Bon Mot du Jour – Fiddlesticks

Morning!

 

Well, currently, my time is so taxed that it’s hard to put any aside for blog articles. What I can do, however, is brief posts on little whimsical subjects. You may recall me saying that I wanted to post interesting words and etymologies? 

The idea was ‘etynoms’ because I wanted to put funny pics of cats on there too, but I fear  that it’s a combination that only appeals to me. Therefore, I’m just going to share a cool word without the additional arseing about.

So, today’s good word?

Fiddlesticks.

It’s a classic, right? Fiddlesticks, I forgot to feed my family again.

Fiddlesticks is a very old-school interjection, probably used more these days as a polite replacement for the F bomb. Supposedly it entered English in the 1400s, from Middle English fiddillstyk (according to Dictionary.com), which is an even more cool word and looks like something Tom Bombadil would wave at Goldberry.

Fiddlesticks are, in fact, sticks used by fiddlers (and other string types), to beat percussion on the instrument. Who’d have known that it would end up sounding incredibly daft and a perfect example of how the English get politely, double-entendre-ly rude.

Bring it back, people. Embrace the fiddlesticks.