Thursday 5 February 2009

"M" is for:

I am MAD for words.
(Maybe that's true of most bloggers.)

When Elizabeth of About New York suggested an alphabet game, I signed right up.
M said the word oracle.



M is for Mittens

Little daughter showing off her raggedy red mittens. Skating in London just before Christmas. Some ice is nice.


M is for Marmalade

The Seville orange season is fleeting.

I meant to make marmalade, but my method wasn't mathematical enough. The mixture wouldn't set; my, what a mess!



M is for Mother and child
M is for "(The) Manicure"
M is for Mary Cassatt

Sigmund bought me this Cassatt etching when I was pregnant with little daughter. The child featured in the picture looks very like oldest daughter did at that stage.



M is for Men

Two of my favorite men: my father and my brother.
I snapped them on the beach in the Bahamas.
The similarity of their stance amuses me.



M is for Minstrel

Our mischievous cat. Supposedly masculine, but he acts like a princess. Not mad-keen on cold weather . . .

M is not up to much when it comes to garden words. I could only think of marigolds and mallow - and neither is in bloom at the moment, nor in our garden at all, come to think of it.

M is marvellous for negative, unpleasant words. There seem to be a million of them. Perhaps that is because "mal" means "bad" in French, derived from the Latin "malus."

morbid, miserable, morose, monstrous, manacle, mendacity, melancholy, marauder, macabre, malfeasance, maladroit, massacre, maniacal, malformed, maggot, manipulative, menace, mediocre, malodorous, malicious, malformity, malevolent, mawkish, meager, moribund, mean and the absolute worst: malignant

To counteract these words, we have magic, miracles, merriment, magnanimity and May.

Some M words are context-dependent. For instance: meander, mesmerize, masterful, malleable, medicine and marriage.

M words can be silly, too. I like mollycoddle, malarkey, mambo, moola and mammal.

If you want to play the alphabet game, just let me know.

Elizabeth has A.

Willow has E.

Bon Bon has Y.







22 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I'm the first comment!
Word verification:rellype
does that sound adjectival and joyful?

A sad marmalade tale - oft repeated I believe.
You are right about all the MAL's
malcontent and malediction etc.

I liked your humorous M words

Tess Kincaid said...

This was a m-m-magical meme! I enjoyed this, muchly. :)

TBM said...

So fun and fantastic! (I have "F"--tee hee!)

I adore the photo of your men. Isn't it funny to see their matching mannerims?

Fantastic Forrest said...

Mmmm! You are my most mellifluous writer this morning.

Thanks for the M word fun.

Oh, what the heck - give me a letter too.

Reya Mellicker said...

I, too am mad for words. Nice m's esp. the brother and father. Yes, they are Mirroring each other (capitalized on purpose).

Mirror is a great M word.

very fun!

Bee said...

Elizabeth - Is it pronounced rel-ipe or rel-ippy?

SO many miserable M words - but they are counteracted by some powerfully good words, too.

Willow - Many thanks!

JAPRA - It did make me laugh to see my matching menfolk. They were completely oblivious.

FF - I'm going to give you my favorite letter: B. Just because you are magnificent!

Reya - The older we get, the more obvious the mirroring effect I think. Word-play IS fun.

Anonymous said...

Marvelous, magical and massive (in a good way). Was also going to say melliflous, which goes with the Bee theme. Not feeling brain sharp enough to take on a letter but a great idea. Love the pics as usual.

Beth said...

Reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland – “…the moon and memory and muchness…”
Well done!

Brave Sir Robin said...

Man, this post had me MESMERIZED!

Very, very nicely done.

FF- mellifluous is one of my favorite words.

Anonymous said...

I have less than 24 hours before I leave wonder if I can do the Alphabet game any justice.
May I enter your Bloggers milieu and request a letter? I have a favourite one of my own but I suppose that defeats the purpose if one self appoints.

Bee said...

Pete - I had mellifluous on my list! So glad that you found a way to include it . . .

Beth - memorable words from a masterpiece!

BSR - Mellifluous: It sounds like what it is. Rolling so nicely in the mouth.

Bonbon - Oh, let's mangle the rules a bit. (Just thought of the word "manky.") Use your favorite, by all means.

The Grandpa said...

What a wonderful post. I truly admiren and am amazed at the wonderment of it all. I would have done maple for the garden. I had a neighbor once who had a Japanese maple right at the edge of his garden.

Very nice post, Bee. I miss hanging out in the blog.

Anonymous said...

Does Minger make your list or is that too much like slang?
I shall start on my musings.

Peggy said...

What an 'M' maven you are, Bee! Loved this. I don't know why, but I always think of food when I peruse memes, like marshmallow and macaroni! :-D

And the word verification is 'eminum'! How perfect is that?

Barrie said...

M is for mirth--which this post provided!

Amrita Alam Sandhy said...

Hi Its me Amrita...My favourite word is also "M"
M=Mohammed(Great Prophet of Islam)
M=Maruf(My Husband's name)
M=Mother
M=Marriage(social bond)
So,As a Muslim,a happily married and a child of my mother I just love this Word "M"

Amrita Alam Sandhy said...

Ummm...One thing more I was born on 13th March.
M=March
A B C D E F G H I J K L "M" N O
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12'13'14 15 The 13 th number of letter is "M"

♥ Braja said...

Ooooo I love the red marmalade; the seville oranges are so dark to make that color. I thought you were going to write "M is for Moggie," and wonderedif the US readers would know a moggie is a cat :) And maybe he's just Metrosexual. Or gay. Period.

A Cuban In London said...

Excellent post. I loved it. Many thanks.

Greetings from London.

JaneyV said...

Word Verification is maters perfect for your "M" theme isn't it. Where would we all be without our maters?

I love this game. My friend Nicky just did L which had wonderful words like Love and laughter to chose from. I'm rather partial to a bit of magic or something miraculous. I think my favourite negative M word is maleficent. It's just sooo bad!

I'm in if you've got a spare one!

Bee said...

Grandpa - I did think of maples, actually. We don't have one of those, either. Do you? Their scarlet leaves would be magnificent against the snow.

Bonbon - I should have made a slang category too! That's Mingin'.

Peggy - Favorite foods; favorite music. Where does it all end?

Barrie - Oh, good! Mirth is always a bonus.

Amrita - You have listed some crucial M words, definitely.

Braja - Metrosexual Moggie! Mwah! Mwah!

Cuban in London - That is most kind of you.

Janey - Oh, yes there are some magnificently evil M words. How do you feel about D?

lisahgolden said...

My word verification is menwar!

Marvelous!

My, Madame, what a marvelous post you made. I love the picture of your father and brother.