“To groke” is just the start…
Last year there was an article circulating round the internet on dog-focussed websites bringing the wonderful old verb “to groke” to modern minds. It was picked up by dog folk as according to Mark Forsyth author of the Inky Fool Blog it means “to stare wistfully at somebody while they are eating in the hope that they will give you some of their food” a sentiment that many of us who share our homes with dogs will readily relate to.
Susie-Belle has perfected her groking since coming to live with us….
I loved this wonderful, simple word and have followed Mark’s blog with interest and dipped into his recent book, The Horologicon with a lot of pleasure. He takes readers through a humorous journey of lost words, many of which really deserve to be brought back into our everyday parlance. To groke is just the start of a string of food-related words that I for one am going to be slipping into my writings, I warn you now!
For example, when Susie-Belle and Twinkle Berry are presented with their meals, their excitement usually gets the better of their manners and they invariably guttle their food, being the pair of gutguddlers they are. Whilst Renae is a far more delicate, polite eater, but then she wasn’t dragged out of a barn half starved.
Chapter 8 of The Horologicon shines a light on the abundance of words with the letter G associated with food and I have a whole new vocabulary I am itching to use. Familiar with gourmet, gluttonous, greedy, he adds for example gundy-guts – an 18th century version of “lard-arse”.
It’s a fun read and one you may well detect the influence of here in months to come. For now, start looking for the groking looks your dogs give you….they are master scamblers but the best scamblers all need to learn first how to groke.
