As a lot of this blog is about writing, I wanted to write a regular article on my favourite forgotten words. You know the type of thing, those poor lost words that sit at the back of our minds, gathering dust, having been discovered years ago in literary classics like Dickens, or Austen. They are the spices of the literary world, but I refuse to let them sit in a cupboard and be ignored until they go out of date! Let’s bring them back!
This month’s word is: BEFUDDLED
Befuddled
Confused
For a word that has such a simple meaning, why are we not still using it? Who of us hasn’t been befuddled at some point this week? I know I spend most of my time befuddled.
I have this lovely image in my head of someone in a meeting saying, ‘I’m sorry, but can you elaborate? I find that befuddling.’
Did you ever play that game at work where you pick a random word and you have to get it into conversation during a meeting? The best challenge I ever got was ‘melon balls’ and I totally befuddled my colleagues when I dropped that into conversation. It’s even more fun when the meetings are minuted!
When was the last time you were befuddled? And please let me know in the comments if you manage to get it into a meeting today! Do you have any favourite lost words? Stop by and let me know!