Philolog's blog

Would you like a Booth?

2012-01-07T11:33:00.000-05:00

I think this is an utterly ridiculous word: booth. BOOth. Sometimes I go in to a restaurant and they ask, would you like a booth or a table. I like booths beter, but I am reluctant to say the word. The more you think about it, the more absurd it seems. It even looks absurd. Come to think of it absurd is rather awkward, too. But the MOST awkward word is definitely: awkward. How many other words have two Ws in them? not many!

absurd -- adj. weird, strange.
awkward -- adj. not graceful, off-balance.
booth-- n. a table against a wall with bench seats instead of separate chairs; int. what a ghost who lisps shouts at you.

Maybe next year I'll be a ghost for Halloween and lisp, "BOOth" to the candy donors.

Willing or willful?

2011-12-18T14:34:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-28T18:24:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-28T18:06:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-20T19:30:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-11T21:33:00.000-05:00

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?

2011-11-03T20:22:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-17T21:35:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-25T18:06:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-16T16:36:00.000-04:00

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?

2011-09-03T10:59:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-27T20:34:00.000-04:00

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?

2011-08-17T19:47:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-10T12:12:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-01T08:39:00.000-04:00

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

2011-07-31T20:51:00.000-04:00

Sur plus. from sub?

Plus from latin.

Bountiful or bounteous.

The G-Spot

2011-07-27T11:49:00.000-04:00

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

2011-07-23T11:05:00.000-04:00

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

2011-07-23T10:47:00.000-04:00

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

2011-07-07T09:50:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-29T09:32:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-27T12:59:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-09T08:36:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-10T08:36:00.004-04:00

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

2011-05-07T10:27:00.002-04:00

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

2011-05-04T08:36:00.004-04:00

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

2011-04-27T12:10:00.003-04:00

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

2011-04-23T19:35:00.005-04:00

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

2011-04-16T20:28:00.005-04:00

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

2011-04-16T12:16:00.000-04:00

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

2011-04-10T17:42:00.002-04:00

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

2011-04-05T10:14:00.004-04:00

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

2011-03-30T11:17:00.003-04:00

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?

2011-03-23T09:54:00.004-04:00

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?

2011-03-23T09:28:00.005-04:00

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

2011-03-21T20:23:00.005-04:00

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

2011-03-21T10:26:00.006-04:00

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

2011-03-16T06:33:00.003-04:00

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

2011-03-12T20:47:00.003-05:00

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?

2011-03-07T19:23:00.003-05:00

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

2011-03-04T10:51:00.003-05:00

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

2011-02-25T14:10:00.005-05:00

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

2011-02-18T20:01:00.006-05:00

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

2011-02-04T14:41:00.004-05:00

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!

2011-01-17T10:53:00.004-05:00

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

2011-01-07T21:16:00.004-05:00

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!

Brimming with wishes

2010-12-31T17:30:00.004-05:00

I am brimming with wishes! See musinglog.blogspot.com.

Teeming.

Overflowing.

Brim is usually a noun, but as a verb, it means:
to fill to the brim.

Rim is a synonym for brim (the noun).

Brim comes from Old English.

M Words for Christmas

2010-12-25T09:39:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Magnificent Health
and
Munificent Wealth

in 2011!

These are my wishes for you, my dear friend!

Delightful D Words

2010-12-22T17:45:00.004-05:00

Dash -- v. destroy quickly, or run fast.

Delve -- v. explore, dive in , dig, unearth.

What do these words have in common? They are both one syllable and start with the letter D.

Useful Words

2010-12-20T10:38:00.002-05:00

If you are full of wishes, it's called wishful. If you are full of thanks, it's called thankful.

What are you full of when you are bashful?

Affluence

2010-12-17T09:17:00.004-05:00

Affluent. I like the sound of that word, it's very mellifluous.

affluent -- adj. abounding, abundant. wealthy, opulent.

Affluence is the noun formation. From Latin.

Abounding? I've heard of abundant, but abounding? what is abounding?

abounding -- adj. form of

abound -- v.i. to be plentiful; to teem, overflow. From Latin

abundant -- existing in plentiful supply, ample. From the same root as abound.

The synonyms for the word abounding are abundant, maybe even affluent, or bountiful.

Charlatan

2010-12-17T09:15:00.002-05:00

Charlatan -- n. one who makes false claims about knowledge or skill; quack.

From Italian, babbler.

I am delirious

2010-12-13T19:52:00.006-05:00

I am delirously ecstatic and enduring about all the unintelligible comments I've been getting on Phololog's blog!

Here is one of the comments:

I be enduringly familiar with insufficient of the articles on your website. I extremely like your fashionableness of blogging. I added it to my favorites and last will and testament. Be checking back soon. Please add me to your input as ok and fail me conscious what you think. Thanks.

Imagine that! I've been added to their last will and testament.

Now, I don't know how this works, but these comments pop up, anonymously, of course, and if I publish it, I get several more comments in gibberish. So I'm just going to tweek it a bit.

I am now familiar with all of your blogs and articles and I
enjoy them tremendously. I am so envious of your
fascinating style of writing. I even recommend it to
my friends who don't speak English. I am hoping
I can hire you soon to write some content for my own
website. Thanks for sharing your impeccable insight
and wisdom with us!

That kind of sounds like English.

They do send me crazy links, some in other languages and some that are completely inappropriate.

I would like to thank you in advance for sending me some intelligent, intelligible comments. I would really love to receive them.

Ambassador

2010-12-12T17:17:00.003-05:00

Ambassador is a grand word.

It means representative. But sounds more regal.

ambassador - n. a diplomat of the highest rank or personal representative. From Late Latin.

Do you have the Gumption?

2010-12-11T14:31:00.003-05:00

gumption - n. 1. bold, energetic initiative. 2. shrewd common sense. From English dialect (Scot.)

So initiative and shrewdness would be synonyms...

shrewd - adj. 1. sharp or wise; sagacious. 2. artful, sly. Middle English.

I think boldness would be a better synonym.

But I chose this word because gumption is such a weird-sounding word. Most words that end with tion are words on their own. For example, invention and action. But gump is not. Gump is a very harsh-sounding syllable, and is not in the dictionary.

It also does not have an adjective associated with it. May I suggest gumptuous? Rhymes with sumptuous. Now that is a horse of a different color. That one letter, which makes the initial sound, G or S, makes a BIG difference!

A Jury of Your Piers

2010-12-09T10:36:00.005-05:00

I know orthography doesn't count for anything anymore, but when I get an email from someone trying to sell me high priced products, I expect them to edit and correct their work. Once in a while I publish my blog with a misspelling, and I correct it as soon as possible. And if I were sending marketing material, it would be proofread first. I understand that spell-check will not find this mistake. "Pier" is a valid word, so the computer cannot know or care if someone has a pier full of boats or is referring to another person, considered equal in legal terms. And people might not notice, because pier sounds just like peer and both are nouns...

I am probably in the minority, but send me a sales pitch with such a glaring error and you lose all credibility in my eyes. I won't do business with you.

I am probably in the minority, because most people wouldn't notice the error, that I find so glaring. But I think people should be more careful with written documents.

Do I have any peers that agree with me?

Any piers?

Gloria

2010-12-01T13:58:00.003-05:00

It has come to my attention that gloria is not just a name, but a valid word in English.

gloria -- n. a burst of brilliant dazzling light. From Latin.

Glorious means splendid, magnificent, delightful.

I was awakened by the gloria in my room this morning.

Magnificent Munificent Extravagance

2010-11-23T10:45:00.008-05:00

I encountered this word in a book by Wayne Dyer. He's a very prolific writer.

He said something about the Munificent Universe.

Munificent -- adj. Lavish, liberal or generous. From French.

This word sounds a lot like magnificent.

Magnificent -- adj. 1. great in deed, exalted.
2. marked by stately grandeur and lavishness.
3. sumptuous in structure and adornment.
4. impressive to the mind or spirit.
5. exceptionally fine.

So they are synonyms in one sense of the word (meaning #2).

Swell is also a synonym for Magnificent, but magnificent sounds much more impressive than swell, or even munificent.

Grand would also be a synonym for swell and magnificent. Great also... and extravagant.

I also like sumptuous. I think I have written about it before.

I will end this rumination before I become magniloquent.

Magniloquent -- adj. characterized by a pedantic or bombastic manner. French, mais oui (of course).

May you be spared Mayhem

2010-11-12T09:41:00.004-05:00

Those commercials are so funny that feature a man in a suit who claims to be Mayhem.

Mayhem -- violent accident; needless or willful damage; crippling mutilation, or disfigurement of any body part.

It is a mellifluous word for a disaster.

It comes from Old French.

Are you Indefatigable?

2010-10-18T21:00:00.003-04:00

How do you spell Indefatigable?
indefatigable.

How do you pronounce it?
in de FAT igable.

unable to be fatigued; untiring. From Latin.

I love it!

My indefatigable son showed me some words he encountered, that he thought were made up, like quixotic and indefatigable.

Quixotic.

This one is easy, if you've ever heard about or read about Don Quixote.

It means unrealistically idealistic or extremely romantic.

Are you quixotic?

Sesquipedalian Pedant

2010-10-05T20:16:00.001-04:00

I saw a few minutes of the movie, Love Happens, the other night. In it, the characters look up some words in the dictionary.

I was intrigued by one of them and looked it up myself. It is not in the pocket dictionary, so I googled it. It came up in wikipedia, but since that isn't very authoritarian, I pulled out the Deluxe Unabridged Dictionary.

Sesquipedalian. adj. characterized by the use of big words; or measuring a foot and a half long.

Pedantic. adj. artificially or exagerratedly scholarly.

Whilst googling, I discovered that others had made the same mistake I had at first. There were no quotations which included the word, sesquipedalian, but there were some with "sesquipedantic," which I would venture to guess is not a word. It is not in my unabridged dictionary.

If you are a pedant, or pedantic, your language is probably sesquipedalian.

The philolog is not pedantic and this blog is never sequipedalian. The philolog actually prefers monosyllablic words and has written many blogs about them.

Red Heads

2010-09-27T12:46:00.004-04:00

Why am I suddenly the red-headed step-child?!

I'd rather be the red-headed vixen.

Where do these expressions come from?

Red hair is beautiful. It is rare. True redheads are rare, of course, though it is very popular as a hair dye. When I made my hair copper, people came up to me on the street and said "I love your hair!" They do not do that with ash brown hair.

The best definition of this term is from Urban Dictionary:
A term that originated out of the common mistreatment and social ostracism of redheaded individuals (gingers). A redheaded individual born into(legitamately or not), or adopted into a family of non-redheads was typically subject to physical and emotional abuse, and usually short handed when it came to financial matters in the family, such as the estate or any savings the family had acquired. Today, the term can be applied to an individual or group of individuals who are outcasts, or are typically dealt the worst hand in society.

I used to be the fiery redhead. But now I'm barely smoldering.

I'm going to get back that fire!

The Demise of The King's English

2010-09-27T12:41:00.003-04:00

The St. Pete Times had an interesting article about the Death of the English Language in yesterday’s paper, by Gene Weingarten. It was very funny.

Regarding the death of English, most people seemed unconcerned. Anthony Incognito, an average man in the street, said, “Between you and I, I could care less.”

Weingarten cites other examples of poor usage and blatant mistakes. He even criticizes something I thought was a definite improvement: the use of "alot" as a word describing an amount. He feels that newspapers should definitely use spell-checkers, especially ones which can detect that the word "pronounciation" is misspelled. He says it has been misspelled in several newspapers, including the Boston Globe and St. Paul Pioneer Press, as well as the Contra Costa, where it appears in a column apologizing for previous misspellings of the word!

Thanks, Gene, I'm LOL. Oops, is that correct?

I find it very ironic, that in the same newspaper, on the same day, I find a book review, of a new book, entitled, The Glamour of Grammar, a Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English, by Roy Peter Clark.

The author believes that the English language is magic, and that the words, grammar and glamour, both come from the same root. He also points out that "spell," can refer to the letters in a word, as well as to an enchantment.

I only read half the review and I want to go out and buy this book!

Coincidentally, I have also discovered a blog which highlights the agony and the ecstacy of words and language. It is called Throw Grammar from the Train. This is a BLOG of NOTE on blogger. I am so priveleged to share the same virtual space with this writer who claims she is a "nitpicker." (Jan Freeman.)

It will probably soon show up on my blog as one of the blogs I follow.

I used to say, so many books, so little time, now I can also add, so many blogs, so little storage space on my computer!

I guess the thing is, that we don't speak the King's English in America, which is actually just the US portion of the North American continent, anyway. The King is dead and English is very much alive and constantly evolving! Long live the grammarians!

Deftly Adequate

2010-09-20T07:42:00.005-04:00

Is "deft" a word?

Is it related to "adept?"

Is "inept' the opposite of adept?

adept -- highly skilled proficient. Latin.

adequate -- 1. fully sufficient 2. barely sufficient. From Latin.

deft- neat and skillful, adroit. From Old English.

It does not appear to be related to inept. "Inept" is from Latin, from "aptus" which means "to fit," and the "ept" in adept is supposedly from a different word, "apisci," which means "to get" in Latin. It certainly looks like the same root to me (ept)... I will have to consult my unabridged dictionary about this discrepancy!

And why does "adequate" sound so inadequate when your supervisor says your skills are adequate?!

I'd much rather be adept than adequate, and deft rather than adroit.

Is it better to be adequately deft or deftly adequate...?

Why do I always have more questions?

All's Well

2010-09-13T09:15:00.006-04:00

Swell is an interesting word. I'm swelling with pride and sweltering with excitement.

As anjective I wonder if it is really a contraction, 's well, like All's well.

Rampage

2010-09-13T08:36:00.003-04:00

Rampage is both a noun and a verb. I don't believe I've heard it used as a verb. More often than not, I hear "they went on a rampage," not "they rampaged."

Rampage as a noun means violent action or excitment. It comes from Old French.

To Rampage means to attack or act violently; to storm or rage.

I think this is sometimes confused with rant.

But I will not rant or rampage here!

Lugubrious or Ludicrous

2010-09-03T20:58:00.005-04:00

Sadly, this is a very sorrowful article. I feel lugubrious today.

Lugubrious means exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful.

It says it is from both Latin and Greek, because it is from a Latin word, which is "akin" to a word in Greek. Curious. Strange.

Lugubrious is possibly an antonym for ludicrous. Also from a Latin word, akin to a Greek word.

Ludicrous means laughable, amusing through obvious absurdity or exaggeration.

It would be ludicrous to be lugubrious about spilt milk.

Filthy Wealthy

2010-08-24T07:20:00.002-04:00

Filthy rich sounds right. Filthy Wealthy doesn't.

Where does the saying filthy rich come from?! I know money, the actual metal or paper has been through a thousand hands and maybe some toilets (the metal ones), but what does filth have to do with rich?!

Filthy is not just dirty. Filthy also means obscene or morally foul.

A poor person must have assumed all rich people were morally unjust. Or maybe a jealous person.

Rich is a great word. a noun and an adjective. Means full, intense, abundant, complete, thick, dense, creamy, opulent, luxuriant, not just the state of owning many possesions and a large bank account.

Utterly Amazing

2010-08-21T10:29:00.006-04:00

"That's utterly amazing," she uttered. She must have been watching John Weir at the NGH convention. That's what I thought when I saw him demonstate the NLP technique of collapsing anchors under hypnosis at his workshop last weekend!

Utter is a verb, which means to vocalize, express or pronounce; also to put forth or out, send.

Utter is also an adjective, which means absolute, total.

Utterly is an adverb which means extremely, totally.

So how are these related? They all come from Old English, ut, which means out.

Sometimes my blogs are related. For more about John's amazing demonstration, see Verbal Impact (link on upper right).

Vile Villain

2010-08-06T16:03:00.002-04:00

Vile is a monosyllabic word with several meanings.

1. common, of little value.
2. morally despicable or physically repulsive.
3. disgustingly or utterly bad. obnoxious, contemptible

It is from Latin.

I have never actually heard it used the first way.

It is related to villian, of course.

Villain means a scoundrel, criminal or uncouth person.

Dither

2010-08-02T08:02:00.003-04:00

I've recently heard these two uncommon words.

Blather means to speak foolishly. From Old Norse.

Dither means a state of nervous excitement or anxiety. no root language given, but it is an alternate form of "didder" (to shake or tremble).

Before you get in a dither, I'll stop blathering.

Collaborate or Corroborate?

2010-07-16T11:49:00.004-04:00

Collaborate means to work with someone else.

Corroborate means to find additional evidence for something.

I got these confused this week. Not exactly. What I did was use the wrong one.

I have been trying to corroborate the information I found on the benefits of hypnosis therapy for dementia. But I was saying I needed to collaborate this information.

Collaborate -- to work jointly with others, especially in an intellectual endeavor; to cooperate. From Latin.

Corroborate -- to support with evidence or authority, to confirm. From Latin.

Dreadful

2010-06-30T09:14:00.002-04:00

I have heard some dreadful news recently. It seems the horizon is bleak all around.

Bleak -- 1. exposed, bare, barren; 2. cold, cutting; 3. cheerless, dreary.
From Old Norse.

Dread -- v.t. to anticipate with great fear or anxiety.
adj. 1. causing great fear; terrible.
2. exciting awe.
n. 1. a terrifying feeling as of fear or danger.
2. awe.
From Old English.

Dreadful -- adj. awful, terrible.

Awe is an awful word. Or awesome. Depends on how you look at it. "Awesome" is bright and cheery, whereas "Awful" is dreadful!

Festooned

2010-06-23T07:50:00.003-04:00

I like to use my pocket dictionary as a reference for these posts, but recently, I discovered that the definition for festoon in my pocket dictionary was different from the one in the grammarian’s dictionary. I prepared for my Toastmaster's meeting last week by looking up the word of the day, festoon.

My dictionary is Funk and Wagnell's Standard Dictionary, so there is no subtitle necessary, but the first page says "Your Perfect Pocket Guide to the English Language."

Inside it there is a definition for the word FESTOON.

As a noun it lists the meaning as, a bunch of flowers.

And as a verb it says to adorn with flowers.

So I put on a flowered dress and went to the meeting, thinking myself appropriately festooned. As Toastmaster for the Day, I even mentioned that I was festooned.

Then the grammarian stood up and gave the definition as to drape or adorn with draperies. I was nonplussed. I felt like I had shown up dishabille instead. I could've worn a drape!

Within the Realm of Possibility

2010-06-23T07:28:00.003-04:00

Are your dreams within the Realm of possiblity. Are they realistic?

Is realm related to realistic?

It's kind of old-fashioned or science fictionish. Maybe mathematical, ie. the realm of imaginary numbers.

Which Realm do you occupy?

Interesting word. From Old French. Definition:

1. A kingdom or domain.
2. The scope or range of power or influence.

I like to use my pocket dictionary as a reference for these posts, but recently, I discovered that the definition for festoon in my pocket dictionary was different from the

Drenched

2010-06-16T20:06:00.003-04:00

The word "drench" comes from Old English and means to soak or saturate.

Florida is know for its sudden drenching downpours!

Is it related to "quench?" They both come from Old English, but quench comes from a word that means to vanish. Quench means to reduce or eliminate, to cool or calm, to relieve or satisfy, as in "quench the thirst."

There is some overlap: you can quench a fire by drenching it.

And if you attempt to quench your thirst with a hose, you will get drenched.

To Extol the Verb, EXTOL

2010-06-07T07:56:00.005-04:00

Let me extol the virtues of Forgetting. If you really want to hear about the virtues of forgetting, it is on Musinglog, which has a link over there on the right side of this page.

Extol is a wonderful word, an action word, that means to praise highly, exalt. I'm sure it comes from Latin.

Hoodlums

2010-05-31T19:06:00.003-04:00

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

2010-05-27T07:26:00.004-04:00

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

2010-05-25T07:52:00.004-04:00

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

2010-05-13T08:04:00.004-04:00

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

2010-05-13T07:49:00.005-04:00

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

2010-05-11T11:18:00.003-04:00

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.

Facetious

2010-04-30T10:14:00.004-04:00

Facetious comes to us from Latin via French. It means jocular, waggish, merry, or jocose. It also means jocose at an inappropriate time. Jocular and jocose apparently share etymology with the word "joke."

Waggish is a synonym for facetious. Droll also. Waggish has a bit more pizzazz, though. Waggish means like a wag.

Wag means someone who likes jokes and humorous antics, a merry rogue.

Rogue means a vagabond, rascal, scoundrel, or someone who is mischievous or fun-loving.

And now back to the beginning:

Facetious is also an unusual word, in that it has all of the vowels of our alphabet in alphabetical order! I wonder if there are any others? Readers, let me know if you are aware of any.

Dishabille

2010-04-23T13:06:00.004-04:00

That was the word for the Day on Thursday, at the Toastmasters meeting.

I had to look it up. My pocket dictionary, said,
"partially or improperly dressed."

The first thing that came to my mind was the teenagers at the High School where I used to work. I would say almost all of them were dishabille. The boys wore huge long Tee shirts to hide the fact that the gymn shorts or jeans they had on were hanging off their butts. I call that imPROPERly dressed.
And the girls had on strapless tops (not allowed in the dress code) and tiny shorts or skirts (not allowed either, but usually ignored. At least they had shorts or a skirt on.) I call that partially dressed or scantily clad.

Scantily Clad??!! Scantily? CLAD?!

Scantily--the adverb form of the adjective scanty. (Actually that is not in my dictionary, but I'm sticking with it. "Scantly" does not sound right to me. And it may be a typo.)

Clad-- clad? what is that? Is that a word? I know I have heard it, but is it in the dictionary??? Yes, it is! Adjective, meaning covered or clothed.

At the meeting, it was defined as wearing casual clothing, or perhaps too casual.

And the pronunciation is dis uh BEEL. From the French word meaning undressed.
Not "dish" as in disheveled.

The official dictionary says, the state of being dressed in a casual or careless style.

So I can definitely say that I never go to work dishabille.
I can also tell my child not to go to school dishabille.
And I can call those high school students dishabille.

Also think of a child when they learn how to dress themselves, but can't match up the buttons properly, find things that match, or maybe leave something out. Children like to be dishabille, in the sense of not completely covered up, barefoot or topless.

I can really use this word in Florida, where people spend most of the year dishabille. Especially at the beach, but not just at the beach.

My advice, Don't leave home dishabille! Bring a sweater, just in case.

Gibberish

2010-04-06T21:12:00.004-04:00

I like gibberish. I don’t know how to spell it, tho.

Gibberish, nonsense, rubbish. Gabble, twaddle, claptrap. Balderdash, drivel, baloney, tripe.

I knew there were a lot of words for nonsense, but I've never encountered some of these before. Twaddle? Gabble? Interesting sounds.

Wait a minute. Isn't tripe also a food? A fish or intestines or something some people eat?!

OMG. I just looked up Tripe. This is what it says:
Tripe (from Italian trippa) is a type of edible offal from the stomachs of various farm animals.

Offal means internal organs.

Gross.

Enough of this twaddle. Get back to work!

Elation

2010-03-22T11:49:00.002-04:00

ELATION!

Yes!

Hypnotic elation!

Circle of elation.

Jubiliation.

Tintinabulation.

Elation comes from Latin and means state of joyfulness.

Some more monosyllables

2010-03-12T14:15:00.002-05:00

Hone - verb - to move toward, or direct attention to an objective; practice.

Ilk - noun - sort, category.

Thwart -- verb -- prevent, block, defeat, frustrate.

Dalliance

2010-03-08T18:45:00.002-05:00

dalliance

alliance?

D'alliance?

French, n'est pas?

dally?

Glut

2010-03-03T11:26:00.002-05:00

The word of the month, is Glut.

It is a very unusual, a little awkward, monosyllabic word.

The noun means an excessive amount, surfeit, overflow, abundance.

The verb means to feed or supply in excess.

The word comes from Old French, but I suspect they have a much different pronunciation.

Between a rock and a stone...

2010-02-23T08:47:00.005-05:00

Listen to these words:

Feather ... Stone

Why does feather sound so light and floating? And why does stone sound so heavy?

How about Rock? It sounds hard. Even more solid than stone.

I guess that's why they say "Between a rock and a hard place." It sounds much worse than "Between a stone and a hard place."

Bombs

2010-02-11T08:41:00.002-05:00

First of all, I want to know why these two words sound the same:

balm

bomb

I was looking for my lip balm and noticed the similarity.

The meanings are very dissimilar and so is the spelling....

What do they have in common?

Phenomenal Words

2010-01-21T07:23:00.001-05:00

You are a phenomenal person!

And phenomenal is a phenomenal word!

It comes from Greek, see the "ph?"

The adjective phenomenal means remarkable, outstanding. and comes from the noun, phenomenon, which means something that can be observed by the 5 senses. The plural is phenomena.

Peace of Mind

2010-01-16T18:20:00.001-05:00

"For every moment you remain angry, you give up 60 seconds of peace of mind."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Knuckles

2010-01-15T11:37:00.001-05:00

I wonder where the expression, knuckle-head" came from? Is it related to knuckle-sandwich?

Knuckle comes to us from Middle English, somehow related to the Old High German word for knot. It is the rounded prominence formed by the ends of 2 adjacent bones at a joint. And a few other things that somehow resemble a knuckle or the prominence at an intersection.

Knucklehead means dumbbell according to my Dictionary, another interesting compound word. This could be confusing, as dumbbell has 2 meanings. It would be strange to hear someone at the health club looking for some knuckles!

Knuckle-sandwich is not in my dictionary. I think the meaning is clear, but there could be people who speak English as a second language and they might not understand that it means a punch to the mouth.

Dismal Predictions

2010-01-13T07:18:00.006-05:00

Dismal is an interesting word.

Dis which means down or not.

Mal which means bad, in Latin.

Dismal. A downer.

What is the opposite of dismal?

Optimistic, hopeful, joyful, positive, propitious, un-, in-, or a-dismal? Abysmal?

Hope your day is cheerful, propitious and non-dismal!

Fit and Trim

2010-01-12T18:36:00.004-05:00

I am wondering why all the words for thin are so tiny. Like skinny, slim, thin, trim, fit, and my personal favorite, svelte.

A Few More Monosylables

2010-01-04T19:15:00.002-05:00

On this World Hynosis Day, I am pondering 2 monosyllabic words:

girth
and
mirth.

Girth is volume or width. Mirth is silliness or happiness.

Of the 2, I resolve to reduce girth this year and to maximize mirth.

Happy 2010, that's "Twenty-ten," not Two thousand ten!

Conflagration Tonight

2009-12-31T15:19:00.001-05:00

Tonight, New Year's Eve, there will be a "burning bowl" celebration at the Unity Church of Palm Harbor.

See you at the conflagration!

treasure

2009-12-27T17:42:00.002-05:00

I just found out the word Thesaurus is derived from the Greek word meaning treasure. I love thesauri! Almost as much as I love dictionaries.

The plural form is thesauri or thesauruses, because it did come to English through Latin.