What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's...
RANTIPOLE [RAN-ti-pohl] (noun, adjective or verb)
A wild, reckless person
"This rantipole hero had for some time singled out the blooming Katrina for the object of his uncouth gallantries, and though his amorous toyings were something like the gentle caresses and endearments of a bear, yet it was whispered that she did not altogether discourage his hopes."
--Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820) (TWITO, page 122)
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's...
MUMPSIMUS [MUMP-sih-muss] (noun)
Someone who adheres to old ways that are obviously wrong
"The best of the joke is, that Johnston, who seems here to have deserted for a moment the old mumpsimus, contradicts himself in the very next page, and having laughed at ‘broken’ metaphors in one breath, attempts, in the next, to ‘reduce’ one, after a manner of surgery almost as awful as that of Warburton himself."
--T. D., "On the use of Metaphors" in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, (1825) (TWITO, page 92)
Hmm. Who might we apply this word to? I’m thinking of a certain mumpsimus from a certain political party. Maybe you are, too, even if it isn’t the same party. That’s politics.
The illustration is from the 1894 book Laughable Lyrics: A Fourth Book of Nonsense Poems, Songs, Botany, Music, etc. by Edward Lear.
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's...
ABOULOMANIA [ay-BOO-lo-MAY-nee-uh] (noun)
Pathological indecisiveness
"Chocolate or strawberry? Cursing his aboulomania, Sylvester continued to stare at the ice-cream parlor’s menu." (TWITO, page 9)
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's...
MAKEBATE [MAYK-bayt] (noun)
A person who creates discord or conflict
"I am no makebate,
no inciter of quarrels," said Nelson. "I simply think that a discussion of one’' religion shouldn't be taboo in polite company." (TWITO, page 86)
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