Oh, J, you silly letter. So many names, so few other words....
Jalopy: One of several words I don't know how to pronounce very well. I've long been better at book learnin' than speaking, and though I read a lot of Archie comics, and Jughead and the gang were always driving around in a jalopy, I never learned how to pronounce it. Artisan/artesian are two others, as is epitome. Seriously, epitome? How'm I supposed to to know that's four syllables?
Jennifer: I never minded being named Jennifer, really, though it was the #1 girls name in America for ever in the 1970s. In college (and I may have already told you this story, and if so, I'm sorry), there was a popular drinking game on campus called Jennifer. In Morris, we only had one phone per dorm floor (oh! the humanity! my students are certain they would've died in such a circumstance), so the game was to call any floor and ask for Jennifer. If she answered, you got to drink. If they said "Which one?" you got to drink twice. Spooner top had 4 Jennifers, so we were a very popular floor, phone-wise.
Janitrix: the female version of janitor. Did you even know there was a female version? It turns out there are lots of fun words like that: aviatrix, proprietrix, legislatrix. Any noun that ends in -tor, really, can be made feminine by -trix. If I ever have to apply for a new job (heaven forbid), I think I may just have to write Instructrix on my résumé. Or Educatrix. I never knew teaching could sound so sexy!
2 comments:
Jen-Jen....(Our Jennifer born in 1971 dislikes it when I in a brain relapse call her that)anyway having driven a jalopy most of my married life can identify with that word; although we call them junkers at times and call the junk yard to haul them away. Wow---and having been a Janitor a good many years, how many toilets have I cleaned through the years....I like that term Janitrix. I will use that one for sure. I learn so much on this blog!! Gma S
Lovin' your posts, Jenyo!
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