Words are useful

24 February 2006

A few years ago, I lay in bed one night reading the latest copy of Cosmopolitan. The last article I read before turning out the light was about cars and what to do if you had a flat tyre, or were in an accident for example. I read that if you were in a collision that caused the airbags to fire, you would likely see smoke and there would be an acrid smell, but not to worry, this was from the airbags. I didn’t know what acrid meant, but got the gist that it wasn’t pleasant.

The very next day, someone in a Land Rover decided that our side of the road was far preferable to his own and veered across the road, ploughing into our car as Dad and I drove home from the shops. We weren’t hurt, but the air bags fired and suddenly I discovered what acrid meant.

Yesterday evening, I was reading my book when I came across a word I hadn’t heard or used before, but it was perfectly clear exactly what it meant.

And as I sat on the loo in the wee small hours of this morning, I suddenly had cause to use the word. “Mmm,” I thought to myself, “malodorous.”