Hoodlums

Someone told me there are too many hoodlums at the school near my house.

Hoodlum?

What a strange word. It means a young troublemaker; a thug; ruffian; or a violent and rough youth.

But where did it come from? Wiktionary tells me German, from huddlellump. I tend to think that it has something to do with gangsters and robbers wearing "hoods." It became common usage in San Francisco around 1933.

My Peccadillo

So many words, so little time!

I was asked to be the grammarian for my club and come up with an inspiring word. The Toastmaster complimented me on my previous choice of words, so the pressure is on to choose judiciously, without plaigarizing another.

I am the philologue. I can do this. But there are so many choices! I wanted to pick "impeccable." Yet I suspect most members are already famliar with it. So I'm going with a related word, "peccadillo." Now how do I illustrate it?

Peccadillo comes to us from Latin, through Spanish, peccadillo means a little sin in Spanish.

My pocket dictionary says "a slight or trifling sin."

Underneath that is peccant, which means sinful.

And of course, the pecc in impeccable comes from the same root, and means without error, flaw or fault.

Thes words are all related and a point will be given to anyone for using any of these 3 words.

So what is my peccadillo? I love words. It is impossible to choose just one!

Hero vs. Heroine

Heroine. A hallucinogenic, illegal drug.

Hero. An elongated sandwich.

Heroine is more powerful, but still too many negative connotations.

We could of course, go with She-ro....

Too childish.

Where are the feminine role models?

Women are so aggressive in the movies now. There is definitely too much violence overall. Isn't there anything else to watch? My son likes to watch Crush, Kill, Destroy.

There are lots of shows that destroy or blow things up. And they are educational. Why can't peacemaking be so appealing as a good explosion?

Why can't a heroine be more compassionate than a hero?

Blow my Mind

Blow my Mind

I want to write an article about this expression.

You don't hear it much anymore, though it was once popular. I guess that was when recreational drug usage was more poplular. I think there is more drug usage now, but prescriptive, not recreational. Either way people still use drugs to feel happy.

Blow off, Blow up, blowout, Blow over,

There are many expressions using the word blow. Blow as a verb means:
to move in a current of air, emit a jet of air, to be in motion, to play (a bugle), or to inflate.

Dunderhead

On the same page as dubious is another powerful word, dunderhead.

Dunderhead comes from a Scottish dialect and means a stupid person. It is unequivocal and unambiguous, not dubious at all, perfectly clear. What's the word for that? Perspicuous?

Yes! I like it.

Perspicuous means having clarity of expression or style; lucid. From Latin.

So a dunderhead would rarely be perspicuous, though the meaning of the word is always crystal clear.

Dubious Implications

Dubious is an insidious, double-dealing word. Related to double? Probably Latin.

It means doubtful, equivocal, or suspicious. It comes from Dubium, Latin for doubt.

Equivocal means ambiguous, doubtful, or suspicious.

Insidious means subtly cunning or deceitful.

So dubious is less insidious than insidious. Insidious is more egregious.

Egregious is conspicuously bad, flagrant. From Latin also.

Whether somone is dubious or insidious would depend on whether they were intentionally ambiguous or just innocently unclear.