ton-of-fun

I went looking for a word I’ve shared here before. A word I can say when my lips are pursed (it’s been one of those days), when I have that LOOK on my face; when my leg is being pulled or my arm twisted.

Piffle.

For those of you who think this is just nonsense, you couldn’t be more right. Piffle as a noun is trivial nonsense. As a verb it means to talk or act in a trivial, inept, or ineffective way. Piffled and piffling are acceptable variations.

Piffle is not only a word to know and to write, it’s also good to SAY. Put your nose slightly in the air and say it with me. Piffle.

“The chickens are hungry? Piffle! They’ve been scratching in the wheat field all morning.”

When speaking to recalcitrant teenagers one could say, “Stop piffling; the cow will not milk itself.”

Piffle is a ton-of-fun to say and is the reason TVs get turned off and politicians get tuned out.

I encourage you to know your piffle, to call out, Piffle! and share your piffle with me if you’d care to. Let me know what you find to be … piffle!

Balter

Balter: To dance without particular skill or grace, but with extreme joy.

Lottie_Collins

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In the above advertisement, dating from the late 1800s, English dancer Lottie Collins sings her renowned vaudeville hit “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay!” after being healed by Bromo-Seltzer.

While Lottie doesn’t look particularly graceful in the ad, she was actually a beautiful woman who was known for her high-spirited and uninhibited skirt dance with high kicks that exposed stockings held up by sparkling garters.

Lottie_Collins2

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

For the rest of us, who may not be able to kick up to our ears, there’s always baltering.

 

photo-of-the-day

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