Word To Use Today: miscible.

Words, like the rest of us, arrive with baggage.


The Bland brothers by Beatrix Potter.

Sometimes a perfectly innocent word can be doomed simply because of its sound.

That's one of the terrible things about being called Pogner. It emits whiffs of pig, pong and Bognor (not that Bognor isn't a delightful place).

And that's if you've never heard of Wagner or a Meistersinger.

Luckily the baggage-thing works the other way, too, and what with the word Pogner is a vast metal trunk bearing the sign DANGER OF DEATH BY FLATULENCE is with the word miscible no more than a red-spotted handkerchief tied with meadowsweet.

Miscible: I don't know about you, but I'm getting sweet little mouse, scampering, mischief, a small hint of runcible and an after-taste of little old ladies in lace caps and mittens, knitting on their doorsteps in the weak spring sunshine.

And, after all, what more could anyone want?

To know what it means? All right, then. Miscible means mixable, as with whisky and soda, laughter and tears, or sunshine and showers.

And luckily we can all manage to carry a red-spotted handkerchief with us, can't we.

Word To Use Today: miscible. This word has been delighting English speakers since the 1500s. It comes from the Latin miscēre, to mix.