purlieu - noun - the area surrounding a place
Last night as I was reading Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure (oh, come on, doesn't everyone read nineteenth century classics at bedtime?), I came across purlieu, and admittedly, had to look it up. I had seen it before, perhaps in another classic, but couldn't remember its denotation. It is definitely a word that has been left out in the cold, probably in an area surrounding a place. Why do certain words stay in use and others disappear? It could be that more common synonyms have replaced purlieu. For instance, milieu does have the same suffix "lieu" and could be used in place of purlieu. Maybe it is a British thing. The Brits being the founders of the language might just respect vocabulary a bit more. Certainly Hardy and his contemporaries did, but it could be that they were better educated as well. In any case, vastness of verbiage has always been associated with intelligence.
But I digress a bit. Cue: optimism. During forced isolation out of boredom, I began to notice minutiae of my purlieu. In short, just by gazing about my garden, I started to appreciate what I had once never really seen up close and personal, such as the lavations of squirrels, the craftiness of robins, the playfulness of chipmunks, etc. I found these creatures quite fascinating and a joy to observe. The conclusion? Little things make life worth living. The feel-good film exists right outside of your window in the purlieu.
Happy Tuesday!
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