To improve on our vocabulary, my friend and I read and memorised words from the dictionary in no particular order. We would jump from the list of 'B's to the 'y's and back to the beginning. Most importantly, we looked out for words that were interesting. Interesting meant that they were not commonly used words, easy to remember and easy to get people's attention when used.
On this particular day, we looked for such a word that meant 'nonsense'. So we searched, flipping the pages back and forth. We didn't hav a theasaurus but we made do with out dictionaries. After so much ado, we found the word 'twaddle'. Our excitement was killed when we experimented and it didn't give us the kind of response we wanted. We went back to our tables and searched. Finally, we found two other words- tosh and bosh. For the appropriate effect we waited for a time when lots of friends were around us - especially the guy friends we had. My friend brought up a topic and we asked the others for their opinions. When a guy gave us his piece we jumped at the opportunity - he was used to saying lots of things that do not make sense. We cut him short and chorused 'Tosh, bosh and twaddle'. We said it with a lot of attitude. Some guys smiled while others raised their eyebrows. The ladies were another matter. Some of them looked outrightly disgusted, some grunted while others just feigned indifference.
Later that night, we pondered on our 'project' and decided to move on to other 'projects' such as guys. Now, years later, whenever I listen to a speaker at a conference i wish silently that we had pursued our little 'project'. Words which are uncommon but used appropriately in speech still dazzle people and win some admiration.
Well, enough of my fiddlefaddle.
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