I have used the word uncouth for decades.
And for those same decades, I have operated under the apparently baseless assumption that there was no such word as couth. You could be uncouth, certainly, but there was no linguistic road back. Once uncouth, always uncouth.
Today I learned otherwise.
According to Merriam-Webster, it is entirely possible to be couth.
But it gets better.
Apparently, one can also be kempt, ruly, and gruntled.
This is startling news.
All my life I have encountered people who were unkempt, unruly, disgruntled and uncouth, never realizing that somewhere out there their sunnier grammatical twins were wandering around neatly groomed, obedient, contented and behaving appropriately at dinner parties.
I find this enormously reassuring.
At seventy, I may occasionally be disgruntled. I have certainly been unruly. There are mornings when kempt would be an ambitious description.
But at least I now know there are options.
Tomorrow I intend to awaken thoroughly gruntled, get myself kempt, behave in a reasonably ruly fashion and face the world with as much couth as I can muster.
You’re never too old to learn.
Although discovering at seventy that you’ve been unnecessarily uncouth for most of your life does seem a little unfair.
Still Hopscotching…and feeling gruntled.
David
And should you require someone couth, kempt, reasonably ruly and only occasionally disgruntled to help you buy or sell real estate in Connecticut, I have another life entirely.
I’m David Mayhew, Realtor® with Pearce Real Estate, serving Greater New Haven, the Connecticut Shoreline and assorted places where people have houses, septic systems and strong opinions about granite countertops.
My real estate wanderings:
ConnecticutWeekendHomes.com
Homes, towns and escapes along the Connecticut Shoreline and beyond.
MayhewRealEstateGuide.com
Real estate explained in something resembling English.
BuyYourSecondHomeFirst.net
For New York City rental dwellers seeking the benefits of home ownership and weekend escapes.
ConnecticutBaedeker.com
Connecticut’s history, oddities, hidden corners and occasional dead people.
MayhewToons.com
Because sometimes real estate can only be adequately explained by cartoons.
And, of course, HopscotchingToHell.com, where none of the above is necessarily relevant.