ton-of-fun

I went looking for a word I’ve shared here before. A word I can say when my lips are pursed (it’s been one of those days), when I have that LOOK on my face; when my leg is being pulled or my arm twisted.

Piffle.

For those of you who think this is just nonsense, you couldn’t be more right. Piffle as a noun is trivial nonsense. As a verb it means to talk or act in a trivial, inept, or ineffective way. Piffled and piffling are acceptable variations.

Piffle is not only a word to know and to write, it’s also good to SAY. Put your nose slightly in the air and say it with me. Piffle.

“The chickens are hungry? Piffle! They’ve been scratching in the wheat field all morning.”

When speaking to recalcitrant teenagers one could say, “Stop piffling; the cow will not milk itself.”

Piffle is a ton-of-fun to say and is the reason TVs get turned off and politicians get tuned out.

I encourage you to know your piffle, to call out, Piffle! and share your piffle with me if you’d care to. Let me know what you find to be … piffle!

  1. Faith perrino-DuBois says:

    Using shopping as entertainment is Piffle with a capital “P” in the World According to Faith. Thanks for the vocabulary expansion!

  2. Terry Steinmetz says:

    I need to go for a walk in the rain? Piffle! I’ll walk in the comfort of my warm home on my treadmill & get the same results.

  3. Winnie Nielsen says:

    Having to have a perfectly clean house is just PIFFLE! I love this new addition to my vocabulary.

  4. CJ Armstrong says:

    My mom used to say “piffle” a lot but it was more out of frustration with something. And, because of that I have used it the same way. It’s been used in our family for decades.
    CJ

  5. bobbie calgaro says:

    Most tv is piffle, trendy fashion is piffle, and today’s education system especially Common Core is piffle. What is not piffle is good common sense, organic farming, family togetherness, and individuality.

  6. Karlyne says:

    Not finishing my book because there are clothes to fold and dinner to remember? Piffle!!!

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Balter

Balter: To dance without particular skill or grace, but with extreme joy.

Lottie_Collins

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In the above advertisement, dating from the late 1800s, English dancer Lottie Collins sings her renowned vaudeville hit “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay!” after being healed by Bromo-Seltzer.

While Lottie doesn’t look particularly graceful in the ad, she was actually a beautiful woman who was known for her high-spirited and uninhibited skirt dance with high kicks that exposed stockings held up by sparkling garters.

Lottie_Collins2

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

For the rest of us, who may not be able to kick up to our ears, there’s always baltering.

 

  1. To balter, oh yes, that would be me!! My mother was a trained ballerina and wanted me to be the next Pavlova, but alas I was a chubby and ungainly child. But I did dance with much joy ! I was always dancing around and never got any better but never stopped. I still dance – badly- and I don’t care. Like the line in the song says: ” dance like no one is watching …”

  2. Sharon D. says:

    I believe I fall into the Baltering category myself, and that is why my name is not Grace 🙂

  3. Karlyne says:

    She was beautiful! But in the ad she looks demented; some of those Victorians had the weirdest taste…

  4. Mary - Old Mother Rupert says:

    What a delightful word! I believe that boisterous baltering is what I do when I dance with our three grandsons, who leap into wild dance whenever we play some festive fiddling. They dance gracefully and with abandon – not quite so with me – but all of us with extreme joy. A fun word to share with them…perhaps in a game of Scrabble… (And I think Gram needs a pair of sparkling garters…)

  5. Kathy says:

    Aaahhhh…baltering! What I do on every occasion that has a band/dj! In fact I balter so well, my oldest daughter sent me a message with this definition. You know, the silly e-cards you get on facebook? Yeah, she sent me one and gently suggested that it ‘is totally you, mom!’ I told her heck yeah! It is me and if she has a hard time watching me, well…Piffle!

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photo-of-the-day

farm_romance-4379

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    The absolute BEST!!! ***swoon***

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