netherlands

A new word? SURELY not! Nevertheless, I looked it up in my dictionary (circa 1976 ... yes, one and the same, as you might remember). It isn't there. Neither is it in Wikipedia, Wiktionary, nor any other Wiki-thingamabop.


I used this word in my post earlier today, titled "Even more bits & pieces" ... I sure hope all y'all understood what I meant by that (supposedly) non-existent word!


'Nether' ... Middle English ... an adjective, meaning 'situated down or below'. Now, I ask you. What could possibly be a more appropriate meaning for a sentence that includes the word 'netherlands'? In fact, the sentence read "... that pill disappeared into the netherlands slick as a whistle". In other words, further down my body (as in south, or more towards the ground from my mouth).


I don't like it when people use words incorrectly, and I'm often seen going to the dic/Wiktionary in an effort to be succinct. I'm more than a little ticked that this word might have to be classified as "coined".


A little over an hour was spent today looking up the history of the name "Netherlands". From there, I went on to Finland, Sweden, Norway, you get the picture, I'm sure. ANYhoo, by the time I was finished, I was almost so far removed from the original question that I forgot what it was, for crying out loud!!