Words

Special words…We all have them, and indeed most cannot be found in a dictionary.

Yesterday I learned a new one from Viv:

FERNIGGLE.

It was in connection with quilting and crafting. We are both avid followers of talltalesfromchiconia and were wowed by her latest creation.

In needlework of all kinds I ferniggle, adapt and cheat all the time. We are often reminded that there is more than one way to skin a cat (mind you I like to keep away from cats, so never tested it) I am a great believer in there being more than one way to do anything.

Hush will you, I am not talking about a right way and a wrong way, as if that were the only choice. I mean adapting a different way to make something fit, look, feel etc., I might use a ‘what-ya-ma-call-it’ or ‘a thing-a-ma-gig’ to help me get there.

Daddy had a phrase: Cut your cloth to suit your pattern. He might have meant living within my means, but I ferniggled it to mean fiddling about and adjusting my pattern to suit my cloth, yarn… or indeed my recipe to suit the ingredients in my pantry!

If I like the sound of a recipe that calls for butter, well, I will find a substitute for that ‘butter’ that can never touch my lips. It works for me and so far nobody has refused to eat my home baking.

Mammy was a dab hand at ferniggling a hat. In her book it was a ‘mortlar’ (think mortal sin) to plonk a hat like an upturned flowerpot on any head. She would always perch them at an angle, add a tricky feather or punch a dent in the side of chosen hat for the day. Do you think that is where I got it from?

The last hat/headgear I made was not alone ferniggled but footery into the bargain. It was well worth the effort and a great success!

18 thoughts on “Words

    1. Grannymar Post author

      Padmini, we did a fair bit of ferniggling yesterday on several forms of social media… All at the same time!

      Reply
  1. katechiconi

    That was a good one (and thank you for the pingback, by the way). One of my own favourites in the context of ferniggling is ‘poofteenth’ which is Australian for a very small amount, a fraction, a hair, a tiny smidgen.

    Reply
    1. Grannymar Post author

      ‘poofteenth’ I love it! It sounds more interesting than a ‘pinch’ as in ‘a pinch of salt’ in a recipe. I will be adding it to my vocabulary.

      Reply
  2. Cathy

    Hello Grannymar – my mother would tell us to stop ‘ fiddlefaddling’ around and get on with it.. Never did tell me what it meant lol

    Reply
    1. Grannymar Post author

      Cathy, ‘ fiddlefaddling’ was in mammy’s vocabulary too. I think she meant fidgeting about when were restless or should be getting on with a task.

      Reply
        1. Grannymar Post author

          ‘fiddle faddling’ appears in many dictionaries as nonsense, something trivial or to fuss with trifles. I would not think it was particularly ‘Irish’.

          Reply
          1. cedar51

            I’m sure it reached colonies as well, I seem to recall it being used her in NZ – not in recent years but earlier…and it’s definitely to do “with get on with task stop fidd…..about”

            Reply
  3. wisewebwoman

    I ferniggle all the time, perfect word, never heard it before. “Foostering” was a word my granny used – i.e. “foostering about” – “I’ll fooster with that a while” etc.

    XO
    WWW

    Reply
    1. Grannymar Post author

      Cathy, governments are good at fudging figures to make it look as though targets have been met!

      Reply

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