ABC Wednesday

X is for Xanthocomic

And with the discovery of the meaning of this word I have finally come across the origin of Blonde Jokes.

Xanthocomic means yellow hair, and there is a whole cluster of words with the prefix "Xanth"

Xanthic means yellowish

Xanthippe refers to an ill-tempered woman (with yellow hair????)

Xanthochroic means yellow skinned, and if your teeth, alas, have a yellowish cast, they are said to be xanthodont.

It is Xanthophyll which causes the yellow colour of autumn leaves, and if a plant has yellow seeds it is then Xanthospermous.

Just recently I was told about an Xanthocomic woman who went into the Post Office, asking to buy fifty Christmas stamps.

"What denominations would you like?" asked the clerk in the PO

"Good gracious" exclaimed the Xanthocomic woman, "has it come to that!!!!" And tossing her Xanthic hair she airily said -

"Then I'll have 22 Roman Catholic

3 Baptist, 10 Presbyterian, 8 Anglican

and 7 Pentecostal."

My apologies to all blondes, - I used to be one myself!

X is a difficult letter, - skip along to ABC Wednesday and see what others have discovered about X.