The other day I was boiling a pineapple. (Don't ask.) Doris and I were discussing that there was a word for cooked fruit--oh, what was it? Finally we remembered, compote. Compote. I love compote. Okay, I haven't eaten any compote in years. But just saying the word makes me think of plum compote on toast. Yum!
I worry about words. I know there are a lot of things to worry about in the world. But I worry about words that disappear or that simply get neglected. Maybe lots of people use the word compote--but I haven't heard too many people talk about it lately.
Words that seem to be disappearing:
davenport
elimination (I find this word funny and horrible so maybe it is good that it is going out of style!)
shuck (as in 'let's go shuck the corn')
gingham (A MC employee told me the other day that he liked my gingham shirt; the comment almost made my day--not because I needed a compliment but because he used a fun word!)
I just looked up gingham in the dictionary. It comes from Malay-- ("a modification of the Malay genggang, striped cloth"). This is interesting because I associate the word gingham with Kansas, pioneers, dust, bonnets, Little House on the Prairie--you get the picture. But here is this very western US very Oh Pioneers! word and it came to English from Malay.
Language is a story. It tells us tales that we have forgotten. Maybe it simply shows that the world has always been small.
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4 comments:
I love the word davenport. It reminds me of grandma and grandpa's house at Elmshaven. I also love gingham, and it reminds me of the same things as you. I guess we read the same books. :)
I always love reading your thoughts!
Ha. Ha. Yeah, actually--I got the word davenport from grandma and grandpa and yes....it puts me right at their house in Elmshaven.
Gingham is from WHAT? Genggang? Hahahahahaha this is too hilarious.
"elimination (I find this word funny and horrible...)"
it kinda sounds cool to me LOL... but yeah, it's not a word that I hear that often either.
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