Granted, some words can eventually change meaning over time; however, some words are just plain used incorrectly and we may not realize it. Here is a batch of words that you may or may not be using correctly. I now know the enormity of my vernacular errors and hope they will no longer be chronic mistakes.
snollygoster: a clever, unscrupulous person. What a fabulous word! It reminds me of a villain lurking in the pages of a Lemony Snicket book.
banderole: a small flag or streamer fastened to a lance, masthead, etc. I imagine this will be a handy term for upcoming Fourth of July parades.
ferdutzt: confused; bewildered. It sounds like have a fuzzy brain.
skrik: a sudden fright or panic. Yes, that’s exactly the word when I’m startled.
quidnunc: a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip. I am surprised I don’t come across this word in my English village novels. It so sounds like a person found in a Miss Marple story.
reboant: resounding or reverberating loudly. Definitely describes the train horns that barrage our area on a daily basis.
pluviophile: a person who enjoys rain and rainy days, and who is fascinated by the sights, sounds, etc., of rain. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest where you learn to live the rain or go bonkers in winter, spring, and fall.
farouche: sullenly unsociable or shy. Not just shy but shy with an attitude. That is inspiration for a character, for sure. Maybe this person meets up with the local quidnunc and sparks fly. Hmmm…
ferhoodle: to confuse or mix up. A companion of ferduzt.
bloviate: to speak pompously. You know, that part of the movie where the snollygoster monologues about how clever they are right before they are undone by the clever hero.
tawpie: a foolish or thoughtless young person. I see this being home in a Gaiman tale for some reason.
ceilidh: a party, gathering, or the like, at which dancing, singing, and storytelling are the usual forms of entertainment. Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream!
scintilla: a minute particle; spark; trace. It’s right companionable with “smidge”and “scootch.”
pwn: to totally defeat or dominate, especially in a video or computer game. Did the vowel get vanquished when this word came into being?
pervicacious: extremely willful; obstinate; stubborn. Oh dear, what if they are farouche as well?
proceleusmatic: inciting, animating, or inspiring. The problem is by the time the word is properly pronounced the moment has passed.
oppugn: to assail by criticism, argument, or action. This when the snollygoster shows their true colors.
lambent: running or moving lightly over a surface. Oddly, this is an adjective not a verb.
rubricate: to mark or color with red. So for equality purposes other colors should have their own verb—yellow would be “yubricate” and brown would be “bubricate”?
schmatte: an old ragged garment; tattered article of clothing. This sounds more like the state of my door mat after a hard winter of snow and ice abuse.
Challenge!
What word will you work into a conversation this week?
I appreciate how Mitch Teemley shares quotes of note. Over time I have developed my own quotes which will not be found in print since they exist as passing verbal ideas. They often found their way into my classroom during my years of teaching high school students.
To get where you are going you have to move.
This one formed out of observation of how some people talk about going places but make no effort in moving in that direction, like those students who wrote their career research papers about becoming doctors (because they wanted to be wealthy), yet didn’t sign up for math or science classes or health occupation courses. This saying also stemmed from being stuck in traffic or trying to get through the hallways during passing period.
A book in hand is a friendship in the making.
As a Book Booster I enjoy meeting new characters when I open a book, and some characters become lifelong friends whom I visit with, like Scout and Jane Eyre.
Finding a poem that meets your needs is finding a song to sing in your heart when the world seems tuneless.
A thought that was inspired by April’s month long focus on poetry during National Poetry Month.
If you believe they can fly they will eventually grow wings.
This came out of a meeting with some special education folk who thought I expected too much of their students.
The worth of a man is measured by the strength of his promise.
A personal belief. A broken promise makes it difficult to trust or believe in a person.
Finding true friendship is finding a rare flower in life’s garden.
Life is a garden, yet in any garden there are weeds to contend so when that special flower, that true friend comes along, it’s as special as finding that hidden columbine amidst the crabgrass.
Knowing the right thing and doing the right thing are two different matters.
I don’t know why, but Abraham Lincoln comes to mind, as well as episodes of Dr. Who.
What we think we know becomes a matter of knowing what we actually think.
Somewhat of a conundrum. Yet, what we think often becomes our actions, and if we are not sure of what we think than our actions will reflect our thoughts. Still a conundrum, I know.
Do you have sayings that are uniquely yours?
Sometimes we blunder through trying to find that exact word to describe what we are talking about. This list of words provide the exact word for a particular situation.
dorveille: a dreamlike semi-conscious state like when falling asleep or waking up.
foehn: a warm, dry wind coming off a mountain
hyponopedia: learning while asleep through listening to taped recordings
abseil: descending by moving down a steep incline or overhang by using a secured double rope placed around the body
ailurophile: a person who likes cats
cognoscenti: people who possess superior knowledge and understanding of a particular field, especially in the area of fine arts, literature, and fashion.
juku: a school that is attended in addition to regular school as a means of preparing for college entrance examinations
xocolatophobia: an irrational fear of chocolate
dwy: a brief storm accompanied by rain
leveret: a young hare
What word can you now precisely insert into your conversation?
Nouns are helpful identifiers, to be sure. Add an adjective and the noun goes from blah to ta-dah. This month’s list provides a host of dazzling adjectives to pair up with the nouns in your life.
fustian: pompous or bombastic
haimish: cozy and unpretentious
Parnassian: relating to poetry
volant: having the power of flight
tatterdemalion: unkempt or dilapidated
tenebrific: producing darkness
heliotropic: turning or growing toward the light
perse: of a very deep shade of blue or purple
Bobbling through my collection of words I noticed more than a few “S” words and thought a shaking out might be a good idea.
saponify: convert into soap
segue: smoothly transitioning from one thing to another
scholarch: the head of a school
swain: a male admirer
stravage: to wander aimlessly
sinsyne: from that time; since then
sylvan: relating to the woods
Out of all these I do so like stravage, as wandering aimlessly is an enjoyable pastime.
There are benefits to wandering aimlessly, I suppose. Being a person who usually has an agenda, I find the concept of walking without purpose I find it difficult to accept the idea of walking without an aim. Yet, this video provides a convincing persuasion that wandering aimlessly actually has a purpose.
Are you one who wanders with purpose or one who wanders without aim?
Oh, the places you’ll go or at least get to know with this batch of terms.
firth: a long, narrow indentation of the seacoast.
wynd: a narrow street or alley.
peregrinate: to walk or travel by foot; journey.
saltigrade: move by leaping.
natant: swimming.
wampish: to wave about or flop to and fro.
estivate: to spend the summer, as at a specific place or in a certain activity.
The word bank is beginning to burst forth once again with the many marvelous lexiconical delights gathered. Time to set a few free to frolic unfettered and perhaps adopted by word discerners, like you.
yakka: work, especially hard work. Teaching these days is yakka, yakka, yakka.
gnomon: the raised part of a sundial that casts the shadow. It’s nice knowing about the gnomon.
ataraxia: a state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety; tranquility. The last couple of years of covid controversy leads to the need of some ataraxia.
whigmaleerie: a whimsical or fanciful ornament or contrivance; gimmick. Is a whirligig kin to a whigmaleerie?
skookum: large; powerful; impressive. A snookum could be a skookum.
tchotchke: an inexpensive souvenir, trinket. Perhaps a whigmaleerie can be a tchotchke.
wintle: to tumble over; capsize. I would appreciate an Austen heroine to wintle in an appropriate moment.
mussitation: silent movement of the lips in simulation of the movements made in audible speech. It’s more than just talking to one’s self.
armscye: the armhole opening in a garment through which the hand, and then the arm, passes, and to which a sleeve may be attached. So that’s what’s it’s called.
zugzwang: in chess, a situation in which a player is limited to moves that cost pieces or have a damaging positional effect. Does checkers possess such a term?
Definitely an eclectic assortment that deserve finding their way into your personal dictionary. Which words will you wangle into your next conversation?
While some revel in the Christmas season I am all for the New Year. New digits on the paystub, closer to spring, which means closer to June, which means summer break!
Celebrating the joy of the new year requires presenting a menu of festive, inspiring words that ring out the gladness of a new, and it’s hoped, better year.
proceleusmatic: inciting, animating, or inspiring
sweven: a vision; dream
pandiculation: the act of stretching oneself especially on waking
pulchritudinous: physically beautiful
perorate: to speak at length; make a long usually grandiloquent speech
Fletcherize: to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly
celerity: swiftness; speed
irrefragable: not to be disputed or contested
chuffle: to make a low snuffling sound analogous to the purring of smaller cat species, often as a greeting
heigira: any flight or journey to a more desirable or congenial place
mickle: great; large; much
prelapsarian: characteristic of or pertaining to any innocent or carefree period
rapprochement: an establishment or reestablishment of harmonious relations
yclept: called; named
azure: of or having a light, purplish shade of blue, like that of a clear and unclouded day
evanesce: to disappear gradually; vanish; fade away
hiemal: of or relating to winter; wintry
cavort: to behave in a high-spirited, festive manner; make merry
A broad range of words, ’tis true. Yet January can be a month of variance. There is the hiemal aspect, the evanesce of snow, it’s hoped, unless a new snowfall creates a mickle of the white muck, which generates a heigira urge for sunnier locale. Once January’s snows lessen, the landscape becomes more pulchritudinous as azure skies beckon overhead leading to prelapsarian attitude, although some would state the new year still holds over the old winter. Aye, that fact is irrefragable; however, a proceleusmatic sweven inspires the need towards pandiculation of outlook. Spring is closer in January than it was in November and I shall indeed cavort when the last snowflake falls. I might even chuffle once January’s page is turned aside to welcome February. Longer days and Valentines to anticipate create the need to Fletcherize in preparation to perorate upon the celerity of winter’s passing.
May your January and the meeting of the new year be one of rapprochement since the first month of the year was named for Janus, the Roman god of beginnings. A fitting yclept month as January is the doorway to the rest of the year.
It’s December, the last month of the year. Getting through another tough year might involve celebrating and celebrating might also involve some appropriate words.
nimiety: excess, overabundance
galimatias: confused or unintelligible talk
pharaonic: impressively or overwhelmingly large, luxurious, etc.
foozle: to bungle; play clumsily
effulgent: shining forth brilliantly; radiant
specious: apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible
brummagem: showy but inferior and worthless
encomium: a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly
terpsichorean: pertaining to dancing
shivoo: a boisterous party or celebration
So, celebrate this last month of a challenging year, and let’s hope the new year brings new hope and healing.
A writer's journey as a reader
Pam Webb 