Blustery

noun
a violent boisterous blowing
This is what it felt like today and what i feel like what it will be like for the next few months, oh bother.

Persnickety

adjective
Characterized by excessive precision and attention to details


Emoticon

Noun.
A group of keyboard characters (as :-)) that typically represents a facial expression or suggests an attitude or emotion and that is used especially in computerized communications (as e-mail)...Thanks Merriam-Webster.

Technically I posted this word before. But! It was a side thought in another words shout-out (I'll let you figure out which word) and seriously this word is too good to not have it's own blog. So way to go EMOTICON!

Bring on the emoticons!!!!


P.S. This word was introduced to Merriam-Webster in 1987. Gosh I love new words that are sooooooo specific, and awesome, of course.

P.P.S OMG! An emoticon specific keyboard! Seriously, whose that lazy!?!?!?!?!

Ellipsis

noun.
the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete



Singular
Plural!

Finagle

verb.
to obtain by trickery


Turn up those speakers!

Double Post: Dubious and Odious

Dubious
adjective
questionable or suspect as to true nature or quality

Odious
adjective
arousing or deserving hatred or repugnance

Flatulence

Noun.
The quality or state of being flatulent.

So.....

Flatulent
Adjective.
Attended with, caused by, or suffering from such an accumulation of gas.


This post today comes by way of my sister Alyssa Lose, who teaches middle school science here in Philadelphia. She said her students are "obsessed" with "flatulence", and in this case, not the word. Well here's hoping her kids read this and expand their vocabulary, for my sister's sake.

Oh and check this out! it's an article on a middle school that banned "intentional flatulence". AWESOME!!! Right?

Scintillating

adjective
Brilliantly lively, stimulating or witty

Tortuous

adjective.
1: marked by repeated twists, bends, or turns
2: marked by devious or indirect tactics

This post is dedicated to our dear friend Cathleen, who has a special relationship with this word at the moment.



Take is away, Merriam-Webster man!

Frigorific

Adjective.
Causing cold: Chilling.

I only found this word because of a Google image search that produced this:

Hilarious!
Thanks Google, and Merriam Webster.
Oh and Listen up!

Juggernaut

Noun.
A massive inexorable force, campaign, movement, or object that crushes whatever is in its path.

Sounds sooooo good!
However, this stuff looks gross!

Askew

adverb or adjective.

out of line, awry

Pronunciation!

Double Post: Albeit and Wherewithal

I enjoy both of these words because they are really just three words smashed together, or in other words a conjunction.

Albeit
conjunction
conceding the fact that, even though, although


Wherewithal
conjunction
means, resources, etc.

What other awesome conjunctions are there?

Calamity

noun
a state of deep distress or misery caused by major misfortune or loss

Tumultuous

Adjective
Characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination

Taut

adjective
Having no give or slack, tightly drawn

Taut makes me think of haute, which in turn makes me think of haute couture, oh my brain.

Gawk

noun.
a clumsy or stupid person
or...
verb.
to gape or stare stupidly.

It sounds great when the Merriam Webster man says it!

Festoon

verb
to drape with decorations

I am pretty sure that John McCain said this in the first debate and we all just forgot to post it, so here it is.

Gerund

noun.
"As applied to English, it refers to what might be called a verb's action noun, which is one of the uses of the -ing form." from Wikipedia

The Wikipedia entry for gerunds is enthralling! Grammar is ten times more idiosyncratic than I am!

Now, open those ears!

Fulcrum

noun.
1. the support about which a lever turns
2. one that supplies capability for action

listen up!

Legume

Hi Again Good Words Blog!
Sorry I have been neglecting you....I do love you.


Legume
noun
a dry dehiscent one-celled fruit developed from a simple superior ovary and usually dehiscing into two valves with the seeds attached to the ventral suture : pod

also hey science on this definition!

FreeRice.com

Talk about good words! FreeRice.com is an amazing website that donates grains of rice to help with world hunger. They work through the UN World Food program, AND the best part is you get to help by bettering your vocabulary! For every vocabulary word you get correct they donate 20 grains of rice. So go to FreeRice and help both your own good words list while helping to fight world hunger.


p.s. It's also super fun. Who would have thought they'd have the word Hokey?!?

The Office - Addictionary

Leave it to the genius writers at the Office to come up with the Addictionary! A compilation of words created by viewers and words from the television series, The Office, the Addictionary has some great features including a word of the day, a word-off, and a There Oughta Be a Word. I can't tell if this site is only so funny because I am obsessed with The Office.

Excellent words I've come across on the site:
-pretendonitis - the process of two people humming the same high pitched note in order to make a third person schedule an appointment with the ear doctor.
-Jam - Combination of the names Jim and Pam to describe them as a couple. Also wonderful: Dwangela (for Dwight and Angela... duh.)
-shornt - When one feels the mild need to take some action but won't. Combination of "should" and "won't."
-beer me - To ask someone to pass or hand an object to you. Also can be used in a more figurative sense as a request or plea.

Cuckoo

noun.
two definitions!
1. a largely grayish-brown European bird that is a parasite given to laying its eggs in the nests of other birds which hatch them and rear the offspring

2. a silly or slightly crackbrained person

Woo Hoo! Merriam Webster said "crackbrained".
Roll with it Merriam-Webster man!

And how about some images!!?!!?!?




Ignition

noun.
1: the act or action of igniting: as a: the starting of a fire b: the heating of a plasma to a temperature high enough to sustain nuclear fusion

Who needs the Merriam-Webster man, when really, R. Kelly says it best?



eta:

HILARIOUS

Predicament

noun
a difficult, perplexing, or trying situation

Take it away Merriam-Webster reader!

Facetious

adjective
joking or jesting, often inappropriately

A great word for a few reasons: First of all, it just sounds great. I like to throw it around in conversation, which is especially easy because I probably defend myself with "Oh, I'm just being facetious!" every few days. The best thing about facetious, though, is that it contains the five vowels in alphabetical order!

facetious

and sometimes:

facetiously

Luminescence

noun.
the low-temperature emission of light (as by a chemical or physiological process.

Shout out to my Mom, for giving me this word. Totally awesome.
Now it's time for the Merriam-Webster lady to do her thing.

Gerrymandering

verb.

to divide an area into election districts to give one political party an electoral majority in a large number of districts while concentrating the voting strength of the opposition in as few districts as possible


This political cartoon from 1812 depicts the electoral districts redrawn to favor the incumbent candidates of Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, from which the term was created.

Source: wikipedia

Saving Archaic Words!

It is good to know that we are not the only word enthusiasts, as I learned this morning listening to the BBC World Edition on NPR.

Take a listen to the discussion of the concept of the changing English vocabulary and the concept of holding onto words of the past for old time's sake. This is not the segment from the BBC World Edition that I was just listening to, which asked listeners to write in their favorite words that are slated to be removed from the Collins Dictionary. I'll look forward to hearing listener responses.

Squish, Squash, Squelch

Sorry I couldn't resist. I feel all three need to be in one post together.

First... Squish.
verb.
an alteration of Squash.
1

Squash.
verb.
to press or beat into a pulp.
2

Squelch.
verb.
to fall or stamp on so as to crush.
3

They just sound so great together!

Snide

adjective.
dishonest, low, false, counterfeit.

It also can be used as a verb... Snidely.
Or as a noun... Snideness.
listen!

Splendiferous

adjective
splendid, magnificent, fine

What a silly long word. I especially enjoy the -ferous at the end!

Derivative

noun.
a word formed from from another word or base (as by the addition of a usually noninflectional affix)

There are a handful of definitions, but I enjoy this one the best. Also, it just rolllllls off the tongue.

Shout out to William Safire

I would like to take a moment to discuss NY Times Columnist, William Safire and just how wonderful he/his collumn On Language is. Sometimes I tell people about this blog and receive negative/confused/wtf reactions and all I can think is, "....but this dude has a column in the effin' NEW YORK TIMES devoted entirely to words, language and etymology!!!!"

In this week's article, Safire discusses a few words being thrown around in political discussions. I have included the following excerpt, in which he uses one of our favorite words:

"In modern times, Gen. Alexander Haig brought the word back to Foggy Bottom from his NATO service in Paris; as secretary of state, he created the adjective nuancal — a modifier I cruelly ridiculed as mere Foggy Bottom jargon in this space, for which I now apologize. Feel free to use Haig’s nuancal as a slightly more emphatic version of nuanced (along with his military verb snake-check, meaning “examine with care”)."
- William Safire, On Language, NY Times, 9/5/08

Portmanteau

noun.
a word or morpheme whose form and meaning are derived from a blending of two or more distinct forms.

Such a great word! I learned it this weekend in Brooklyn, when my friend Adam introduced me to the word Emoticon which is...
a group of keyboard characters (as :-)) that typically represents a facial expression or suggests an attitude or emotion and that is used especially in computerized communications.
I know! Great word number one lead to finding great word number two! Thanks Adam, and Brooklyn. Enjoy!

listen up!

Hubris

noun
exaggerated self-pride or confidence

Saunter

verb
To walk at a leisurely pace, to stroll

Plumbum

noun
Lead (Pb)

In Chemistry I would remember the symbol for lead by thinking of plumbers and pipes and of course plumbum....let me push those glasses up on my face a little bit higher

Ebullient

adjective.
having or showing liveliness and enthusiasm

This post is dedicated to my favorite man on television, Tim Gunn.


As mentor to the contestants on the TV show, Project Runway, Tim Gunn shows profound wisdom and knowledge of fashion AND of vocabulary! He is incredibly articulate and insists on enunciating - so much so that he asked if the phrase was "Holl-ER at your boy" or "Holl-UH at your boy." (Answer: Holl-UH.)

He used the word ebullient to describe a contestant's rather painless departure on Wednesday night's episode. <3 you, Tim Gunn!

Jaunty

adjective
sprightly in manner or appearance


Whenever I hear this word, I smile.

Geronimo

noun.
biographical name; Chiricahua Apache leader.

or slang:
"something to yell before jumping off of something"

So awesome! GERONIMO!!!

Pertinent.

adjective.
having a clear decisive relevance to the matter in hand.

I think that listening to the sound bite is quite pertinent.
hehe.

Incredulous

adjective
indicating or showing unbelief

it just has such a good sound to it, its almost crisp

Copious

Adject

large in quantity or number; abundant; plentiful

This along with the next word I am posting are choice words for me

Chrysalis

Noun

a pupa of a butterfly; broadly : an insect pupa

this post is a la Tara O'Brien. Thanks Tara, what a wonderful word

Foible

Noun

a minor flaw or shortcoming in character or behavior; weakness

the "oible" part is just so much fun to say

Minutia

noun.
a minute or minor detail

I am fond of the small scale and especially any word beginning in min- (i.e. minute (adj.), miniatures, minibar, minimal), but none are s fun to say as minutia, especially in the pluralized form.

Conundrum

noun.
a question or problem having only a conjectural answer, an intricate and difficult problem
Listen up!

I know this word as the secondary definition listed above. The first definition is new (and quite interesting) to me. "a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun" I found some on the Old Farmer's Almanac website that are sufficiently nerdy. Enjoy!

Garish

verb.
excessively or disturbingly vivid.

sounds so good!

Google

verb.
to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the World Wide Web


Click the image to hear the pronunciation.


The word "google" is kind of funny - all of those o's and g's, but I just love how "google" is common vernacular. I am anticipating the day that "wikipedia" takes off as a verb, even if it doesn't roll off the tongue as well. In the mean time, it is in the Wiktionary so at least I know I am not the only one who tries to say "wikipediaing" in a sentence.

Salacious

adjective.
arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination


Such a great sounding word, it is a shame the Merriam-Webster man doesn't sound so into it.

Sweatpants

noun.
pants having a drawstring or elastic waist and usually elastic cuffs at the ankle that are worn especially for exercise.



This post is for Jessica at the Memphis Taproom. She loves this word. However, we both agreed sweatpants may be a good word, but NOT a good thing.

I also really just wanted to hear the merriam-webster man say it!

Meniscus

noun.
so many definitions...
1: a crescent or crescent-shaped body
2: a concavo-convex lens
3: the curved upper surface of a column of liquid
4: a fibrous cartilage within a joint especially of the knee

This word was inspired by the film "John Tucker Must Die".
Thank you bad teenage movies for sometimes having chemistry scenes where cool words are used.



sound bite 101

Hyperbole

noun.

extravagant exaggeration

Because I am such an eloquent speaker, I use about a billion hyperboles in daily conversation.

The Merriam-Webster lady sounds like a robot to me.

Jinx

there's two! definitions.
1: noun.
one that brings bad luck.
2:transitive verb. (ohhh.)
to foredoom to failure or misfortune.
or....to say something at the same time as someone else and they owe you a soda!

listen! and you owe me a coke!

Smarmy

adjective.

revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, or false earnestness


I find myself using this word most often to describe politicians I don't like. And now, Mr. Merriam-Webster saying it.

Harbinger

noun

a person who goes ahead and makes known the approach of another; herald.

Double Post: Flotsam and Jetsum

noun

the part of the wreckage of a ship and its cargo found floating on the water.


noun

goods cast overboard deliberately, as to lighten a vessel or improve its stability in an emergency, which sink where jettisoned or are washed ashore


Ampersand

noun.
a character typically & standing for the word and.

Ampersands are awesome!

Firkin

noun.

a small wooden vessel or cask.
an olde* English measurement of about 1/4 a barrel.

*hehe. Who spells old like that, and how do stores or "shoppes" decide on this crappy style to name their businesses?!?!?! ie. The Fairmount Pet Shoppe. ugh.

Anyway, firkin's are awesome.

Frass

noun.
debris or excrement produced by insects

shout out to Tara's new roommate, Fred.
and literally, the Merriam Webster fellow saying, "frass!"

Philately

noun.
the study of stamps

listen!

Loquacious

adjective.

Full of excessive talk.

listen!
a synonym is Garrulous. Also a ridiculous word.
What a tongue twister.

Ramekin

Noun

A small dish in which food can be baked or served.

Sometimes ramekins hold delicious dipping sauces like aoli mayonnaise......mmmmmmmmmm.

Ubiquitous

adjective.

Existing or being everywhere at the same time: constantly encountered.

just a good sounding word.

Anti Good Words: In otherwords Bad Words.

Alright I'm not sure if this should be an offshoot of this blog or not but I was thinking there are some pretty awful words out there. Should they hold a place of shame amongst these hallowed halls of blog-dom? Any way, if ya'll agree then I think you know what the first word is.....

Innocuous

Adjective

Producing no injury, harmless

This word is right up there with Nefarious in sounding like it should be part of some old horror movie starring Bella Lugosi. Although Bella would be more "nefarious" and less "innocuous."
*Pushes glasses up on face, makes nerdy slurping noise*

Buffoonery

Noun

Acting like a clown or a buffoon

Flabbergasted

Adjective

To cause or to be overcome with astonishment, to astound.

What an awesome word!

Frumpy

adjective.
A person regarded as colorless and primly sedate.

Synonyms are Dowdy and Drab. Also great words.

listen.

Wonky

adjective.
slang; shaky, groggy, or unsteady.

Apparently it also has inflections!
Wonkier, and Wonkiest.
Awesome!
merriam-webster lady!
woah where's the dude on this one?

Jargon

noun.
a strange, outlandish, or barbarous language or dialect

I love words that sound like their meaning.

Gooey

adjective.
of, or related to goo; soft, sticky and viscous


I won't lie, I thought of this word because I just wanted to listen to the Merriam-Webster man say it.

Antidisestablishmentarianism

noun.
political position that opposes the withdrawal of state recognition of an established church.

So what makes this such a great word?!?!!?
Two main reasons, the first is the controversy over the fact that people state it as the longest English speaking word. Which, sad to say, is not true. However there is so much reading material on it I think you could exhaust one day. Here's just one page.

Second reason? This word is the culprit for me failing 4th grade spelling one term. Yes. Lame, I know. We got to choose our own spelling words that year, and for some damn reason all the cool kids picked insanely hard words including our friend, antidisestablishmentarianism. I failed test after test, because I couldn't spell it, or for that matter the other hard words I had picked. Finally the teacher had to step in and tell me to choose easier words. However, I'm happy to report that I can spell ANTI-DIS-ESTABLISHMENT-ARIAN-ISM just fine now, and I eventually passed 4th grade spelling.

Egregious

adjective.
conspicuous, flagrant.

i love the merriam-webster man!
listen!

Tomfoolery

noun.
foolish or silly behavior, tomfoolishness


This word is just positively ridiculous and amazing. It sounds so lighthearted and jovial which is another wonderful word.

Snarky

adjective.
crotchety, snappish, irreverent tone or manner.

listen hear!!!!(pun intended)
got to love merriam-webster.
and wow i'm a nerd.

Onomatopoeia

(noun)
the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it

I think the word onomatopoeia is just about as much fun to say as are words classified as onomatopoeias. List to the Merriam-Webster man say it here! Also, I could get into my favorite onomatopoeias, but that might call for its own blog post...

Chortle

verb.
to chuckle gleefully

"chortle is a funny word"

little known fact: Lewis Carroll was the coiner of the word in Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass. He combined the words chuckle and snort for a hilarious combination. Thanks Lewis, you pedophile, you.

Gregarious

adjective.
tending to associate with others of one's kind.

reason for liking.... it's fun to say.