Brainstorming words for...

Alisha Marie Klapheke · Post by **Alisha Marie Klapheke** » Sat August 6th, 2011, 1:34 am

This is wonderful. Really. Thanks so much, Michy, LoveHistory, Annis, SGM, and anyone else I forgot! I know I sound silly, but your support makes me sigh like a lovesick fifth grader. I love you guys! No one else understands me! Can you tell I miss my local writing group?

DianeL · Post by **DianeL** » Wed August 17th, 2011, 11:28 pm

For storage, I like butt - we all know the famous bit about the butt of Malmsey, right? For serving - ewer. I've used that one myself.

For grow, I like MLE's choices all around, but particularly increase.

For surprise, I also like gobsmacked, but dumbstruck is always a favorite as well!

Look at me - I finally managed a post under 100k words. So proud.

SGM · Post by **SGM** » Thu August 18th, 2011, 1:56 am

[quote=""Michy""]I just read a small NF book about England circa 1000, and it said that mead was a far more common drink at that time than wine (I think this was due to the fact that the English climate is not all that conducive to grape-growing. I can double-check this when I get home if you want). Mead -- which is made from fermented honey -- was more common and far more potent.

I'm not sure exactly what time frame you're working with, but you might want to keep that in mind.[/quote]

The issue of wine production in England (or are we talking about Britian) may well depend on your time frame. i thought I remembered hearing as a child that English wine was common until the time of Henry VIII who preferred French wine at which time it became more normal to import wines. (Although given Henry's seemingly constant desire to go to war with France this seems a little strange). This may turn out to be one of those stories which have very little truth -- I don't know and it may well have had more to do with the dissolution of the monasteries.

I do know that during the internecine squabbles between Charles I and Louis XIII after 1625, the whole of the English wine import from France was at one point seized and impounded by French officials to much wailing and gnashing of teeth on this side of the channel. But we are growing grapes suitable for winemaking today and if you are dealing with a period before the "little ice age", ie the "medieval warm period" then it is possible English wine was reasonably readiy available.

Beer and ale were common not least because it was safer to drink than water, particularly in towns where the water supply was of dubious quality especially before Victorians. Before the days when tea and coffee were a common commodity in Britain, I think "small beer" was a breakfast beverage. Cromwell (Oliver) certainly drank beer at breakfast and I have a feeling he was a very abstemious fellow.

I always liked the line about the Romans in one of the Cambridge Ancient History volumes "they eat bread, drank beer and travelled on water".

However, here is a link about the history of wine in the UK.

http://www.english-wine.com/history.html

wendy · Post by **wendy** » Thu August 18th, 2011, 1:07 pm

[quote=""Alisha Marie Klapheke""]
Thanks for the good words. I do like the hand to mouth movement. For grow, I was actually meaning to use it metaphorically as in "the prickly argument grew/matured/blossomed into a small rebellion as..."

![/quote]

For an argument I like "festered" - "The prickly argument festered into a small rebellion"

Alisha Marie Klapheke · Post by **Alisha Marie Klapheke** » Tue August 23rd, 2011, 6:18 pm

Thanks, DianeL, SGM, and Wendy. I did some further research and it has lined up with most of the comments here. It is nice to get input when researching because others tend to take you down little paths that you may not notice on your own.

About the word choices--love them. I used most of them in my latest draft. Thanks again and have a good week.