That Means WHAT?

Did you ever look at a word, swear you know what it means and find out differently later on?  Hopefully, you didn’t use that word in the wrong context before you found out.

Try these on for size!

BOOTLESS

That’s easy.  It means no boots, right?  Look again.

bootless \BOOT-lis\ (adjective) – Unavailing; useless; without advantage or benefit.

In a sentence:  Swimming upstream is bootless effort unless you’re a salmon.

Or how about. . .

BUTTE

No, that’s not butt or booty.  Then what is it?

butte \byoot\ (noun) – Isolated hill rising abruptly from the surrounding area, having steep sides and a flat top.  From French butte (mound).

In a sentence:   New Mexico’s many buttes are just a small portion of the inherent beauty of that state.

 And now for my favorite. . .

PIGSNEY (ewwwwwwwwwww) And, no, it is not the knee joint of a pig in an antiquated spelling!  Get this. . .

Pigsney  (1) A sweetheart  (2) An eye, especially a small one. From Middle English piggesnye (pig’s eye). I know Valentine’s Day has passed, but can you just imagine whispering this in your sweetheart’s ear? “Come away with me, my little pigsney.”  :)

Look around you.  I’ll bet you can find lots of words that don’t mean what they look like they should mean.  In the meantime, go dazzle your friends with your new words.

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Inspired Editing & Proofreading That Lets YOU Shine Through!

Published in: on February 21, 2007 at 10:30 am  Comments (2)  
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