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 They are the spices of the literary world, but I refuse to let them sit in a cupboard and be ignored until they go out of date!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: GEWGAW
gewgaw
noun
A showy thing, especially one that is useless or worthless.
‘a house full of Victorian gewgaws’
I love this word! It has a real Dickensian feel about it and I feel like when I say it, I should have a moustache to twiddle and a walking cane to bash on the floor. Having recently waxed my top lip I’m down the moustache but I’ve got an umbrella I can use in place of a walking cane! I won’t though, don’t worry. I’ve not gone that mad yet!
I’ll be honest, I think this might be one of the harder words to get into conversation or into my writing. I still love it though. Had you heard of it before? This might be one for the historical writers out there. Let me know if you’re able to use it today. If you do, you’ll sound incredibly clever and intellectual! And if no one understands it, you can always twiddle your moustache to distract them!