Recently, when I came across a new word, "coddiwomple," I thought it sounded like something from an Enid Blyton book, or like one of the Wombles of Wimbledon (cute, furry, plump, pointy-nosed fictional creatures), from a television programme we watched as children when we lived in England for eight months.

As it is not a word that most people would know, I asked three people at random what they thought it meant.

The first respondent, a teacher, laughed.

"Some British word," she said. "Some stupid thing in England."

After pausing to think about it for a while, she continued: "It is a cutie pie. Someone cuddly and nice."

When I finally told her the meaning, she laughed and said "Oh! Then I will be coddiwompling in December with my husband!"

The second respondent, a shop owner, also laughed upon hearing the word and admitted that he had never heard it before. He then repeated it several times, slowly, as though tasting it and trying to figure out the ingredients.

Laughing, he then said, "Let's say you and I are in a relationship...it means to cuddle...and wumple is to kiss up, hug up. Something nice. It's nothing that could be bad. You could invite someone over for some coddiwompling."

The third person, a farmer who had once lived in England, looked befuddled, then said it sounded like some kind of nonsense – "like codswallop."

Codswallop is English slang for words or ideas that are foolish, gibberish or not true.

The actual meaning of "coddiwomple," a recent English slang word (apparently circa late 2010s) is: "To travel purposefully toward an as-yet-unknown destination."

Another online definition states: "To travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination."

I prefer the first definition, since "as-yet-unknown" sounds full of potential and on the verge of discovery, compared to "vague," which suggests lack of clarity and focus, a degree of aimlessness, that in my mind, gives coddiwomple (which I see as a positive) a somewhat negative connotation.

Some may ask how one can be purposeful if the destination is as yet unknown.

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One's purposefulness can be as simple as living in and appreciating the present moment. In the present moment we are able (or not, as the case may be) to make the most of what is experienced at each step of life's journey.

The following two similar quotes are very coddiwomplish:

"It is not the destination, it's the journey." (attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson).

"The journey, not the destination, matters." (attributed to TS Eliot).

The whimsical illustration that accompanied the word "coddiwompling" when I came across it online was of a human figure, looking carefree, holding a flower, with a dog gambolling at his/her heels.

Those who are familiar with the artwork of the popular Rider-Waite Tarot deck will recognise that illustration as similar to the imagery depicted in the Fool – the first card of the tarot deck's Major Arcana.

The illustration on that card shows a young