Toe in the Water

Flibbertigibbet

Flibbertigibbet

According to the Google, a flibbertigibbet is "a Middle English word referring to a flighty or whimsical person, usually a young woman. In modern use, it is used as a slang term...”

I object. If a word stems from Middle English, it is anything but slang. It has done its time, served honourably through the ages, and continues in service in modern times, though admittedly rather rarely. It has more claim to respectable Englishness than many a later arrival. And, to describe it as slang, is no more than an insult. Slang is a much more recently arrived creature, usually being an existing word that has been twisted to mean something else. Its life expectancy too is likely to be extremely short, in contrast to flibbertigibbet’s longevity.

So I must proclaim with utmost sincerity that flibbertigibbet has every right to its presence in the English dictionary. Slang it is not!


Word count: 150