Quondam

A quondam is very hard to explain, according to my dictionary. However, I shall do my best. It describes something that was once a certain way, but now isn't. I think a synonym for quondam is "former". That probably doesn't help, but the dictionary I have gives this example: "He is a quondam friend of mine."

My winner today for an invented meaning for quondam is Thinks! Here it is: From recipe books - whereby 1 x quondam of hot spice such as curry powder = the entire contents of the jar added accidentally while trying to measure 1 teaspoonful.

Well done all of you. A great lot of invented meanings. Much easier to understand than the real meaning, too!

Purfle

A purfle can be a fancy border. So, to purfle is to make something fancy. That's my version of what the dictionary says and it's close enough to the truth, so that's good enough for me. My daughter will be doing a bit of purfling before the school disco tonight, methinks. Well done to the inventors of interesting meanings for purfle. The poll winner was Realityjunkie.