READING UPDATE: The Dictionary, Part 5: Betel Nut – Bovid

Another two weeks, another stretch of hot-and-cold reading.  I still feel that the letter B has been much more enjoyable to read.  Maybe the words are really just more interesting and maybe it’s because there are fewer B-words than A-words, so I feel like I’m making more progress.

Nothing really worth noting aside from my interesting words.  I am closing in on hitting the 200-page mark.  That will mean I am 1/8^th of the way through.  At this point, I don’t know that that milestone will mean as much as beginning the letter C, which is fast approaching.

Notable words:

BÊTE NOIRE- Literally, it means the black or dark beast.  Literarily, it means something detested or shunned.  It’s a little on the fancy side of the spectrum, but I like it and hope to be able to use it my something I write someday.  It feels like a simple but powerful way to describe something a protagonist clashes with.

BETTA- It’s what a lot of people think are called Beta Fish but it is pronounced bet-uh, not bay-tuh.  Nice to have my ignorance erased.

BILL OF HEALTH- Interesting how we have turned something that was at once a vitally important document into a common, largely meaningless term.  It used to be a document given to a ship’s captain detailing any ailments with his crew before setting sail.  Now it means the doctor didn’t find anything overly concerning with you at a check-up.

BIMONTHLY- Oh how irritating!  It can mean both twice a month AND every two months.  Thanks a lot English language.

BIRTH CONTROL- The first documented use of the term was a century ago.  I was surprised to discover how old the term is.  Are you?

BLIGHT- Here is another widely used word with no known origin.  I don’t understand how this happens.

BLUE- Two of its many definitions are quite contradictory.  One means puritanical and another means indecent or crude.  I wonder when and where those meanings originated because it seems strange to think that the same word could stand for polar opposites.

BON TON- It means fashionable, proper, or high society.  I included this word because a regional department store headquartered in my neck of the woods is named The Bon Ton.  Despite the definition of the word, the store caters mostly toward older women.  Maybe clients of The Bon Ton think the name is still apt, but I have my doubts.

BOOSTER SHOT- This word, typically thought of as a childish thing, as more than reached maturity.  It’s first documented usage was 70 years ago.  Way to have staying power, you old codger.

BORBORYGMUS- Yet another word that proves I am a dork.  It the technical term for the rumbling sound your insides make when gas is shifted in you intestinal tract.  Is that a rumbly in my tumbly?  No, it’s a borborygmus!

BOTHER- It really bothers me that the word bother is of an unknown origin.  Bother!

BOURGEOISIE- It means the middle class, which shocked me.  I always understood it to mean the upper class, or aristocrats, who ruled back in the day.  Maybe my understanding of middle class is vastly different from the middle ages.  If not, what a scary thought of the proletariat rising up against the middle class!  Scarier yet are those who are calling for similar class revolts now.  I will have to look into this one more closely to determine to how the definition changed culturally and socioeconomically over the years.