BROGUES, BRITCHES, AND SPECTACLES

Hiya Kids,

Today, I am going to start you off with a sort of matching game. Take a word from the first numbered column and match it with a similar meaning in the second lettered column. Ready?

1. brogues a. relating to cows

2. britches b. underwear

3. spectacles c. pants/trousers

4. cur d. dog

5. drawers e. eyeglasses

6. bovine f. shoes

Well, how did you do?

Hope that wasn’t too difficult. The words are, after all, English.

Now, you may ask why I gave you those words. Two guesses.

Preparatory to an intended trip to Scotland this summer, I am having a stab at learning Scottish Gaelic (pronounced /galik/; /geilik/ is the version spoken in Ireland). It’s fun, for one thing, and rather easier than learning Arabic which was what I tried in August/September.

I don’t know about you, but when I learn a new language, I try to make connections with other languages I know. If the word sounds like another word I know with a similar meaning, it’s that much easier to remember.

So the list of words in the first column are all English words that to me sounded something like the Gaelic word for the same thing. And that’s how I remembered them.

But when I tried to run the list of words past my kids, they had no idea. They had never heard of brogues, britches, drawers, and they didn’t know what a cur was. I was surprised, to say the least. I blurted out my favourite catchphrase: what kind of books do you read? Or rather, what kind of books do you not read?

I’m sure Tom Sawyer spoke about britches. I couldn’t tell you where I picked up that list of words, but for the most part they are from older books, written in the 1800s. Some of them were probably used by country bumpkins.

Anyways, what to do? I lament the fact that the current generation of youngsters is not familiar with these words. Please pick up a classic and read it.

Write me in the comments with any word you were familiar with, and let me know what the more common word for it is. Try not to peek in a dictionary.

That’s all for today, Folks.

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