Yvonne
As I tend not to take part in this excellent meme on too regular a basis, I do hope that I am not duplicating words which have already been previously featured.
With that in mind, I have also revisited my ‘Wondrous Words Wednesday’ posts and tagged all the words I have shared myself, to avoid any future repetition.
My words this time are all so quirky that I just know they have not appeared in any of my previous posts, so I hope that you enjoy reading about them 🙂
…
- 1. – DOULA
This first word is another of those ‘accidental’ discoveries I seem to keep making, when actually searching for something completely different. I came across it on a site called “Family Minded” and the article is dated April 2019…
Duchess Meghan has expressed interest in having a natural birth — so much so that reports claim she has been working with a doula. That means curious women everywhere have several questions about what that means, starting with the very obvious: What exactly is a doula?
DOULA –Â
A doula is a trained non-medical companion who supports another individual through a significant health-related experience such as childbirth, miscarriage, induced abortion or stillbirth or non-reproductive experiences such as dying. A doula may also provide support to the partner, family and friends. The overall goal of a doula in any context is for their client to feel safe, be informed and feel comfortable, complementing the role of health professionals providing medical care.
…
2. – QUIDNUNC
I came across this word in a GIF attached to a twitter post
QUIDNUNC –Â
An inquisitive and gossipy person.
…
3. – PSEPHOLOGIST
Given the current turmoil in our UK politics and political establishment, with not only Brexit being faced by the country as a dilemma, but now with the added complication of a pre-Christmas general election (an unprecedented 3 in 4 years), a national television news channel was reporting on the events of the day (November 30th 2019), when their political editor was heard to comment that the psephologists would be busy gathering their statistics and data, prior to the December 12th vote.
PSEPHOLOGIST –
Psephology is a division of political science that deals with the examination as well as the statistical analysis of elections and polls. People who practice psephology are called psephologists.
A few of the major tools that are used by a psephologist are historical precinct voting data, campaign finance information, and other related data. Public opinion polls also play an important role in psephology. Psephology also has various applications specifically in analysing the results of election returns for current indicators, as opposed to predictive purposes.
Degrees in psephology are not offered (instead, a psephologist might have a degree in political science and/or statistics). Knowledge of demographics, statistics, and politics are prerequisites for becoming a psephologist.
…
Wondrous Words Wednesday … 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.
Don’t forget that Kathy and the rest of us, all love to read your comments as well, so that we can visit and share your words of the week!
…
Your first word I knew, only because I read a book that had a doula in it (though I can’t remember what book it was).
The second word I couldn’t have defined, but that strip (Pickles) appears in my daily paper and is one of my favorites, so I’m sure I saw it at some point. (and obviously didn’t remember)
The third is totally new to me. I’m sick of all things political (and we’re just getting revved up for the next presidential election), so it’s not a word I’d likely run across.
Good choices, Yvonne!
I knew doula because my daughter and daughter-in-law both had a doula’s assistance when my grandchildren were born.
Wow! Mary, that puts The Duchess of Sussex in some pretty illustrious company 🙂
Rumour over here, has it that The Duchess may be expecting another baby already, a decision which many people are quite critical of, so I wonder what her doula makes of it all!
Thanks for taking the time to stop by. I hope that all is well with you and Happy Reading! 🙂
Hi Kelly,
I come across new to me words much less frequently these days and often in the most obscure places and at the most random times!
That doesn’t mean to say of course, that even if I recognise a word which has previously appeared in a WWW post, I can recall its meaning without double checking again!
Like yourself, I am absolutely sick to death of all programmes political, politicians and electioneering in general and Brexit in particular! That doesn’t mean to say of course that we don’t end up by having to watch just about every debate and interview going, although having a legacy postal vote from way back, does mean that none of the above can now change our minds, as we have both already cast our vote!
As a country, we also seem to obsess about US politics, so for us this is a double whammy, with all the impeachment debates going on over there right now.
Christmas has definitely been put onto the back burner this year!!
Great to hear from you and many thanks for your continued support 🙂
Well, I hadn’t heard of any of those before. How interesting about the ‘doula’, a nice idea but not cheap to hire I imagine.
The comic strip was fun… Quidnunc is maybe word to remember for Scrabble. Although I’m sure I won’t. LOL
I always enjoy these Wondrous Words posts you do, Yvonne.
Hi Cath,
Never having had any children of my own, I have no real idea of what role a doula might fulfil and certainly none of my family members have ever employed a doula during their pregnancies!
Any word I can retain for scrabble which begins with a pesky ‘q’, is always worth while, but I just can’t see me remembering it, when push comes to shove! In fact, Christmas is just about the only time when hubbie and I settle down to play Scrabble, with our main family game for a Christmas afternoon being Articulate, which always ends up in raised voices and plenty of cheating!
If you visit our host’s blog this week, you will find a couple of really corking words, both of which had me completely stumped!
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your week 🙂
It’s always a treat when you participate because you find such great words! I knew doula but the others are new to me. The comic and quidnunc made me chuckle. I think my mother could be described as a quidnunc. Psephology is very fitting here in the US, too, which makes me rather sad.
Aw! Thanks for those lovely words, Kathy.
I appreciate the sentiment and the fact that you always take the time to respond to your meme participants.
Unfortunately, I don’t get to take part in WWW as often as I would like, however I simply don’t come across as many new to me words any more, although I do discover them in the strangest of places and circumstances, which makes it even more fun!
Thanks for hosting and sharing your own words.
Enjoy the rest of your week and Happy Reading 🙂
Hi Yvonne, great words. I knew doula and I think women are brave to chose the natural birth. Both my grandmother’s had natural home births for all their children.
What a strange looking word with quidnunc, I had never heard of that one.
Enjoy your week ahead. I have been MIA from blog hopping but will be catching up some this week. Hope you are doing well.
Hi Naida,
I had noticed that you had been MIA for a while, so didn’t want to bother you, however I hope that it was purely pressures of work and the various seasonal activities which kept you away and that all is well otherwise!
I know that I was born at home, but I believe in the presence of an official NHS midwife, although my brother, who is four years my junior, was born in hospital!
Occasionally a word will make me smile and when one of my fellow bloggers shared what I now believe to be a ‘Pickles’ strip from one of your US daily newspapers on Twitter, I just knew that I wanted to share it. I thought that there might be one or two more of you who might have recalled seeing the word, but I was kind of pleased that wasn’t the case, as it was a fun word to define.
Have a great week and don’t work too hard in the run up to Christmas 🙂