Flibbertigibbet
A mischievous character.
Kudos to P J O’Rourke. I can’t recall the last time I had to look up a word I found in a newspaper because the word was new to me. I’ve looked up words from a newspaper because I wanted a better understanding of some aspect of usage or nuance of definition. More often I’ve headed to the dictionary because the journalist misused or misspelled a word.
But flibbertigibbet? A word so delightful-sounding and whimsical that I was skeptical that I’d find it in the dictionary. Yet there it is. I found it in P J O’Rourke’s Wall Street Journal article In Vino Veritas from today’s Life & Style section of the Journal, used to describe «those Kennedy boys.»
There’s a great deal more to recommend the article, but I have to commend both Mr O’Rourke and the editors at the Journal for letting writing be writing and not restricting the paper’s vocabulary to an eighth-grader’s level as most dailies do (which begs for the question to be asked: can eighth graders even read these days?) Granted that Mr O’Rourke’s name will attract readers who should expect a facundity chaser with their shot of glibness, it is nonetheless refreshing to find in a daily paper.
Flibbertigibbet
I was surprised to see that this was a real word. I always assumed it was something my mother made up. The way she used it was more in keeping with Encarta’s definition (below) than mischievous, which, BTW, you misspelled.
flighty person: a silly, irresponsible, or scatterbrained person, especially one who chatters or gossips (dated)
mischievous
Fixed.
Now that was embarrassing.
Sound of Music
Susan pointed out that “flibbertigibbet” is also in the song “Maria” frrom “The Sound of Music.”