२५ डिसेंबर, २०२२

The Oxford English Dictionary word of the day is "Christmas, v." — "Christmas," the verb

It means "To celebrate Christmas; to spend the Christmas period in a particular place." That's intransitive. You can also use it as a transitive verb — meaning "To adorn (something, esp. a building or room) with Christmas decorations" — but that is deemed colloquial, so save that for your more relaxed occasions, such as after people have Christmassed quite a bit, perhaps with a can of pop and some Christian Brothers brandy.

Here are some historical examples of  Christmas — the verb — collected by the OED:

1884 Daily News 16 Feb. 5/3 Two policemen who had too obviously been ‘Christmassing.’

1967 ‘A. Burgess’ in Hudson Rev. 20 99 I Christmassed in the country. 

Those are the intransitive kind. I like this anachronistic appearance of the colloquial transitive verb:

1966 J. Goldman Lion in Winter i. ii. 17 Eleanor. (Moving to the holly boughs.) Come on; let's finish Christmassing the place.

Anachronistic, in that the character, Eleanor of Aquitaine, lived from 1122 to 1204. But who knows how Eleanor talked? Maybe the author wrote the line that way to sound archaic to the people of 1966.

That's her tomb, you may realize. Do you believe in reading after death? If there is reading after death, what books do you think will be available?

१७ टिप्पण्या:

Meade म्हणाले...

Time Enough at Last

Richard म्हणाले...

There's voting after death, so why not reading?

NeggNogg म्हणाले...

We watch The Lion in Winter every Christmas Eve. It's a ritual.
My favorite deck-the-halls line:
"What shall we hang? The holly or each other?"
Keepin' it real re: family dynamics during the holidays.

NeggNogg म्हणाले...

We watch The Lion in Winter every Christmas Eve; it's our ritual.
My favorite deck-the-halls line:

"What shall we hang? The holly or each other?"

Keepin' it real re: family dynamics during the holidays.

Cheers!

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

I know just what to get Eleanor for Christmas.

RNB म्हणाले...

Gideon Bibles?

Amexpat म्हणाले...

If there is reading after death, what books do you think will be available?

The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most amazing women the world has ever known. She was Queen of France as the wife of Louis VII, and one of the leaders of the Second Crusade. Then after the Pope was persuaded to annul that marriage she remarried — to Henry II, King of England. Two of her sons, Richard the Lionheart and his brother John, were kings of England. She herself ruled England for a time as regent while Richard was leading the Third Crusade.

If she ever turns a page in that book l say look out!

Iman म्हणाले...

Murder mysteries… medical textbooks…

Readering म्हणाले...

Wonder how it works in Old French.

Ice Nine म्हणाले...

>>If there is reading after death, what books do you think will be available?<<

All depends on where you end up.

Heaven: Shakespeare's dramas, Fenimore Cooper (esp., "Mohicans"), Neal Stephenson stuff (esp., "Cryptonomicon), and thousands more...

Hell: The Da Vinci Code, The Twilight Saga,...

SteveWe म्हणाले...

No, she's not reading after death. She was reading at the time of her death. That's what is being conveyed by her sarcophagus.

rcocean म्हणाले...

I believe in reading after death.

Harry Potter and John Grisham will be there.

Of course, that's Hell.

Lexington Green म्हणाले...

All books that ever were or ever might have been will be available, with infinite time to read them, and to converse with the authors.

tcrosse म्हणाले...

She has to be reading something. It's written in stone.

john burger म्हणाले...

"War and Peace" because I will finally have time to read it.

jvb

PsycProf म्हणाले...

This biography is one of my favorite books Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings https://a.co/d/06sY2uS