Vest-Pocket Vocabulary Since so many of you will be diligently working away on your entries for the Vest-Pocket Challenge and need to conserve your precious vocabulary-related brain cells, I’m going to do something a little different on Thursdays this month and talk about vocabulary without all those delightfully arcane strange Vest-Pocket words. Although we often imagine […]
Lexical Vexations I found this lexical vexation in the book I’m working on at the moment. Could be it was just a typo, but since it has cropped up twice so far, I thought I’d add it to our growing list of vexations. taught v. past tense form of to teach. taut adj. tightly drawn, […]
Vest-Pocket Vocabulary So we’ve made it to the end of the alphabet again, and you now have all the words you’ll need to participate in the Vest-Pocket Challenge! Good luck, fellow verbivores, and have fun! Zythep’sary, n. a house where malt liquor is brewed. Word in the Wild: I’m meeting up with Caroline and Saima […]
Recommended Read Wolf, Maryanne. Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. New York: Harper Perennial, 2007. [ISBN-13: 978-0-06-093384-5] The argument that grounds Proust and the Squid is that the human mind isn’t hardwired for reading the way it is for speech. While the average child left in earshot of others’ speech […]
Vest-Pocket Vocabulary Yawl, v. to cry out. Word in the Wild: Jakeet yawled when the hammer struck his thumb. Others reported that he howled, yelled, or yowled, but I was there and maintain that he most definitely yawled. You can find a complete listing of the Word Blog’s Vest-Pocket Vocabulary entries and learn more about […]
So, you know all those strange words I’ve been sharing with you in my Vest-Pocket Vocabulary posts? Delightful words like ginglymoid and flammimovous? Well, here’s your chance to put them to work earning you a chance to win a fabulously bookish prize package. This Vest-Pocket Challenge celebrates the Word Blog’s first anniversary and its second […]
Questions and Answers Cheryl has submitted another great question for us: she’s found the word hesternal in the novel she’s reading and wonders what it means. Hesternal sounds a little bit like nocturnal or diurnal, but I don’t think I’ve heard this one before. Thankfully the OED has the answer as usual. Hesternal means “of […]
Vest-Pocket Vocabulary Xylog’raphy, n. engraving on wood. Word in the Wild: The park ranger says carving your initials in trees isn’t xylography—it’s just vandalism. Xylography refers to engravings in wood as well as the impressions made from them. The term was used in the nineteenth century to distinguish wood-block printing from that using moveable type. […]
Lexical Vexations complementary adj. completing something or satisfying a lack in something. complimentary adj. 1. flattering; expressing praise. 2. given freely and without cost. Words in the Wild: After she left her complimentary remarks about the concierge with the hotel manager, Sonja found complimentary scones outside her door each morning with complementary clotted cream and jam. […]
Vest-Pocket Vocabulary Wit’ling, n. a pretender to wit. Word in the Wild: Don’t bother reading his reviews—nothing meets that man’s standards. He thinks even Oscar Wilde and Dorothy Parker are witlings, for goodness’ sake! You can find a complete listing of the Word Blog’s Vest-Pocket Vocabulary entries and learn more about where they come […]