Egypt4u

Checking the sleeve of my album I can confirm that the song is in fact about the Battle of Blood river between the Boers and the Zulu and reflecting on my interpretation of the words Ipi N' Tombi, it would translate more as "Where is the girl" or Ipi N' Tombia, "Where are the girls", then again my memory may be getting fuzzy, can you forget a language? I think the answer is "yes you can".

Can you forget a foreign language? Definitely 'yes' as after being forced to study Latin for 5 years in school I forgot it the second I didn't have to study it anymore )

Now that E4U seems to be skipping along I'm going to have to be on the look out for a new word for today......hmm???

The word(s) of the day are higgledy-piggledy I know these are 2 words, not really NEW but are not, I believe, commonly heard anymore. I heard these words lots when I was a kid however am not sure these are words in common language right now.

These words are still used up here

Same here, the words "higgledy-piggledy" are used to describe anything not built straight such as a road being higgledy-piggledy as it wanderes along, or a set of steps or stairs that are at all sorts of angles would aslo be described as being higgledy-piggledy. To my mind it is a good word to describe most building work in Egypt

My word today is Rambunctious, just because I like the sound of it.

Likewise, we would also use higgledy-piggledy to describe anything that is a bit of a mess, like a kids untidy bedroom.

We might also describe that kid as Rambunctious in his excitement in the run up to Christmas.

Haven't thought of one for today.....yet.

Back when I resided in UK, our sheep was called Rambunctious as it butted anyone within reach. Yes, it ended up as roast dinner - - - -

Horus I've never heard the words used like you do, roads, ladders, stairs etc but we use as Grandad says..... anything that's untidy, in a mess, all over the place etc

We do the same Kiya anything that is not nice and tidy basically, so as an example someone may have put some wall tiles on all higgledy-piggledy.

@Jay, what a brilliant name for a Ram, I like it

A bit like our cat "Catherine the Grate" because she always lay in front of the fire.

I'd use higgledy-piggledy to indicate the twins bedroom is a mess as usually it is. I also refer to the grandkids as making "messy bessies" words which they've adopted into their language and are quite proud of doing! much to my chagrin - my new word of today - chagrin

Jayway wrote:Back when I resided in UK, our sheep was called Rambunctious as it butted anyone within reach. Yes, it ended up as roast dinner - - - -

So he ended up as Roastbunctious then

An every day word that was uppermost in my mind yesterday whilst watching some of the Mandela Memorial Ceremony in Soweto was Shambolic. Surely they could have conducted a more reverent occasion. Even the ANC deputy leader acting as MC, appealed to the crowd in xhosa or zulu (so that visitors would not understand) for more restraint.

But an offering for today is Sanctimonious as exhibited by many politicians.

Cute - roastbunctious

As for Nelson Mandela - there is a big controversy here that during the ceremony President Obama was caught taking a "selfie" (another NEW word that is, I believe NEW as prior to last nights TV News I'd never heard the word "selfie")......anyway - Obama was caught taking a photo of himself (selfie) along with the Danish Prime Minister and Cameron of the UK.

Obama is being highly criticized here for acting inappropriate (by taking a selfie) during the service to Mandela. AND from the look on Michelle Obama's face (she is sitting beside Obama but not in the photo) she is either upset he is taking a selfie during the service OR she is upset he is taking a selfie with a very attractive Danish Prime Minister.

Ooops - just on the News again now as I type - a "selfiebacklash" it is being termed.

My new word of yesterday came when I went to a new restaurant here for lunch. Wasn't actually a new restaurant but has just recently been renovated. Quite nice interior decor. Food was actually pretty good too but as I was eating I looked up to the peak of the roof line inside and there in NEON lights were two words "Figgy Diggy".........???

Not sure if figgy diggy (or maybe it was diggy figgy - memory fails) actually holds meaning but to me was just a purple neon curiosity in a new renovated restaurant. Does figgy diggy or diggy figgy actually have meaning in todays world sufficient that it would be a focal point in a restaurant sporting a new modern interior motif?

It means nothing to me I'm afraid

Means absolutely nothing to me either. Don't believe I've heard it either as part of a song or modern slang or modern lexicon. Was just interesting that in this elegant new restaurant real wood slat blinds, huge river rock open fireplace, huge original first nations artwork, real wood inlaid ceilings etc would have a purple neon sign at the apex of the ceiling line with the words figgy diggy......don't get it but then I'm really not totally up or infused in new modern trends of interior design

Well I am going back to one of my old words Serendipity, the reason being that it means "a lucky accident" and I had one of those today, well sort of.

You may recall my problem regarding a list of addresses of our friends living abroad that I knew my wife had stashed away somewhere, but search as I may I could not find it? Cards kept arriving and wishing us both the usual seasons greetings and I was getting very frustrated that I could not contact them back again. So after writing a couple of long letters today to people who did include their address along with their Christmas cards and asking them to either pass on my bad news to friends they still kept in touch with or to send me addresses of mutual friends if they had them.

Shortly afterwards I decided to have a good housekeeping session ready for the Christmas break, I did my usual thorough job of removing ornaments from cabinets etc, dusting and polishing and generally what I do on a regular basis. However this time while replacing a small enamelled and engraved copper bowl which resides on quite a low shelf near the floor, I decided to lift the lid to see if there was actually anything inside it and to my surprise it was stuffed full of little scraps of paper and much to my delight each scrap had a friends address written on it, so 'Serendipity' indeed, a lucky accidental event!

Wooo Hooo - that was indeed serendipidous (if there such a word as serendipidous)

Fortuitous too

Temulent - the word of the day.......today, for now.

The latest word of today - volpone

Mmm, a very sly and foxy word there LLL

My word for today is very applicable to Luxor, especially at the temple end. Jumentous