Chrysti The Wordsmith: Flirt - 1

Greetings verb of yours and welcome to Kristi the wordsmith. Nowadays flirting refers to playful amorous overtures but the term has had a variety of meanings over the centuries. In fact flirt is a word with a remarkably checkered history. The saga of this etymological chameleon begins in the 15 hundreds when the Oxford English Dictionary tells us flirt meant sneer or scoff or literally to dilate the nostrils in derision. Not exactly the best thing to do to attract a date nowadays in a document from the 15 sixties flirt appears as a verb meaning to flick with the finger or to deliver a sudden sharp strike and author in 15 63 wrote of quote flirting someone under the chin and on the ears. When Edgar Allen Poe composed the raven in 1845 he wrote open here I flung the shutter when with many a flirt and flutter in there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore. In this context flirt refers to the way a bird in this case pose famous Raven flicks its feathers

and other literary examples supplied by the Oxford English Dictionary. The word evokes the way small winged creatures navigate such as bees flirting in the sun beams and the sparrow that flirts here and there. Next time I'm Christie the wordsmith more facets of this versatile little word and how and when flirt came to mean to behave in a playfully alluring way. I'm Christie the wordsmith good day word lovers. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.