For this blog, my favorite words are different. One I discovered I used wrong as did many other people.
When I moved to Switzerland and was working in an office with a majority of Brits, I heard this term for the first time.
Something about being hit in the mouth (gob) as in shocked by an idea rather than physically attacked just seemed to fit.
I've been told it is a lower class phrase. I don't care. I like it.
2. Peckish
Same office, same Brits many of whom became peckish at noon. Images of a bird pecking at crumbs abounded. I can now happily say, "It's four o'clock. I'm feeling a bit peckish. How about a couple of biscuits and a cup of tea." In my Bostonian accent it isn't quite the same as the many different English ones, but it doesn't matter as I nibble my biscuit (cookie) and sip my tea.
3. Penultimate
This is the word I had wrong for years. I thought it meant ultimate, but it really means next to last. I am not alone.
Arriving at a friend's house in Schwyz, she said she had the penultimate apèro for us, champagne and special nibblies. It wasn't the next to last apèro.
I have heard others use it my way. Maybe like gay changed its meaning or rather added a whole new meaning from happy to homosexual, penultimate will also evolve too.
And the other three little words: I love you? They are special when falling from my husband's, my daughter's or a friend's lips.
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