Gigi Halliwell, otherwise known as The Word Wrangler, swirls among the fireflies, letting words emanate from her core. She is oblivious to her surroundings, completely lost in the land of intuition. Letters float through the air, and she is able to reach out to touch each of the letters and rearrange them to spell something profound. She has tried conjuring these words in different locations, but the middle of the forest seems to work best. In the forest, she is close to nature, away from prying eyes and opinions. The letters seems to come alive – glowing and moving about in graceful swoops. They always seem to attract fireflies; they can sense whenever Gigi enters the forest and swarm around her emanating more light. Gigi grabs a stick to record the message in the dirt. The letters stay in place only for a moment, and then they resume floating in the air. At first, the words do not always make sense alone but when she copies and rearranges them in a notebook, they make beautiful poetry. Haikus to be exact. One poem a day is about all she can manage. She shares her poems at The Wily Word Cafe in the middle of town, writing each one on the chalkboard the proprietor set up especially for her. The haikus always tell the citizens of Peacock Mountain what they must reflect upon that day – things that nature wants them to know. They all respect these messages.
Tag Archives: words
Colorful Lingo from the Jazz Age
I have been neglecting my blog lately and I feel truly bad about it. But I have a good excuse. I have been researching the 1920s for my novel, and it is like falling down a virtual or literary rabbit hole every time I come across something new. One of the engrossing “rabbit holes” I fell into recently is called “Bright Young Things: A Modern Guide to the Roaring Twenties”. The section that highlights words and phrases invented by flappers made me smile, and in some instances laugh out loud, so I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorites with you:
Appleknocker = a hick
Bank’s Closed = no petting or kisses allowed
Barney-Mugging = love-making
Cake Basket = a limousine
Corn-Shredder = a young man who treads on one’s feet when dancing
Dingledangler = a persistent caller on the phone
Duddling Up = dressing up
Gimlet = a chronic bore
I wish people were this clever with words now. I know, I know – people make up words all the time, but they are rarely this colorful. If you know of any other great lingo from the 1920s, please share it in the comments. I am planning to share more tidbits from my research in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.