In which I inadvertently make a list

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

This was not what this was going to be today. I can't quite remember what it was going to be, but it was not this. This has developed almost of its own accord, in a quite mysterious way.

It appears to be a list of words.

I think, I think, it was because someone wrote 'end of' on Twitter and I got cross. So I started, in a desultory fashion, to make a quick list of my pet hates. And then it turned into hates and loves, and now it seems to be the whole blog.

Here it is.

List of words and phrases I hate:

Pamper, pampering, pampered. (I also rather loathe the very concept of it, as it currently applies to middle-class, middle-aged women. I am a middle-class, middle-aged woman, and I do not need pampering.)


End of. When it stands alone, meaning end of discussion. I don’t why it maddens me but it does.

Kids instead of children. Especially when used by people of a certain age who think it makes them sound hip. Although, with complete inconsistency, I like the use of kid in the singular, as in: here’s looking at you, kid.

Progress as a verb, as used in current political jargon. As in: we have to progress the policy.

Fizz for champagne.

Meal. Sometimes it is unavoidable. But oh, oh, it is ugly.

Like to mean I was or I said. As in: I’m like oh no. Or: I’m like freaking out.

Grow, when meaning increase. I think one should grow plants. I get most disconcerted when I hear people say they are going to grow the business.

Killer, as in killer body, or killer legs.

And, in the same vein, drop-dead, as in drop-dead gorgeous.

High-flyer.

Step change. I don’t even know what this means. What’s wrong with change?

Access as a verb.

Implement as a verb. Implement as a noun, however, is heaven, carrying within it its own ironical cast. As in: I shall be using a special implement.

Moist.

Gusset.

In the near future. What is the matter with soon?

Host as a verb. Not that keen on it as a noun either, except in the words of the magnificent Dorothy Parker: ‘One more drink and I’ll be under the host.’

Impact as a verb.

Eulogise.

And all the poncy words: residence for house, vehicle for car, query for question, beverage for drink.

Guy, to mean man or person. I love it as a verb, as in: to guy yourself up in your best clothes.

Togs.

Action, as a verb.

Touch base.

Must-have.

On a daily basis.

Going forward.

Lifestyle.

To avoid being Nelly Negative, I should put in the words and phrases I love, too:

Trope.

Querulous.

Quizzical.

Random, particularly in the new sense the Young People use it, to mean unknown or unexpected or surprising, or even eccentric. As in: some random person. Or: that was completely random.

Discrete.

Nice, in its meaning of subtle or precise. As in: a nice distinction.

Wanton. Most especially in the context of King Lear: as flies to wanton boys are we to the Gods.

In her pomp.

Valiant.

Salad days. As in Cleopatra: in my salad days, when I was green in judgement.

I like green for inexperienced and naïve, too.

I do not sneer at all the old, worn phrases. Although one should, of course, avoid all clichés like the plague, there are some idioms I love. I like: black as pitch, it’s all Greek to me, easy as winking. I love some of the American idioms: happy as a clam is one of my favourites.

Rue.

Blighty for Britain.

A fatal tendency.

Gleaming.

Scatter.

Verdant.

Swanky.

Yearn.

Shaming. In the Mitfordesque sense, as in: too, too shaming.

All the L words: limpid, lambent, lucid, luminous, lustrous.

Brazen.

Fig. In all its meanings, most especially: I don’t give a fig.

Sanguine.

And some of the Es: egregious, erudite, extraneous, esoteric, eclectic.

Paltry.

Vivid.

Loon.

Febrile.

Griefs, in the plural, for some reason.

Jubilee. As in: this is my day of jubilee.

Mirth.

Galvanise.

Gaze.

Potent.

Potentate.

Leap.

Beloved.

Lovely.

Love.


I rather long to know your loves and hates too.


Now for your pictures:













Three radiant Pigeons for the price of one:







The hill, faint in the brightness: