Friday, November 18, 2011

Wordsmithing & NOT Dingthrifting

We love words in this home! There are words painted on our dinning room table, our bedroom wall, other furniture...I told Suzanna and a car full of seminary girls on the way to school that finding a spouse who loves to read like I do was on my LIST, and how thankful I am that Brother Landbeck is a reader.

One of the sweetest things he does is bring me library books that he knows I will love. And lets me read them first (his steampunk version of Mistborn novels was a fun read)! John just checked out a 1007 page Brandon Sanderson book for me and got it for himself on cd for his commute. It is like a book-date! We can talk about it as we go.

I also love thrift store shopping. It is relaxing, satisfying. I spent from 9 am- 11:30 walking leisurely up and down the aisles of my favorite thrift store earlier this week, looking at everything, finding some great treasures. I make up my own rules, about how much I am willing to spend that trip, and I am ruthless about editing my cart, even after filling it up, putting things back if they aren't 50% off sale or meet more than one necessary criteria. It is hard to explain my process, but a morning of thrifting helps me see my priorities more clearly, identify what is important to me, what I can live without, what I need, even what I need to throw away in my life (and donate to the same thrift store). Thrifting is therapuetic.

So I was delighted to learn the word for this day.

I am subscribed to wordsmith. It comes as an email. Today's word:

spendthrift PRONUNCIATION: (SPEND-thrift)

MEANING: noun: A person who spends money wastefully. adjective: Wasteful with money.

ETYMOLOGY: A spendthrift is, literally, one who spends his wealth, from Middle English thrift (prosperity), from Old Norse thrifast (to thrive), from thrifa (to grasp). Earliest documented use: 1601.

NOTES: Spendthrift is the longest word whose phonetic and normal spellings are the same. Two colorful synonyms of this word are dingthrift and scattergood.

3 comments:

Jane Babcock said...

This morning Elder B and I visited the Salvation Army Thrift Store. Last week we told the volunteer cashier that we would bring her a book. She was there again today, but the crowd wasn't right to give her the Book of Mormon. But she remembered us joyfully. She was delighted when I found a blue jacket she had just put out this morning, because when she put it out, she thought of me, that I would like it. So Friday will be our thrift store try to give away a Book of Mormon day. Elder B says her name is Faith.

Jane Babcock said...

We will scattergood as we freely dingthrift the gospel, in an atmosphere where the people are not spendthrifts.

BobandLu said...

Love our common interests! :)