FILLIP

[Dr. Goodword]

• fillip • (Guess who's back!)

Pronunciation: fi-lip • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, Verb

Meaning: 1. (Noun) A movement made by curving a finger against the thumb and then suddenly releasing it. 2. (Noun) A stimulus, an act that attracts attention or arouses interest. 3. (Verb) To flip, to move a small object with a sharp motion of the fingers.

Notes: Today's Good Word is the immediate ancestor of the verb flip, reduced permanently by 'LVS'. This reduction follows the same route as chirrup, currently more often written simply chirp—and pronounced appropriately differently.

In Play: Fillips at one time were a common way to capture someone's attention: "I was about to mention the birthday party to Phillip when Agnes Payne gave me a rather painful fillip on the arm as a reminder that the party was supposed to be a surprise." Used as a verb, this word still implies the finger motion described in Meaning No. 1: "As I whispered sweet nothings into Mala Fortuna's ear, she nonchalantly filliped crumbs across the table."

Word History: US dictionaries are inclined toward explaining today's word as an imitation of the sound a fillip makes. Other dictionaries list its origin as a mystery. It does appear that fillip was in use a century before flip, so flip would seem to be a reduction today's Good Word. The meaning of flip has also broadened to mean "turn over" as well as "to put into motion using any finger", as to flip a coin (using the thumb against the forefinger). (Today's Good Word is a fillip from Mark Angney of the English faculty at Concord-Carlisle High School in Concord, Massachusetts, reminding us how interesting this word is.)

[Bailey]

• fillip • (Guess who's back!)

Finally, you were missed.

mark been-filiping-you-for-weeks Bailey

wondering about delivering a philippic

[sluggo]

Today's Good Word is the immediate ancestor of the verb flip, reduced permanently by 'LVS'. This reduction follows the same route as chirrup, currently more often written simply chirp—and pronounced appropriately differently.

Innersting- I've only seen this word spelt cherup

I like a cookie, a co-operative cookie
though ye can'nae get near it for da smell
If ya try it wi' some syrup,
you'll hear the syrup cherup,
"Mary, me Scots bluebell" (-Theo Bikel)

Mayhap a Scots affectation for the occasion, but I've seen the spelling elsewhere.

--But pray, to what might 'LVS' refer?

[Bailey]

I was about to mention the birthday party to Phillip when Agnes Payne gave me a rather painful fillip on the arm as a reminder that the party was supposed to be a surprise." Used as a verb, this word still implies the finger motion described in Meaning No. 1:

We always called it a Thwimp. I'm totally unaware of this word for that meaning.

mark filiping-self Bailey

[gailr]

--But pray, to what might 'LVS' refer?

This condition may well cause angst, sluggo.

LVS is a condition so debilitating that it is referred to only by acronym in polite society...

[sluggo]

--But pray, to what might 'LVS' refer?

This condition may well cause angst, sluggo.

LVS is a condition so debilitating that it is referred to only by acronym in polite society...

Fangs for elucidation.
I've always jest called that Vowel Movement.