As a lot of this blog is about writing, I wanted to write a regular article on my favourite forgotten words. You know the type of thing, those poor lost words that sit at the back of our minds, gathering dust, having been discovered years ago in literary classics like Dickens, or Austen. They are the spices of the literary world, but I refuse to let them sit in a cupboard and be ignored until they go out of date! Let’s bring them back!

 

This month’s word is: BIBELOT

 

Bibelot

A small, decorative ornament or trinket.

 

This word immediately made me think of old ladies houses for some reason! Or maybe a Jane Austen party. I don’t know why. I think it might be to do with the decorative ornaments bit because old ladies houses are always full of bric-a-bac collected over a lifetime. You know the type of thing, porcelain shepherdesses, trinket boxes that end up with random things in them, odd glass ornaments…you can see what I mean.

And I think my brain went to Jane Austen imagining pretty Lizzy Bennett’s fanning themselves in hot stuffy ballroom’s while stern Mr Darcy’s watch on from the sidelines. (You can tell I’m a writer can’t you!)

I picked this word because it’s honestly one I don’t think I’ve ever come across before. Have you? If not, we can show off together! Try and get it into a conversation today and see your friends reactions, they’ll think you’re so clever!