Tuesday, January 06, 2015

Random Sequence: Are You Feeling Inly Dishabille?

"You will excuse my dishabille, I hope?" said Miss Boylan, glancing at her tidy wrapper.... "Maggie and I cannot exist apart for two days, and I have a confidential matter I want to talk over with her this morning -- something about my my own personal affairs, and I had not patience to wait longer. (That hint may keep her meddling ladyship out of the room while I am with Maggie)," she added, inly.
--Marion Harland, "Nobody to Blame", in Godey's Lady Book and Magazine, April 1864

(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)

dishabille (noun) = the state of being dressed casually or carelessly
inly (adverb) = inwardly ("Inly" is considered literary and, at this point I think, obsolete. It's interesting that the longer form of the word survived and the shorter form didn't.)

The weird thing about this bound copy of Godey's (an American magazine) is that the issues are all from the 1860s, and there is not a single unambiguous mention anywhere of the American Civil War.

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