Kareni Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 The conversation at my house this morning is all about nooks and crannies. One can use the word nook without an accompanying cranny -- "Oh, what a charming breakfast nook!" But can one have a cranny without a nook? Regards, Kareni 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 My boys played some online game where they could store their stuff in crannies, but that's the only time I've heard that word used without its accompanying nook. :p 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I am now going to start working crannies with no nooks into everyday conversation. "Go sweep again and make sure to get the cranny between the stove and cupboard." "I found the remote control in the cranny between the couch cushions!" "The missing socks were in the cranny next to the dryer." 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 There are several fossilized words in English that are more or less obsolete except for their survival in a single phrase - "to eke out a living" (eke meant to stretch - we find it also in the term "nickname" which indicated a name "eked" onto the original name), "nook and cranny" (a cranny is a small, narrow space or opening... like a crevice, I suppose), "kith and kin" (kith are your friends and relations). You can certainly choose to use cranny alone if you like. People generally don't, but sometimes you can bring a word back into usage that way... even if only among a small group of people. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Nooo. You have to have a nook and a cranny. The go together! ;) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbookbuzz Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I've always been fascinated by language. Personally, I think we've let too many wonderful words slip into oblivion. Let's bring back the lost words - we might find some of them in the various crannies around! :coolgleamA: 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifera33 Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Sure. We have a cranny between the fridge and the wall into which one slips in order to let another person pass through our narrow galley kitchen. It's a perfectly cromulent word. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 (edited) It looks like cranny and nook are synonyms, so yes! Let's bring it back! (definition of cranny) 1. a small, narrow opening in a wall, rock, etc.; chink; crevice; fissure: 2.a small out-of-the-way place or obscure corner; nook. Edited November 4, 2016 by Butter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Sure. We have a cranny between the fridge and the wall into which one slips in order to let another person pass through our narrow galley kitchen. It's a perfectly cromulent word. Sounds like you should definitely embiggen your kitchen. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Maybe cranny fell out of fashion because we don't like to think about crannies. Nooks can be cozy comfortable places to sit and eat or read or just rest. Crannies are where socks and dust bunnies hide. :lol: 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I have now used "cranny" twice but no one in the family has noticed. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 great...now I want an English muffin 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Well, when I hear that word alone.... All I think of is in Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone, when Karou makes Kazamir's cranny itch... (Anyone else read that? :p) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Peregrine Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 (edited) It could be a selling point in real estate. "Here we have the breakfast nook, and over there, the reading cranny." Edited November 4, 2016 by Miss Peregrine 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 And speaking of pairs of words, whatever happened to poor ruth? Its antonym, ruthless (without pity or compassion) is used all the time. Shouldn't we encourage more ruth in our culture?! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artichoke Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I totally use the word cranny when talking about cleaning small cracks. "Really get in there, scrub all the little crannies." Never really thought of it as weird. Evidence mounts that I may actually be a hobbit. When the kids were little, I'd tell them to be sure to wash their nooks and crannies when they were in the shower. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifera33 Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 And speaking of pairs of words, whatever happened to poor ruth? Its antonym, ruthless (without pity or compassion) is used all the time. Shouldn't we encourage more ruth in our culture?! I had a friend in college who tried to get "gruntled" to catch on, but I guess there are already enough synonyms for satisfied. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 There are several fossilized words in English that are more or less obsolete except for their survival in a single phrase - "to eke out a living" (eke meant to stretch - we find it also in the term "nickname" which indicated a name "eked" onto the original name), "nook and cranny" (a cranny is a small, narrow space or opening... like a crevice, I suppose), "kith and kin" (kith are your friends and relations). You can certainly choose to use cranny alone if you like. People generally don't, but sometimes you can bring a word back into usage that way... even if only among a small group of people. Fossilized? We use cranny, usually in reference to cracks in rocks. "Every crack and cranny" we use more often than "nook and cranny". We use eke, too. We often eke out the last of something, like butter. We don't use kith but we use kin for relatives and we use akin. Nan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I want ruth and gruntled! I use eke for things other than "eke out a living". I might eke out the last of the toothpaste, for example. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 It could be a selling point in real estate. "Here we have the breakfast nook, and over there, the reading cranny." And the reading cranny likely has books and perhaps even a Nook or Kindle. I've enjoyed all the replies and now feel quite gruntled. Many thanks! Regards, Kareni 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 Gruntle is the frequentative of grunt. Originally, it simply meant to utter lots of little grunts and from there "to grumble". The dis- is actually an intensifier and not a negative. Gruntled never meant "pleased" until it was humorously backformed as the antonym of "disgruntled" in the 20th century. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outdoorsy Type Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 I actually do say cranny/ies occasionally. I think of it as a hard to reach spot. So if I was dusting, my mom would say "Did you dust in all the crannies". In my mind a nook is bigger than a cranny. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookbard Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 I think we get those double word phrases from anglo-saxon poetry? hearth and home, kith and kin, hale and hearty, I think the nook and cranny fit in from the last 'k' sound. The anglo saxons loved those alliterations, and evidently we do too. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 The conversation at my house this morning is all about nooks and crannies. One can use the word nook without an accompanying cranny -- "Oh, what a charming breakfast nook!" But can one have a cranny without a nook? Regards, Kareni English muffins are full of crannies. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 I had a friend in college who tried to get "gruntled" to catch on, but I guess there are already enough synonyms for satisfied. When I was a teen I worked at a guest ranch. One off day my boss remarked that I wasn't very combolulated that day. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 I have used all my *likes* already. So consider all these comments liked. :D Perhaps I can find some more likes in a cranny... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 I love these smart people threads. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 (edited) Gruntle is the frequentative of grunt. Originally, it simply meant to utter lots of little grunts and from there "to grumble". The dis- is actually an intensifier and not a negative. Gruntled never meant "pleased" until it was humorously backformed as the antonym of "disgruntled" in the 20th century. :D The things I learn here! Edited November 5, 2016 by Forget-me-not 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEK Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 One can totally have a cranny without a nook, as above a cranny is smaller and more like a crack or a crevice while a nook as a small space but more functional like a reading nook or a nook in a wall (inbuilt shelves within the wall space) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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