Ok, thats an exaggeration, but I have been using it quite a bit. I didn't think I would use it all that much, because I tend not to read things that are over my head, but since I have been keeping it close to the books I am reading I find myself more apt to look up the definitions of words that I don't know. Even words that I thought I knew. Like cataclysmic. I use that word all the time but if I had to pin down it's exact definition I would be hard pressed to come up with it. But thanks to my trusty Oxford American Dictionary I can now define it as a violent upheaval or disaster. Here are a few other fun definitions that I have found:
Penury: poverty
Colliery: a coal mine (did we really need another word for that?)
Baize: the green felt on a pool table ( I didn't even know that had a name!)
Tam-O-Shanter: one of those Scottish beret looking hats with a pom-pon on top that golfers wear (and yes, it is pom-pon)
Soporific: causing drowsiness or sleep (which I'm sure this post is likely doing to many of you)
Gamine: a girl with an attractively boyish appearance (Uh...what?)
Punnet: one of those green plastic baskets that raspberries are sold in (not to be confused with Punnett of square fame)
Agapitic: kind, unconditional love
Muscovite: a person from Moscow
Weft: the threads on a weaving loom that go up and down (The ones that go side to side have a name too but I forget it)
I also recently learned that English is one of very few languages that uses a thesaurus. I always assumed that every language had a thesaurus but no. English is kind of unique in that sense because it is rather old and has incorporated a lot of words from other languages and dialects. This is why the dictionary is so big and why we have need of a thesaurus. Pretty cool. Or neat, awesome, boss, keen, swell, etc., etc.
Anyway, while you digest that I am going to go grab my pricey radio-pedometer and head out. Because the dog won't walk himself.
4 comments:
Boss! I didn't know that was such a keen word!Gamine-think Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina.
Carolyn - that is a great visual for gamine. :) I initially had the same reaction as Lindsey.
Lindsey - I think it's warp and weft. But I could be wrong. I took a textiles class in college that was torturous, so I might have blocked it from my memory ;)
I feel so much smarter.
Pom-pon? Really? That is sadly disappointing to me. Hmm.
Tam-O-Shanter! I learned that word from Sesame Street recently! :) Get on YouTube and look up "Letter T" by the Plain White T's on Sesame Street. "This here is Tina, she's a T wearing a tube-top and a terrific Tam-O-Shanter. Yes indeed..." Haha! That makes me happy.
And just for fun, the dictionary.com word of the day is "Slaver" (slay-vuhr), which means to slobber or drool. :) I really enjoy the dictionary word of the day every now and again.
For such a beautiful meaning agapitic isn't a very pretty word. In fact, spell-checker thinks it's not a word at all. lol. Although it does have agapae as a replacement word.
The thesaurus thing is really interesting. I definitely didn't know that. Crazy.
Thanks for making me a bit smarter!
I don't have anything to say to leave a comment on but I just wanted to acknowledge your latest post because A. It was highly entertaining
and
B. I look forward to more so I am trying to do positive reinforcement here. Is it working? Maybe I will check for a new post tomorrow in answer to that question.
Love you!
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