Phrase of the day:
bon mot
[ bon -moh; French bawn -moh ]
noun, plural bons mots [bon -mohz; French bawn -moh].
a witty remark or comment; clever saying; witticism.
Word of the day:
Mizzle
verb (used with or without object)
to rain in fine drops; drizzle; mist.
Ex: By the time I left the cathedral it was already dark, mizzling, the kind of rain that looks li... View MoreWord of the day:
Mizzle
verb (used with or without object)
to rain in fine drops; drizzle; mist.
Ex: By the time I left the cathedral it was already dark, mizzling, the kind of rain that looks like mist but drenches you in minutes.
Pat Barker, "Medusa," The New Yorker, April 8, 2019
For the past year or so this has been my favorite new word. Yes, my wife thinks I'm a bit eccentric but really, this word is super-descriptive when no other word will do.
Word of the day:
Bowdlerize
[bohd-luh-rahyz, boud-] verb (used with object), bowdlerized, bowdlerizing.
1.
to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or obj... View MoreWord of the day:
Bowdlerize
[bohd-luh-rahyz, boud-] verb (used with object), bowdlerized, bowdlerizing.
1.
to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
Example:
"There's no need to expend any effort to revoke the first amendment, we simply keep allowing Twitter and Facebook to continue their policies of bowdlerizing. At the party's direction of course." -- Anonymous source; quote at DNC meeting
Word of the day:
boondoggle
[ boon-dog-uh l, -daw-guh l ]
noun
a wasteful and worthless project undertaken for political, corporate, or personal gain, typically a government project funded by taxp... View MoreWord of the day:
boondoggle
[ boon-dog-uh l, -daw-guh l ]
noun
a wasteful and worthless project undertaken for political, corporate, or personal gain, typically a government project funded by taxpayers.
Boondoggle, originally a term from the Boy Scouts meaning “a product of simple manual skill, such as a plaited cord for the neck or a knife sheath, typically made by a Boy Scout,” was supposedly coined in the mid-1920s by Robert H. Link, of Rochester, New York, as a nickname for his infant son. In the summer of 1929, Link, a Scoutmaster, attended the World Boy Scouts Jamboree in Birkenhead, England, not far from Liverpool. Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), attended the Jamboree, at which the Scouts from the U.S. presented him with a boondoggle, now meaning “a plaited leather cord or lanyard worn around the neck” (the presentation was reported in the American and British press). By the mid-1930s boondoggle had acquired the sense “a kind of make-work consisting of small items of leather or crafted by the jobless during the Great Depression.” This last sense is the source of the usual modern sense of boondoggle, “a wasteful and worthless project undertaken for political, corporate, or personal gain,” and it is especially used of government projects funded by taxpayers.
Word of the day:
ubiety
[ yoo-bahy-i-tee ]
noun
the property of having a definite location at any given time; state of existing and being localized in space.
... View MoreWord of the day:
ubiety
[ yoo-bahy-i-tee ]
noun
the property of having a definite location at any given time; state of existing and being localized in space.
Example:
"Strictly speaking, an unembodied spirit, or pure mind, has no relation to place. Whereness—ubiety, is a pure relation, the relation of body to body. Cancel body, annihilate matter and there is no here or there."
Benjamin Franklin Cocker, Handbook of Philosophy, 1878
Word of the day:
sumpsimus
[ suhmp-suh-muhs ]
noun, plural sump·si·mus·es for 2.
adherence to or persistence in using a strictly correct term, holding to a precise practice, etc., as a rejection o... View MoreWord of the day:
sumpsimus
[ suhmp-suh-muhs ]
noun, plural sump·si·mus·es for 2.
adherence to or persistence in using a strictly correct term, holding to a precise practice, etc., as a rejection of an erroneous but more common form (opposed to mumpsimus).
a person who is obstinate or zealous about such strict correctness (opposed to mumpsimus).
Word of the day:
apothegm
[ ap-uh-them ]
noun
a short, pithy, instructive saying; a terse remark or aphorism.
... View MoreWord of the day:
apothegm
[ ap-uh-them ]
noun
a short, pithy, instructive saying; a terse remark or aphorism.
Apothegm, “a short, instructive saying; a terse remark,” is hard enough to pronounce even in its simplified spelling, which is based on the pronunciation of the word. The original spelling, still used, is apophthegm. Apothegm was the usual spelling until Dr. Johnson settled on apophthegm in his dictionary (1755). Apophthegm ultimately comes from the Greek noun apóphthegma, a derivative of the verb apophthéngesthai “to speak out, speak one’s opinion plainly,” a compound of the prefix apo- “forth” and the simple verb phthéngesthai “to speak, raise one’s voice.” Apothegm and apophthegm entered English within two years of each other, in the second half of the 16th century.
Example:
"To live outside the law, you must be honest.” Thompson, like a lot of people in the sixties and seventies, interpreted Dylan’s famous apothegm to mean that in order to be honest you must live outside the law."
Louis Menand, "Believer," The New Yorker, February 27, 2005
Word of the day: bougie
1
or bou·jee
[ boo-zhee, ‐jee ]
adjective Slang.
... View MoreWord of the day: bougie
1
or bou·jee
[ boo-zhee, ‐jee ]
adjective Slang.
Sometimes Disparaging. relating to or characteristic of a person who indulges in some of the luxuries and comforts of a fancy lifestyle: He spends too much on bougie stuff he can’t afford.
Also bour·gie [bur-zhee, ‐jee, boo‐] .Often Disparaging and Offensive. relating to or characteristic of a person who aspires to the upper middle class, especially when regarded as being elitist or snobbish: bougie Black folks moving out to suburbia or sending their kids to private school.
relating to or characteristic of a person who flaunts newly acquired wealth without necessarily embracing the cultural values and pretensions of the upper middle class: that bougie feeling when you’re drinking high-end champagne—out of a red plastic cup.
Phrases that horse-racing gave us: Down to the wire, homestretch, dead heat, photo finish, trifecta, neck and neck, fast track.
Word of the day:
mammock
[ mam-uhk ]
verb
to break, tear, or cut into fragments; shred.
... View MoreWord of the day:
mammock
[ mam-uhk ]
verb
to break, tear, or cut into fragments; shred.
Example:
"whether his fall enraged him, or how ’twas, he did so set his teeth and tear it; O, I warrant it, how he mammocked it!"
William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, 1623
Word of the day:
pandiculation
[ pan-dik-yuh-ley-shuhn ]
noun
the act of stretching oneself, especially on waking.
... View MoreWord of the day:
pandiculation
[ pan-dik-yuh-ley-shuhn ]
noun
the act of stretching oneself, especially on waking.
Example:
"I had hoped to deal, here, with two other minor emotional luxuries that have been hitherto hidden in obscurity. They are oscitation (yawning) and pandiculation (stretching) which may be practiced separately or together."
Leon Gellert, "The Delights of Sneezing," Sydney Morning Herald, July 17, 1949
Word of the day: cackleberry
[ kak-uhl-ber-ee ]
noun
a hen's egg used for food.
Example: "You've got to break some cackleberries to make an omelet!"
Word of the day: brummagem
[ bruhm-uh-juhm ]
adjective
showy but inferior and worthless.
Brummagem, an adjective and noun meaning “showy but inferior and worthless; something of that kind,” comes ... View MoreWord of the day: brummagem
[ bruhm-uh-juhm ]
adjective
showy but inferior and worthless.
Brummagem, an adjective and noun meaning “showy but inferior and worthless; something of that kind,” comes from the local Birmingham (England) pronunciation of Birmingham.
Word of the day:
specious
[ spee-shuhs ]
adjective
apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible.
... View MoreWord of the day:
specious
[ spee-shuhs ]
adjective
apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible.
Example: "And his own reasoning in these pages tends to be specious or skewed. He sets up ridiculous paper tigers to knock down easily …"
Michiko Kakutani, "Novelist's Crash Course on Terror," New York Times, April 8, 2008
Word of the day: Chancletas. Something a little different today; another Panamanian thing. Indulge me. I was born in Texas but raised in Panama. Unlike many of my Canal Zone friends, I lived in the Re... View MoreWord of the day: Chancletas. Something a little different today; another Panamanian thing. Indulge me. I was born in Texas but raised in Panama. Unlike many of my Canal Zone friends, I lived in the Republic. So, my culture identity is conflicted. I often say, "Passaporte Americano, Corozon Panameno." I am the most fortunate of fellows. So, the word chancletas. There are many opinions about the word's derivation but as usual, I am correct. Most of you call them flip-flops. Here's my take. There were a lot of Chinese folks in Panama and they almost always wore chancletas. So the way I see it, the Chan part is obvious. Cletas? Well, any mode of transportation. Motorcicleta, bicicleta, lo que sea. Anyone can come up with a better idea but I like mine just fine.
Word of the day: harridan
[ hahr-i-dn ]
noun
a scolding, vicious woman; hag; shrew. Not that any of us knows one... It's highly theoretical...
Word of the day:
fustigate
[ fuhs-ti-geyt ]
verb (used with object)
to criticize harshly; castigate.
... View MoreWord of the day:
fustigate
[ fuhs-ti-geyt ]
verb (used with object)
to criticize harshly; castigate.
Example:
"He fustigates them energetically a few years later for their political affiliations, their efforts to bring about a social revolution, their commitment to the physical, whereas, according to Artaud, the great revolution must be a revolution of the spirit, a metamorphosis of what he called the soul."
Leonard Cabell Pronko, Theater East and West, 1967
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