Word of the Day: Psithurism
Definition: The sound of wind rustling in the trees. Listening to the psithurism, the koala fell asleep and dreamed of dinner.
Word of the Day: Balbutient
Definition: (adj.) Stammering or stuttering The balbutient pirate taught his patient parrot to say ‘Pass the rum’ on his behalf. He was getting very thirsty trying to say it by himself.
Word of the Day: Aeolist
Definition: A pompous bore who pretends to have inspiration or spiritual insight. How to remember this word: Aeolus was the God of Wind—so an aeolist is someone who pontificates through their posterior. Anyway, I’m glad I looked it up before I used it in my CV. See, I told you I was psychic.
Word of the Day: Gambrinous
Definition: Full of beer. When I am gambrinous, I fall asleep in the middle of a … On a scholarly note, I reckon it’d be fun to be this guy. Even if he isn’t really the King of Beer—or real at all, for that matter.
Word of the Day: Nudiustertian
Definition: Relating to the day before yesterday Because I was abducted by a poetic, cockroach-fearing alien on Sunday, I was unable to write my nudiustertian WOTD post. I am very glad to be back, although interplanetary jet lag is a killer.
Word of the Day: Hypercorrection
Definition: Misusing grammatical rules by overthinking how they should be applied or applying them in the wrong context At some point, we might have been told that it is better manners to say 'yourself', instead of 'you'. Or 'you and I' instead of 'you and me'. But if your teacher were to tell you that 'Fred [...]
Word of the Day: Blattoid
Definition: Resembling a cockroach. The alien said: there are things I avoid Things that make me sad and annoyed Objects with slime Or ones covered in grime But I admire those creatures blattoid (Apparently, they can colonise a planet—I can’t wait to visit.)
Word of the day: Apophenia
Definition: Perceiving patterns or connections in random or meaningless information. My toasted sandwich had Harry Potter’s face on it. And my salad looked a bit like Ron (must’ve been all that carrot). The waiter told me I was experiencing apophenia, but I'm sure this cafe is on Rowling St for a reason ...
Word of the day: Circumlocutory
Definition: Using many words where a few would do. Circumlocutory and repetitious forms of either communicating or conveying a message—verbal, written or otherwise—cause me to experience a dull pain in my cranium. As the case may be. (In summary: Argh!)
Word of the day: Estivate
Definition: To travel somewhere warm in the winter. After global warming, no one will want to estivate. Winter may no longer be a thing.