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Today's Word reminded me of "prunes and prisms". When I looked that up I was directed to a Bartleby site where I found this:
NOUN:
AFFECTATION; affectedness &c. adj.; acting a part &c. v.; pretense
(falsehood) [See Falsehood], (ostentation) [See Ostentation]; boasting [See
Boasting]; charlatanism, quackery, shallow profundity.
pretension, airs, pedantry, pedantism, purism, precisianism, stiffness,
formality, buckram; prunes and prisms; euphuism; teratology (altiloquence)
[See Ornament].
prudery, demureness, mock modesty, minauderie [F.], sentimentalism;
mauvaise honte [F.], false shame.
mannerism, simagrée [F.], grimace.
FOPPERY, dandyism, man millinery, coxcombry, coquetry, puppyism,
conceit.
AFFECTER or affector, performer, actor; pedant, pedagogue, doctrinaire,
purist, euphuist, mannerist; grimacier [rare]; lump of affectation, précieuse
ridicule [F.], bas bleu [F.], blue stocking, poetaster; prig; charlatan
(deceiver) [See Deceiver]; petit maître [F.] (fop) [See Fop]; flatterer [See
Flatterer]; coquette, prude, puritan, precisian, formalist.
Two words I didn't see were "precious" meaning excessively euphuistic, and "préciocité" meaning much the same thing.
Who wants to volunteer a definition of "prunes and prisms"?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, I'll always volunteer for the blind stab.
Prunes and prisms:
This phrase says to me people who eat prunes, who are the elderly, but not just the ordinary elderly, but those who live beneath the glow of chandeliers with a wealth of glowing prisms.
Also, prunes makes me think of people with snobbishly pursed mouths--so these old people of chandeliers are definitely snobs with prunishly pursed mouths.
That's Wordwind's take, Bill.
Best regards,
WorthingtonWorthiness
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Dear WW: I share your mental picture of disapproving pursed up lips, plus a precious over proper prudishness.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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these old people of chandeliers are definitely snobs with prunishly pursed mouths.
WW, you've just given me a new perspective on a name: in Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis, Caspian's disagreeable aunt is named Prunaprismia!
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Carpal Tunnel
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la-di-da
Was not the first women's champion at Wimbleton a Miss Lottie Dodd?
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Dear Keiva,
You wrote, Was not the first women's champion at Wimbleton a Miss Lottie Dodd?
Now, keep in mind I am very gullible and know next to nothing about sports. Are you jesting here, or is this the truth? And, if the truth, would butter melt in the mouth of Miss Lottie Dodd?
Best regards,
Wordwind
PS: Rapunzel, glad you enjoyed that little flight of fancy.
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Prunes and prism was coined by Charles Dickens. It first appears in Book 2 Chapter 5 of "Little Dorrit".
'Papa is a preferable mode of address,' observed Mrs General.
'Father is rather vulgar, my dear. The word Papa, besides, gives
a pretty form to the lips. Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes, and
prism are all very good words for the lips: especially prunes and
prism. You will find it serviceable, in the formation of a
demeanour, if you sometimes say to yourself in company--on entering
a room, for instance--Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism,
prunes and prism.' http://www.concordance.com/cgi-bin/letsr.plBingley
Bingley
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Dear Bingley: Thanks for the origin of "prunes and prisms". I enjoyed Dickens, but simply could not read all
of his books.
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