Word To Use Today: hoyden.

Hoyden is what I call a fictional word, by which I mean a word which only exists in the pages of books.

Tush is one, and so are other old favourites such as redingote and sdeath.*

A hoyden is a wild energetic young lady of the kind also called a tomboy. A hoyden is not content to sit, clean and nicely dressed, and sew shirts for the poor, but is forever sneaking off to climb trees, have adventures with rough boys, or rescue small dragons.

To be a hoyden, in short, must be every right-thinking girl's ambition, and in these equal times the position must of course now be open to boys, too.

(HEALTH & SAFETY NOTICE: If you do come across a dragon, remember they can be very hot. Always use oven gloves. The person trying to make your dinner will probably be quite cross, but, hey, it's the sort of thing that hoydens do.)

NB: dragons cannot infect anyone with Covid-19, and are almost never seen within two metres of a human being. (And if they are, the humans generally have even more urgent things to worry about.)

Have fun!

Word To Use Today: hoyden. This word probably comes from the Middle Dutch heidijn, which means heathen.

*Tush is an exclamation of disapproval or contempt unknown in the real world for a couple of hundred years. A redingote is a riding coat, last worn when, well, people needed riding coats; and sdeath is a curse, short for God's death.