51吃瓜 of the Day
tchotchke
noun
an inexpensive souvenir, trinket, or ornament.
More about tchotchke
Tchotchke 鈥渁n inexpensive souvenir, trinket, or ornament鈥� is a borrowing of Yiddish tshatshke, from obsolete Polish czaczko 鈥渢oy, trinket鈥� (modern Polish cacko), which is cognate with Czech 膷补膷办补 and Russian cacka, of the same general meaning. These Slavic terms are all most likely of imitative origin; with the addition of the diminutive suffix -ka or -ko, the original forms (Czech 膷补膷补 and both Polish and Russian caca) appear to be reduplicated syllables that are typical of baby talk. In case you thought it was a little strange that a word for 鈥渢oy鈥� or 鈥渢rinket鈥� would derive from a doubled syllable, bear in mind that English contains the similarly reduplicated term knickknack. Tchotchke was first recorded in English in the late 1960s.
how is tchotchke used?
For a reminder-through-association to work well it needs to be distinctive鈥攕omething out of place that will catch the eye. To remind yourself to mail a stack of bills in the morning, for example, you might put a tennis ball on top of them 鈥�. And to remind employees to fill out the sign-up sheet for the holiday party, place it next to the brand new large snow globe on the receptionist鈥檚 desk and let people know to sign-up when they see the distinctive new tchotchke.
Michael Zegen, a star of 鈥淭he Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,鈥� is an unabashed hunter and gatherer. It runs in the family …. He says that tchotchkes make him feel good. 鈥淔rom the time I was a kid I鈥檝e been into knickknacks,鈥� said Mr. Zegen, whose collectibles include an orange Snoopy and a robot.
tchotchke
Bildungsroman
noun
a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.
More about Bildungsroman
Bildungsroman 鈥渁 novel concerned with the maturing of a young protagonist鈥� is a direct borrowing from German. The word comprises two nouns: Bildung 鈥渇ormation, education鈥� and Roman 鈥渘ovel.鈥� Despite its 鈥渇ormation鈥� sense, Bildung is not related to English building; rather, it derives from German Bild 鈥渋mage, picture,鈥� which is cognate to Old English bilithe 鈥渋mage,鈥� a term with no descendants in modern English. Roman derives via a long chain of semantic shifts from Latin 搁艒尘腻苍耻蝉 鈥渙f or relating to Rome.鈥� 搁艒尘腻苍耻蝉 yielded the adjective 搁艒尘腻苍颈肠耻蝉 鈥渋n the Roman style or pattern,鈥� and this became Old French romanz 鈥渟tory in the vernacular language鈥� and then French roman 鈥渘ovel,鈥� which German borrowed as Roman. English Roman preserves the original meaning of 搁艒尘腻苍耻蝉. Bildungsroman was first recorded in English in the first decade of the 1900s.
how is Bildungsroman used?
鈥淭he Chiffon Trenches鈥� has been sold as a juicy tell-all鈥�; revenge 鈥� in written form. It is that, kind of. But it is also a bildungsroman about an African-American boy from the Jim Crow South who made it to the front row of the Parisian fashion world by way of Interview, WWD, Ebony, Vanity Fair and, above all, Vogue.
Today, Latinx writers are writing their own versions of the bildungsroman, but with a twist. In novels like Angie Cruz鈥檚 Dominicana and Ernesto Qui帽onez鈥檚 罢补铆苍补, protagonists are educated not once, but twice: first, in mostly Spanish-speaking families and neighborhoods; and later, in the English-speaking society outside the home.
Bildungsroman
More about wintle
Wintle 鈥渢o tumble over; capsize鈥� is a Scottish English verb derived from early Dutch/Flemish windtelen 鈥渢o revolve鈥� (compare modern Dutch wentelen, of the same meaning). The verb windtelen is a frequentative of winden 鈥渢o wind,鈥� which makes wintle a close relative of the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day selection wynd; both wintle and wynd come from a Germanic source roughly meaning 鈥渢o twist.鈥� A frequentative is a type of verb that expresses repetition of an action, and while English no longer creates its own frequentatives, we used to add the suffix -le to mark this aspect. Just as winden becomes the frequentative windtelen, English scuff, sniff, and spark become scuffle, sniffle, and sparkle. Wintle was first recorded in English circa 1780.
how is wintle used?
On one occasion Mrs. Griffiths comes to the village shop early 鈥�. There is a hoar frost, the twigs are thick with glistening rime, she is well wrapped up, and she walks carefully so as not to wintle on the rimy Bargate stones of the path. She feels fresh and renewed on freezing mornings like this.
He sat up, held out his arms, and said, “Come, till I embrace you.” I took a hap, step and loup into his arms, and wintled ower beyond him in the bed, kissed him, and bade him an affectionate farewell in the meantime. I called him father ever after, and he called me son.
wintle