Just because the comic strip below made me laugh and nod, plus the word cropped up the other day when I was reading The Eagle of the Ninth, today’s word is: decimate transitive verb \ˈde-sə-ˌmāt\ Etymology: Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare, from decimus tenth, from decem ten 1: to select by lot and kill [...]
The word of the day, thanks to Merriam-Webster: feuilleton \fuh-yuh-TOHNG (the “ng” is not pronounced, but the preceding vowel is nasalized)\ noun 1 : a part of a European newspaper or magazine devoted to material designed to entertain the general reader 2 : a work of fiction printed in installments 3 : a short [...]
The word of the day, thanks to Merriam-Webster: euphuism YOO-fyuh-wiz-um noun 1 : an elegant Elizabethan literary style marked by excessive use of balance, antithesis, and alliteration and by frequent use of similes drawn from mythology and nature 2 : artificial elegance of language Nowadays, someone who uses euphuism might be accused of [...]
For once, I didn’t wait for a word to be emailed to me. I picked this word myself based on a minor incident this morning. tautology noun a: needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word b: an instance of tautology This word was used by the brainy annoying kid in last week’s Doctor [...]
The word of the day, thanks to Merriam-Webster: whodunit hoo-DUN-it noun : a detective story or mystery story In 1930, Donald Gordon, a book reviewer for News of Books, needed to come up with something to say about a rather unremarkable mystery novel called Half-Mast Murder. “A satisfactory whodunit,” he wrote. The coinage played [...]
The word of the day, thanks to Merriam-Webster: haplology \hap-LAH-luh-jee\ noun : contraction of a word by omission of one or more similar sounds or syllables Try to say “pierced-ear earrings” three times fast. That exercise will demonstrate why haplology happens: sometimes it’s just easier to drop a syllable and leave yourself with something [...]
