"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Droll

   
GB commented that a quotation I read out to him was very droll. Now there's a word you don't hear often, I thought.

Droll - amusing in an odd way; whimsically humorous; waggish; dryly humorous.

Its first recorded use is said to be from around 1615–25 and its origin from the Middle French drolle -a pleasant rascal; or Middle Dutch drol - a fat little man.

1 comment:

  1. Showing our languages' common roots here; in German, we call something oddly funny "drollig".

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