WORDS LIKE RAW

I will set my mulling function to automatic pilot,Maple, and revisit when something moves up to consciousness.

Oh! How about "GLOAMING"? That time of evening that is darker than twilight - but not night.

Hmmmm - "She tried to find her way through the GLOAMING of her mind to a clear understanding of what had happened" - to use it in a metaphorical sense.

Raw, in relation to weather, makes me feel as if I am walking through a forest with biting wind stinging my face and tears drying on my face before they reach my cheeks. It would be icy cold with a windchill that makes my nose-hairs freeze.

I do like the way I used to hear people say "soft day today" as a form of greeting. The word soft always made me picture a light gentle rain on a pleasantly warm day. The drops were so fine that I barely felt them on my skin, with not enough moisture to wet my hair or clothes and so no umbrella was required.

How about "unseemly"? As in, "The rush to execute the suspect before his trial is unseemly."

A raw day used to mean a raw, cold wind.( mid-West)

Brilling.

Brilling as in....

As in Jabberwocky. Late afternoon, before dusk.

Here's another word I like, but rarely use: puerile. Let's see:

"Wearing your boxer shorts on your head is kind of puerile, isn't it?"

If you're a woman!

Mapleleaf, I agree that "raw" is a perfect way to describe a particular kind of day. However, up in my neck of the woods, "raw" doesn't require rebirth. It's alive and kicking. Especially this winter.

A word I don't hear anymore that my grandmother used is dasn't. She often used it when relating some bizarre superstition. "You dasn't sew something while you're wearing it." She went on to explain that it was ok to sew something while you were wearing it as long as you were chewing something at the time. She once sewed a button on my blouse while I was wearing the blouse. We didn't have any gum, so she made me chew on a piece of thread.

Way off topic here. Sorry.

heehee - in Oz we have a saying, now seldom used: "Don't come the raw prawn with me!"

I can use it - but it is difficult to describe the meaning - it is a way of saying one disapproves of or disbelieves something you are being told, or that someone;s behaviour is out of order.

I think I might have thought that your grandmother was coming the raw prawn with you, Roberta!

I have seen "dursen't" written down as dialect in books.

dlowan, I'm confused with the raw prawn. Did I believe my grandmother? No. Did she believe what she was telling me? Yes.

Is duresen't a variation of dasn't?

I suspect so, but I dassn't say fer sure.

I speak of your grandmother from the imaginary perspective of a forthright little Australian girl, suddenly transmogrified to your place, but not put there with your head, exposed without warning to unfamiliar beliefs, and commenting from the heart...."What? Don't come the raw prawn with me! Chew THREAD?!"

But perhaps I would have been polite, and chewed away in stunned silence.....

heehee

A word and a phrase immediately came to mind while reading Roberta's post. Does anyone use the word "daren't, or the phrase "according to Hoyle" anymore?

I recall someone saying to my mother: "You daren't sew that skirt without basting it first" and my mom replying: "Well, it may not be according to Hoyle, but that's the way I sew." Twice during the past month when I've used that phrase, I've been asked: "Who the heck is Hoyle?"

From www.dictionary.com:

Hoyle n.
A reference book of rules for card games and other indoor games.

Idiom:
according to Hoyle
In accord with the prescribed rules or regulations.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[After Edmond Hoyle (1672?-1769), British writer on games.]

Thanks Max. (I knew that) But, my younger friends never heard of Hoyle. I guess they don't follow the rules.

I agree, "according to Hoyle" isn't heard much any more.

Back to "dasn't" or "dursen't" - do you think they came from "dare"? "I dare not sew this while I'm wearing it"? They seem vaguely familiar, but I don't think I've ever heard either version used.

Mac, I'm curious myself.

Today, a student of mine used the word G R I M. As in, "After being told of my bosses' death, I grimly approached my work."

I would use grim in that sense, too, Maple.

"Grim determination" is often talked of, too.
I would certainly see dassn't as a variant of daren't - or at least how the root word of both evolved in that dialect.