In truth; in fact; certainly; very well.
Like most military families living in Laos, our house was tended to by a maid, a gardener, and a handy man, all of whose services were paid for by the U.S. military.
The maid was named Long.
Long’s husband (the handyman) was named Soot (pronounced "suit").
Long and Soot had a baby named Chin.
Long’s sister was named Sing. I do not recall if Sing worked at our house or elsewhere, but she lived at our house.
My sister and I, clever youngsters that we were, made up songs and rhymes using the names of Sing, Long, Chin, and Soot. The one I remember now went
Sing a song along with Chin, Sing a Long Song with Soot.
to which our mother added
Forsooth!
Neither my sister nor I knew what "forsooth" meant except that our mother said it and therefore it sounded right.
I never knew until now that "forsooth" means "certainly" or "in truth," and that today’s use of the word is usually sarcastic. Despite the fact that it reminded me of the Sing/Song/Long/Chin sing-along I did not look up "forsooth" in a dictionary after hearing it used by Richard Nixon’s Quaker mother in the Oliver Stone film "Nixon."
That word, in particular its sound as enunciated by Mary Steenburgen in "Nixon", has lingered in my mind since childhood without definition or meaning.
My mind is likely flooded with such solitary words, glorious instruments that sit in my house like furniture, just as my days are flooded with lives I fail to comprehend.
