This blog is for everyone who uses words.

The ordinary-sized words are for everyone, but the big ones are especially for children.



Tuesday 2 April 2013

Thing To Do Today: squelch.

These boots:

Rain Boots & Umbrella Clip Art

are made for squelching.

At the moment, as I write this, the only noise I get from walking anywhere is the cracking and crinking of ice: the snow has frozen hard, and the car's white mohican is welded on so solidly that even several trips along the motorway haven't budged it.

So I feel nostalgic for a good squelch, especially now we're in April. As dear Flanders and Swann pointed out long ago:

April brings the sweet spring showers,
On and on for hours and hours.


Except that at the moment the showers are all snow...

Ah well, there are other ways I can squelch. If someone suggests we break the ice so we can go for a nice swim in the canal I can soon squelch that idea. Ditto a picnic on the beacon, or anything at all that involves a tent.

If I were an electrician I could squelch my radio amplifier - ie cut it off when there's no signal, to prevent that annoying hiss it otherwise makes.

And if all else fails I can always mash up some rhubarb for some jam.

Squelch!

And how gloriously satisfying.

Thing To Do Today: squelch. This word arrived in English in the 1600s, and is an imitation of the noise it makes.







1 comment:

  1. Under the heading of Things you really don't need to know is this fact about SQUELCH. I had a foam rubber pillow to which I was very attached as a young child and that was called SQUELCH. Makes me feel quite sentimental just thinking about it.

    ReplyDelete

All comments are very welcome, but please make them suitable for The Word Den's family audience.