albeit - conj - Although; even though; notwithstanding.
This one may be slightly old-fashioned.
And now I hope you will indulge me as I wander off on a tangent. Spoiler Warning: If you haven't read Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, I'm about to give away an early incident in the novel.
Shortly after Count Dracula moves to London, Lucy Westenra starts losing blood at an alarming rate. Dr. Seward calls Dr. Abraham Van Helsing in as a consultant, and he draws the same conclusion as the reader will, i.e., that Lucy has fallen victim to a vampire. Unfortunately, Lucy is too far gone and dies shortly after Van Helsing's arrival. After Lucy's funeral, there are reports in the papers of children having seen a bloofer lady. I have been plagued for decades wondering what exactly is a "bloofer" lady? Clearly, the lady in question is Lucy, who is now a vampire preying on little children, but what makes her a "bloofer" lady? I finally found the answer after consulting an annotated edition of the novel. "Bloofer" is the way English children pronounced "beautiful," much the same way American children call injuries "booboos." Now I know, and so do you.
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1 comment:
No, not vampires! The lady the children saw, not realizing what she was. Bear in mind that she was wearing the dress in which she had been buried, which undoubtedly added to her glamor.
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