Word To Use Today: bonanza.

Is there a bouncier, more generous and all-round-optimistic word than bonanza?

Do tell if there is, because I'd love to know.

I first came across this word as the title of an ancient television series. As I recall (which is only dimly) it concerned a family of cowboys running a ranch while being nice to their eccentric neighbours. It had a rousing theme tune:

Here in England bonanza means a source, unusually unexpected, of riches or luck. In America it can mean a mine, or a vein rich in ore, too.

The important thing is that a bonanza is thumping good news, whether there's gold in them thar hills, lashings of ginger beer for tea, or the appearance of a collection of box-office stars on the stage.

And, hey, it's Friday. Perhaps that's bonanza enough.

Enjoy the day!

Word To Use Today: bonanza. This word comes from the Spanish word for calm sea, which is good luck if you're at sail on it. Before that there was a Latin word bonacia, from bonus good and malacia a dead calm, from the Greek work malakia, softness.