Willing or willful?

When it comes to new things are you willing or Willful?

Willing to try something new and not be perfect the first time. Willing to give yourself a chance.

or

Willful and resistant. Stubbornly refusing to accept changes. Stubbornly holding the opinion that it will not work or will not last. Kicking and screaming until exhausted and finally realizing that life goes on without you.

Abstreuse

Abstruse, obtuse, are these words related?.

Is obtuse stupid or obstructed?

It means dull-witted, stupid, slow, or thick.

Abstruse means difficult to understand; recondite; esoteric; ambiguous.

Both are adjectives.

Obstuction, obstacle.
Are these words related?
Obstacle is a synonym for obstruction.

Am I obtuse or is this blog abstruse?

Eke

Eek! What is this (eke)?

a verb, eke, which means to barely get by.

How are you eking out a living in this economy?

Bless this Bliss

Bless...bliss. Just one letter different. very similar. Related? 

They both seem relevant, now at the beginning of the 2011 holiday season.

I can't believe we are so close to the end of the year!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

On This Auspicious Date

Today is 11-11-11. Is this a lucky day or what?!

I am ponderinging some monosyllablic words today.

Fresh and brisk can be synonyms is the sense of temperature (coolness), yet they each sound so different, Brisk is so quick and sudden, while Fresh is barely a whisper.

Auspicious is also an interesting word, though hardly a monosyllable.

Auspicious means propitious, showing or portending good fortune.

Can you dig it?

D-Words

Deliver  D letter D sooner D better.

Just a flashback from a long time ago!

I was wondering why there are so many words that start with D that mean to destroy:
decimate
destroy
devastate
demolish
denigrate
and detonate.

Also, another intriguing D word, a monosyllabic word, somewhat rare:
Delve.

Delve means to dig, uncover or pry. Can't be Greek. Must be ... ?

Glide into the Flow of Affluence

Glide.

a very slippery word, reminds me of slide...

I was inspired to write this after watching Brad Yates:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtaLOlMimDo&feature=related
Glide over to the video for a 6 minute refreshing experience.

Scrupulous

I often hear the word unscrupulous. I was wondering what the opposite might be. I wasn't sure that scrupulous was a word, but it definitely is. I wish we had more opportunities to use it.

Scruple is not so common, either. Actually, I think it is usually plural, scruples.

Have you no scruples?

Remarkable Majesty

Majesty is a majestic word. Seems somehow related to royalty, and to Magic.

Remarkable is an interesting word. Like interesting, it can be used to indicate something that is neutral, but sounds good. If you don't know what to make of something someone said, you can simply say, that's interesting, even if you really aren't impressed. Remarkable can also mean significant, important, wonderful or merely interesting.

It is remarkable that there are so many exquisite, majestic words in the English language.

Are you a maven?

I like that word: MAVEN.

It would make a good job title, or even a name. A girl's name, I think.

Maven means an expert or authority. It comes to us from Yiddish!

I'm also excited because I don't think I have posted about any other words from Yiddish before!

Oy vey! what chutzpah! I need to diversify!

Hide nor Hare

I saw neither hide nor hare of them. Or is it hyde nor hair. I'm not sure. I'll have to look it up.

Spelling, as easy as A-B-C?

Why do these homophones have such widley diffeernt spellings?

Which and Witch.

I don't often see them confused.

But I got a message recently, which spelled peak like peek. That's a common mistake. One which the spell check will not detect.

There was this thing called a dictionary and it gives proper spelling as well as usage for the word. I whish more peple used them.

Definitions Galore

Would you like to become Galorious?


Is galorious a word? It is not in my pocket dictionary, nor in my collegiate dictionary, let me check the unabridged. The unabridged dictionary lists the word galore in adverb and noun form, but no adjective form. NOT YET, anyway.

Galore - adv. abundantly.

Galore - n. abundance. (archaic)



I would like to formally submit this new word for your approval!


Galorious - adj. abundant, plentiful.

Now I can acheive harmonious alliteration by calling myself, Galorious Gloria!

Inside Out and Upside Down

What is the opposite of Inside Out?

Inside in, or outside out?
Or is it rightside in or rightside out?

And what about upside down?

Downside down or upside up?

Would vertically aligned be the opposite, and vertically challenged a synonym for upside down?

And shouldn't they be hyphenated, anyway?!

I'm definitely Inside-out and Upside-down on this matter!

Surplus Surfeit

Sur plus. from sub?

Plus from latin.

Bountiful or bounteous.

The G-Spot

I don't want to be crass or crude, but I'm thinking about changing the name of my newsletter and blog to "The G-Spot." Because my name starts with G.

My first newsletter was "Gloria's Good News." I guess I've always liked alliteration. But it lacked pizzazz. This idea came to me to call it G-Spot and promote The G-spot. I really don't want to be risque, though. Please let me know what you think.

I think I will get lots of comments on this blog. If so, it may mean that I will change the name from Verbal Impact to The G-Spot. Or maybe just have a special article in each edition called The G-Spot. Not sure. I would like your feedback.

Thank you!

And now back to our regular feature:

Crass--adj. grossly vulgar or stupid. From Latin.

Crude--adj. Unrefined, raw, immature, unripe, unfinished, lacking taste, unrefined. From Latin, too.

I was thinking I'd rather be crass than crude, but according to the denotation, I'd rather be crude.

The problem is that crude sounds like rude and that gives it a slightly different flavor...

Serendipity

Serendipity. Where did this come form? Not Greek. Not Latin. But it was coined in 1754 by Horace Walpole, in a book called The Princes of Serendip.

It sounds a little bit whimsicle.

It means the faculty of happening upon fortunate discoveries while not looking for them.

Sounds like good luck. Some synonyms for serendipitous: fortuitous, fortunate, opportune and unexpected.

It says in my dictional The word was coined in 1754. That's an interesting use of the word coin.

Coin as a verb means to make, originate, or invent.

Coinage(noun)is the making of metal currency, or the making of words!

It would be serendipitous to find a purse full of coins!

Raving Lunatic

If you get Rave reviews, that's a compliment. But if you a raving lunitic, that's bad, right?

So what does rave mean?

Rave - v.i. 1. to speak wildly or incoherently. 2.to praise extravagantly. - n. a frenzy. 2. enthusiastic praise. From Old French word for to be delirious.

Please use the comment link below to rave about my articles. Thank you.

Glut

Glut. Not a pleasant sound, for something that means abundance!

Glut. One syllable for an unlimited, bountiful word.

Too bad it's related to gluttony. That's definitely a negative. It's even one of the seven deadly sins!

Glut --n. surplus, excess. Not from Latin or Greek! From Old French.

Glutton -- n. 1. one who eats to excess. 2. one who has an enormous appetite for something.

gluttonous -- adj. greedy. or would hungry be better? Voracious, insatiable, and greedy are the synonyms in my thesaurus.

I'm not sure how this simple word accumulated so much negativity, but I thnk Glut is a perfectly nice, succinct word for Abundance. I think I would like to use it as an acronym for my next business project: Gloria's Luxurious Unlimited Table. Good name for a Restaurant. Gloria's Luxurious Unlimited Time, Test, Telephone. Tickle? Time Table. Text. Testament (maybe I could use it as a title for a book). Truth? Talk. Type. Tutorial.

Stay tuned for more of Gloria's Luxurious Unlimited Truths!

Words of Sagacity

Sagacity is an impressive word. It means wisdom.It is related to the words, sagacious and sage.

Sagacious - adj. characterized by discernment, shrewdness and wisdom. From Latin. Noun forms: sagacity and sagaciousness.

Sage - n. a person of wisdom and prudence. It can also be used as an adjective: wise, prudent.

Prudent - adj. 1. cautious, discreet. 2. exercising sound judgement. 3. not extravagant. From Latin. Prudentially is also an official variation of this word.

Prudentially, I think I would rather be sagacious than shrewd, wise rather than prudent.

Thank you for indulging the sage philolog.

Spendthrift

Are you a spendthrift?

This is a weird word, made up from 2 words, spend and thrift. Spend is a verb which means to exchange money for some item or service, thrift is a noun which means the state of not having or not using money.

So it would be an oxymoron if those words appeared together.

But as one word it means someone who spends a lot of money, not one who is thrifty. odd.

Sobriquet

I came across a lovely word.
Mellifluous. French?

Sobriquet

It means a fanciful name or nickname. It can be spelled sobriquet or soubriquet. It is from French, so be sure to say, so-bri-kay!

So my sobriquet is Philolog!

more soothing sounds:
somni FA cient--hypnotic!
somniferous--soporific
soporific--tending to cause sleep or dull awareness, also hypnotic according to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.
somnolent--drowsy or sleepy, but no mention of hypnosis.

You can also say soporiferous instead of soporific! They are synonyms. However, soporiferous sounds more soothing to me.

Self Empowerment

The philolog's choice this month is the word,

empowerment.

Empower, a verb has 2 meanings: 1. to authorize, give power to; 2. to permit or allow.

This reminds me of enrichment, another powerful word.

Enrich, a verb, means to improve or make wealthy.

Example: I like to empower my clients to enrich themselves.

The Self Empowerment Class will take place next week, May 17, at 6:30PM at Unity Church of Palm Harbor. See Musinglog for details.

Thank you.

My Cat's Philosophy

My cat is a philosopher. He is as terse as he is wise.

Every morning he says to me, "menow."

That's all he ever says.

Me Now.

He has summed up his philosophy is just two words.

Uneek Spelling

OK,

I've been thinking about this for awhile. Don't you just hate that when orthography keeps you up at night?

Unique. I think this spelling is very misleading. I think it would be much more forthright to spell it u-n-e-e-k.

Where did Q come from? It's very unusual in English, very strange... stranger... alien, even!

And when we pair it with U, which we usually do it sounds like "kw" as in Queen. Very queer, indeed.

So there is just no reason to put the QUE on the end of that word. Let's just go with uneek. That's unambiguous. I can't think of any other way to pronounce it.

All in favor say, Aye. Now there's another word we need to re-spell...

Big Discount

The long and short of it:

I got 4 emails this morning offering me big discounts on Viaga and Vigara!

Goody! Goody!

I also have other interesting offers to lengthen body parts...and meet beautiful women...

And the spammers got my password and sent out offers like this....see musinglog for 2 articles on hijacked hotmail. It only happens on hotmail and they don't recognize it as a problem. They also don't allow questions about how this happens.

Has it happened to anyone not on hotmail? Please comment below. Thank you.

Irrespective of the dictionary

I think I have discovered why people persist in using the word, irregardless, which is not actually a word. it is a word with an extra "ir" in front. For emphasis, I guess.

I heard this word today listening to a podcast, "irrespective."

Irrespective is a good synonym for regardless. Eureka! maybe that's what happened: a little confusion between a word and a non-word which should or could have the same meaning.

Also, since inflammable and flammable mean the same thing, regardless and irregardless could mean the same. That is, if there was such a word.

Regardless of what it says in the dictionary, some people persist in using the misnomer, "irregardless."

Coming attractions: Irreverant. Relinquish.

Imminent

Imminent means just about to happen, impending. It's an adjective, from Latin.

Emanent means prominant, outstanding. adjective, Latin, also.

Preemanent means emanant or superior. Just a bit better than emanent. Imminent and emanent are homonyms. I've got to check the spelling. It doesn't look right!

Stay tuned, more exciting emanent words and terms are imminent.

Daunting

The philolog's choice this month is the word, daunt in its various forms.

This word has come to us through Middle English and old French from Latin. I chose this word because it is monosyllablic and uncommon.

Daunt - v. to lessen the courage of. Synonyms: intimidate, discourage, dishearten, dismay.

Dauntless-adj. bold, fearless, undaunted, daring, indomitable, brave, courageous

Example: Taking exams can be daunting!

Balance

I think I need more balance in my life.

What exactly does that mean?

Most times I think people mean they need more leisure time or more family time. I have never heard anyone say this who wanted more time at the office.

But balance is a good positive word.

I want balance in my life between work, family and recreation. I want a high balance in my checking and savings account. I want low balances on my credit card bills.

Zero balances are good, on credit card bills, not good for your checking account.

Nobody likes to be off-balance.

And what is meant by "perfect" balance...

Clone or Crone

A few years ago, actually more than 10, I received a card from someone I worked with. It said Happy Birthday on it. Inside it said, You're now one year closer to the crone! I didn't know what to think. I asked another coworker. She said, you see, this is a compliment.

Crone means wise woman.

So does witch, but I wouldn't send a birthday card saying Happy Birthday to you, Witch!

Oh well.

Crone rhymes with Clone. A clone is a duplicate made from the same DNA, reproduced by artificial means, not naturally.

Crone must be a very old word. Clone is relatively new.

My Incipient Career

This word keeps showing up: incipient. It reminds me of insipid or perhaps incendiary. Incipient -- adj. just beginning; in the early stages. Insipid -- adj. vapid, foolish. Incendiary -- adj. flammable; inciting strong emotions. Right now I'm feeling angry, but not motivated enough to write an incendiary article. I'm thinking about my career and wordering whether it is incipient, or actually just insipid...?

Are you Dapper or Dishabille?

Dapper- smartly dressed. Used only for men. I've never heard it referring to a woman, don't hear it much any more anyway. Probably because kids would much rather look like a rapper than dapper.

Dishabille -- as previously discussed, inappropriately or incompletely dressed.

Deft or Daft?

As you know I like monosyllablic words.

Today I am intrigued by deft, and daft.

I think I may have written about daft a few years ago. It seems the British like to use that word.

Daft -- adj. silly, crazy. From Old English (OE). It's related to daffy.

Deft -- adj. apt, able, adept. It may be related to that word...? But it says that deft is from OE (the same word as daft) and adept from Latin. For some reason I came up with all words that begin with "a." This dictionary says skillful, and adroit.

There is a hypnosis presentation tonight at Books-A-Million in Palm Harbor FL. We will have several hypnotists deftly demonstrate hypnotic techniques to help you relax, reduce anxiety, and instill confidence. All of our presenters are deft. Some are even daft. Read about it on my other blog, Verbal Impact.

Please join us at 7PM!

Purjurious Verdure

The philolog would like to apologize for misleading you, dear reader. Perjurous is NOT a word. The adjective form of the noun perjury is perjurious. So there is no word that rhymes with verdurous.

purjury --n. false, misleading, or incomplete testimony.

purjurer -- n. one who breaks promises or lies under oath.

purjurious -- adj. characterized by the breaking of promises or misleading or prevaricating.

Verdurous Perjury

Verdurous is a beautiful word!! Lush, Lavish, and Green, which is my favorite color!

Verdure means a young, lush green growth. It is pronounced like ver-jur-us. The "d" sounds like a "j" not like the "d" in murderous. I only mention this because I made the mistake of thinking it rhymed with murderous. It actually rhymes with perjurous.

The word verdurous is related to the word, verdant, and shares the same meaning. They are both synonyms for green. I chose this word because Green is my favorite color, and because St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays.

Verdure--n. the lush greenness of flourishing vegetation.
Verjurous--adj. green, young, vigorous.

The Emerald Island is so named because it is verdurous.

You Blow Me Away

More light and airy expressions.

Blown Away. Is this a good thing?

Blown over is usually good, when said of a storm.

Blow my mind. 80s flashback. Or did it come from the 70s and acid trips?

Blow up means to explode. Not usually a good thing.

And this sounds like a pirate expression:

Why, Blow me down!

Vast

Vast is a short sweet monosyllablic word. A small word for the broad, wide, huge, enormity of space. It's difficult to contemplate how vast the universe is.

I doubt it comes from Greek or Latin. Too short. I'll have to check.

Do you deserve to read this?

I was just reading something about working with the undeserved population.

I had to do a double-take.

What is the unDESERVED population?

I guess I should wear my glasses.

It actually said, the underSERVED population.

One small letter, one huge difference!

Stationary

Are you stationary or mobile? Still or moving?

I'm intrigued by homophones like stationary and stationery.

Stationary is an adjective, meaning immobile, unchanging.

Stationery is a noun.

Stationery is out of style right now. But someone gave me some beautiful notecards the other day. He's a photographer and he took the photos and printed them on card stock himself. I will definitely have to use them! For those of you born before the ubiquity of email and texts, that means that I am going to send a card through Snail Mail. It used to be called just "mail." But now we need to differentiate between the modern and traditional.

I don't want to be left behind, but sometimes the old ways are better. Think about how annoyed you were after the 20th text you got today, and how happy you were the last time you got a card or letter through the mail, in your mailbox! Even if you try to persuade me that texts are better, I will remain stationary on this matter.

Of course, sometimes the new way is better. When I went to college I had a popcorn maker. You can't make anything else in them, just popcorn. And now we can just put a package in the microwave for about 3 minutes and have delicious, hot, flavored popcorn.


Popcorn is not stationary. I wonder how high the people jumped the first time they threw some dried up old corn kernels on the fire and they started jumping and popping...

Take my Advice

I would like to give you some advice about spelling. Some words are easily confused, like advise and advice. Advise is a verb and advice is the noun.

These aren't exactly homophones, they sound different, and the spelling is different. But since C can have the same sound as S, some people get them mixed up.

All I can say is, I advise you to consult a dictionary before sending a message or a letter. I don't think spelling counts in a text. Actually, you lose points for spelling all the words out. . . Do they charge per letter??!!

I wonder if there is a word for words commonly spelled like another word. I bet there is...Are there any other wordsmiths or philologs out there who want to advise me?

Thanks.

Comments

Hi, This is a inquiry for the webmaster/admin here at philologsblog.blogspot.com. Can I use part of the information from this post right above if I provide a backlink back to this website? Thanks, John

Of course, John, Mark, Bob, and other monosyllablic names. I've gotten this comment many times, anonymously.

Greetings, Thanks for sharing this link - but unfortunately it seems to be down? Does anybody here at philologsblog.blogspot.com have a mirror or another source? Cheers, John

John, I don't put links in most of my posts. I do have a mirror, but I don't know how that will help you.

This is another common comment that I get. I don't understand why I rarely get relevant comments from readers...

The article that gets the most comments is called "Burning Bush." I posted it almost 3 years ago (May 2008). I can't figure out why it still gets comments. I think it has something to do with the Title. I guess it can be interpreted different ways. I used it as a Biblical reference, but judging by some of the other comments it has attracted, I think it shows up in searches for sex terms.

So lets see what types of comments this one generates. I used the 3-letter s-word, which begins with s and ends with x. It seems I have finally reached 1000 views on my profile. Maybe I can get more readers, and even become a blog of note!

If you enjoy this post, please send a link to someone else who might enjoy it. And send me a comment to let me know! Thanks!!!

Myriad

Myriad is the word of the Month of February.

I can see it comes to us from Greek, because of the "y" being used as a vowel.

As a noun it means multitude or plethora (another Greek etymology!).

As an adjective, it means many and varied, or multitudinous.

It's one of myriad synonyms for abundant, like limitless, infinite, bountiful, numerous, etc.

I also want to address a question that came from someone in response to one of my articles on Musinglog.blogspot.com.

What is mawkish?

Thanks, Lou, for your question.

Mawkish means sentimental, especially overly sentimental.

It comes from some language other than Greek. Though there are many Greek last names in the US that start with the letter "K," you won't see many words translated from Greek that contain "k."

If you would like to create a mawkish atmosphere, or if you like sand clocks and lava lamps, see "Polite Addition" in Musinglog.!

What a Predicament!

We are in a predicament.

I am reading a book by John C. Maxwell, called The Difference Maker. There is some good information in here, like how to know whether you have a problem or a predicament. Also how to handle Fear, Solve Problems, Manage Change, and more.

Predicament comes to us from Latin. It means an awkward or inconvenient situation.

Some synonyms: dilemma, quagmire, pickle or jam. I love these!

For a review of the book, see Verbal Impact.

Sneak Peek

This is the second time I've seen peek misspelled.

Twice, I've gotten email messages giving me a "sneak peak" at something. I could be wrong, but when I went to school, a peak was the top of a mountain. There could be a Sneak Peak, but more common would be a name like Pike's Peak. So why are we tempted to use peak instead of peek?

Peek is a noun which means a brief look, or a furtive look.

Spell check and even Grammar check will not detect this error.

If you want a sneak peek at my January newsletter, just check out my website, Enlightened Hypnosis dot com. If you want a beautiful panoramic view, go find a mountain!