David Zapatka Reader and bridge player Andrew Sauter wrote, “’shenanigans’ shows up every couple of years in movies, but why? Also, cool words like ‘syzygy,’ ‘brouhaha’ (ha ha it’s funny to say twice), the kids’ string game Cat’s Cradle (do cats sleep in there if you are not careful?)” While reading Titus Techera’s article, Recovering…
Tag: Word of the Month
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Word of the Month: Parsimonious
David Zapatka While at dinner with friends following a sectional bridge tournament in Fountain Hills, a friend, Susan, described herself as a parsimonious person despite the new $2,000 purse she was showing us. Parsimonious—par·si·mo·ni·ous adjective 1. exhibiting or marked by parsimony; frugal to the point of stinginess 2. sparing, restrained Parsimony—par·si·mo·ny noun 1a. the quality…
Features, February 2025
Word of the Month: Ratiocinative, Ratiocination
David Zapatka Reader Lettie Harrald writes, “I just saw your column in the latest Splash about Gerunds and immediately thought about J.A. Jance’s recent blog also talking about Gerunds, among other things. I am taking the liberty of forwarding said article to you. You need to read through quite a lot of other stuff first…
January 2025, Features
Word of the Month: Elysian
David Zapatka Reader Kim Park writes, “I frequent Elysian Spa here in Chandler. I love their name, Elysian, which is one of my favorite words. You might want to research this word for a future WOTM column.” Elysian—ely·sian i-ˈli-zhən; ih-lizh-uhn adjective: blissful or delightful in a way that seems otherworldly; of, relating to, or resembling…
December 2024, Features
Word of the Month: Gerund
David Zapatka Reader Luz Stella Perotti wrote, “I had a SPLENDID time reading that one (Splendor). It is one of my favorite words.” While reading a fiction writers evaluation team’s comments about what makes a story successful, I came across these sentences, “Successful: tight writing, sharp dialogue, creative use of language, vivid imagery, a surprising…
November 2024, Features
Word of the Month: Neologism
David Zapatka Are you as fascinated with the creation of new words as I am? I find the people who create new words deliciously inventive and their new words fun to learn. While reading an article titled Literary Wordmakers by my friend, Richard Lederer, I ran across this sentence, “Although the identities of most of…
October 2024, Features
Word of the Month: Splendor
David Zapatka While enjoying Self-Culture in The Light of the Ancient Wisdom by I.K. Taimni, I read this sentence, “There are subtler worlds of progressively increasing splendor behind and inter-penetrating the physical world of which we are cognizant through our physical senses…” The word “splendor” has always resonated with me. It’s one of those words…
Generals, September 2024
Word of the Month: Equipoise
David Zapatka While attending the Theosophical Society Convention in Wheaton, Ill., this summer, I saw one of the presenters use the word “equipoise” in his presentation. The usage of the word described a relationship balance between two philosophical thoughts. Equipoise—equi·poise noun 1. A state of equilibrium 2. Counterbalance 3. Balance of forces or interests verb…
August 2024, Features
Word of the Month: Wanly
David Zapatka Reader Bob Mack, commenting on the June WOTM column wrote, “I enjoyed your Chimichurri article, Thanks. Quite the background for such a great tasting meat sauce. I like the old Spanish dictionary definition, confusion. LOL. I recently took some Trader Joe’s Chimichurri sauce, from their deli section, and blended it with some hard-boiled egg yolks,…
July 2024, Features
Word of the Month: Brook
David Zapatka While reading Esoteric Astrology by Alice A Bailey, I read, “He is instantly aware, once he is spiritually awakened, of his motivating impulses, and this leads him to an imposed self-discipline-the thing the Leo subject sorely needs and which must always be self-imposed and self-applied for he brooks no disciplinary measures which others…