Hello, all! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving week (for all you Americans out there. For all you internationals, I hope you had a lovely week too, even if it wasn’t a holiday for ya). 😉 You may think I was just relaxing and taking the week off from the blog, but really I was hard at work on the galleys for Circle of Spies, the final installment to the Culper Ring Series.

Today said manuscript is ready to go back into the hands of FedEx though, and so here I am back to blogging. =) And today I bring to you…

Swell. We think of it as a tiny bit old-fashioned these days (as in, more of The Greatest Generation than mine. Whatever my generation is. I think I shall dub it Generation Sarcastic), but not old. Right? It’s a swell party sounds decided ’40s or ’50s. But as a matter of fact, the meaning of “elegant or fashionable” dates back to 1810! And by 1897, it could mean generally “excellent.” American slang made it an exclamation that could stand alone in the 1930s.

These ladies look to be having a swell time at a South African beach in 1944

The adjective comes from a noun applied to a person with a distinguished style–so a swell could make or break a gathering, I suppose. Said noun dates to 1786.

And all of these come from the more literal meaning of “puffed up,” i.e. “arrogant.”

So there we go. Hope everyone has a swell day. =)

~*~

And while I have your attention–the next FREE novella/short story (not sure which it technically is at 11,000 words, LOL) in the Culper Ring Series, A Hero’s Promise, is up for pre-order! Click now and it’ll be delivered to your device on January 1. (It will also be on iTunes and B&N, but those links aren’t live yet.)

 
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