Tidbits

Quite often, when I read, I make a note of irky things that get my attention. I also make a note of extra-fine wording or phrases, but I come across these less often.

Here are a few of my latest irky findings.

Develop has no “e” at the end. Envelop has no “e” either. The problem comes when we want to say the word for the packet of paper that we put a letter in when we want to mail it. That is an envelope with an “e.”

Develop is a verb. Envelop is a verb (to wrap around something). But envelope with an “e” at the end is a noun. It is what you put a letter in.

Then there are two words we rarely use anymore: loath and loathe

I am loath (adjective) to do this job. (I am really disinclined to do it).

I loathe (verb) that job. (I really, really, really hate it).

Breath (noun) and breathe (verb) work in the same way.

Let me catch my breath. It took a few minutes before I could breathe properly again.

Harebrained is a word we use to mean scatterbrained. It has to do with a rabbit-like creature called a hare. It has nothing to do with hair, as in what we get cut by the hairdresser.

Please, no hairbrained words. There is no such thing.

Now for something pleasant I found in a book a long, long time ago. It was in “Justine,” I believe, the first book of Lawrence Durrell’s “Alexandria Quartet.”

Their hippopotamus-like womenfolk, lightly moustached, have jingled off to bed in their jewellery. The men’s curious soft oval faces and effeminate voices….

There is more beautiful writing in this book, but I read it so long ago, I don’t know where to find the parts I loved best. The above quote came from the Internet when I googled a few keywords that still stuck in my brain after about 40 years.