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Apr 19, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

I can hear your voice as I read this. Just brilliant and honest xx

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Thank you so much, Elly! 😊

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Apr 19, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

Love this Rebecca. And I love that you break down exactly what dorm means in that diary excerpt. 😂Also, that Jack Winter quote is gold ✨ and wielded with mastery to full effect here. ❤️

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LOL - I don't know who on earth I thought I was trying to educate as to the meaning of 'dorm' at the time I wrote that definition down, Jill! 🤣

And thank you so much! 😊

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Your writing never fails to make me smile, Rebecca. You are a natural and brilliant storyteller. Love the quote and continue to hope that one day I will be both kempt and shevelled (auto-correct really wanted that to read kept and shovelled!!). Thanks again for your day-brightening skills :)

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I'm so pleased, Claire - thank you very much! LOL - 'shovelled'!!! Such a great alternative!!! 🤣

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Apr 20, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

I, personally, wouldn't mind being kept, but shoveled, not so much. That old auto-correct is pretty funny sometimes.

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Shoveled, not so much! 👏🏻😂

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Absolutely loved today's letter to Terry. It was very congrous. I didn't have much time for reading this morning but I decided to not dulge. (I don't think that one works, I'm very confused.)

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Apr 19, 2023·edited Apr 19, 2023Author

LOL - thanks, Jim! 'Dulge'!!!! 🤣🤣🤣 #newfavouriteword

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Madam, I will respond next Wednesday but for now:

1. I should like to say that for once I am feeling combobulated, except that the OED tells me there is no such word. I don't understand that: how could anyone be DIScombobulated if there was no combobulated to be dissed from in the first place?

2. I can't understand how I got dragooned into corresponding with someone who doesn't like Star Trek. Only last night I had my fix, watching an episode about an alternate timeline that Picard and his crew had fallen into. Frankly, I know how they felt.

Oh well, onward and upward, apart from to say thanks for another great letter.

😍

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Ah yes, the dissing of the combobulation must have happened at some point, mustn't it? I am concerted that I am not the only person to be invested in such matters!

I'm sorry that you find yourself in correspondence with an un-Trekkie, Terry. What course of action do you recommend I take? Repeated five-minute chunks of episode 1 until I can handle it? Or full-immersion with the entire canon in one hit: a kind of kill-or-cure scenario? Wikipedia tells me that after the initial series there were eleven spin-offs and a film franchise of thirteen movies SO FAR. 🫣

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I'm sorry, but I feel so emotionally traumatized by your revelation that I need a lie down before I can begin to think about it.

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🤣

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Another lovely letter :-) I wonder if "inept" is a variation on "inapt" and "apt"? I adore those deconstructions, and the Winter quotation gave me a chuckle: "Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way." Pure poetry!

I also sympathize with your antisocial tendencies. When I was in school, some of my friends would go away to camp for part of the summer and my parents asked if I would also like to go. I had a mild panic attack at the thought. That kind of forced camaraderie and socialization is like the 8th circle of hell. But it sounds like you made the most of your holiday despite the terrible entertainment options ;-)

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LOL re those entertainment options - gosh! And yes, I wonder whether 'ept' and 'apt' are related?

I remember when we'd finished school some of my friends went off to volunteer at Camp America, and that was something I'd never heard of at the time. I was a Girl Guide and camped with my fellow guides for a week every summer, and my best friend and her pony (!) headed off to Pony Club Camp together. I have to say that I never felt I thrived in such environments!

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Ooh, I'm kind of intrigued by Pony Club Camp... that might have been tolerable :-)

I was curious, so I looked it up (the results are kind of inconclusive):

inept (adj.)

c. 1600, "not fit or suitable, inapt," also "absurd, foolish," from French inepte "incapable" (14c.) or directly from Latin ineptus "unsuitable, improper, impertinent; absurd, awkward, silly, tactless," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + aptus "apt" (see apt). Related: Ineptly; ineptness.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/inept#etymonline_v_6416

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Oooooh, brilliant - thank you so much for these results of your research, Jacquie! 😊

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Another wonderful read. Thanks so much.

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You're so kind - thank you, Beth!

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Apr 19, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

These letters are absolutely delightful! Also: isn’t it so funny how our handwriting changes over time? Loved your early diary pages!

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Thanks, Jillian! D'you know, I barely recognised my handwriting?! And I seemed to be much more into using commas back then, which I find really interesting. 🤣

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Apr 21, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

I feel the same way about my younger handwriting too!

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Apr 20, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

I made it! I'm late, but I made it! I very much needed the laughter that this letter provided, Rebecca. And I loved the heartwarming look at Little Rebecca. What lovely handwriting, twelve-year-old you had! Thanks for another fantastic read. You and Terry never disappoint!

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Awww, thanks so much, Kerri! I've just read your latest post too - actually I'd had a sneak peek very soon after you posted it this morning (British Summer Time, that is), but I'm on the road today and hadn't had the chance to comment until now.

LOL - thank you for the handwriting compliment! I was so pleased when I unearthed that diary (when I'd been looking for something else - the usual state of affairs!), and I was surprised at by how much it has changed in the decades that have since passed! 😊

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Apr 20, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

I hope you're enjoying your travels today, wherever they take you, Rebecca! I'm not sure if I should hope you find yourself lost at some point or not. 🤔 On the one hand, getting lost would provide fodder for writing. On the other, getting lost could be annoying, depending on where you're trying to get to. So, I suppose I hope your travel is whatever you wish it to be! 😂

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Not lost yet, Kerri! Working on it though, as always! 😉

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Apr 20, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

I found the pages from your childhood journal absolutely charming, Rebecca. So glad you included them. Also, your Persiflage fine art! I would hang that on my living room wall right this minute if I could. All of it or even one quarter of it. It screams "optimism" to me. Love the colors.

And also, "ept" IS an adjective. We don't use it, preferring to use "adept", but it is correct. ( but don't say epter or eptest. Say more ept or most ept.) It is defined as skillful, knowledgeable, or adept.

Another of my favorite adjectives is "ruth" as opposed to ruthless. You, sweetheart, are both ept and ruth.

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Thank you so much, Sharron! I had such fun with that art - I'm so glad you like it.

'Ruth' rather than 'ruthless' is wonderful - I'd forgotten that one! In 'Swallows and Amazons' by Arthur Ransome, one of the young girl 'pirates' is called Nancy. 'It's not her real name', said her sister, Peggy. 'Her actual name is Ruth, but pirates are ruthless, so she's Nancy'!

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As usual your words are molded into the complete story. It's interesting to see something you wrote so long ago. I also like the "dorm" reference you made. Love the artwork!

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That's so kind, Matt - thank you! 😊

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