Sleep tight

Sleep tight? What the heck is that? How do we sleep tightly? Can we sleep loosely? Does it have something to do with getting tucked in nice and snug? I hate to have the covers over me tightly tucked in on all the sides and the bottom. I always kick them loose and have at least one foot uncovered and unencumbered.

(This reminds me of wide awake.)

Nighty night!

Spurious Potentate

Some words from To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my all-time favorite books:

Potentate, which means one who has the power or position to rule over others, monach, or one who dominates or leads any group or industry. From Middle English, from late Latin, from potent (power).

Spurious, which means counterfeit, fake, phony, or illegimate. From Latin, perhaps from Etruscan, spurcus (impure). Etruscan! Who were the Etruscans? More later…

Insightful

I am overwhelmed! I never read To Kill a Mockingbird. I never saw the movie. I’d really love to rent it now, though. I just finished listening to the audiobook (on CDs) and I am floored! It was remarkable, incredible, stupendous. This is a powerful book. Compared to this it seems like I’ve been wasting my time on many of the novels I’ve read lately.

Compared to this book, the others seem SPURIOUS.
It means fake, phony, counterfeit.

What's the right word? It was profound, incisive and insightful. And it’s one of those books that will stay with me for a while. I’ve already noticed that I sometimes use the southern vernacular, including the word “ain’t.” And I ain’t that kind! No, sir!

I will miss Atticus, Jean Louise and Jem. I admire Atticus’ patience and wisdom and hope to emulate him when I am parenting my child.

Neologism

I don't recall where I saw it now, it may have been in an article on the Internet, but I really like this neologism:
Multishirking.
Instead of multitasking, I think I may be more successful at multishirking!

Shirking means to avoid responsibility, and Multi means to do it multiple times. So I don't think a definition is necessary. I also don't think it will be in my dictionary anyway. But new words are invented every day. If they catch on, they eventually get into the dictionary and gain respectability.

Neologism is a fancy word for a new word! (It comes to us through French.)

Wide awake

Why do we say "wide awake?" What is so wide about being awake? I guess "very awake" sounds strange. But I can't think of any other instance of using wide in this way. We don't say wide aware, although I think the W sounds in wide awake are euphonious (mellifluous).

I am only thinly awake right now. Barely awake? Somewhat alert?
What's the opposite of Awake? Asleep or unconscious. But there are many degrees between Awake and Asleep.

OK when I count to 5, You will find yourself back in the room, wide awake and feeling wonderful in every way.

One...
Two. ..
Three...
Four...
FIVE!

Stunning

I actually heard “flibbertigibbet”(twice) in a movie a few days ago! It was a very strange movie with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, called “Joe and the Volcano.”
A flibbertigibbet is an irresponsible, scatterbrained, or garrulous person. Remember to pronounce the G like J in jam. I’m not surprised that no etymology is given.

I found Flabberghast in my HUD huge unabridged dictionary. They list it as a combination of flabby (loose) and aghast (stunned or horrified). Aghast comes from Old English from a word that means ghost!

I'm astonished that we have so many words that mean stunned like aghast and flabbergasted.

Flabbergasted!

Flabbergasted. What a word. I wonder who ever thought of it. Words are invented, not discovered. What in the world is flabber?
I think most people know what it means, but just to be clear, flabbergast means to surprise, astonish, or confound. There is no etymology listed, in my dictionary, it says, origin obscure. I will check this in my Huge, Unabridged Dictionary later and let you know. I’m sure it has a very interesting history.
Other flamboyant words:
Flim-flammed, flambasted, flamboozled?
Flam booz le is not in my dictionary. It means to deceive or confound.
Flam boy ant 1. highly elaborate, ornate, showy. 2. vivid, resplendent. 3. having waved lines and flamelike forms, in architecture. From Old French, flamboyer, to blaze.
Flim-flam 1. nonsense. 2. a deception, a swindle. From Old Norse, through Danish, via German.

Enough of this frippery (trivia)!

Cat-

We’ve also been using words like cataleptic and catatonic in my very remarkable and mesmerizing class.
Cataleptic—stiff and rigid, unaware.
Catatonic—paralyzed, having immobile limbs, suffering from some type of schizophrenic disorder.

That's weird, cataleptic is from a Greek word meaning "a seizing," but
catatonic is from catatonia, which came from New Latin, through German.

Diaphanous

I heard a lovely word yesterday in my class. A student said that something appeared "diaphanous." I suspect it must be of Greek origin with the PH in it. I think I know what it means, but I’m actually going to check my dictionary, so I can see the etymology.

Di aph a nous is from a Greek word which means to show through and means transparent, translucent, or delicate, like the wings of a dragonfly.
Wow, the wings may be delicate, but the sound of the name, dragonfly, certainly isn’t!
Mnemonic device: remember “Diaphanous like a Dragongfly wing!”

Of course, mnemonic is a word obtained from Greek, from the goddess of Memory, Mnemosyne. In Greek they pronounce both the M and the N in the beginning of the word. But we Americans like it simple and short, so when we say it the M is silent (making it difficult to look up).