Logophile

If you are reading this blog then you might be a logophile; a person who loves words.  It is formed from the Greek word “Logos” meaning “word" and phile is a suffix meaning “lover of”.

It’s first appearance in print was in the London Sunday Times on February 25, 1959. “We are pretty sure that all Sunday Times readers are natural and inveterate logophiles.”   

Here are a few examples of use:

“How serendipitous is that, since I am both a blogophile and a logophile?”

Allan Jenkins' Desirable Roasted Coffee

“There probably isn't a better gift for a logophile or linguist than witticisms and wordplay - the clever kind or the chocolate version of such.”

The WritingYA Weblog: Poetry Friday: Love...Word

Slainte

Slainte is Gaelic word and an old Irish expression used as a salutation which means ‘health’.  It is also used as a common toast in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man before downing a pint.

Slainte!  Cheers!  To your health!  Happy St Patricks Day!

Erin Go Braugh!  (Ireland Forever!) 

An Old Irish Blessing

May love and laughter light your days, 

and warm your heart and home. 

May good and faithful friends be yours, 

wherever you may roam.

May peace and plenty bless your world

with joy that long endures. 

May all of life’s passing seasons 

bring the  best to you and yours! 

 

Sprezzatura

Sprezzatura (Italian) is a noun that means doing something effortlessly, with spontaneity and a certain nonchalance.  It has also been described as a way to disguise what one really desires, thinks or feels as a form of defense.  A performance that appears to be without effort. 

The word was coined in 1528 by Baldassare Castiglione, the author of  “The Book of Courtier”, a book about Renaissance court life. 

"Practise in everything a certain nonchalance that shall conceal design and show that what is done and said is done without effort and almost without thought.”   Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier
  
"Norris is a man always in equipoise, a living illustration of the art of sprezzatura. No one has ever seen him ruffled.”    Hilary Mantel; Bring Up the Bodies; Henry Holt; 2012.