Unstoppable

I heard from the Universe today. They said,
“You are unstoppable!”

I’m trying to think of a truly positive, powerful word for unstoppable.
Persistent, dynamic, powerful, overwhelming, omnipotent, invincible, indomitable, irresistible, I can’t think of a really good synonym which captures the meaning completely with out negating something. For example, invincible means not vincible; in domitable means incapable of being dominated, and unstoppable means can't be stopped.

P.S. Vincible is an English word, which comes directly from Latin.

Under the influence

I am wondering why we say that someone is "under hypnosis?"

I don’t think it is negative, but is it accurate? You are not under anything. Most expressions utilizing "under" imply loss of control, or something shady or illegal, like:
Under a spell, under investigation, undercover, under the table, under anesthesia, under the weather.
Maybe it's more accurate to say "in hypnosis," "in trance," or "in a hypnotic state."

Who wants to be under anything? Except a soft blanket of relaxation, which is how many people feel while experiencing a hypnotic trance.

Under is a weird word. Look at it for a while and you might begin to wonder if it is a word. It comes from Old English, but I would venture a guess that there is a similar word in German.

Puckish

I feel puckish today. Or am I peckish? Peckish is not in my dictionary, but I think it means slightly hungry. Both these words are in a children's book my son and I are reading (at bedtime). I think the author resides in New Zealand. She has a lovely vocabulary. Last night I encountered the word, flibbertigibbet, yet again. Good thing I write this blog, because I have previously defined that word.

Puckish means mischievous, impish. No etymology is given. Correct me if I am wrong, but I surmise that it is derived from Shakespeare's character, Puck.

Slipshod

Are you shod? Kids come to school without being shod. Can that be called " unshod?" Or "Shoddy?" Strangely enough, shod is the past tense of the verb, to shoe. I guess they usually mean horses, as in my horse got shod yesterday. But I read a book last night that said, "All employees are expected to come to work shod." I had to look it up as I thought it might be a synonym for prompt. But I think I will hang this rule on the wall: All students must be shod. I like it. I wonder how many of my very astute students would ask what it meant? They would probably assume I meant all students must be shot. And probably think it was a joke. Although we have 4 or 5 dictionaries and a thesaurus in the room, I would bet, none of them would even consider looking it up. I bought a dictionary for my son for his ninth birthday (among other things). He doesn’t like it, because it doesn’t have as many illustrations as his Children’s Dictionary. But I’m sure he’ll get used to it. The Children’s Dictionary did not contain the word “shod!” Not even the expression slip-shod.

Slipshod - adj. poorly made, careless, shabby. Constructed from Slip + Shod.
Shoddy - adj. shabby, run-down; inferior. Origin Unknown.
Shoe - v. to furnish or fit with shoes. From German.

Inspiration

The Universe is conspiring for your success!!

What a word: conspire. It sounds sneaky and illegal. But it comes from Latin, conspirare which means "to breathe with." In English it means to plan an unlawful act in secret.

I like those "spire" words, they are very lofty and inspirational.

Like inspire! Breathe in.

Or expire! Breathe out or die.

And how about perspire! Huh?!

Vim, Vigor and Vitality

Vim. That’s a word. Is that a word? It looks too short. Maybe it’s shortened from something else. It could be an acronym! Sure, Victorious, Impulsive, Magnificent! I just made that up. Let me check.

Vim comes to us from Latin, and means ebullient vitality and energy. So it could be an acronym for Vitality, invigorated motivation! That's what I said, wasn't it?!