Flibbertigibbet

Quick – name a character in in a book, play, or mythology you would describe as a flibbertigibbet. Did you say Maria, that gutsy, guitar playing, mountain top twirling nun from The Sound of Music? That’s who I thought of. How about Puck, the mischievous fairy? And then there’s King Lear. Wait. King Lear? That’s what the Word Detective tells us. I didn’t remember it, but apparently in King Lear (1605) Shakespeare used flibbertigibbet as the name of a demon. That aside, it’s generally used to refer to a flighty person. And really, it’s just plain fun to say. I’d like to thank Bev Connor for suggesting this word. Bev herself is not someone I’d call a flibbertigibbet. She’s a smart, kind person I worked with years ago and we reconnected recently on social media. I worked in our Chicago office and Bev worked in the London branch. And once, when she came to the States for a conference I was organizing, I asked her to bring me a small tin of lip balm (that I could only find in England), and she brought me not one but 13 tins! Thanks Bev! Now be off all, and I challenge you to use flibbertigibbet sometime in the next three days.