Climacteric

By the climacteric system, seven years was declared to be the termination of childhood; fourteen the term of puberty; twenty-one of adult age; thirty-five, or five times seven, as the height of physical and bodily strength. At forty-nine the person was said to have reached the height of his mental strength or intellectual powers; at sixty-three, or nine times seven, he was said to have reached the grand climacteric.

- T. Ellwood Zell's Popular Encyclopedia of knowledge and Language, 1871

Dwale

Error, delusion; deceit; heretic, deceiver [c. 900-1300; related to] Old English dwela, dweola, and dwala, error, heresy, madness. Dwal-kenned, heretical.

- Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 187

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's Christmas Day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Pig-Cheer

The word is used in Yorkshire, and applied especially to dishes make from the viscera of the pig. Christmas was formerly, as now, the principal season for pig-cheer.

- T. Lewis' Davies' Supplementary English Glossary, 1881

It's Christmas Eve! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Saying Good-Bye

But first, SNOW!

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, there's much news to impart. Firstly, that this is my last day at work before the Christmas holidays. I shall depart for the rest of the year, and return in January.

As I've tried to do in the past year, I shall continue to post the daily Forgotten English words everyday until the end of the year. However, I won't be physically around to do so. I'll be using blogger's magical abilities by writing them out now, and having them automatically post on the appropriate day.

Then, it's goodbye to blogger altogether. Don't panic. It's not goodbye to all of you altogether. Well, unless you don't like change and don't follow me to the new www.smcarriere.com, which is all set to launch when I return from holidays January 3rd. Expect some glitches January 1st and 2nd as I struggle to figure out how to switch the sites. I don't think the site will be quite ready for launch in January - there's still some stuff on the business end to figure out - but I'm launching it anyway, even if it's just the blog portion. The other stuff should all be finished long before the end of January in any case.

I'm excited, and terrified and a little stressed - just when I thought there wasn't much else to be done, I realise I have a TONNE of work still to do before this new thing goes live. I feel like I'm headed in the right direction, though. Squee! Also, gah!

Alright, so, all I can say is stay tuned. The new smcarriere.com is coming. *Cue ominous music.

In case none of you will be online in the near future, I'm wishing you a very Merry Christmas and the most astonishing, splendid 2012 possible!

Much love!

Davered

Wandering in mind; silly, senseless. Davering, riding of walking in a dazed condition. Scotland, Northern England.

- Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary, 1898-1905

Thy heart is like the daver'd rose.

- Edward Capern's Poems, 1864

Daverdly, dowdy, unkempt.

- Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1893