Is your drone VOLITANT?

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

VOLITANT (adj)

1. Flying, or capable of flying.
2. Moving about rapidly.

"When Mother gets violent, frying pans get volitant." (TWITO, page 157)

A variant is VOLITATION (TWITO, page 158) = the act of flying; flight. "Dreams of volitation led Professor Spillings to invent many crash-prone flying machines."

Is your Xmas tree CLINQUANT?

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

CLINQUANT (adj)

Glittering, but usually in a false or cheap way, like tinsel

"No, there are too many of these fine sparks you talk of who perhaps may be very clinquant, slight, and bright and make a very pretty show at first, but the tinsel-gentlemen do so tarnish in the wearing, there's no enduring them."
--Thomas Shadwell, The Virtuoso (1676)

I once had a cat that liked to eat the tinsel (of the "icicle" type) off the Christmas tree. Maybe he had an iron deficiency. Anyway, he always threw it up later, in a sort of shiny hairball, which was both pretty from a distance and disgusting close up -- like many things, I guess. (TWITO, page 32)

Would you like a TANTARA when you enter the room?

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

TANTARA (noun)

A trumpet or horn fanfare

“Augusta always made quite an impression. Whenever she entered a room, I could almost hear a tantara.” (TWITO, page 145)

Sleepy? Solve your problems the HYPNOETIC way

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

HYPNOETIC (adjective)

Pertaining to logical but unconscious mental processes

"When Horace said he would 'sleep on it,' we knew the problem was about to be solved, thanks to his hypnoetic talents." (TWITO, page 68)

Are CARRIWITCHETS the lowest form of humor?

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

Carriwitchet (noun)

An absurd question, a pun, a quibble, a conundrum; a jocular or facetious comment

So this hydrogen atom walks into a bar. He goes up to the bartender and orders a beer. He says to the bartender, "I think I've lost an electron." The bartender says, "Are you sure?" The electron says, "Yes, I’m positive." So this carton of yogurt walks into a bar. He goes up to the bartender and orders a beer. The bartender says, "Hey, buddy, we don’t serve yogurt in here." The yogurt says, "Why not? I’m a cultured individual." Etcetera, etcetera. Those are carriwitchets. (TWITO, page 29)

I heard you! Stop battologizing!

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

Battologize (verb) (TWITO, page 20)

To repeat oneself excessively

"But when we pray, let us not battologize (i.e., use vain repetitions), but theologize."
--Samuel Miller (quoting the early Christian theologian Origen), "Thoughts on Public Prayer" (1849)

It can be annoying when someone keeps repeating himself, but it can be amusing, too. Whenever you hear the word or catchphrase elsewhere, you think of that person. The verbal tic becomes symbolic of him or her, like a sonic monogram or an aural coat of arms. As the Beatles said, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Here are some words and phrases I hear from battologizers (who shall be nameless) all the time:

circle back
close the loop
have a conversation about....
pretty much
exactly!
What's interesting is....
Can I ask you a question?
over to you
okay, okay, okay
Here's the thing...
whatcha got?

Please, no GD entheomania!

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

ENTHEOMANIA (noun)

Abnormal belief that one is divinely inspired

"The king's entheomania was the root cause of his subjects’ general woe."

This is why we don't have a king. Right?

DESIDERATUM? With cream and sugar?

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

DESIDERATUM (noun) TWITO, page 16

= something considered necessary or highly desirable

"He was a man of simple tastes, and a cup of coffee--hot and black--was his only morning desideratum. Hers was a mocha coconut frappuccino."

You're no fun -- you're ANTITHALIAN

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

ANTITHALIAN (adjective) TWITO, page 16

= Opposed to fun

"Mr. Toobad described her as being fully impressed with the truth of his Ahrimanic philosophy, and being altogether as gloomy and antithalian a young lady as Mr. Glowry himself could desire for the future mistress of Nightmare Abbey."
--Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey (1818)

"Ahrimanic" refers to Ahriman, which in Zoroastrianism is the name for a devil or Satan. Would you describe Satan as antithalian? It depends on what kind of fun you’re into, I guess.

Have you heard enough rodomontades, lately?

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

rodomontade (noun)

Bragging or bluster, or a rant

"I put down the phone long before Donald finished his rodomontade." (TWITO, page 126)

Too many rodomontades in the news. Strange days indeed.

Heard any psithurism lately?

Psithurism (noun) = the sound of rustling leaves or the wind in the trees

It's that time of year.

Somewhither?

"We wanted to get somewhither away from the furious winds blowing anywhither, but my bicycle was clearly going nowhither with two flat tires. 'Whither those cabins we heard about?' Elias asked. 'Those are elsewither,' I sighed."

That's five underused adverbs I just used!

You may find my sample sentences withering.

Watch out for catachresis!

Yack, yack, yack.....

exordium = the beginning or introduction, especially of a discourse or treatise

peroration = the conclusion of a speech, usually intended to inspire enthusiasm

anacoluthon = a sentence with an unexpected grammatical sequence, for example "while in the kitchen, the phone rang."

catachresis = incorrect use of a word, for example, the use of mitigate for meditate

enthymeme = an argument in which a premise is not stated

metabole = a change or mutation

If you are a dipterist, you collect flies....

If you are a....

philatelist, you collect stamps
numismatist, you collect coins and banknotes
lepidopterist, you collect butterflies and moths
coleopterist, you collect beetles
dipterist, you collect flies (!)
arctophile, you collect teddy bears
oologist, you collect birds' eggs
deltiologist, you postcards (I know one!)
notaphilist, you collect banknotes (Don't we all?)
tegestologist, you collect beer coasters
phillumenist, you collect matchboxes or matchbook labels
scripophilist, you collect old bond and share certificates

Words / Mind Dump

The yoke of destiny is a pain in the neck. (Not to be confused with the "yolk" of destiny -- those are pretty good.)

Do you prefer the haunting honk of a flugelhorn or the romanatic timbre of the sarrusophone? #decisions

"Lunatic fringe" was originally the name for a type of women's haircut.

Someone who daydreams is called a “vagarian”. Someone who daydreams about vegetables is called a “vegetarian vagarian”.

I couldn’t care less about “liberosis”. (You could look it up.)

Hmm. "Deep fakes". Acting is a sort of deep fake too, but we give it awards. Deep fake videos should have warning labels. By law.

Skipping breakfast isn’t so bad, especially if you’re just a cereal killer. Only the food biz says it’s the most important meal of the day.

Coffee, pee, coffee, pee, coffee, pee, coffee, pee, etc.

Ostrobogulous, Oneirodynia, Acephalia, Slantingdicular, and Conglobate

My ostrobogulous oneirodynia last night was all about acephalia. I saw my head roll down a slantingdicular street and conglobate into a pumpkin.

Read all about them:

ostrobogulous = weird or bizarre (TWITO, page 105)
oneirodynia = sleep disturbed by nightmares
acephalia = the absence of a head (page 10)
slantingdicular = at a slanting angle
conglobate = to form into a ball (page 33)

Nephelococcygia, Benthos, Stultiloquence, Ostrobogulous, and Ishkabibble

"Stop this nepheloccoccygia!" Terrence said, interrupting my reverie on the chaise lounge. "It's your turn to clean the benthos of this filthy swimmming pool."

"That's just stultiloquence!" I retorted. "It's just a swimming pool, not Lake Erie. And you cleaned it just last week. Your ostrobogulous obsession with the insignificant flotsam on the bottom is just pure ishkabibble!"

Read all about them:

nephelococcygia = cloud gazing (TWITO, page 95)
benthos = the bottom of an ocean, lake, or sea (page 20)
stultiloquence = foolish talk or babble (page 141)
ostrobogulous = weird or bizarre (page 105)
ishkabibble = nonsense (page 74)


Photo by me!

Ackamaracus, Cacoethes, Desideratum, Makebate, Gasconade, Ataraxia

Milicent thought it was ackamaracus that Louis, who drew nothing but anthropomorphized cats, had such a cacoethes for portraying his feline desideratums, but she didn't want to be a makebate about it, or gasconade about her own ataraxia when it came to artistic endeavors.

Read all about them!

ackamarackus = pretentious nonsense (TWITO, page 11)
cacoethes = a mania (page 26)
desideratum = something necessary or highly desirable (page 41)
makebate = a person who creates discord or conflict (page 86)
gasconade = to boast (page 60)
ataraxia = peace of mind (page 17)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Wain

Ubiety, Dendrophile, Rhathymia, Afflatus, Oscitancy

Ah nature! The ubiety of the park was ideal for dendrophiles, and gave Cedric, in the mood for rhathymia, a sudden afflatus. He closed his eyes and leaned toward Millicent, expecting a kiss, but all she offered was oscitancy.

Read all about them!

ubiety = the state of being in a particular place (TWITO, page 152)
dendrophile = a lover of trees (page 144)
rhathymia = carefree behavior (page 125)
afflatus = an inspiration or creative impulse (page 12)
oscitancy = the act of yawning, the state of being drowsy (page 104)

Anodyne, Rannygazoo, Fantods, Perspicacious, Embuggerance, Tohubohu

"Hector's fantods erupted when his rannygazoo, which he thought would be perceived by his perpicacious friends as annondyne, or at worst as an embuggerance, created a complete tohubohu."

Read all about them:

Fantods = a state of extreme nervoud anxiety (TWITO, page 52)
Rannygazoo = a joke or prank (page 122)
Perspicacious = having keen understanding, mental perception, or discernment (page 110)
Anodyne = something that lessens pain; isn't likely to disturb or annoy (page 14)
Embuggerance = a small, annoying problem (page 46)
Tohubohu = a state of chaos or confusion (page 147)