Word Play

I feel the need to let you in on my recent fun with words. Nerd time, people. Buckle up. I subscribe to the word of the day list because I like to beautify my mind. You know you're jealous. Check out the sweet word that came up today:

dundrearies \dun-DREER-eez\ noun plural, often capitalized : long flowing sideburns
Example sentence:In order to play the title character in a dramatization of Martin Chuzzlewit, Philip donned false dundrearies that made him look a lot older.
Did you know?In the United States, Our American Cousin by Tom Taylor is often best remembered as the play Abraham Lincoln was watching at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Word lovers may also recall that the show gave us "dundrearies," a name for the long, bushy sideburns (called "Piccadilly weepers" in England). The term for that particular men's hair fashion, which was popular between 1840 and 1870, comes from the name of Lord Dundreary, a character in the play who sported those elegant whiskers. The name can also be used in the attributive form "dundreary whiskers."

As if this wasn't enough word fun for one day, I wanted to let you in on the word fun that the soccer team has been having. This may be shocker to everyone, but Kelley and I talk differently than the rest of the Kiwis. I will pause for the bewildered gasps.

Some of the word fun includes making fun of me for saying toe-may-toe sauce, which is already a compromise for ketchup, instead of saying toe-mah-toe sauce. They also call tupperware containers, pottles. This is how I assume it's spelled as it rhymes with bottles. But say it out loud to yourself, imagining you are a proper English gentleman - pottle! This can keep us laughing for darn near hours. They also say knackered for tired, which is a phrase I enjoyed two fold: It is cool sounding on its own and when the Kiwis say it, it sounds like naked. Much to my chagrin, it turns out the phrase originates from horses getting too old for races and being sent therefore to the knackers. I should have known, but now I am upset because I don't like the sound of it anymore. The agreed upon favorite still remains gutted for disappointed. If ever there was a word that sounded more like its meaning, I haven't known it. Also, we discovered that they pronounce Adidas ah-di-DAS, making it sound an awful lot like lah di dah. It simply loses something in the translation.

I am excited to find out what terms I take back with me, considering I am only four months into Kiwi life training. All I know is that I'll be gutted if I get knackered eating and need to put my leftovers in a pottle because the tomahto sauce never tastes as good the next day.