Sunday Rest: mildew. Word Not To Use Today.

The worst thing about the word mildew is that it sounds rather lovely.

Even when you look inside the word at its roots (see below) it's strangely beautiful.

But the word is an assassin. It might murmur of sweetness and the dropping of gentle mercy, but it's an invisibly-flying group of organisms bent on making your garden collapse under an onslaught of powdery decay, and your bathroom look, shamefully, as if it hasn't seen a scourer for a decade.

But it sings of honey and freshness as it lays waste to our roses.

Dastard!


photo by Pollinator at English language Wikipedia

Word Not To Use Today: mildew. From the Old English mildēaw, from mil-, honey, which is connected to mēli- the Greek word for honey; the dew bit comes from the Old English dēaw, dew.