Author Archives: bethoffreshair

irenic.

[ahy-ren-ik, ahy-ree-nik] adjective tending to promote peace or reconciliation; peaceful or conciliatory. Ketchum is an irenic town. This is a wonderful word to describe it. People leave their cars unlocked with their keys sitting in the console. The first time I went to the Laundromutt (laundry and dog grooming in one), the owner helped me out with my clothes. I said,Continue reading “irenic.”

gambol.

[gam-buh l] verb (used without object), gamboled, gamboling or (especially British) gambolled, gambolling. to skip about, as in dancing or playing; frolic. noun a skipping or frisking about; frolic. I spent an hour sitting at an old fashioned school desk staring out the window at the infectious gamboling in my front yard. Kids dressed like Ralphy from The Christmas Story climbed into a wagon and jumped into the two feet of snow, twirled around with their hands inContinue reading “gambol.”

spoonerism.

[spoo-nuh-riz-uh m] noun the transposition of initial or other sounds of words, usually by accident, as in a blushing crow for a crushing blow. Dord of the way! The fow is snalling and I bapped on my stroots and walked to Barstucks for a cup of coffee, a Bristmas Chlend. Mmm. Up to twelve inches are expected and I’m going to have to sluy a bed! A bright sled red.

penetralia.

[pen-i-trey-lee-uh] plural noun the innermost parts or recesses of a place or thing. the most private or secret things. I know in the social media world, we tend to present the happy and stunning moments and leave out the frustrating penetralia. We can look at someone’s Facebook page and think nothing ever goes wrong for them. Snowy walks and smiling dogs and UF Gator orange sunsets. We don’t want toContinue reading “penetralia.”

oniomania.

[oh-nee-uh–mey-nee-uh, –meyn-yuh] noun an uncontrollable desire to buy things. On Black Friday, I received the sweetest gift from a regular customer at the saloon. It’s not so much that he felt extreme oniomania, but that he is a caring man who worries about my winter inexperience. Claudio is from a small island in Spain and his accent sounds like warmContinue reading “oniomania.”

slugabed.

[sluhg–uh-bed] a lazy person who stays in bed long after the usual time for arising. I think it’s ironic that the word of the day a few days ago was indefatigable (incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untiring) and I typed this and got tired mid word: “Oh, to be indefatigable! I happen to think fatigue is a tre” And now I’m choosing to write about slugabed instead. I do not want to beContinue reading “slugabed.”

landloper.

[land-loh-per] noun a wanderer, vagrant, or adventurer. Are you constantly intrigued by how we connect with some people so easily, so quickly, and with others, not a bit? Every time I sit down to write about new friendships and connections, I present this phenomenon. Some customers will come in to the saloon and we hit it off instantly, beforeContinue reading “landloper.”

desultory.

[des–uh l-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] adjective lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random. I had two amazing friends come to Ketchum and we went to the hot springs yesterday when it was 30 degrees outside. It was surreal to be surrounded by snow, inches away from an icy river, but toasty warm due to geothermal activity. After changing into warm clothes, IContinue reading “desultory.”

obstreperous.

[uh b-strep-er-uh s] adjective resisting control or restraint in a difficult manner; unruly. noisy, clamorous, or boisterous. Newspapers, posters, and word of many mouths advertised a town-wide planned power outage for Tuesday from 11pm-7am. Everything in town would be pitch-black due to a necessary pole replacement. The only place downtown with a generator? The Saloon. So our usual closing time of 10:30-11ish would change to 2am. Tuesday wasContinue reading “obstreperous.”