Random Sequence: hilding

"If your lordship find him not a hilding, hold me no more in your respect."
--William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, Act III, Scene VI

hilding (noun) = a good-for-nothing fellow

This word is good for something -- like insulting a guy without him knowing it.

Word of the Day: curwhibble

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

curwhibble [KUR-wib-ul] (noun) [TWITO, page 37]

A thingamajig or whatchmacallit

"Many thanks to your honor. What pretty curwhibbles and etceteras! I'll hang 'em to my watch to give it a travelled air."
--Anonymous, "A Captivity among the Rockites," in The Metropolitan (1831)


(photo by me)

Photo of the Week: Dragonfly (by me)

A dragonfly landed on my lamp. Click the pic for a closer view. You know you want to.

Link Mania: 'Uvula' Makes Me Gag

34 interjections you should be using
Prove your bravery by saying "geewillikers!" instead of "wow" or OMG.

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18 Fancy Words for Specific Shapes
Have you ever seen a flying acetabuliform? And: "If it looks like a grain of barley, it’s hordeiform." Remember that next time you see something shaped like a grain of barley.

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11 words we should start using more often
Including "mumpsimus" (TWITO, page 92). Here's wishing you a "eucatastrophe". But will you remember these "overmorrow"?

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10 words for body parts that you probably didn’t know
Including "gowpen" (TWITO, page 63). Did you know you had one of those? And "uvula"? It makes me gag.

Open 'The Iron Box': Kindle Thriller

Michael Gates, author of The Word I'm Thinking Of, doesn't just write about ostrobogulous lexemes (weird words). He also writes short fiction, and one of his stories, "The Iron Box", is now available on Amazon Kindle. It's a noir thriller about two men on a treasure hunt in the Adirondacks wilderness who encounter a bizarre and dangerous adversary. Two short bonus stories are also included. So fire up your Kindle and download it today. You have nothing to lose but your sangfroid.

The Iron Box

Random Sequence: lunes

"I dare be sworn
These dangerous unsafe lunes i' the king,
beshrew them!
He must be told on't, and he shall: the office
Becomes a woman best; I'll take't upon me:
If I prove honey-mouth'd let my tongue blister
And never to my red-look'd anger be
The trumpet any more."
--William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale

lunes (noun) = fits of lunacy; crazyness

I suppose you could say that loons are loony-tunes and subject to lunes.

Fish Food for Thought

Story Cubes 4: Soaring Eagle

"Time to go on", Dillon thought, glancing at the clock. He finished applying his makeup, put on his costume -- which mostly consisted of a loincloth -- and reluctantly left the makeshift dressing room. He got into the elevator and pressed L for the lobby, where the temporary stage had been erected in this tenantless office building. Community theater in this theaterless town had to set up wherever free space was offered, and this play, called "Scales of Justice", would be lucky to break even, no matter how much manipulating of the abacus the volunteers did. The flat at the back of the stage had been freshly painted with a rainbow, he noted with disdain. Dillon adjusted his war bonnet and got into the paper teepee. "Native American stereotypes. Uhg!" he moaned, thinking about his lines. "Even if it is about tribal justice. For this I went to drama school?" As the curtain rose, though, the ragtag audience gave the tableau a big hand. He picked up his bow and arrow, and once again the miracle occurred. He became Chief Soaring Eagle.

Word of the Day: nullibicity

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

nullibicity [nuhl-ih-BISS-it-ee] (noun) [TWITO, page 98]

The state of being nowhere (the opposite of ubiquity); nonexistence

"I had a desk, a chair, some bookshelves, a computer and a printer, a plug-in coffee pot, and clients who insisted on nullibicity."


(photo by me)

Photo of the Week (by me): Griffin

Click him/her/it for a closer view. A "griffin" is a monster, usually depicted as having the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Talk about an identity crisis!

Link Mania: A Monkey's Wedding?

32 Long-Forgotten Weather Words
Few things are more confusing than a "monkey's wedding".

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18 awesome ways to say awesome
Overused "awesome" is losing its power, so here is an eximious list of prestantious alternatives.

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Calling all tonguesters: Refresh your gossip with old words
Are you a prattle-basket? Bite your tongue!

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8 of the best "new" words to make the latest English dictionary
"'Twerk' is not a new word; that's where people from Yorkshire go in the morning."

Random Sequence: othergates

"If a bloody coxcomb be a hurt, you have hurt me. I think you set nothing by a bloody coxcomb. Here comes Sir Toby halting. You shall hear more. But if he had not been in drink, he would have tickled you othergates than he did."
--Twelfth Night, Act 5, Scene 1, William Shakespeare

othergates (adverb) = otherwise or in another manner

I feel strangely drawn to this obsolete word.

Fish Food for Thought