Link Mania: How 'solertic' are you?

10 Words with Spooky Etymologies
I'll never look at a nickel the same way again.

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Feeling bright? 8 historical synonyms for 'clever'
Well! Aren't you the solertic one!

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Strong Vocabulary Protects Against Cognitive Decline
TWITO to the rescue!

Word of the Day: godwottery

What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's....

godwottery [god-WOT-uhr-ee] noun (TWITO, page 62)

1. Elaborate gardening
2. The use of archaic language

Verily, I say, 'tis most vexing to issue forth in antique jottings, as if from the honeyed pen of Shakespeare. One feels like an artless fly-bitten coxcomb! Or a lumpish doghearted wagtail! Or even an impertinent flap-mouthed dewberry! Fie on it! Methinks I must leave off with this gleeking, sheep-biting godwottery! Art thou in agreement?

Much Ado about NOTHING

Owing to some major renovations going on in my home, I am unable to take a shower. Yikes! Instead, I have to take baths. Below is what I wrote a few years ago when I found myself in a similar situation. Still all too true...

I haven't taken a bath in years. No, it's not a lack of hygiene; it's that I'm a shower man. To me, a bath seems like a luxury, a waste of time and water. "Drawing" the bath, carefully lowering myself in, feeling around for the soap or sponge like a scavenging fish after some smaller sea creature, then washing myself in slow motion, as one tends to do underwater--it all seems very leisurely and Victorian. Then, too, I don't know how to wash my hair in the bathtub. But my main problem is that it feels . . . delightful. It's like a trip back to the womb, and I'm tempted to linger and savor it--not good if I have to be somewhere in an hour.

Photo of the Week: Twin Peaks

Here's a painting I saw recently at an art gallery. Twin Peaks is returning to television in 2016. As if that wasn't exciting enough (to me), Mark Frost, co-creator of the series, will publish a novel next year detailing what has happened in that iconic, influential town since we last saw it in 1991. "It is happening again." Twin Peaks fans will recognize that quote, as well as "Fire Walk With Me". Click for a closer view.

Random Sequnce: plenishings?

"...and then arose the little 'cloud no bigger than a man's hand,' which floated thereafter in her horizon, and which slowly gathered volume until it hung like a pall over the Gilbraith home -- over the flowers and fountains, the music and books, the lofty rooms, the luxurious plenishings, and, darkest of all, over the heart of its mistress."
--Anonymous, "The Year Eighteen Hundred and Fifty-Nine" in Godey's Lady Book and Magazine, October 1864

(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)

plenishings (noun) = abundances

It's not a word used much anymore, although a common, related word is "replenish". "Plenishings" makes me think of overstuffed pillows and overflowing bowls of fruit.

Link Mania: Nigel and Uncle Bob meet obdormition

Feminist language: 5 terms you need to know
Nigel definitely does not get a cookie.

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21 fancy medical terms for mundane problems
Including "obdormition" (TWITO, page 99) and a variant of "sternutation" (TWITO, page 140).

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8 British Expressions, Explained
Need to know what those Brits are going on about? Bob's your uncle!

Word of the Day: ostrobogulous

What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's....

ostrobogulous [os-tro-BOG-yoo-luss] adjective (TWITO, page 105)

Something weird, bizarre, unusual, or pornographic

"Mother doesn't want to go to the movies. She calls them agglomerations of ostrobogulous fantasies."


(photo by me)

Much Ado about NOTHING

Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere I look these days. Not in my backyard though, despite the enormous -- I would even say monstrous -- pumpkin vine growing, winding, creeping back there. It's the result of dumping a decomposing pumpkin in the garden last year; obviously, the seeds liked our soil. Maybe it's too early for a crop though. Maybe the Great Pumpkin will visit us yet by Halloween. If so, I don't think I'll murder it (him?) with a knife in a misguided attempt to create a Brobdingnagian jack-o'-lantern. Let it be.

(photo by me)

Photo of the Week: 'I Want to Believe' (by me)

A fleet of UFOs invaded the Jersey Gardens mall! Click for a closer view -- you know you want to.

Random Sequence: clodhopper

"Jim Wallis has come hone, Katie. He's made a heap of money speculating, and bought a house in Cincinnati, and he's going to take Susy and her mother there to live; and he says I can't have Susy -- she's going to be rich, and a city girl -- and I'm only a poor country clodhopper."
--Mary Forman, "Keeping Company", in Godey's Lady Book and Magazine, April 1864

(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)

clodhopper = (1.) a clumsy, awkward person, a bumpkin (2.) a big heavy shoe

If you're walking amongst a lot of "clods", I suppose it helps to wear big heavy shoes -- in case you step in it.

Link Mania: Add these to your idea pot

An A to Z of Noah Webster's Finest Forgotten Words
It's World Dictionary Day! Huffington Post celebrates with this A to Z list of "forgotten" words. Not all are forgotten, though. It includes "obambulate", a variant of "obambulation" (TWITO, page 99) -- to wander aimlessly or walk about.

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25 Legit Words from the Hepcats Jive Talk Dictionary
Got your boots on? Add these to your idea pot if you want to sound like a swellelegant lothario from Ontario.

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Americano to zarf: a list of coffee words
Anyone care for a steaming cup of "mysore"? Includes "zarf" (TWITO, page 168).

Word of the Day: benthos

What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's....

benthos [BEN-thoss] noun (TWITO, page 20)

The biogeographic region that includes the bottom of the ocean, lake, or sea, and littoral or supralittoral shore zones

(The littoral zone is the part of a body of water that is close to the shore.)

"Everywhere on the foreshore except in the most desolate of localities the benthos provides a living, scanty though it may be, for inshore fisherman."
--James Johnstone, Conditions of Life in the Sea (1908)


(photo by me)

Much Ado about NOTHING

There are so many people who have the same name as me. As I told a friend at work today, I think of them as my doppelgangers, although most of them don't look anything like me. I wonder how many of them have googled their names and stumbled across this blog. Sometimes I think I should start a club or online chat room just for people who have my name. I could ask them questions. Do we have anything else in common besides our name? Are we distantly related? Are any of them related to Bill the billionaire? Maybe we could even switch identities temporarily, just to see how each other lives. "What's in a name?" Shakespeare asked. I'd like to find out. But more than that, I'd like to have a unique, distinctive name.

Photo of the Week (by me) / The T&T List

The T&T List

Cosmigraphics
Basil Twist
the ortolan
Riot Games
Airbnb
Xiaomi
Autómata
Meshell Ndegeocello
the Friedrichsbad baths
Ladyfag
The Slanted Door
Taghrooda

Random Sequence: quixotic

"She came to me to beg me to release her son. She told me that in his Quixotic generosity he would doubtless hasten to me, and make me his wife; but that by so doing he would utterly destroy his own prospects."
--Mary Forman, "Wanted: A Companion", in Godey's Lady Book and Magazine, September 1864

(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)

quixotic = idealistic, unrealistic, or impractical; loftily romantic or extravagantly chivalrous

One might say blogging is a quixotic pursuit.

The word is derived from the character Don Quixote, the knight who wanted to battle windmills.

Link Mania: pterodactyl phlegm, dew-beaters, and beer labels

30 Old (And Useful) Slang Names For Parts of the Body
Body language -- from your twopenny to your dew-beaters.

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15 Words Plagued by Unusual Silent Letters
Apropos of nothing, my faux pterodactyl has phlegm. Honest?

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Suds or brewskis? American beer slang
This article reminds me of a word on page 82 of TWITO: labeorphily [lay-bee-OR-fil-ee] (noun) -- the collection and study of beer labels.

"Confronted by the huge number of empties by the back door, Wilbert blamed his obsessive labeorphily."


(photo by me)

Word of the Day: rutilant

What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's....

rutilant [ROOT-ih-lunt] adjective (TWITO, page 128)

Bright red in color

"Though Prudence pretended to be unaffected by off-color jokes, her rutilant face gave her away."


(photo by me)

Twin Peaks: It IS Happening Again

In honor of today's announcement about the return of my favorite TV show of all time, I present this blog post from a few years back:

Wow, Bob, wow, I'm tired. Instead of further forays into magniloquent persiflage, I'll share this with you:

"Starting at 10 a.m. today (EST), Miller will watch every episode of the David Lynch TV-Series Twin Peaks (including the European pilot) in a 30-hour stretch expected to run through mid-afternoon on Friday."

You can read more about performance artist Tom Miller's marathon fit of Peak here.

"I have found no evidence that anyone in the world has publicly achieved watching every episode of 'Twin Peaks' (plus the movie 'Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me') in one continuous sitting while only consuming coffee, cherry pie and doughnuts. I will be the first."

Thirty hours of caffeine, sugar, and surrealism. Let's rock!



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magniloquent = high-flown or bombastic
persiflage = banter

Photo of the Week: Neat Knits (by me)

Stay warm this winter! (Click the pic for a closer view. You know you want to.)

Random Sequence: Is your "mien" mean?

"Her hands were ever eager to minister to his wants; her mien was quiet and collected, after the first burst of feeling; but her pale face and anxious eye told a story of intense inner suffering."
--Mary W. Janvrin, "The Contented Mind", in Godey's Lady Book and Magazine, April 1864

(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)

mien = appearance, bearing, or demeanor

You could have a mean mien, I suppose.


(photo by me)

Link Mania: Perspicacious Apes and a Faux Pterodactyl

Ten of the Best Collective Nouns
Perspicacious apes and murder most fowl.

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25 Handy Words That Simply Don't Exist In English
I'm always nervous about age-otori.

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15 Words Plagued by Unusual Silent Letters
Apropos of nothing, my faux pterodactyl has phlegm. Honest?