BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'

Subject: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 01:34 PM

"frisson"!

What a marvelous word! It is now the official Word of the Year for 2008, and it is a word that is going to be on everyone's lips, I am sure. Anyone who is anyone at all is going to be casually slipping the word "frisson" into their conversations in 2008.

I feel sure that Tom Cruise uses it now and then, not to mention Meryl Streep.

What does it mean? Ah, you ask! Well, it's a French word. It means...

"a sudden, passing sensation of excitement; a shudder of emotion; a thrill"

And isn't it wonderful that it should mean that, because that is exactly what I felt upon seeing the word "frisson" for the first time, neatly ensconced in a post by Amos.

Yes, I felt a frisson! Rather akin to the frisson that some people experience when they unexpectedly sight a triple rainbow gleaming over their town.

So, now that you know about it, be sure to work the word "frisson" into your conversations over the next 12 months, and give it the French accent when you do, for heaven's sake! Give your friends and associates a frisson of their own. Do it. You know you can.

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Wesley S
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 01:36 PM

Frisson unbelievable

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Peace
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 01:36 PM

'Frisson comes from the French, from Old French friçon, "a trembling," ultimately from Latin frigere, "to be cold."'

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Peace
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 01:38 PM

"Main Entry: fris·son
Pronunciation: \frē-ˈsōⁿ\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural frissons \-ˈsōⁿ(z)\
Etymology: French, shiver, from Old French friçon, from Late Latin friction-, frictio, from Latin, literally, friction (taken in Late Latin as derivative of frigēre to be cold)
Date: 1777 "

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Amos
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 01:56 PM

I am honored, but I should add that the original post in which I so delighted M. Hawk was itself a vocabulary enriching one, in which the wonderful new term: choreplay was defined as the frisson of excitement experienced by a woman who watches her husband or boyfriend do domestic chores such as folding laundry or vacuuming.



A

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 02:08 PM

Yes, indeed. Comparable, I think, to the frisson of excitement experienced by a man who watches his wife or girlfriend disassemble and replace the malfuctioning water pump on the pickup truck. (I had a girlfriend who used to do stuff like that regularly.)

I don't know if there's a word such as choreplay for that specific situation, though. If not, someone should come up with one.

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 02:24 PM

More useless information.
The 1777 date was when Hugh Walpole used it in a letter. This letter was not published until 1940, so just when it was first used in a publication in English, dunno. The Oxford English Dictionary did not include this word until the 1987 Supplement (beware these foreign words!) although it is in a 1960s Webster's Collegiate Dictionary that I have.

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: gnu
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 03:18 PM

Must go trim my beard.

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: gnu
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 03:47 PM

Ahhhh... what a frisson! I trim my beard in the garage and it's about -3 so I was kinda cold.

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 04:03 PM

Nuclear frisson?

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: GUEST,Monique
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 04:24 PM

Could just be the flu and you'd have frissons as well!

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 05:49 PM

I'm having a frisson of curiosity as to why Gnu trims his beard in the garage.

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 06:29 PM

I think that, come Spring, I'll go frisson.

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 06:39 PM

If you kiss your love lightly on the back of her neck she will experience a frisson. And it works when she does that to you too.

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 07:10 PM

I came back inside 'cause I was frisson my ass off.

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: michaelr
Date: 31 Jan 08 - 02:00 AM

LH almost (missed it by a k) came up with another exciting new word:

How shall we define malfucktioning then?

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 31 Jan 08 - 02:45 AM

Frisson? Is that that little white dog with the curly hair?

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Mr Happy
Date: 31 Jan 08 - 06:40 AM

Well it's blowin' a gale outside & it's frisson cold!

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Jan 08 - 09:21 AM

I took my car into the shop because it needed its frisson checked.

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Amos
Date: 31 Jan 08 - 10:13 AM

You lick the pump handle on a cold day and your tongue will frisson the metal.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Official Word of the Year - 'frisson'
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Jan 08 - 03:32 PM

YES! 84 mpg! 0 to 60 in 3 seconds! Styling that has won it "Car and Drover's" Cart Of The Year Award! The all-new

          NISSAN FRISSON!