tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post5489286491270045131..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Far From The Words We Know - Sally NichollsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-89388774500531288632009-07-24T09:41:50.179+01:002009-07-24T09:41:50.179+01:00Gillian, heavens! Your editor let you use ... The ...Gillian, heavens! Your editor <i>let you use </i>... The more I hear about editors, the less I like the breed.Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-73830167027264368612009-07-24T08:53:35.931+01:002009-07-24T08:53:35.931+01:00Then again, Nick, some people can enjoy sex AND po...Then again, Nick, some people can enjoy sex AND pornography - or so I'm told.Cathy Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03838615971611193743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-11328286897515344872009-07-24T08:46:36.613+01:002009-07-24T08:46:36.613+01:00> They're great for keen cricketers to read...> They're great for keen cricketers to read - full of sentences like 'Next over Mack was caught at mid-wicket and we'd slumped hopelessly from 72 for two to 80 for six.'<br /><br /><br />I'm going to come over all grumpy now but I fail to see the point of books like that. They might as well just go and play cricket!Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11307045090887391553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-77633461512280083632009-07-23T23:45:37.773+01:002009-07-23T23:45:37.773+01:00The word that confused me as a youngster was misle...The word that confused me as a youngster was misled. I always presumed it was from the verb 'to misle'and pronounced it to rhyme with 'hassled'.Ayr Writers' Clubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14289403687920692793noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-64491681455237396062009-07-23T17:30:56.873+01:002009-07-23T17:30:56.873+01:00The torrid example came from one of Bob Cattell...The torrid example came from one of Bob Cattell's many books about a cricket team - Glory in the Cup, Blaze of Glory etc. I think most likely torrid was used as meaning hot and stressful - after all it's not many small boys who'd realise there was another meaning (only sniggering parents). They do visit the West Indies in one book - maybe that was a bit torrid. <br />They're great for keen cricketers to read - full of sentences like 'Next over Mack was caught at mid-wicket and we'd slumped hoplessly from 72 for two to 80 for six.'Keren Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13121027210783177857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-54984875985070196562009-07-23T16:43:52.130+01:002009-07-23T16:43:52.130+01:00According to PickyWeedier, T S Eliot was right fir...According to PickyWeedier, T S Eliot was right first time about hermit crabs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit_crab<br />and wrong about being wrong. But hermit crabs are apparently quite gregarious animals.<br /><br />I saw a hermit crab in the Maldives wearing a Coke can. It was probably the hermit crab equivalent of a superhero.<br />I AM IRON CRABNick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11307045090887391553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-49607210158029331112009-07-23T14:59:46.814+01:002009-07-23T14:59:46.814+01:00I think T S Eliot's example was hermit crabs. ...I think T S Eliot's example was hermit crabs. Apparently it's some other crab which steals other crabs shells and scuttles down the beach in them ... but the other crab had a boring sounding name, so Eliot shrugged and ignored it.<br /><br />Sorry, Mary, that was my typo. Of course I meant 6 letters.<br /><br />And yes, was most shocked to discover that Phoebe wasn't pronounced Fobe and Hermione wasn't Hermy-own.Sally Nichollshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17022981347132511812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-32959226064170072842009-07-23T14:45:21.243+01:002009-07-23T14:45:21.243+01:00I'm wondering if Jack was sweating because of ...I'm wondering if Jack was sweating because of the pressure and that's why it was 'torrid'? <br /><br />I loved the Famous Five but spent my childhood thinking 'decent' (as in 'jolly decent chap') was pronounced like 'dissent'.<br /><br />I like the TS Eliot-sanctioned idea of using a word that sounds nice rather than the correct one. I was surprised and delighted when my editor let me use 'uninclined', even though it doesn't exist, because it sounded far better in the context than 'disinclined'.Gillian Philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775401199564200537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-88786227395529707842009-07-23T14:41:01.782+01:002009-07-23T14:41:01.782+01:00I coined a word accidentally in a primary school s...I coined a word accidentally in a primary school story: 'multidious'. It was based on my misreading of the word 'multitudinous' from my book version of 'The Dark Crystal' movie, and I believed 'multidious' meant, 'hideously huge'. I was a fun eight-year-old to be around.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11307045090887391553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-10517611691894996272009-07-23T13:53:50.925+01:002009-07-23T13:53:50.925+01:00Um, "limpid" has six letters. Could the ...Um, "limpid" has six letters. Could the answer have been "lucid"?<br /><br />Crossword fanaticMary Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-80100543042563807452009-07-23T13:33:10.970+01:002009-07-23T13:33:10.970+01:00My mind is still boggling about Jack's hot (or...My mind is still boggling about Jack's hot (or passionate!) time at the stumps... in this age of hi-lo fiction, would a word like "torrid" have got past the copy-editor of a book for 9 year olds? More likely to be an uncorrected typo for "horrid"... though of course such errors NEVER get through to final publication, do they...?Katherine Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-53920876502692907392009-07-23T12:51:11.996+01:002009-07-23T12:51:11.996+01:00Dianne, I've certainly come across "in th...Dianne, I've certainly come across "in the sticks" in that sense too. (Come to think of it, Margaret Mahy - who is a New Zealander, of course - puns on sticks/Styx in The Changeover).<br /><br />-id words are difficult for me. I was quite confused when I came across Keats's description of a decomposing head as "vile with green and livid spot". Well, I'd have been angry too if I'd been decapitated and planted in a herb pot, was my reaction.<br /><br />Not only that, I used to confuse flaccid and turgid, and both with tumescent. Just one reason I don't write sex scenes!Cathy Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03838615971611193743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-69772411436598497832009-07-23T12:15:55.910+01:002009-07-23T12:15:55.910+01:00I always thought it was... Back from the sticks (i...I always thought it was... Back from the sticks (instead of Styx)and meant... back from the counryside. In South Africa when people live out in the bush (meaning beyond a city in the bushveld) you say... he lives in the sticks. Ignorant colonial that I am!Dianne Hofmeyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222157214605257030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-34440311908468993952009-07-23T09:03:53.539+01:002009-07-23T09:03:53.539+01:00Keren, that sounds like a classic misused of the w...Keren, that sounds like a classic misused of the word 'torrid' - people seem to use it as a synonym for 'horrid', perhaps for the alliteration of 'torrid time'. It's doubtful the author means he's having a hot time at the stumps, as then he would simply say, 'Jack was hot in his cricket pads' or something.<br /><br />Misunderstood and misused words of mine... For years, I thought 'off the beaten track' was actually, 'off the beat and track', which I still quite like, as it suggests both arrhythmia and deviation.<br /><br />And the first time I read Harry Potter I'd never heard of the name Hermione, and in my head gave her the same emphases as macaroni. I thought, 'What an ODD name.' Mea culpa.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11307045090887391553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-39646705768652877732009-07-23T00:11:13.716+01:002009-07-23T00:11:13.716+01:00My 9-year-old son came rushing out of his room the...My 9-year-old son came rushing out of his room the other day. 'Mum! Mum! What does torrid mean?'<br />'Oh..ah..um..' Wondering what on earth he could be readng. Surely not in Beast Quest...'What's the sentence?'<br />'Jack was having a torrid time at the stumps.'Keren Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13121027210783177857noreply@blogger.com