Wednesday Word

baching: Well, okay, there's enough slang in this term to keep it out of my Webster's dictionary, but I know I heard it before reading it recently in The Long Winter, where Almanzo and Royal Wilder are "baching it," that is, living a bachelor's life through the winter.

Of course, not too many young men would even blink an eye anymore when faced with living by themselves or with a few guy roommates, let along give a name to their lifestyle. I have a hunch they might just agree with Royal Wilder, however, when he says: "We eat when we get hungry...That's the advantage of baching it. Where there's no women-folks, there's no regular mealtimes."