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Let's get anetic
Trina couldn't come to the Modern Soul night in St Anne's so I went by myself.
No trains were running that night on that line (I refused the hi-vi'd man's offer of a rail replacement bus service that would have to sloth round a dozen little villages first), so caught a train to Blackpool North instead, thinking I could get a bus from there.
On Blackpool prom the screaming miniskirted girls felt their way forward with a high-heeled gait midway between that of a toddler and a wrestler; lads in tight white logo-ed vests are loudly homosocial, looking not much different from the clientele of Trade. Occasionally, you could see an unguarded moment where someone let her face relax for a moment before hoisting it back into a grinning mask. "I'm enjoying myself! OMG, this is mad!" It all looks like such hard work.
I walked and walked and walked, as far as the South Shore, but there were no buses as the prom's being done up; then gave up and got a taxi. Eleven pounds! It'd be five or six in Lancaster.
I needn't have worried about how it would go socially, sitting and dancing by myself. Several people came over to say hello and to shake my hand, and the female of the organising couple asked about my journey.
In any case, everyone is there to dance, which, as you might deduce from the picture, can sometimes get a little flirty, just as dancing is supposed to be. "Can I just say," I said, as we bumped into each other outside, "that you're wearing the best dress of the evening? Where did you get it from?" Always a good idea to comment on a woman's clothes. Makes you sound a bit poofy and therefore makes them relax. (Debenhams? That's become a lot less frumpy than I remember it.)
A few days before I was on a dancefloor not half-chatting up someone else, Trina and I had a wined and coal fired evening playing the Dictionary Game.
Just in case you want to play it yourself with the words I got, I won't give the definitions here, but I will put them in the first comment below.
anetic
heteroclite
grangerize [possibly unhelpful hint: despite the spelling, Granger is a proper noun]
geogony
hobby (give a sense other than "pastime", and not that of a compound)
formication
engrail
heaume
leguleian
And my favourite, which along with "anetic" will be used on this site when the occasion arises...
deturpate
Any woman who can sink a bottle of wine (and then some) in the course of an evening while playing the Dictionary Game, who likes dancing to the same music as me! and who is a bit of a goer, doesn't deserve angry emails like the one I sent her, even when I am rather vexed.
7 comments
Here are the answers:
anetic - assuaging, soothing
heteroclite - (several senses but the most common one is) a declension that deviates from its usual pattern
grangerise - to illustrate a book or other printed material by the addition of plates and other matter; from the practice of Rev. J. Granger (1710–1776).
geogony - (obs.) the study of the formation of the earth [not listed in the online version of the OED]
hobby (give a sense other than “pastime", and not that of a compound) - several possible, but the most interesting one is “a prostitute or lustful person.” I wonder if this is the source of “hobby-horse"?
formication - [cracking word, remember this one!] the sensation of ants crawling on one’s skin
engrail - to cut to produce a serrated edge [The etymology is picturesque – it comes from the French for hail]
heaume - a massive helmet for soldiers
leguleian - of a lawyer; a pettifogging member of the legal profession
deturpate - to make or become base or vile.
how is the dictonary game played? i think it would be delighfully fun - especially when comfortably lit!
You get a really really good dictionary. I don’t know what it would be in the US, but we use the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, which a two-volume edited version of the OED, which runs to 12 (I think) volumes. Your partner flicks through the pages until you say “stop". Then she roams her fingers over the double page spread until you say “stop” again.
At that point, she looks down at the word at which her finger has stopped. If it’s easy or common, you go through the process again, until you find a hard word. She reads it out, spells it if you desire, and then you have to define it.
Successful games have happy conclusions.
This post is full of strange foreign colloquialisms. “Hi-vi.” “Prom.” “Modern Soul night.”
Did you make amends for vexing her with your angry missives? Do you suppose an apology is in order?
It’s like another version of the Dictionary Game.
Hi-vi is short for “high visibility”
Prom is short for promenade, the seafront, the esplanade.
Modern Soul: well, for example. You have to say Modern because in the UK there’s an instant assumption that you mean Northern or Motown.
All is back to a happy state with Trina. We got pissed and made respective apologies and explanations. Funny how the sex always seems better after an argument.
I’m writing this while she’s washing her hair. We’re off in a bit through the very picturesque Trough of Bowland to a place called Mitton where we’re having dinner with a couple of her friends she wants me to meet.
mmmm………perhaps this is as good as it gets??
NO! It’s got to get better and we will make it better. I’m not resigning myself to an unmarried form of married life yet.
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