Rodomontade

I love words. It’s the word of the day on dictionary.com: rodomontade. It means “vainglorious boasting or bragging.”

She knows what she’s about; but he, poor fool, deludes himself with the notion that she’ll make him a good wife, and because she has amused him with some rodomontade about despising rank and wealth in matters of love and marriage, he flatters himself that she’s devotedly attached to him…

Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, 1848

Three things:

I’m convinced people only used this word circa 1848 and usually in written form—never in conversation;

I wonder if these two got married and if she did make him a good wife (but I doubt she did for some reason);

As much as I love books, I couldn’t tell you what each or any Brontë sister wrote, or which one wrote Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights or even what all their names were. And I’ve also never heard of this book. I’m kind of ashamed of myself.

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Written by Anne Clendening
Anne Clendening was born and raised in L.A. She's a yoga teacher, a writer and occasionally slings cocktails in a Hollywood bar. She could eat chocolate cake for every meal of the day. She has a huge fear of heights and flying. And fire. She wishes she could speak French, play her guitar better and make cannoli. She's probably listening to The Dark Side Of The Moon right now, kickin’ it with her boxer dog and her hot Australian husband ★