Here at “Weird Words,” we’re awash in oddball vocab from To Kill a Mockingbird — which my lit. class is finishing at the CHEF home-school co-op in Montoursville.
Last week, using the order in which they appear in the book, we started with chattel, flivver, beadle, scuppernong and hoodoo — some of these being tied to the novel’s setting: the deep South of the Great Depression.
Herewith, a few more from subsequent chapters:
Morphodite (noun) – I can’t provide a firm pronunciation on this — because it’s not a word! But I include it nonetheless, since the term often puzzles readers. It’s in Chap. 8, where narrator Scout overhears a neighbor (Maudie Atkinson) discussing the snowman Jem built in the Finch yard.
Snow is such a rarity in Alabama that Jem simply had to seize the opportunity; and so — making it partly out of mud — he erected what was essentially a caricature of another neighbor: the portly Dick Avery. When their father, Atticus, suggested they make the mockery less obvious, Jem popped a woman’s sunhat on the muddy mannikin, thereby creating a male-female figure — which Maudie dubbed a hermaphrodite. But Scout misunderstood what she said….
And now for some actual words:
Taffeta (TAFF-uh-tuh, noun) – A light- or medium-weight fabric made from any number of materials, but generally “smooth, crisp, and lustrous, plain-woven, and with a fine crosswise rib effect” (Dictionary.com). In Chap. 8, Scout uses this term (“taffeta-like”) for the quiet rustling noises of people hurrying about outside during Maudie’s house-fire.
Touchous (TUH-chuss, adj.) – Again in Chap. 8, this rare word is apparently just a synonym for touchy — that is, ready to take offense at slight provocation (Merriam-Webster). It’s used to describe Atticus, who is fed up with the kids’ obsession over Boo Radley.
Calomel (KA-luh-mel [first syllable as in calorie], noun) – A mercury chloride mineral that was “used as a medicine from the 16th to the early 20th century, despite frequently causing mercury poisoning in patients” (Wikipedia).
You’ll have to check that Wikipedia entry for more info on the horrific effects of this stuff; suffice it to say, it was just one of many now-shocking old-time remedies (this one apparently still used in Scout’s day — see Chap. 11). Among other things, it makes one wonder what future generations might say about some of the stuff we put in our own bodies nowadays for the sake of “health.”
The word calomel comes from the Greek kalos, meaning “beautiful” (as in calligraphy and calisthenics) and — because the substance turned black when mixed with ammonia — also from melas, meaning “black” (as in melanoma and melancholy).
Castile (ka-STEEL, noun) – In Chap. 12, the Finches’ maid, Calpurnia, washes Scout with this the night before taking her and brother Jem to Cal’s own church.
A quick Google search tells us that Castile soap is “a versatile, plant-based, biodegradable soap made from vegetable oils (traditionally olive oil) rather than animal fats….” It is apparently “prized for being gentle, eco-friendly, and effective for both personal care (skin/hair) and household cleaning.”
Scout (and let’s face it, also Harper Lee) confuses matters slightly by omitting the word soap and lower-casing the “C” — though it is rightly capitalized, due to its origin in the same-named region of Spain.
The next several words I have on my TKM list involve the Finch kids’ visit to Calpurnia’s all-black church; so we’ll save those for next time. Instead, let’s cover one other term I should’ve done last week — since it shows up early, in Chap. 4 (it’s later repeated recollectively in 28):
Haint (HAYNT, noun) – Given the novel’s Alabama setting and frequent regional dialect, you might assume this is Southern slang for ain’t — in Huckleberry Finn, for example.
But in Mockingbird, haint is used in passing to describe the Finches’ mysterious phantom neighbor, Boo Radley; thus, it is likely intended in the following sense given by Merriam-Webster: “the soul of a dead person and especially one that is mischievous or mean.” MW further indicates that — as I always suspected — it is indeed related to haunt.
There’s more where this came from; so join us here again over the next several weeks.
Just don’t take any calomel in the meantime.
