Word of the Day: Roister
Roister (verb) ROY-ster
Definition
: to engage in noisy revelry : carouse
Examples
Hugh didn’t get much sleep last night because his neighbors were roistering until the wee hours of the morning.
“North Highlands, apparently, is also what they call a part of Scotland where the prince’s grandmum (the Queen Mother) kept a wee castle where the little royals used to roister.” — Carlos Alcala, The Sacramento (California) Bee, 27 Oct. 2005
Did You Know?
As British writer Hugo Williams asserted in The Times Literary Supplement (November 15, 1991), roistering tends to be “funnier, sillier and less harmful than standard hooliganism, being based on nonsense rather than violence.” Boisterous roisterers might be chagrined to learn that the word roister derives from a Middle French word that means “lout” or “boor,”rustre. Ultimately, however, it is from the fairly neutral Latin word rusticus, meaning “rural.” In the 16th century, the original English verb was simply roist, and one who roisted was aroister. Later, we changed the verb to roister and the corresponding noun to roisterer.
My Take
I remember the days when I would go out in the evening, perhaps after work or just because, and carouse or engage in noisy revelry. Ah, those were the days. Too bad, I didn’t know this word for it. Roister.
Do I miss those days? No, not really. As best as I can remember, I would go out because I needed to blow off steam, to get my rocks off, to find a girl to spend the evening with, and do it all over again. Of course, I didn’t have a lot of mad money in those days, so it wasn’t a nightly thing. What might have happened if I did, I shudder to think about it. I was lucky. Incredibly lucky. I didn’t fall into the wrong crowd, get a girl pregnant, nor get hooked on drugs, etc.
Today, I have a special person in my life. Stresses of the day are quickly relieved just by being with her, helping her and allowing her to help me. I have a small but solid circle of friends. We hang out and enjoy good times.
Do I miss those days of carousing, revelry, and roistering. No. What’s more, I am happy.
Please share with me your comments. I enjoy reading them.
Brought to you by Merrian-Webster, Word of the Day.
The biggest celebration of the year is the Winter Solstice. This festivity focuses upon hope and joyful reunions for the coming year. It is denoted by enjoying the rich milky way of stars lighting the night skies, providing a backdrop for a magical time of year. The longest night of the year is celebrated by staying warm, enjoying each other’s bodies and conceiving the greatest diversity within the gene pool. Even conceptions in the breeding farms don’t distribute the gene pool as much as what happens at this celebration.
As I write this, I am reminded of the concept ‘IDIC’ introduced by Gene Roddenberry in his original TV series, ‘Star Trek’. ‘IDIC’ stands for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. I embrace this view of the world. I firmly believe we are better with our differences than without. Rather than homogenizing our species, it’s our differences that allow us to grow stronger.