What’s in a word?
Why say bamboozle when you can say trick?
Why say blunt instead of money?
Why say cattle in place of horses?
Why say faradiddles rather then lies?
Why say havey cavey for suspicious?
The answer is, if you are Georgette’s Heyer, whose traditional regency romances are liberally spattered with regency cant and slang, the meanings of some of which are not always obvious.
Interestingly Jane Austen, whose novels were published during the period in which Heyer’s stories are set, used them far less, but she did come up with several contributions to common English usage of today, such as:
If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times,
Brace yourself
Dinner Party,
Dirt Cheap, and
Dog Tired.
Available now on Kindle, KDP Select and in print from Amazon: Surprised by a Duke
Book 1 of the author’s new Classic Regency Series, written in the style of that Queen of the Regency, Georgette Heyer
Why say bamboozle when you can say trick?
Why say blunt instead of money?
Why say cattle in place of horses?
Why say faradiddles rather then lies?
Why say havey cavey for suspicious?
The answer is, if you are Georgette’s Heyer, whose traditional regency romances are liberally spattered with regency cant and slang, the meanings of some of which are not always obvious.
Interestingly Jane Austen, whose novels were published during the period in which Heyer’s stories are set, used them far less, but she did come up with several contributions to common English usage of today, such as:
If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times,
Brace yourself
Dinner Party,
Dirt Cheap, and
Dog Tired.
Available now on Kindle, KDP Select and in print from Amazon: Surprised by a Duke
Book 1 of the author’s new Classic Regency Series, written in the style of that Queen of the Regency, Georgette Heyer
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