Friday, February 11, 2011

Real Big Wordz

For Christmas my parents gave me a word of the day calendar.  I keep it on my desk at work and I love it.  Especially on days when I read the word and think, 'No.  That is absolutely not a word.', and then go to dictionary.com, confirm it is, and listen to the pronunciation. 

I expect to be crowned 'High Queen of Scrabble' in the near future.  As soon as I actually start playing scrabble.  If I don't my title will just be, 'Irritating and Pompous User of Words.'

Some favorites so far:

coeval adj: of the same or equal age, antiquity, or duration
The two friends' coeval head colds lead to an appalling amount of Kleenex consumption.

hermetic adj: difficult or impossible for one of ordinary knowledge to comprehend 2: airtight 3: resistant to outside influence
Betty's hermetic references to relationship etiquette led to many vaguely alarmed looks from Bob.

solipsism n: a theory holding that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and that the self is the only existent thing; also : extreme egocentrism
The baby displayed an alarming tendency towards solipsism, refusing to show any concern for the emotional health of the family cat.

otiose adj:  producing no useful result : futile 2: being at leisure : idle 3: lacking use or effect : functionless
The new Lazy-Boy with a concealed cooler in the armrest rendered Wilmer's beer koozie collection quite otiose.

tutoyer v: to address (someone), using the familiar forms of the pronoun "you"; address familiarly
Apparently this is a French word so I don't understand why it was included in an AMERICAN calendar. I also can't immediately think of of a way to use it in a sentence and am therefore being solipsisticly* American to hide my laziness.

 *cannot guarantee valid variation/use of solipsism

boffin n: chiefly British : a scientific expert; especially : one involved in technological research
Oh you wittle boffin you! Look at all the new wittle technological research you just researched. You did a good job! Oh yes you did!

1 comment: