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• glamour •

Pronunciation: glæ-mêr • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, mass (no plural)

Meaning: An allure that comes from a combination of beauty, fashion, and style.

Notes: Be careful spelling this word. Words borrowed from French ending on OUR in British English, such as behaviour, arbour and tumour, usually lose the U in the US, where they are spelled behavior, arbor and tumor. However, glamour is an exception to the rule; it is spelled thus in both dialects. The adjective, glamorous, is spelled without the U over here and over there.

In Play: Today's is a Good Word for conveying the enchanting quality of truly beautiful women, "Marigold is a woman as wears glamour nonchalantly, as though she were completely unaware of it." While this word is not used to describe men, it can be used to depict things other than women: "The glamour of Hollywood (otherwise known as Tinseltown) is of a kind that attracts the purely superficial from around the world."

Word History: You have probably long noticed that truly glamorous women always speak grammatically. Today's word explains why that is: glamour is the result of the Scots' mispronouncing the word grammar! Believe it or not, glamorous women were originally "grammarous", at least they were in Scotland. In the Middle Ages grammar came to be the name of a witch's manual for casting spells, eventually called a gramery, which held spelling rules of a different sort. Later on, the Scots changed the pronunciation to glomery and soon were using it to refer to the magic spell itself. Since things of beauty are enchanting and spellbinding, it is no surprise that the meaning slipped over to that kind of beauty. Finally, the most Scottish Scot of all, Sir Walter Scott, spelling this word simply as glamour, brought it down from the Highlands in novels so compelling the rest of the English-speaking world had to accept it. Glamorous women and places today cast spells on us only figuratively.

John Brantley sent this private reply to my treatment of glamour:

"I have also seen glamour used as type of magic spell, particularly one that affect the perception of appearance. For example, "Marcie cast a glamour on herself to enhance her beauty." or "Marcie uses cosmetics as a glamour to enhance her beauty." Admittedly, this meaning is mostly limited to Fantasy literature, but it is reasonably widely used there. It also clearly fits in with the word history that you describe."

I was caught off guard, so I thought I would share it with you. Have any of you come across this usage?

Have never heard John Brantley's usage before. Have always heard it used to describe women, not just attractive ones but those who combine attractiveness with style and fashion. Of the three, seems like style and fashion are more important than attractiveness. I've seen women (personally and in the movies) who I considered glamourous, who were not particularly attractive. Just my opinion.

One can draw a distinction between attractiveness and beauty. I suspect you were referring to a woman, whose features don't match one of our models of beauty, but may be extremely attacting, even an attraction walking down the street.

John Brantley sent this private reply to my treatment of glamour:

"I have also seen glamour used as type of magic spell, particularly one that affect the perception of appearance. For example, "Marcie cast a glamour on herself to enhance her beauty." or "Marcie uses cosmetics as a glamour to enhance her beauty." Admittedly, this meaning is mostly limited to Fantasy literature, but it is reasonably widely used there. It also clearly fits in with the word history that you describe."

I was caught off guard, so I thought I would share it with you. Have any of you come across this usage?

Yes, especially in fiction (fantasy) or sci fi books. Also
where the book deals in alchemy and the like.

One can draw a distinction between attractiveness and beauty.

I totally agree. "Attractiveness" in a woman is strictly the fleeting outward appearance. "Beauty" combines both outward appearance and the goodness of her heart (her character, moral compass, the id). I've known women who were outwardly attractive but who had rotten cores, thus making them undesirable. Conversely, I've known women who were not so outwardly attractive, but who were wonderful to be around because of their sense of humor or basic overall goodness. These are much more desirable company. I've even been blessed and privileged to have known one or two who were outwardly attractive AND inwardly wonderful. Very rare indeed in my experience. Again, that's just my opinion (realizing "beauty" is always in the eye of the beholder).

Way back in high school, I noticed that the longer I knew a girl, the more her appearance changed. My first impression had little to do with my later view. This has continued to be true.

Have to agree with Perry. The longer I'm around a woman, she either gets better looking or uglier. They probably come to the same conclusion about me, too. Ha!

I look at pictures of myself from way back and can
hardly believe they were me.

Well, I weighed about 130 in HS and 180 now, so a lot of me wasn't there yet!

One of the seniors used to carry me on his
shoulders as a 'mascot", little bugger that I
was, scarcely 4'8". I weighed 115 about
30 years ago, now tip the 150 scale. So
I know what you mean.

Ha! I look back at my senior HS picture every time I want to have a good laugh. My wife (6 years older than I am) tells me if she had first met me back then, she wouldn't have given me a second look. I really did look like a skinny geek. I remind her when I was a senior (at 17), she was a 23 year old married woman with a child, so I probably wouldn't have looked at her, either. We didn't meet until I was 31 and she was a widow and, yes, she was glamorous! Been happily married ever since. I don't have any college pictures. Have some pictures from the Army. In those Army days I tipped the scales in the 155-160 lb. range. Last week at the doctor's office, the scales said 212 lb. Whoa! I've got some weight to lose!!

Funny story. It is fun to look back at life in such a
fashion. Spring is coming, get a dog and do
some heavy walking. That's what I do. Of course
the dog has to stop a lot. but that's OK.

Yes, it is fun to look back every now and then. It's humbling, too. Good tips for losing weight. Unfortunately, I recently lost my dog to disease so I won't be doing any dog-walking. I did join my company softball team, though, so I'll be getting plenty of exercise this spring. Interestingly, I got to looking around and noticed I'm the oldest guy on the team (by a long way). Ha! No worries. I can STILL hang with them.

Losing a pet can be devastating. I've lost many, and
mourn them. But remembering the great times with
them is so comforting. I'll miss mine when she goes,
tho' she is a ways from that, I hope, but I'll get another.[/code]