I must declare myself excessively pleased with the WordPress StatPress plugin. I can now see that a few people actually do read my blog, although not many have thrown caution to the wind and actually subscribed. The most delightful discovery is that many fine folk are finding me after Googling for “capsy wennet”. For the uninitiated, this is an epithet used in Stella Gibbons’ marvellous Cold Comfort Farm, which has to be one of the funniest novels of the 20th century. I now feel duty-bound to have a stab at defining a “capsy wennet”, although it is a very tricky business. Both words are neologisms and don’t really make sense beyond the context of the book. However, I would venture that “capsy” derives from capricious and “wennet” is possibly a diminutive of wench. Please feel free to make other suggestions by way of a comment.
Related posts:
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
“Capsy” might also be related to captious, meaning irritatingly critical or inclined to raise complaints. I like the idea of “wennet” being a diminutive of wench, although it might be another member of the exotic birdlife abounding at Cold Comfort Farm, like the marsh-tigget.
That’s a very interesting point, Catalpa. I think we need an ornithologist to catalogue the birdlife at Cold Comfort Farm and perhaps throw some more light on your observations. Let’s hope there’s a monograph somewhere in the pipeline. We might also then discover why the Bronte sisters are referred to as “poor young mommets”.
Surely a ‘capsy wennet’ is a ‘mere slip of a girl’ as shown when Adam meets Flora at the station and she offers to drive the cart.
Thanks for your comment, SRD. I suspect “capsy wennet” can mean anything we want it to. That’s rather annoying, though, as I’m sure we’d all like a definitive definition.