Wednesday, October 1, 2008

I hold this list niddering!

Apparently the Collins dictionary is getting rid of some words. Now, I don't really care about that, since I'm not sure anyone ever reads their little publication, but they are threatening to drop "niddering"! I'm not crazy about the present spelling, but as everyone knows, "nidering" is the ultimate Saxon insult, used extensively throughout Ivanhoe. In fact, (spoiler alert!) Richard Couer-de-Lion makes Cedric the Saxon un-disown his son Wilfred of Ivanhoe by drawing a promise from him and then threatening to hold him nidering if he does not go through with it! This is the best word for expressing complete contempt that there is. I suggest using it as much as possible!

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