In the early stages of my linguistic development, I lacked the concept of metaphor and equated poison with instant death. If I ate even a crumb of something before my mother advised against it as "poison," I was terrified I might drop dead at any moment. After surviving a number of expected "poisonings," it occurred to me to wonder if I might have misunderstood the word. One day I decided to ask for clarification.
"Mompy, would eating this moldy bread kill me?"
To my astonishment, my mother scoffed at the idea. "No, indeed, my dear," she said. "But it's no good." She wrinkled her nose and pointed to the blue patch. "See? It's fowsty."
Now I haven't heard that word since Mom passed away, and it may not be in the dictionary, but according to a facebook discussion, it's still around. The alternative spelling is fousty.
I've spent 79 years in Reading and Oxford (UK) and have always regarded "fowsty" as the normal word for something or somewhere damp, unventilated and a bit mouldy. It may be less current than it was years ago.
ReplyDeleteYay! Fowsty lives. My late mother would be so pleased!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is a Newfoundlander and we use that term all the time. It was a common term in Western England where some of my family originated too.
ReplyDeleteMy Mum always said fowsty, probably still does if she gets the opportunity. She's from the West Country and has ancestors/relatives who settled in Newfoundland. I remember leaving my lunch box at junior school on the last day of term and we had to go back to retrieve it "otherwise it'll go fowsty".
ReplyDelete