Pam Webb

Word Nerds: There’s a word for that?

Thanks for the reader feedback on how you are enjoying the word selections. I enjoy finding them almost as much as I enjoy sharing them with you all. This past week has consisted of a multitude of words that cause me to say “There is a word for that?”

Splooting: a behavior that some animals use to cool their body temperature. Squirrels are finding cool surfaces and lying on their stomachs, legs spread, to cool off. For awhile we had a winsome little squirrel that would visit us and eat peanuts from our hand. In the summer she would come up to the patio and hang out. I thought she was being a companionable squirrel when she was actually seeking some relief from the heat by splooting.

parapraxis: when you say one thing and mean another, especially when the words are close sounding. Would you care to call your mother—I mean brother?

catachresis: using what is thought to be the correct word because it sounds like the word you meant to say. “She was reticent about going to lunch.” Umm, she was reluctant about going to lunch? Or perhaps in her reluctance she wasn’t talking about it.

spoonerism: credit Reverend Spooner for the slip of the tongue that causes the transposition of consonants in a sentence. “Go hush your brat” is not the same as “Go brush your hat.” One directive will definitely cause a stir.

solecism: accidental or intentional misuse of grammar. “I am what I say I am; I is what I say I is.”

malapropism: close to a catachresis, this word is attributed to a character, Mrs. Malaprop, in a 1775 play, who unknowingly inserted incorrect words in her utterances. “She was the pineapple (pinnacle) of perfection.”

mondegreen : coined by writer Sylvia Wright who misheard a line in a poem as “Lady Mondegreen” instead of “laying him on the green”, the word refers to mishearing lines or words or lyrics. My nemesis mondegreen was Clearance Clearwater Revival’s line about a “bad moon rising” which I heard as “bathroom on the right” which made sense to me because knowing where the nearest bathroom is located is handy.

eggcorn: similar to mondegreen, an eggcorn replaces the original word, yet it still makes senses since the new meaning hasn’t rendered the original intent incorrect.

• free reign” for “free rein”
• “in one foul swoop” for “in one fell swoop”
• “jar-dropping” for “jaw-dropping”
• “old-timers’ disease” for “Alzheimer’s disease”
• “on the spurt of the moment” for “on the spur of the moment”

mumpsimus: an insistent use of an eggcorn, being attributed to a monk Erasmus once knew who would say “mumpsimus” instead of the correct “sumpsimus” when reciting the liturgy.

“they’ve got another thing coming” —sorry Obama, that should be another “think” coming

“it’s a doggy dog world”—yeah, it can be ruff out there, but it’s actually “it’s a dog eat dog world”—ooh, it’s ruffer than we thought

“nip it in the …bud”—not the other (thinking gardening, not corporal punishment)

“first come, first serve”—not a Sunday buffet sign because it is supposed to be “first come, first served” (grammar can be tense, I know)

Cacology: when it’s said and done it’s how you said that could do you in—those Spoonerisms, malapropisms, solecisms—all those above, including incorrect pronunciation, could lead to a faux pa, a big mistake.

Splooting has nothing to do with speaking correctly, yet the next time you spot a squirrel doing the hot day sprawl you will know what you are talking about.