Tuesday, August 25, 2009

More About Diddley

More about diddley. Much ado about nothing.



Didley means nothing.



And yet there is a web page dedicated to the expression Diddley Squat. Imagine that! Very information and amusing.

It includes a few stories.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Voracious Veracity

Today I'm turned on to words that start with V.

Veracious- adj. honest, truthful.

Voracious- adj. famished, insatiable, greedy.


Just one letter makes a big difference in meaning.

And there is a noun related to voracious, voracity, analogous to veracious, veracity. One letter difference again.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Exquisite

more e words. today they just seem so euphonious. I was thinking of elegant and exquisite...

exquisite has a foreign exotic sound to it, yet such a lush, extravagant connotation. words conjure up visuals for me...

I do love words.

I guess I am a philologue.

Wait a minute!

I am THE philolog!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Lighten Up

I do enjoy the song "Lighten Up" or is it "Soak up the Sun?" by Sheryl Crow.



In it she sings that she doesn't have "diddley squat." What a wonderful expression!



I don't know how far back it goes, but the phrase was immortalized in a 50's song, I believe,
"My girl is red hot!
Your girl ain't diddley squat!"


Diddley represents a very small amount.

Squat is a verb which means to bend knees in order to almost sit on the floor.....the dictionary says to crouch down or "sit on heels or hams."

It doesn't really add to the meaning of this expression, but I think it's added for emphasis as a short, harsh sounding word.