Wednesday 24 March 2010

Peaky Peaks


I have been feeling peaky today. I told somebody so and then I wondered why peaky. I mean, I'm not at the summit, the acme, apogee or zenith of my powers. Indeed, I'm at the lowpoint, nadir and perigee. But it turns out that the peaky and peak are probably unrelated.

Back in the sixteenth century there used to be a verb peak that meant 'to look sickly or thin' and that might have something to do with mountain peaks as perhaps thought undernourishment you have become bony and pointy like a peak. But then again, perhaps not.

Tomorrow, I'm sure I shall be on top of the weather and my gills will be bad for the environment.

The Inky Fool composing a new post

4 comments:

  1. That's the Chatterton picture, isn't it? I've seen it where it lives in Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham, which was Horace Walpole's Gothic house. Fab painting. And, seeing as he's just committed suicide, I think you mean de-composing.

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  2. Let's hope you're feeling less peely-wally tomorrow, Inky.

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  3. I read an interesting analysis that said that the play Chatterton by Alfred de Vigny was the first drama with absolutely no action, just morose people sitting around. It scandalized Paris with its futuristic modernity.

    My favourite bit in Chatterton the play is a monologue where someone describes going bear hunting on Primrose Hill in London- to de Vigny London was just a literary convention, like Atlantis or Alaska.

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  4. When I lived in Cornwall, locals referred to a dip in form as feeling 'a bit wish'.

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