 71-28 [She] told me that if I stepped on a beetle we would have rain. Sometimes I would step on one for badness just to see the consequences. 1975 LEYTON 33 [He'd do it] just for devilment that's all, just for badness.

And this was one of my "word of the day" emails last year;

booboisie \boob-wah-ZEE\, noun: A class of people regarded as stupid or foolish.

Until then, he'd dismissed Hollywood as a purveyor of machine-made fodder for the booboisie, but he found, much to his surprise, that the movies weren't nearly as bad as he'd claimed. --Terry Teachout, quoted in "Writing Mencken," by Kathryn Jean Lopez, [1]National Review Online, November 15, 2002

He was primarily a radical freethinker who noisily waged war against the booboisie. --Richard Lingeman, "Disturber of the Peace," [2]Washington Post, November 3, 2002 _________________________________________________________
Booboisie is a blend of boob and bourgeoisie. It was coined by H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), American editor and critic.

References 1. http://www.nationalreview.com/ 2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/

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