Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith Talk Forums General Topics Q&A about words Words better known in their negative forms
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
I recall the scene in Romeo and Juliet where the nurse goes on about an incident in Juliet's babyhood. Juliet had falen on her face and was crying, and the nurse's husband said "Did you fall on your face? You'll fall on your back when you get smarter, won't you?" and, in the nurse's words "The pretty thing, it stinted and said 'Aye'". So it's an old word.
We use "uncouth" now to mean "ignorant". There was a word in Old English, "uncuth" (where the "th" was an "eth", one of those crossed-d letters), meaning "unknown, unfamiliar", and its opposite number "cuth" meant "familiar and known".
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,916Posts230,374Members9,211 Most Online7,006
Mar 7th, 2026
Newest Members Boo boo kitty fu, peterreineck, Peripatetic Toad, JerryC, blvd
9,211 Registered Users
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 15
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 11,202tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,974Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith Talk