Which Witch Is W(h)ich? #socs

Stream of Consciousness Saturday 1 Minute

When I was thinking about this prompt, the only thing that jumped into my head for the suffix “-wich” was that a lot of town names in England end in it, or in “-wick.” I knew there had to be some significance to the suffix, so I looked it up, and learned it’s an Anglo-Saxon suffix for towns that had a lot of artisans in them, and also for towns that had a brine spring or well. How salt and artisans are connected, I don’t know, but the Old English word “wic” meant both. Some examples: Northwich (Norwich, also a brand of aspirin back in the day), Ipswich, Middlewich, Droitwich, etc.

Amazing what you learn in this job.

I watched a video that explained the difference between what and which. Those of us that speak English understand, but the video was aimed at non-English speakers. Basically, if I said “What witch are you talking about?” I’m asking about picking a witch from the universe of witches, but “Which witch are you talking about?” limits the choice to a specific group of them.

An example of a specific group of witches is the witches from the movie The Wizard Of Oz. There are three of them there: The Wicked Witch of the East, on whom Dorothy’s house fell; The Wicked Witch of the West, the main antagonist of the story, played by the incredible Margaret Hamilton; and The Good Witch of the North, played by Billie Burke. Ms. Hamilton, incidentally, deserved an Oscar for her performance. Can you imagine that movie without her?

Now, I think I’ll have a sandwich…

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you each week by Linda Hill and this station. Now a word about Peptans, made by the Norwich Pharmacal Company.

Published by John Holton

I'm a writer and blogger who writes and blogs about things that interest me.

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16 thoughts on “Which Witch Is W(h)ich? #socs”

  1. Pingback: A Cold And Blustery Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  4. I sure could use some Peptan’s today! I learned something new too! Another great post. Makes we want to watch the Wizard of Oz again.

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  5. I wonder if Peptans was Pepto Bismol? Have you ever seen the Witches of Eastwick? Funny movie with Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer. Hard to figure which was the good witch in that one 🙂

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    1. My guess is that Peptans and Pepto were about the same, though I don’t know if the former had bismuth (the bismol in Pepto-Bismol) in it.

      Never seen The Witches of Eastwick. It’s not really the kind of movie we enjoy, and I don’t care much for the cast.

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