A helping hand

I have been away for a while not in body but in mind as I have been writing my own book and taken up a musical instrument, breaching new personal horizons. This all in all has lead me back to blogging and in a hubris manner I have been reminded of the word polymath. However, what use is knowledge if you do nothing with it so leading me neatly to the word:

Philanthropist

This means a person engaging in philanthropy; the pursuit of charity with an altruistic humanist touch. It somewhat feels that this word is reserved for those wealthy souls, like Bill Gates, who turn in their later life to champion charities. Yet the way it rolls of the tongue drives me to persist in finding a way to slide it neatly into my everyday vernacular.

This is for once where I am a little stumped, it is all well and good using it as your synonym for a humanitarian or suggest someone's philanthropy when they are generous nevertheless those occasions are few and far between.

Perhaps I need to go to more charity events in order to hobnob with philanthropists . . .

Stinginess

Normally my posts have nothing to do with current trends, they only include what I have found. However, for once I have a word that could be used in this current climate of post recession life

Parsimony

This is, as the title may have suggested, extreme frugality. Thus, you could say that 'the recession has made parsimonious individuals of all of us'. Or, 'because Dave is short on cash he spends his money parsimoniously'.

Not much more need be said on this, so I shall be parsimonious with my words and sign off here.

Finding new words

I have created this blog to be an out let for my expanding vernacular. Just a list of, what I find, interesting words. However, it had never come to my attention what I was doing in creating a list of words with definitions. It is a very crude dictionary, and so to today's word

Lexicographical

This is the act of writing and editing a dictionary. I suppose I should not really be surprised by this subconscious lexicographical tendency. For I was raised in a town with a link, some what tedious one, to one of the original dictionary writers. Dr Samuel Johnson writer of the 'Dictionary of English Language', that predated the Oxford English dictionary, was once forced to stand in the rain, without a hat, because he refused to help his father on his book stall in Uttoxeter. This means so much to those in the small east Staffordshire town that there is a memorial in the market place to commemorate it. So maybe making a dictionary is not such a bad thing as it could lead to inconsequential parts of your life being commemorated.

Your own experiments

Ever had someone inspire and coax your interest in a subject to such an extent that it causes you to go away and find out more by your own means? Well if so you have already encountered this adjective

Heuristic

It means, as I have already hinted at, the act of pointing out, or indicating, to the extent of stimulating interest to cause further investigation. This is one of the few words that I have found for which I love the connotations but struggle to find a straight forward example. My reasoning is thus, if I where to say 'go away and learn about it yourself' it sounds negative. However, the idea of someone inspiring you, such as a great teacher, to the extent that you devote your own time to finding out more, then that is a good thing. Heuristic can also be attributed to trial by error methods of experimentation the idea of learning by doing, rather than learning from someone else's experience you are having your own.

This gives great credence to heuristic learning, to which I would like to add I hope that this blog is heuristic to your interest and expansion of vocabulary. On which note I will leave you to do your own investigation.

I don't like you

There are some strong words out there. Those that hit home most are the negative ones, so if you wish to reference something that you would attribute a negative connotation to this may interest you

Anathema

This is a person or thing that is detested or loathed. Thus, you can have an anathema or anathemas. For instance, one of my personal anathemas is the use of crass language. Anything and everything could be your own personal anathema, making the application of the word near limitless.

So go ahead and loath things if only to give more opportunity to use anathema.

Ooo, that sounds nice

One of my main reasons for enjoying words, apart form those which give me an excuse to used z's and x's, is the sound they make when saying them. Something perfectly sonorous is a delight to the ear, almost like a Brahms symphony. With that in mind I give you:
mellifluous
As I have already alluded to, as well as sounding nice, this word actually means to be sweet sounding. This comes through an alternate meaning to be sweet with honey, inspecting deeper still following the etymology of the word it would be directly 'to flow with honey'. Personally I love the imagery of something sounding so nice that it flows like honey, sweet and nonchalant. The mellifluous qualities of a word I believe can be worth more than the insipid nature of them. Although, many things can be said about empty words, if they are sweet on the ear I see them as beyond reproach. However, this could dive you into the question of what is sweet to hear? Is it something as I suggest above 'music to one's ear' or is it something more personal like an ego stroking.

With this thought I leave you in order to find your own mellifluous things.

Ed

What a mistake

Have you ever thought that something was so bad that you needed a word with more gravitas than simply 'bad' to use as an adjective? Such as an unredeemable mistake or a terrible blog post, well I give you

Egregious

This is something that is extraordinarily bad, flagrant or just plain heinous. So for instance if someone where to do something reprehensible, then before ameliorating the situation through admonition, you could be tempted to exclaim 'That is a egregious mistake'. Or in the incredibly rude case of someone lying to you a response could be 'You are an egregious deceiver, only looking to obfuscate matters'.

What I quite enjoy about this word is the fact that with just a little thought it can be used extensively, unlike last time's word. All you need to do is replace every 'very bad' with egregious. Or alternatively an example would be to say that this is an egregious goalkeeping error, maybe not as snappy as howler but a little more flair in language I think should be appreciated.

So I wish you all on your way with the hope that your mistakes are not egregious.

Ed

Is that a rhetorical question?

Normally I use this blog to talk about words that can be used to invigorate your language to the point of making conversations and writing fun by using a bit of flare.
However, today I am going to take a different tack. This is somewhat inspired by the book I'm reading at the moment (eats shoots and leaves by Lynne Trust).
Interrobang
This is a rather fun word to say yet I can not think of a time to use it. An interrobang is the punctuation mark which is half way between a question mark and an exclamation mark, to be used when you want to evoke a mixture of query and intersection. Such as at the end of a rhetorical question, hence the title.
So your question is most likely, 'what does it look like?'. Unfortunately my current type set stops me from displaying it here, but imagine a question mark and exclamation mark written ontop of each other such that they share the point and you have a interrobang. For a good picture try this
So a little divergence here from words to punctuation but then it was once said by Edgar Allen Poe 'The writer who neglects punctuation, or mispunctuates, is liable to be misunderstood. For the want of a comma, it often occurs that an axiom appears a paradox, or that a sarcasm is converted into a sermonoid'.
With that thought I will leave you, until next time.

Ed

Its okay I'll make everything alright

Now you may be a bit down or have some work that you could use some help with or just generally want someone to make things better. Well that is why I am here to:

Ameliorate

the situation. This is a rather useful verb meaning to make things better or improve something. I enjoy its use because of the wonderful melody it creates on saying it and the way you can slip it into many and varied conversations. For instance you could even use it in such an every day sentence as 'you could ameliorate that sandwich by adding a little mayonnaise' or 'if you add error bars to your graph it will ameliorate the results by vindicating them'. Also remember something can be ameliorable as well, i.e. an ameliorable guide that makes finding the best bars easy.

So there you go one small(ish) verb to make everything better.

Ed

I'm not boasting or anything but . . .

You may remember talk of hubris nature, well now we take quite the opposite tack almost shy or:

Demure

This is an adjective meaning shyness and modesty. For instance 'why are you being so demure about this, it is quite an achievement'. What I quite like about this word though is its additional use as a synonym for sober or somber i.e. 'you're looking awfully demure tonight'.

You may be wondering why I am drawing this word to your attention, it is neither long nor exotic to be fair it is rather dowdy. However, therein lies the point. The drab way in which it rolls off the tongue mirrors the retreated meaning of the word.

So I leave you in hope that you will be demure in triumph, not in the pub.

Ed

Tip Top

Ever wondered what is at the very top, that summit, that culmination of a crest?

Zenith

This is the highest point or peak. Alternatively it is the opposite of nadir, the road below your feet. Making the zenith the celestial point above your head.

Now you may be thinking great a nice new noun with a z but how do I use it? For once this is a word you can throw into your every day vernacular as an easy replacement for top with great effect. An example could be 'Do you think Rooney has passed the zenith of his career?' or 'I am going to strive to get to the zenith of my potential'. Admittedly it does sound a bit weird though if you ask someone to get you a book from the 'zenith shelf'. But a meeting at the zenith of the stairs does have an air of class.

So remember keep yourself away from the nadir, also known as the point of greatest despair, and moving on up towards your own personal zenith.

Ed

A Change of mind

I've decided to not let this blog die a death through negligence. In a turn of serendipity this change of mind brought me to another adroit word with which to kick things back off again:
Caprice
This is an unpredictable change in weather or mind. Now, you maybe be thinking I've heard that before but not sure where. Well on occasion it is used as a girl's name or probably better known as a car name (Holden or Chevrolet). These uses amuse me, especially imagining in the moments after a girl's berth a mother rather than going for her original choice of Anna suddenly and ironically changing her mind to Caprice.Still for use in an everyday scenario you could comment on someone's constant mind changing as 'Danny is so caprice; he changes his mind without reason or rhyme'. Alternatively on response to someone's change of mind 'Do you have any reason for that decision, or are you just being totally caprice about this?'. Of course there is also the use I get away with most to do with the weather. 'You best take a coat and umbrella with you, it may be sunny now but don't forget the caprice nature of weather in England'.
So here begins again our journey through words just be wary of a change of weather or mind.
Ed

HELLO!

Do you hear me? Do you understand me? Am I communicating my ideas in an elucidating manner? If you find a public speaker asking these questions you may find they do not comprehend the meaning of the word:

Lamprophony

This is a clarity of voice at an audible level. So a mumbling, or a heavily salivating jowled, speaker could be described as having a poor lamprophonic quality.

I see this word as one with a lot of potential to cement a place in our current vernacular, as an opportunity for its use presents its self in a quotidian fashion. For instance instead of saying 'sorry, I didn't catch that' or 'could you repeat that' you have an opening to quip 'Your lamprophony is poor could you repeat yourself' or 'You were maundering please increase your lamprophony and try again'.

So I bid you fair serendipity in keeping your communications clear and thus avoiding obfuscating matters.

Ed

A little bit of Luck

Feeling lucky? Well maybe you will stubble across this word:

Serendipity

This word has its complexity in not the obscurity of it but finding a way to bring it into your quotidian vernacular. The meaning of the word is what I feel throws most people off as it is an aptitude for good fortune or luck. Yet you can not merely substitute serendipity into any sentence containing lucky or fortuitous. However, it does work in times where someone is having luck, such as 'he had the serendipity to find a four-leafed clover'.

So serendipity is not something you can have it is some thing you are.

Thus I ask you to go forth and be your very most serendipitous selves.

Ed

Niceties

'I think you have that slightly wrong, it should be this . . .' is not a sentence you hear too often. If you have sophomania or afflatus it is likely you have never heard this, it falls into that inxplicable deaf region in all hubris natured people's hearing. However, a quiet word correcting you is a great way to learn without loss of confidence, so coaches and teachers often use:

Admonition

This is a gentle reproof, council or advice from a supportive figure. So if you are struggling with a problem even if it is as small as spelling or as big life I am sure you have someone from whom you can ask for admonition. You may even be in the happy position of being an administer of admonition yourself, but whatever your situation there are people to help.

To recognise these barers of admonition I suggest you thank your supportive figures.

Ed

Hey Beautiful

Did you know you look amasing today, why not read on and allow me to continue inveigling, as you are so smart I'm sure you will understand everything I write. I have gone through in past posts words that range from arrogance through sadness even to confusion, hopefully you clever people found them all to be epigrams.

If you have not yet fallen prey to my flattery maybe I need to be a little more obvious or possibly you already know the word:

Inveigle

This is a word to describe the act of luring or ensnaring someone through flattery or artful talk. So if you engorge your vernacular to a great enough extent then you can inveigle your way to anything you want. Whether that is poker with unlucky friends, discounts from shops or dates with pretty people.

A Slanderous word

Words that often seam most interesting are those that are either long or short and complicated. Some of these shorter words appear most exotic when they use less common constant sounds made from letters like v,z and x. Thus I give you:

Vilify

This is a word that evolved from the use of vilificare, to make cheap. As such it means to speak ill of someone or something i.e. to slander or discredit worth.

The rarity of this word in popular vernacular maybe due to it's difficulty to fit into conversation and everyday life. For instance one's tendency would be to say 'Dave bitched about Liam' as bitch, and thus all its related forms, is part of current parlance. However this again gives me opportunity to champion non-crass language in suggesting the use of vilified. As such 'Dave vilified about Liam' in some instances this would also be more accurate as 'bitched' gives an air of negativity to the person discrediting another. Where as vilify and its other forms need not encapsulate that negative connotation.

Thus I bid you go forth and vilify, there is plenty to slander.

Ed

A Sad word

If you are quick to tears and easily upset maybe you should look away now. Or maybe not as this word is for you:

Lachrymose

This is a word to mean mournful. And as hinted to above further definitions are that of 'to course tears' or 'to shed tears readily'.

However if this post's substance, or lack there of, causes lachrymose in you the reader then the effect is complete.

Ed

Clarity

We can not go through life knowing everything, even if some act as if they do. Thus it is a common and conventional thing for us to encounter information in our day to day life that we have not heard before or confuses us. So this word comes to ease that:

Obfuscate

Although the word is a verb meaning to confuse it can be remembered in order to cushion that, often unwanted, realisation that indeed we are fallible. By giving you something you do know. It may also be used in a retaliatory context if some one were to intentionally bewilder you. When faced by such a situation a retort remarking on their obfuscatory information or phrase can in turn obfuscate the provocateur if he is unbeknownst to the word's existence.

I hope this post is unconfusing, unbefudling and unobfuscating.

Ed

An addition to the plethora of words

In a brief look towards the etymology of words it can be seen that on occasion a word can develop out of a phrase. A rather interesting example of which is:

Vulpine

This word's origin is an adjective pertaining to a likeness to a fox. However, from this an additional, and arguably more commonly used, definition has arisen. Cunning.

You may now have already come to the realisation as to which phase has caused this change in terminology. The phrase to which I elude is actually 'Crazy like a fox'. Its meaning being that a fox will act in an erratic manner to avoid harm and save it's self. So foxes are said to be cunning as acting crazy is part of a defence to out wit an assailant. Thus the phrase evolved becoming 'As cunning as a fox'. Or in the case of Blackadder "as cunning as a fox what used to be Professor of Cunning at Oxford University but has moved on, and is now working for the UN at the High Commission of International Cunning Planning".

To state 'you are as cunning as a fox' became a fox likeness and so cunning a synonym of vulpine.

With this new illumination on the orange creature, who may well be rummaging through your rubbish, I give credence to your next phrase. Could it too bring about a change in etymology?

Ed