antimacassar

No matter how you cut it, NOT up to the impact of antimassacre!

I learned this word on Wordie just a few weeks ago, and now I'm seeing and hearing it all over the place. What a delight to come across this word while reading and not have to stop and look it up! Here's the most recent usage that caught my eye:

"The collaboration between hotelier Ritz and his architect was extremely close. Mewès was the kind of artist who pursued the execution of his vision down to the last doorknob. He supervised the finish of the paneling, selected the fabrics for the walls and curtains, even for the silk of the lampshades, and did his best to discourage contemporary enthusiasm for antimacassars. This tireless supervision of every last detail resulted in a whole that was nowhere less than perfect." (John Maxtone-Graham, The Only Way to Cross, New York: Macmillan, 1972, p. 85)

I've been to Makassar several times. Survived the trips even without one of these.

I think this is my favourite word in the English language. I love the fact that it's a long word to describe something that everyone knows, but no-one knows the name of! It also reminds me of a big armchair in my late grandparents house. Definitely still used regularly on coaches and trains.

Oh, so nice to meet up with this word. I have two sets of knit lace antimacassars and the little thingies for the arms of the chairs. They were given to me when I was married--my aunties were still using them when I was growing up. I take them out and look at them once in a while, admire the intricate lace and put them away with the knit lace doilies that were also given to me. So sad.

Macassar oil is a compounded oil used primarily by men in Victorian and Edwardian times as a hair dressing. The antimacassar was presumably used to protect the seat fabric from macassar oil. Obscure eh?!

Antimacassars, thought to be extinct, are breeding in twee B&B's.

this is a fantastic word.