Thing Not To Be Today: prissy.

The one thing that everyone's agreed upon about prissy people is that they're annoying.

Prissy people are correct - correct, I mean, in the sense of conforming to the pettier rules of good manners.

A prissy person will surround a guest with napkins and an appetite-extinguishing anxiety about crumbs.

A prissy person will cock her little finger when taking tea (why does anyone do that???).

A prissy person will always wear an outfit exactly three and a half degrees more formal than is suitable for the occasion, and therefore give the (completely justified) impression of disapproving of everyone else in the room.

Yes, there's a lot of parade with a prissy person.

And there's never any doubt at all in the mind of the prissy person who should be be leading the show.

Thing Not To Be Today: prissy. This word first appeared, in America, in 1895. It seems to have been made up by the writer Joel Chandler Harris, but whether it's a mixture of prim and fussy, or an alteration of precise, no one knows.

It's a jolly good word, however it came about. I mean, you can practically hear the purse-mouth, fuss and frills, can't you?