Lexical Vexations holey adj. having one or more holes. holy adj. divine. wholly adv. in its entirety; altogether. Words in the Wild: To Katia’s annoyance, her mother insisted that wearing holey tights was wholly inappropriate on such a holy occasion. Still vexed? You can find a complete list of the Word Blog’s lexical vexations here.
Recommended Read Abley, Mark. The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2008. [ISBN-13: 978-0-679-31366-3] Take a moment to be astonished at how much English has changed in the 600-odd years since Langland wrote Peirs Plowman: In a somer sesun, whon softe was the sonne, I schop me into a shroud, as […]
Vest-Pocket Vocabulary Lusk’ish, a. inclined to laziness. Word in the Wild: Stavros was glad Pekoe didn’t scratch or bite, but he thought maybe she should hunt or prowl or, you know, at least move or something. He’d never seen a more luskish cat in all his life and was beginning to wonder if he should […]
Lexical Vexations throne n. a fancy chair for royalty. thrown v. (past participle of to throw) propelled by force through the air. Words in the Wild: Not even the fear of being thrown out of it could keep Marie Antoinette’s Pomeranian from sitting on her throne when she wasn’t there. Still vexed? You can find a complete […]
My awesome parents, knowing all about my obsession with words, recorded the Empire of the Word documentary series that aired on TVO last month for me. It was developed and narrated by the very impressive Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading, The Library at Night, and The City of Words among other titles. […]
Vest-Pocket Vocabulary Ket, n. putrid flesh; filth. Word in the Wild: Cassandra had watched and loved every episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and announced to her high school guidance counsellor and anyone else who would listen that she wanted to become a forensic criminologist. But since slipping in the ket of a long-dead raccoon […]
Welcome to the new year, fellow logophiles. I hope that your 2009 was chockful of new vocabulary, fantastic friends, great reads, fascinating conversations, wholesome fun, and above all, words! And, of course, I wish you a 2010 full of more of the same. So to start the year off right, here’s a roundup of my […]
Lexical Vexations discreet adj. unobtrusive; judicious. discrete adj. separate, distinct. Words in the Wild: Stephanie and Sanjay were separating the incoming resumes into discrete “interview” and “maybe” piles as they were submitted. But, unbeknownst to the applicants, they were also discreetly tossing the “definitely nots” directly into the recycling bin. If you have trouble keeping these […]
Vest-Pocket Vocabulary Jactita’tion, n. a tossing; restlessness; false pretense of marriage. Word in the Wild: She couldn’t believe that digitally altering a few of her wedding photos to include Adam West’s face could have landed her in this much trouble. But after he accused Dolores of jactitation, she found herself exhausted by many nights filled with worry and jactitation. […]
Proofreaders’ Marks So you were taking notes in class, and, boy, that professor was professing at just about the speed of light. So it’s no wonder you took some shortcuts as your fingers flew across the keys—# instead of number, 2ndary instead of secondary, % instead of percent. But now you’ve cut and paste some […]