Lollygag And Booktok

The Word Collector — part 24

This is the latest in a series about new words and phrases, specimens collected during expeditions into the deepest, darkest literary and media wilderness, and displayed for your entertainment, elucidation, and enlightenment. These are all new to me, but of course, you may know some or all of them already, in which case you are welcome to marvel at my ignorance, which is an inexhaustible resource to be exploited in these articles.

Lollygag –this is a rather wonderful informal verb, meaning to spend time aimlessly, idle, or dawdle something I am very familiar with. It turned up in a book Mrs. Pearce is reading called “Asperger’s Children” by Edith Sheffer, about the Nazis’ treatment of mental health during World War Two.

Mirin — this ingredient was referred to in a recent BBC “MasterChef” episode, and mirin is a type of rice wine and a common ingredient in Japanese cooking. It is similar to sake but with lower alcohol content and higher sugar content.

“Blowing a hoolie” — this lovely expression turned up in a UK weather forecast which perhaps provides a clue to the type of summer we have had, and it means blowing a gale. I had heard it before and was interested to know where it came from, however, the origin of the expression seems uncertain. A “hooley” or “hoolie” is an Irish term for a party or a celebration, and usually a loud and boisterous one. In Orkney( Scottish island) local dialect a “hoolan” is a strong gale, so it may be a corruption of this word. Either way, not something you want to get caught in, though the Irish party sounds like more fun!

Baily’s beads — This effect was referred to on a BBC Radio 4 programme about eclipses. The Baily’s beads and diamond ring effects are features of total and annular solar eclipses. Although caused by the same phenomenon, they are two distinct events during these types of solar eclipses. As the burst of light from the ring fades, Baily’s beads appear as the last bits of the bright photosphere shine through valleys aligned at the edge of the Moon. The Baily’s beads disappear behind the advancing lunar edge and reappear at the end of totality.

BNPL — I do love a good acronym, and this one stands for Buy Now Pay Later, which sounds like a recipe for financial disaster. It turned up in an article in “The Observer” newspaper, about a trend for people, so desperate due to delays with our under-funded UK National Health Service, that they are taking out loans to go private -

Lebensborn — This word cropped in the BBC television series “World on Fire” about World War Two, and it is a German word from the SS eugenics programme initiated by Heinrich Himmler, to produce an Aryan master race to be “racially pure” and “healthy”.

As a fascinating aside, the dark-haired singer from the Swedish pop group Abba, obviously from no fault of her own, was the product of this rather horrific programme, and there is more about her history in this article on Medium -

“Detroit leaning” — this interesting expression turned up in a great interview with the legendary Chrissie Hynde of “The Pretenders” pop group, who is still going strong at 71. ‘Detroit leaning’ is a driving style where folks lean back in the front seat and stick their elbow out of the window. There is even a great article about the expression on Medium on this link –

The interview with Chrissie Hynde is on the link below if of interest-

Consigliere — a noun meaning a member of a Mafia family, who serves as an adviser to the leader, and resolves disputes within the family. It turned up in an “Observer” article to describe the right-hand man serving former UK Prime Minster Theresa May, an odd description and probably not meant to be complimentary!

Natalism — This turned up in “The Observer” and natalism (also called pronatalism or the pro-birth position) is an ideology that promotes the reproduction of human life as an important objective of being human and advocates a high birthrate. In the article, it referred to the practice of some politicians to encourage families to have lots of children for nationalist reasons.

Booktok — this word turned up in an “Observer” article and is a spin-off from the wildly successful TikTok app, whereby influencers are enticing teenage girls into bookshops to buy large quantities of certain books. While many social media fads seem harmful this one sounds positive, if it helps keep bookshops thriving, and promotes reading!

I hope you enjoyed this latest collection and do share any favourite new specimens of your own in the comments.

As always, thank you for reading.

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