Mar
09
I used to think that I was fairly intelligent/educated, I got a college degree and even taught school a few years! But lately while reading I’ve been coming across more words that I have NO idea what they mean and it makes me feel a bit dumb! Sometimes I can tell what they mean from the sentence it’s used in and sometimes it doesn’t give me much clue. I’ve gotten to where I keep a running list while reading (with the page number where I found it) and look them up when I’m done or have a fairly long list. I’ve already thrown my last list away but one of the words really stuck with me, and this one I’ll probably remember for a while although I don’t think it’s used much anymore. It’ s not used in my neck of the woods anyway! The word is antimacassar…….do you know what it means? This was used several times in one of the Mitford series of books I’ve been reading. I’ll give this a bit and see if anyone wants to tell what it means and then I’ll come back and update at the bottom of the post with the definition. Stacy, we talked about this when I saw you last weekend and I think I gave you a simplified, one word definition of it which might not have been completely accurate so maybe you know what the more complete definition might be. I hope I’m not the only one that doesn’t know this word and I hope 5th graders don’t know it! I might have to go back to school!
March 9th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Got me. I’m stumped.
March 9th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
i have a pretty extensive vocabulary, but i have to say… that one has me clueless!
March 9th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
It’s those doily things people put on the arms of chairs and sometimes on the back to keep dirt off their furniture. I only know that because I come from the Brylcream era. LOL My mother did NOT want all that greasy hair on her furniture.
I’m betting those little fifth graders don’t know this one. They make me feel stupid but I’ll bet they don’t know THIS one. 🙂
March 9th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
ok, I give, what is it?
March 9th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
OK, I know, but only because you told me about this here and we got out my Webster’s dictionary and looked it up. I would totally not have known this word. I have read (and loved!) all of the Mitford books. I probably also looked up the word at the time, but it immediately left my head. Like most everything else!
I kept a list of words while I was reading “The Jansen Directive” by Robert Ludlum. That list easily has over 100 words on it. It’s embarrasing. I thought I had a decent vocabulary as well, but after reading that book, I concluded I must be stupid. Stu-pid. Or at least, his writing made me feel like I was!
Great post! 🙂
March 9th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
P.S. Is the title a song lyric? If so, what is it from?!
March 9th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
This will kill you. When my girls were preschoolers, we watched “The Big Comfy Couch” regularly. One of the characters was named Auntie Macassar. I didn’t get the play on words until sometime later when I saw the word in print. Of course, I had to look it up.
Thanks for stopping by my blog and playing along. You get 41 points!
March 10th, 2007 at 12:56 am
I think it’s the covering that they would put on the couch armrest to keep the men’s hair from getting it greasy when they would lie down for a nap. SERIOUSLY…I really think that’s what it is.
March 10th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Boy, I must be old. I knew what it meant (see Barb’s and Claire’s comments) without having to look it up. I remember my grandmother had these on her sofa and chairs.
March 10th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Stacy – The song is by the Bee-Gees called “Words.” Loved the Bee-Gees.