Bon Mots

Last week my daughter, home from college, had her wisdom teeth removed. At one stage, her cheeks quite swollen, I searched the internet for tips to ease her discomfort.  My search took me to Buzzle. What the heck is this site? From what I could gather, it’s a sort of internet within the internet. I found an article there, which while far from guiding me on how to reduce swelling, lead me on a search for the meaning of new words, such as persiflage and raillery. Note this passage, “Remember not to turn to persiflage if you have nothing else to do. Instead, read a book, indulge in sky-watching, or simply doze off; because, an unnecessary jabber is sure to jab your jaw, and up the swelling. If you are a patented workaholic, breathe. You don’t want your jaw acting caddish when you have an official oratory on its way. Get back to business, a day or two after the surgery.” I suppose there was a suggestion in there, but I was so taken in by the language I must have missed it. According to dictionary.com, persiflage means, “frivolous bantering talk: light raillery.” It’s from the French, persifler “to banter” and, siffler, “to whistle”. Its first known use was in 1757. So there you go. You decide. Is this blog just persiflage, or does it have more substance? You don’t really have to answer that.