Hey y'all,
A friend of mine gets a "word of the day" emailed to him from the
Webster's Dictionary publishers. He forwarded it to me and I couldn't help
but pass it on. Check out the French vernacular pronunciation.
Respect,
T
The Word of the Day for March 3 is:
shivaree \shih-vuh-REE\ (noun)
: a noisy mock serenade to a newly married couple
Example sentence:
On the night of Sally's marriage to Paul, the townspeople
gathered outside the couple's window to participate
in a raucous shivaree.
Did you know?
In 19th century rural America, a newly-married couple might
be treated to a mock serenade, performed with pots, pans,
homemade instruments, and other noisemakers. Such cacophonous
serenades were traditionally considered especially appropriate
for second marriages or for unions deemed incongruous because of
an age discrepancy or some other cause. In the eastern U.S. this
custom, imported from rural England, was simply called a
"serenade" or known under various local names. In much of the
central U.S. and Canada, however, it was called a "shivaree," a
loan from French "charivari," which denotes the same folk custom
in France. In more recent years, "shivaree" has also developed
broader senses; it is sometimes used to mean simply "a cacophony"
or "a celebration."
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