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Sunday 19 June 2011

Sunday Rest: Word Not To Use Today: acme.

This is a truly horrible word. Acme. It sounds sticky to me, and a sort of metallic pink.

In fact, it sounds just like a 1960s face cream.

(They used to call them vanishing creams in those days, and, though I'd never seen any ladies vanishing, well, you couldn't help but hope...
The vanishing thing was really to do with wrinkles and blemishes, of course. Mind you, it didn't work on them, either.)

Anyway, acme. A nasty poking sort of word, and way too much like acne.

Strangely, it's actually the other way round - acme, meaning summit or best, has been around for thousands of years, and the word acne seems to be a misprint for the older word. That tells you a lot about the word acme.

Acme does have one other meaning: the very worst part of an illness.

Definitely one to avoid.

Word Not To Use Today: acme. This word is very old and Greek. And ridiculous. It means summit. 

1 comment:

  1. I remember vanishing cream...and Pond's Cold cream which is still around I am glad to say. The Vanishing sort did have a beautiful pinkish smell, it's true.

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