Tag: Word of the Month

  David Zapatka Friend and reader Connie Wilkinson writes, “I came across something I thought interesting while reading a book The Sugar Barons, by Matthew Parker, about the sugar trade during colonial times in the Caribbean. I always thought ‘toking’ had to do with marijuana, but apparently the word ‘toping’ meant to drink an alcoholic…

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  David Zapatka Marilyn Courtot, a frequent guest on my bridge cruises, offers this month’s word of the month, excarnation. Excarnation – noun ex·car·na·tion ˌekˌskärˈnāshən Removal of flesh (as by putrefaction) especially from a corpse The act of a soul leaving the body after death Origin and etymology – Late Latin excarnatus, past participle of…

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David Zapatka While listening to someone speak self-deprecatingly interspersed with self-directed, attention-grabbing, patting-on-the-back comments recently, a friend leaned over to me and said, “You know, there’s a word for this type of self-indulgent talk.” At first, I wasn’t sure what was being implied but on second thought, I realized there was purpose in the self-deprecating…

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David Zapatka Ever wonder what makes your freshly-washed clothes glow in the sunlight? Have you ever been intrigued by the unnaturally-bright colors in the highlighters we use to highlight text? Have you ever looked at the light traveling through a tube in a light fixture and wonder how that works? Think fluorescence, this month’s word…

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David Zapatka Do you have any stubborn people in your life, possibly a relative, friend, co-worker or someone you have interaction with for various other reasons? Thanks to reader Kim Park, if you don’t already use this month’s word, you will have a new way to describe that behavior. Obdurate – adjective ob·du·rate ˈäb-də-rət, -dyə-; äb-ˈdu̇r-ət,…

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David Zapatka Have you ever wondered how words are added to the dictionary? New words, phrases and definitions are added to the Oxford English Dictionary four times a year. A recent revision included over 1,200 changes and updates from a new sense of the word “thing” to the well-established, but newly-prominent usage of the word “woke.”…

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David Zapatka Reader and friend Jim Nulty writes, “I saw the term ‘kitty-corner’ used in a book I’m reading, looked it up and thought you may want to use it in your column.” Kitty-corner – adverb or adjective ki-tē-ˌkȯr-nər, or less commonly ka-tē-,kȯr-nər 1. Adverb – diagonally or obliquely 2. Adjective – in a diagonal or…

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David Zapatka Reader and friend Karen Jorgensen writes, “Dave, I came across a word in a novel that had me pause and reread. The word is ‘obstreperous.’ It was describing the ‘attributes’ of the villain.” Obstreperous – adjective ob·strep·er·ous əb-ˈstre-p(ə-)rəs, äb- Obstreperously – adverb; obstreperousness – noun. 1. marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness: clamorous…

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David Zapatka While reading about the hero’s journey, a theme that occurs in nearly all movie scripts, the word ”archetype” was presented as an aspect of movie characters. This so-called hidden DNA of storytelling was recognized in the 1800’s by Max Muller when he noticed similarities between ancient epic stories and wrote about them in…

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David Zapatka Are you enjoying our political cycle of nonstop commentary on the candidates, their platforms, their off-handed remarks and actions? How about the debates; fascinating? insightful? longwinded? boring? Does it sometimes seems like the words of the talking heads and the candidates go on 24/7? Lindsay Cantoni, friend and fellow bridge player, brings this…

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