I’ve had a lot of fun with today’s word, which is an apposite one for All Fools Day, namely, “sillytonian” meaning: ‘A silly or gullible person, esp. one considered as belonging to a notional sect of such people’, (OED). I don’t know why politicians from certain public schools sprang to mind, but they did. Of the sillytonians who were abroad today, I think the woman (yes, I’m sad to say that it was indeed a woman) who parked her car here, whilst she nipped to the shops, had to be the silliestonian of them all. It’s a great pity that the word “sillytonian” is now obsolete and I think it is one that we should campaign to resurrect. The OED is full of useful information, and always one in search of a good etymology, I happened to notice that the origin of the word is ‘adj. + -tonian’, as in “grumbletonian” and … wait for it … “muggletonian”, which has nothing to do with Harry Potter, but was in fact a 17th century radical religious sect, so named after Lodowicke Muggleton.
Day #91 of a 365 project, where the daily pic is informed by the OED word of the day.