#12

sesquipedalian \ses-kwuh-puh-DAYL-yuhn\, adjective:
1. Given to or characterized by the use of long words.
2. Long and ponderous; having many syllables.

noun:
1. A long word.

As a sesquipedalian stylist, he can throw a word like 'eponymous" into a sentence without missing a beat.
-- Campbell Patty, "The sand in the oyster", The Horn Book Magazine, May 15, 1996

Plus he has a weakness for what we can mischievously call sesquipedalian excess: Look out for such terms as "epiphenomenal," "diegetic" and "proprioceptive."
-- Jabari Asim, "Reel Pioneer", Washington Post, November 19, 2000

They walk and speak with disdain for common folk, and never miss a chance to belittle the crowd in sesquipedalian put-downs or to declare that their raucous and uncouth behavior calls for nothing less than a letter to the Times, to inform proper Englishmen of the deplorable state of manners in the Colonies.
-- William C. Martin, "Friday Night in the Coliseum", The Atlantic, March 1972

. . .her eccentric family's addiction to sesquipedalians (that big word for "big words"), and her furtive passion for flossy mail-order-catalog prose.
-- David Browne, "Books/The Week", Entertainment Weekly, October 23, 1998


Sesquipedalian comes from Latin sesquipedalis, "a foot and a half long, hence inordinately long," from sesqui, "one half more, half as much again" + pes, ped-, "a foot."



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enchanted letterforms

#11

milksop \MILK-sop\, noun:
An effeminate or weak-minded person; an unmanly man.

But though intelligent and 'good tempered', he was also something of a milksop, unlike his younger brothers who were 'full of courage'.
-- Saul David, Prince of Pleasure

And what a milksop I'll be thought and what a tyrant you'll be thought and how you'll be dreaded accordingly.
-- John Butler Yeats, quoted in W.B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. 1 by R. F. Foster


Milksop comes from Middle English, literally a piece of bread sopped in milk.

#10

we have broken into the double digits. what shall we do?


spoonerism \SPOO-nuh-riz-uhm\, noun:
The transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words.

Some examples:



We all know what it is to have a half-warmed fish ["half-formed wish"] inside us.
The Lord is a shoving leopard ["loving shepherd"].
It is kisstomary to cuss ["customary to kiss"] the bride.
Is the bean dizzy ["dean busy"]?
When the boys come back from France, we'll have the hags flung out ["flags hung out"]!
Let me sew you to your sheet ["show you to your seat"].



Spoonerism comes from the name of the Rev. William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), a kindly but nervous Anglican clergyman and educationalist. All the above examples were committed by (or attributed to) him.

#9

hoi polloi \hoi-puh-LOI\, noun:
The common people generally; the masses.

Lizzie insisted that her children distinguish themselves from the hoi polloi by scrupulous honesty.
-- Kate Buford, Burt Lancaster: An American Life

The exchange of roles in "The Prince and the Pauper" suggests that a man of the people can be a benevolent ruler because of his humble roots, that a prince can become a better ruler through exposure to hoi polloi.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "In Classic Children's Books, Is a Witch Ever Just a Witch?", New York Times, December 22, 1992

America's cereal queen [Marjorie Merriweather Post, heir to the Post Cereal fortune] had the same problems that the hoi polloi have -- philandering husbands, messy divorces, soggy Grape-Nuts.
-- Maureen Dowd, "Rich Little Rich Girl", New York Times, February 12, 1995


Hoi polloi is Greek for "the many."

from dictionary.com

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One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.
- Rita Mae Brown

#8

flummox \FLUM-uhks\, transitive verb:
To confuse; to perplex.

And when a poll's results happen to upset the conventional wisdom, orconfound the experts, or flummox the pundits, then that's a poll toremember.
-- Michael Kagay, "Unexpected Results Make for Memorable Polls", New York Times, March 23, 2000

The chronological order of the Stuart, Hanover, Lancaster and TudorBritish royal houses had me flummoxed.
-- Sara Ivry, "Game Show Wannabe: I Coulda Been a Millionaire", New York Times, February 27, 2000

Flummoxed by the surreality of history and the mind-bogglingchanges unleashed by the 60's, many writers in that era became minimalists,withdrawing, turtlelike, inside their own homes and heads.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "New Wave of Writers Reinvents Literature", New York Times, April 22, 2000


The origin of flummox is unknown.

from dictionary.com

#7

triskaidekaphobia \tris-ky-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\, noun:
A morbid fear of the number 13 or the date Friday the 13th.

Thirteen people, pledged to eliminate triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13, today tried to reassure American sufferers by renting a 13 ft plot of land in Brooklyn for 13 cents . . . a month.
-- Daily Telegraph, January 14, 1967

Past disasters linked to the number 13 hardly help triskaidekaphobics overcome their affliction. The most famous is the Apollo 13 mission, launched on April 11, 1970 (the sum of 4, 11 and 70 equals 85 - which when added together comes to 13), from Pad 39 (three times 13) at 13:13 local time, and struck by an explosion on April 13.
-- "It's just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday", Electronic Telegraph, September 8, 1996


Triskaidekaphobia is from Greek treiskaideka, triskaideka, thirteen (treis, three + kai, and + deka, ten) + phobos, fear.

In Christian countries the number 13 was considered unlucky because there were 13 persons at the Last Supper of Christ. Fridays are also unlucky, because the Crucifixion was on a Friday. Hence a Friday falling on the thirteenth day is regarded as especially unlucky.

Some famous triskaidekaphobes1:

Napoleon
Herbert Hoover
Mark Twain
Richard Wagner
Franklin Roosevelt


1. Source: "It's just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday," Electronic Telegraph, September 8, 1996

from dictionary.com


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Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency.

Raymond Chandler (1888 - 1959)

#6

For some reason unknown, today's theme is MEAT.

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meat [meet] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1.
the flesh of animals as used for food.
2.
the edible part of anything, as a fruit or nut: Crack the walnuts and remove the meats.
3.
the essential point or part of an argument, literary work, etc.; gist; crux: The meat of the play is the jealousy between the two brothers.
4.
solid food: meat and drink.
5.
solid or substantial content; pith: The article was full of meat, with few wasted words.
6.
a favorite occupation, activity, etc.: Chess in his meat.
7.
Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. pork, esp. bacon.
8.
Slang: Vulgar. penis.
9.
Archaic. the principal meal: to say grace before meat.
—Idiom
10.
piece of meat, Slang.
a.
a person regarded merely as a sex object.
b.
a person, as a prizefighter or laborer, regarded merely as a strong or useful physical specimen.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME, OE mete food, c. OHG maz, ON matr, Goth mats]

—Related forms
meatless, adjective

from dictionary.com