I know what a hair receiver is, do you?
Granted they haven't been in use since, I dunno, 1898. But I know what they are because little Laura Ingalls mentioned it in one of her Little House books. I believe she or Mary made one for Ma.
And when I was a kid - reading these books and coming across words that had been popular in the 1800's - my parents made me look stuff up in the dictionary instead of just friggin' telling me what the words meant. Possibly because it was a 100 years later and they didn't know either.
Which is why I was probably the only 10 year old who knew that braces are what I call suspenders, that dimity is a type of cotton fabric interwoven with heavier ribbon, and that a slough is basically a swamp.
And because of this constant word search I asked to get a dictionary for my 15th birthday. With a stand please. The Random House, 2nd Edition, Unabridged.
It doesn't have the word "internet" in it, nor any other 21st century contribution, but that's fine. That's what I have the "internet" for anyway.
You might just ask what all this book learnin' is good for? Well let me tell you! Scrabble for one thing. You whip "dimity" on the board and you are guaranteed a challenge that I promise you will win.
Oh and ShiftyMike in case you forgot to look it up, I was totally wrong about "oxbow". It IS a word (again, thank you Laura Ingalls), but has nothing to do with bows and arrows. But you are very welcome anyway. Next time I won't be such an amenable opponent.
I will instead crush you with my knowledge of random vowel-friendly 18th and 19th century vocabulary.
Muhhhahhhhaaahhhhhhahaha!!!!!
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