WORDS LIKE RAW

Thanks for that, hiama, I love words that stem from Old English.

Here's another turn of phrase, though it has nothing to do with Old English. It was spoken by a French diplomat, describing how he felt after Rumsfeld referred to France and Germany as "old Europe." The diplomat said that he was "profoundly vexed."

Wish I'd said that! Well, I reckon I can...

vexed...I like the sound, too.

I am posting from a library in central Kentucky. A word and a phrase I heard today were:
puny...M-W. The puny girl wandered into the huge store.
two acre turn around...I swear; the car was so big it needed a two acre turn around.

I've been thinking about word-pairs, like topsy turvy, willy nilly, hurdy gurdy. None of these words singly has any meaning, at least not that I know of, but combine them and they have a definition. I'm sure that the knowledgeable folks on this thread will be able to provide some insight or information as to how these expressions got started.

How about abashed and chagrined.

My 6th grade teacher, Miss Mallon, used to always use the expression, consummate gall.

When I heard myself use the word lollygag the other day, I thought of this thread. Lollygag means to dawdle. Will you quit lollygagging around and get to work.

Yurt! Me dasnt is all kerflooey!

I like "irked" and "miffed" myself...and perhaps "seriously put out"...always a larf in a major weather disaster, such as your house being bowled over by a tornado. "Now I am miffed, irked, seriously put out." Apologies to anyone living in tornado country...

My 7th grade English teacher used to calm the talkity ones down by saying "Yer mouths are flapping in the breeze" and "I don't like looking down manholes".

I like that approach, remembering words used by those in our past, words and meanings which have stuck with us through the years.