Zwodder is a dialect word from Somerset and means a drowsy, foolish frame of mind. It's a fine word because I imagine that, with a smidgen of context, people would know exactly what you meant. It's hard to say zw- without sounding sleepy. There isn't really a zw- sound in English, but try saying Swinburne's swirling swans when you're drunk or drowsy and the Sw will be thickened to Zw.The odder suggests (at least to me) doddery, plodder and Hodder & Stoughton.
"Sorry. I completely forgot to bring the antidote. I've been in a zwodder all day."
"It was Sunday morning and I was lying in bed zwoddering."
The Inky Fool in a moment of passionate intensity
P.S. For those searching for usages, it's listed in the OED as a variant of swother.
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Two dialect words in one week! John Stern, editor of the illustrious Wisden, used the word 'chunter' several times in an article. I knew exactly what it meant in context, but looked it up anyway.
ReplyDeleteChunter sounds English though, whereas zwodder, not so much.
And I wouldn't be so hard on yourself, Inky. I'd say you were the best, but I think you have reasonable amounts of conviction. A happy medium, perhaps?
looks more like a gigantic yawn to me.
ReplyDeleteeven a zwoddering Sunday morning is surely not that boring?