Today I’m tickled pink to announce the debut of a new group blog called Colonial Quills. About, you guessed it, authors and books focused on early American history! I’m proud to be a contributor to the blog thanks to my upcoming Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland that’s set in 1783, and in awe of the beautiful site Carla Olsen Gade put together for us. Stop on by and have some tea, get to know the ladies, and admire the beautiful artwork!
And in honor of this fabulous event, I thought I’d explore the word “debut” for this week’s word. I think we all know it’s French, right? And Fowler (the grammar expert associated with the OED) says:
“Début can only be pronounced as French, and should not be used by anyone who shrinks from the necessary effort.”
Tee hee hee. So don’t try to say it day-BUTT. Interestingly, debut came to us from France in 1751 to mean “first appearance” as a shortened form of “debuter,” which means to make the first stroke at billiards. I don’t know about you, but I had no clue it was a billiards term! The verb didn’t come to be until 1830. Pretty neat, huh?
So hop on over to http://colonialquills.blogspot.com and celebrate this particular debut with us!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
I never knew that it was billiard term either! You are really educating us on Mondays 🙂
That surely is a neat tid bit about the origin of the word debut. I just shared that with my son would love billiards! Thank you for sharing the link to our new Colonial Quills blog and thank you so much for your inspiration and participation!