Sunday Rest: a word beginning with Z.

 Well, if you're here then you must have survived Christmas.

Well done!

Today is the Feast of Stephen...though when I say feast, that's in the sense of a religious day of observance. I mean, no one is going to want to eat anything after yesterday...except that we will eat, however bloated and hungover and zonked we are.

I've been looking for a Christmassy Word Not To Use Today, and I came across a website featuring a list of Christmas words beginning with a letter zed.

Well, I couldn't think of one off-hand - zealotry? - so I followed the link. The list said: zoom, zigzag, zest, zucchini and zesty.

These are all rather nice words, though none of them has any connection at all with Christmas. Absolutely zero. Zilch.

So avoiding words beginning with zed today is going to be quite easy.

Isn't it?

Sunday Rest: one beginning with zed. The word zoom is a 1900s imitation of the sound something makes as it zooms away. Zigzag comes from the German Zickzack, from Zacke, a sharp projection or point. Zest comes from the French zeste, in the meaning of the peel of a citrus fruit. Zucchini (which in England we call courgettes) comes from the Italian zucca, a gourd.