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Thirteen Medieval Words Ripe for a Comeback
EF Education First ^ | Culture o

Posted on 04/20/2024 8:03:25 AM PDT by Chicory

13. Sparple

This word is not only fun to say, it can also come in handy. It means to deflect attention from one thing by making a big deal of something else entirely.

(Excerpt) Read more at ef.edu ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Conspiracy; Miscellaneous; Reference
KEYWORDS: blandish; cockalorum; english; epigraphyandlanguage; fastidious; flummox; fopdoodle; garrulous; gobemouche; godsgravesglyphs; lexicology; middleages; nefarious; persiflage; quixotic; respair; sinecure; sparple
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To: Chicory

So the media is constantly sparpling. Learn something new every day!


21 posted on 04/20/2024 9:50:19 AM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: Melinda in TN
My grandfather called city dwellers ‘lowlanders or flatlanders’ and mountain people ‘highlanders’.

My grandfather (born 1877) said the same. But, as you know, my grandparents were the same Scot/Irish as yours although they were from NC and VA going back to the early 17th century. Old habits and all.

22 posted on 04/20/2024 10:39:11 AM PDT by Oorang (Politicians:-a feeble band of lowly reptiles who shun the light and who lurk in their own dens. )
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To: dfwgator

A few years ago I used flummoxed in conversation with a friend who apparently considers her vocabulary very extensive. She said she’d never heard the word, and asked me what it meant, so I told her. Then she looked it up on her phone to check me. A few minutes later, she said something like, “well who’s the smarty pants now? You were right! It is a word!”

P.S. I’m not sure where I heard the word first, but I was taught by Irish nuns, so maybe that was it.


23 posted on 04/20/2024 11:00:38 AM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: Chicory; dfwgator

I like “persiflage” : An amusing one, referring to light, frivolous banter or good-natured ridicule said in jest.

Sounds like stuff I’d see on “Seinfeld” regularly.


24 posted on 04/20/2024 11:05:22 AM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: Oorang

My original ancestor immigrated here from Scotland in the mid 1700’s before the Revolutionary War and I think it was during the clearances. They, and my grandmother’s family, landed in the Appalachians of NC before moving south to TN. My grandfather was born in 1899 or 1900. I actually knew my GGrandfather. He was born in 1865 or 67. He schooled me on the Civil War. LOL

The Scots and Irish were the best at passing down their oral history. We have some Dane, Welsh, and Norman on the Scottish side because my Scottish ancestors were originally Welsh, Dane, and Norman in the 12th century.

My baby brother looks like he could have stepped right out of one of the historical novels like Braveheart. 😁


25 posted on 04/20/2024 11:23:46 AM PDT by Melinda in TN
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To: Chad C. Mulligan

Squirrel!


26 posted on 04/20/2024 11:37:48 AM PDT by Fledermaus (Is it me, or all of a sudden have the buried trolls come out on FR like cicadas? It's all noise.)
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To: Melinda in TN

Highlanders? There can be only one.


27 posted on 04/20/2024 11:38:51 AM PDT by Fledermaus (Is it me, or all of a sudden have the buried trolls come out on FR like cicadas? It's all noise.)
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To: Dr. Sivana
"I use flummox, sinecure, nefarious, fastidious, quixotic occasionally without trying to be medieval or obscure."
I thought all of these words were in common present-day usage.
28 posted on 04/20/2024 12:06:07 PM PDT by Hiddigeigei ("Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish," said Dionysus - Euripides)
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To: Hiddigeigei

If not common, far from obscure, archaic, or obsolete. I just checked, and in the last six years there were four movies named “Nefarious”.


29 posted on 04/20/2024 12:13:44 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana
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To: Fledermaus

To my grandfather, anybody that lived in the hills was a Highlander. :-) It was the way he talked.


30 posted on 04/20/2024 12:33:42 PM PDT by Melinda in TN
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To: Chad C. Mulligan

When The Spare married Markle he became Sparple...........


31 posted on 04/20/2024 2:57:26 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Allegra

I use that one every once in awhile.. (flummoxed)


32 posted on 04/20/2024 11:43:04 PM PDT by Bikkuri (I am proud to be a PureBlood.)
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To: Melinda in TN

Flummoxed is such a good word! Surprised, speechless, and confused all in one!


33 posted on 04/21/2024 6:12:05 AM PDT by Chicory
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To: griffin; Chad_C.

Yes, I should have left that alone LOL!


34 posted on 04/21/2024 6:13:14 AM PDT by Chicory
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To: oldplayer

I hadn’t heard of them before, but it sounds like a fun group 🙂


35 posted on 04/21/2024 6:15:31 AM PDT by Chicory
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To: chajin

Sparple does sound like a drink! I think its real meaning may be related to dazzling people with you know what 😉


36 posted on 04/21/2024 6:17:48 AM PDT by Chicory
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To: Melinda in TN

Part of my family is Scottish, and I was so disappointed to find out they were “bluidy Lowlanders”...


37 posted on 04/21/2024 6:22:40 AM PDT by Chicory
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To: EnderWiggin1970

I thought it would be a useful word for these times!


38 posted on 04/21/2024 6:23:35 AM PDT by Chicory
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To: A strike

Chad C. Sparpler


39 posted on 04/21/2024 6:24:09 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (They intend to kill us. Plan to avoid this.)
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To: FamiliarFace

I read that that is exactly what Seinfeld was aiming for: a show about nothing!


40 posted on 04/21/2024 6:24:49 AM PDT by Chicory
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