On asking the boys for a topic beginning with C, the 5 year old said Cars and the 8 year old said Carrots, neither of which I felt I could do a post about! I thought of Climate as in 'what the hell is going on with our weather'.
3 days ago we were out in the garden sorting it out in t-shirts and short trousers, and we all ended up with that lovely rosy sun kissed glow. This morning I get up to a layer of snow on the garden table - go figure!!
I have instead opted to learn about the meaning and use of a word I used this morning:
Cantankerous
I used this, this morning to describe t'husband - Cantankerous - this is one of those words I really like (odd person I know) - but it has a certain ring to it - Can-tank-erous, it rolls off the tongue nicely, it sounds good, it sounds like you know what you are talking about!
If you Google Cantankerous this is what you get
Cantankerous [kan-tang-ker-uhs]
Origin: 1765–75; perhaps variant of earlier contenkerous, reflecting contentious, rancorous
can·tan·ker·ous·ly, adverb
can·tan·ker·ous·ness, noun
Definition: disagreeable to deal with; contentious; peevish: a cantankerous, argumentative man.
I particularly like this definition as it says an argumentative man and not person or woman! It also relates the word to Bloody Minded, a contentious person and quarrelsome.
Another definition is:
Cantankerous describes someone who is bad tempered, grumpy or looking for an argument. (adjective)
An example of cantankerous is a grumpy old man who lives on your street who is always watching the neighborhood kids to find something to yell at them about.
I impressed myself this morning by being able to summon the words from the recesses of my sleep deprived brain and telling my husband he was a cantankerous, grumpy sod, as he was moaning about something again (all in good humour I hasten to add) but having said it, it made me think about words and how some words have a nice ring to them.
I had a friend who would select a descriptive word like cantankerous on a weekly basis and try and use it throughout the week so she could increase her vocabulary - I like the idea.
So I guess I have managed a blog on a topic beginning with 'C'.
2 comments:
I think you' rambled' very nicely on 'cantankerous' - you're right, it's a lovely word to pronounce.
I love the "sound" of words, and there are certain words that have a distinct aural appeal, like caboodles, de-ja vu etc.
Cantankerous has a certain verbal appeal...
Enjoy the rest of the A to Z Challenge!
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