Yvonne
… Is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading.It is hosted by Kathy, over at ‘BermudaOnion’s Weblog’.You can either stop by and leave a link to your own ‘mystery’ words of the week, or just browse the eclectic mix of words that others have discovered, there is always a great selection.…
Both of my words this week aren’t new to me, or at least I didn’t think they were! It just goes to show how blinkered I am about the profusion of words in the English language which have a second, alternative meaning I have never come across before …
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1. My first word this week, I discovered early one morning, whilst completing my daily on-line jigsaw puzzle, over at the JigZone site. This is a great way to wake up the brain cells, only takes a few minutes to complete and if you are feeling competitive, you can pit your wits against the clock and the recorded times of your fellow ‘puzzlers’. I have never yet managed to achieve ‘fastest time’, however so long as my time is above ‘average’, I am generally quite pleased with my efforts.
OPTIMIST
Optimists are safe, simple boats designed for children learning how to sail. Their main advantage is that there are extensive opportunities for children to take optimist sailing to a very advanced level. Hugely popular, there are optimist national teams in many countries and Optimist World Champions
The Dinghy was designed in 1947 by American Clark Mills at the request of the Dinghy International service club following a proposal by Major Clifford McKay to offer low-cost sailing for young people. He designed a simple pram that could be built from three sheets of plywood, and donated the plan to the Optimists. The design was slightly modified and introduced to Europe by the Dane, Axel Damsgaard, and spread outwards across Europe from Scandinavia. The design was standardized in 1960 and became a strict One-Design in 1995.
The International Dinghy is sailed in over 120 countries by over 160,000 skippers and it is one of only two yachts approved by the International Sailing Federation exclusively for sailors under 16….
What new words have you discovered this time … I can’t wait to stop by and check them out!
‘HAPPY NEW YEAR’ TO ONE AND ALL!
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I hadn’t realised those two words had different meanings to the ones I know for them!
2014 has arrived… albeit a soggy 2014 so far. Happy New Year! 🙂
Hi Nikki,
I couldn’t believe that anyone would call a boat for beginners, especially children, an ‘optimist’ … what’s that all about!!
I must admit that when I read the second quote from ‘Blood Money’, I thought that maybe Doug had inadvertently used the wrong word, as I had no idea of the alternative definition for hyphenate, although it is a great one to remember as one of those conversation stoppers!!
There has been quite a lot of flooding round about us today, although thankfully we seem to have escaped unscathed. We had relatives come for the day and getting to the small country pub wher we had booked lunch, was certainly a bit of a challenge. They have a 45 mile journey home across some pretty low lying ground, so I am just hoping that we don’t get the call to say they are stranded somewhere!
Have a great start to the New Year and enjoy the rest of your week.
I thought it was odd that you didn’t know either of those words until I read their meanings! I wonder why they use words to mean such totally different things like that. Happy New Year!
Hi Kathy,
The English language certainly has its vagaries and idiosyncracies, doesn’t it?
No wonder they say it is one of the most difficult languages to learn and, more importantly, understand!
I think that French comes pretty close in the difficulty stakes though, with almost every word being classified as either masculine or feminine and with each having their own individual and unique spelling and sound.
Thanks for hosting and I hope that you enjoy the rest of the week. For me it will be so good to get back to some kind of normality, now that all the holiday celebrations are over for another year.
I need to keep track of new words that I find. 🙂
THANKS for sharing, and thanks for stopping by my giveaway post. Good luck!!
Hope you had a good day…I am sure your work day is almost over.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Blog
Hi Elizabeth,
We have woken again this morning to yet more storm and flood warnings, that’s almost every day for the past fortnight. I am not really sure where all this rain is coming from, but if any of the water agencies have the cheek to declare water shortages during this coming summer, they are likely to be lynched!!
Wondrous Words Wednesday, is an excellent gathering point for all those new words which pop up during my reading and since I actually started singling them out and recording them, I have been amazed at just how many of them there have been!
Thanks for hosting the giveaway, a definite new author for my list, regardless of whether I win or not.
Happy New Year to you Yvonne! Thank you for highlighting these other meanings, I had no idea!
Wishing you a year of wonderful reading in 2014.
Hi Lindsay,
‘A Happy New Year’ to you and yours also, although I can’t believe that we are nearly past the first week of January. It has been so good to return to some sense of normality and actually be able to catch up with what day of the week it is!
I am continually amazed at the existing words in the English language, with which I am unfamiliar, let alone some of the weird and wonderful new words which keep getting added to the dictionary, many of which I find downright reprehensible, although I guess that must be an age thing!
I only discovered the two completely unknown to me definitions for my words, when I checked them out, after discovering them in sentences which I couldn’t comprehend when using the words as I know them.
The English language is definitely one of the strangest in the world, surley?…..
Thanks for stopping by, I always value and appreciate your visits and comments.