I’m Witty, Apparently

I signed up for one of those word-of-the-day things by email.  It’s been very illuminating.  It sent through the definition of ‘witty’.  If you check out my Who? page, you’ll see that witty is on my list.

Here are some great definitions of ‘witty’, courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary.

• Having good judgement or discernment, wise, sagacious, discreet, prudent, sensible
• Having (good) intellectual ability, intelligent, clever, ingenious, skillful, expert, capable
• Endowed with reason, rational
• Having knowledge, knowing, learned

However these wonderful descriptions are also marked as ‘obsolete’.  Hmm.  I won’t tell if you don’t?

Here’s a more modern definition, perhaps this is what ‘witty’ means to you:

• Possessing wit, capable of or given to saying or writing brilliant or sparkling things especially in an amusing way, smartly jocose or facetious

I would quite like to write brilliant or sparkling things more often.

However, there is a downside to describing myself as ‘witty’.  Perhaps this is the definition that my husband would recognise or use:

• Sharply critical, censorious, sarcastic.

Hmm.  No comment!