Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Insouciant

I turned to Frank, who was pressing more distinctly against by sweatshirt. "I think I'll head to bed, " I said with what I hoped was insouciant uncaring.
     - pg. 350, The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

This word is weird enough to stick with me forever, plus I like the sound of it. I first heard it, or became aware of it, when Anne Shaw presented it as 'The Word of the Week' at a Thornhill Toastmasters meeting at least 14 years ago.  Now every time I come across 'insouciant' in a book I think of Anne.  And I come upon the word more often than I would have thought!  But I have never come across it in a conversation with anyone.  


Insouciant–adjective
free from concern, worry, or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant.
It comes from the French verb soucier to worry, so this is no worry.

I like it.  So when next we converse, try using it in a sentence to me.  I will be so impressed!

2 comments:

Me said...

I remember this word well from our Toastmaster days. It has stood out for me every time I have read it since. Unfortunately the sources of this reading do not stand out in my memory. The next time I come across this word I will not be insouciant and will report in. I did hear it used a couple of times since in speech and got really excited because of my Toastmaster connection to the word.

I enjoyed the memory.
Blessings
Anne
(as cut & pasted from her email today ... thanks Anne!)

denise said...

never mind the word, i enjoyed the Swan Thieves