Why would a person enter the world beard-growing championship?

Depending on the amount of stubble, that person might have to start beard growing a year or so in advance -- and then what type of beard would be acceptable?

Would the beard be a goatee type, or perhaps the full and flowing beard would do. Would moustaches qualify?

My memory tells me the championship was to be conducted in Norway. I don’t know if they still have it.

But what does beard growing have to do with bizarre? I’m glad you asked.

Years ago Basque men were identified by their beards, which were different from those elsewhere, Spanish and Portuguese locals called them by the Basque word for beard, which was bizar, which in Spanish came out as bizarro.

The word came to mean bravery even handsome, although I think a man can be brave without being handsome.

The Merrian Webster people say that you can be brave while at the same time being “conventionally ugly”.

Then the Italians and the French adopted the word, before it came into English. Its history was a bit on the odd side.

For instance, the French seemed to use the word bizarre earlier than the Spanish, so was the word that we now use spelt originally as bizzarro? It still meant brave.

According to my big dictionary, the first written use in English came in 1648, meaning brave or departing from the ordinary or a man of spirit.

In 1643 Edward Herbert writing in Life said “her attire seemed as bizarre as her person”.

Bizarre was used to describe flowers, such as tulips and carnations.

For instance, in 1753 Ephraim Chambers said bizarre was a term used among florists for a particular type of carnation, which had its flowers striped  with three or four colours.

But we still use bizarre, only we give it a meaning of strange. The Spanish use the word to mean brave or generous. Don‘t blame me; that’s what I read in the book.

Some words have taken off from bizarre. For instance bizarely, bizarraness and bizarrerie, but we hardly ever use them.

In 1884 a women was described as bizarrely beautiful. I reckon she must have been a good sort, or she grew a beard.

Then we come to bizarro. This word also means unconventional, with a slightly different slant, but we rarely use it.

None of my dictionaries include the word bizarro or bizzarro.

It is obviously still seen as part of a foreign language.

But it can mean something slightly different from bizarre, something with no explanation of how it happened.

Some dictionaries describe it as slang.

Several versions have appeared in comic books, such as Superman.

It was included in Superboy in 1958. This was created by Otto Binder and George Papp.

Many shops use it also. Some spell it with a double z.

But would you buy a pizza from bizzarro pizza?

Don’t answer that. I’m sure they sell top quality pizzas.

Years ago, the federal treasurer, Wayne Swan, used it to indicate that this country wasn’t doing too badly compared with the rest of the world, but I’m not sure what he was trying to say,

Laurie Barber’s weekly column has not missed a week in almost two-and a half decades. 

The column is published in regional newspapers throughout Australia and NZ. 

Laurie has also written four books. 

lauriebarber.com, lbword@midcoast.com.au