There's a New Word Out There

Has anyone ever watched the movie or the play, Camelot?  Of course, you have.  Well, there is one scene in which Queen Guenevere and her handmaidens are romping in a field of flowers singing the song, “The Lusty Month of May.”  In this scene, they’re picking flowers and making garlands to put in their hair. 

And so, the new word, well new to me, is “may”.  This new word is a verb, it means picking flowers in the springtime.  So, here we are with a word predominately used for the name of a month, a noun, being used as a verb.  For instance, my wife and I go maying every year.  Or, we mayed in April last year.  How about this one?  Our neighbor mays every year in May. 

It leaves me puzzled though.  I’ve never seen anyone picking flowers in the Spring.  Oh, maybe in a store you might see someone selecting flowers for one occasion or another.  Of course, someone has to pick the flowers, and if they do it in the Spring, I guess they are maying.  Go figure.

So, I throw out a challenge to everyone this Spring to go maying.  Go out and pick one flower this Spring.  And, you don’t have to pick your one flower in the lusty month of May to go maying unless you just want to.