Category: Word of the Day

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Word of the Day -Palimpest

  • Noun: Palimpest

    1. writing material (such as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased
    2. something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface
  • Synonyms:
    1. article
    2. document
    3. text
    4. diploma
    5. papyrus
    6. scroll
  • Usage:
    1. “In some cases, the long history of expulsions echoes down the years in the changing names of a particular place; a living palimpest in which one period of history is erased and replaced by another. “
  • Encountered:
    1.  While reading Can We Talk About Israel? A Guide for the Curious, Confused, and Conflicted by Daniel Sokatch

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Word of the Day – Casus belli

  • Noun: Casus belli
    1. an event or action that justifies or allegedly justifies a war or conflict
  • Synonyms:
    1.  affront
    2.  harassment
    3.  insult
    4.  cause
    5.  challenge
    6.  grounds
    7.  incentive
    8.  inducement
    9.  injury
    10.  instigation
    11.  justification
    12.  motivation
    13.  offense
    14. provoking
  • Usage:
    1. “He hadn’t forgotten Ben-Gurion’s pledge at the end of the Suez Crisis that Israel would consider any blockade of its shipping a casus belli, an act justifying war. “
  • Encountered:
    1.  While reading Can We Talk About Israel? A Guide for the Curious, Confused, and Conflicted by Daniel Sokatch

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Word of the Day -Pareidolia

  • Noun: Pareidolia
    1. the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern
      • The scientific explanation for some people is pareidolia, or the human ability to see shapes or make pictures out of randomness. Think of the Rorschach inkblot test. — Pamela Ferdinand
  • Synonyms:
      1. apophenia
  • Usage:
      1. “Welcome to a world where reality transforms into a vibrant stage of facial expressions and intriguing characters. In the course of my daily life, I stumbled upon a hidden treasure: pareidolias that have made me smile, ponder, and sometimes even burst into laughter.”
  • Encountered:
      1.  Scrolling through my Google news feed I saw the clickbait title from a Borepanda.com article: 30 Pareidolias That Have Made Me Smile, Ponder, And Sometimes Even Burst Into Laughter

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Word of the Day – Schadenfreude

  • Noun: Schadenfreude
    1.  Often capitalized: enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others
    2. Did you know? Schadenfreude is a combination of the German nouns Schaden, meaning “damage” or “harm,” and Freude, meaning “joy.” So it makes sense that schadenfreude means joy over some harm or misfortune suffered by another.
  • Synonyms:
      1.  gloat
      2. epicaricacy
      3. malicious glee
      4. ghoulish joy
      5. lulz
  • Usage:
      1. “The great Burning Man Muddening of 2023 was almost scientifically engineered to evoke schadenfreude. Wealthy, insufferable attendees? Check. Improbable details, such as the fact that the rain was causing a bunch of three-eyed fairy shrimp, which can survive as eggs in sediment for decades, to come alive? Check. The fact that climate activists, angry about private jets and single-use plastics at the event, tried to shut down the festival and were jeered at by annoyed attendees, then vindicated by mother nature? Check. A situation that was uncomfortable but not life-threatening? Check! (I should note that one person did die at the festival, but organisers have clarified that it wasn’t related to the weather.)”
  • Encountered:
      1.   An article on Guardian.com: Why all the Burning Man schadenfreude? Where do I start …

One of my brothers used this word in a group text recently.  At the time I did not know the meaning, and little ole OCD me had to look it up.  Probably because I am now aware of it, the word has popped a few times in my readings and conversations.  Are you stalking me schadenfreude?

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Word of the Day – Vogue | Voguing

  • Verb: Vogue
    1. dance to music in such a way as to imitate the characteristic poses struck by a model on a catwalk.
  • Synonyms:
    1.  many synonyms for vogue, but voguing… not so much
  • Usage:
    1. “The 28-year-old professional dancer and choreographer was killed while voguing to Beyoncé’s music as his friends filled up their car on the way home from the Jersey Shore on July 29. “
  • Encountered:
    1.   An article on NPR.com: A dancer’s killing — over voguing — highlights the dangers Black LGBTQ Americans face

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Word of the Day – Solastalgia

  • Noun:  Solastalgia – proposed new word
    1. unease and melancholy caused by the destruction of the natural environment;
    2. Additional Information: blend of “solace” and “nostalgia” Example: It has led to the coining of a new word, solastalgia: the distress induced by environmental change and the degradation of one’s home place. [Irish Times (online), 2 March 2020]
  • Synonyms:
    1. eco-anxiety
  • Usage:
    1. “ Solastalgia is a new concept developed to give greater meaning and clarity to environmentally induced distress. “
  • Encountered:
    1.   An article on  National Library of Medicine: Solastalgia: the distress caused by environmental change 

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Word of the Day – Maudlin

  • Adjective:  Maudlin
    1. tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental: a maudlin story of a little orphan and her lost dog.
    2. foolishly or mawkishly sentimental because of drunkenness.
  • Synonyms:
    1.  mawkish
    2. mushy
    3. sentimental
    4. weepy
    5. befuddled
    6. histrionic
    7. insipid
    8. lachrymose
    9. schmaltzy
    10. tear-jerking
  • Usage:
    1. “That’s because you were too busy being maudlin in your last post, Curmudgeon-in-Chief”
  • Encountered:
    1.    Comment from one of my 3.141592 regular readers

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Word of the Day -Dox

  • Verb: Dox
    1. search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the internet, typically with malicious intent.
  • Synonyms:
    1. shadowbanning
    2. swatting
    3. stalking
    4. cyberbullying
  • Usage:
    1. “CNN is not naming the websites where these details are being posted, but they range from a major social media profile, to pro-Trump forums, to sites that have previously been linked to violent extremist attacks. CNN has reached out to the Fulton County sheriff’s office regarding the attempted doxxing.”
  • Encountered:
    1.   An article on CNN.com: Purported names, photos and addresses of Fulton County grand jurors circulate on far-right internet 

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Word of the Day -Phub

  • Verb: Phub
    1. verb (used with object), phubbed, phubbing.
      • to ignore (a person or one’s surroundings) when in a social situation by busying oneself with a phone or other mobile device: Hey, are you phubbing me?
    2. verb (used without object),phubbed, phub·bing.
      • to ignore a person or one’s surroundings in this way.
    3. Think Phone + snub
  • Synonyms:
    • As this is a recently birthed word, no synonyms were found.  However, such words as ignore, being rude, anti-social, snubbing, etc would work fine IMHO.
  • Usage:
    1. “I thought you told me that we do not talk enough? Why are you phubbing me as I drive us to Tick Bush?”
  • Encountered:
    1.   The word was passed on to me by one the 3.141592 regular readers of the silliness that is Curmudgeon-Alley.

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Word of the Day -Caitiff

  • Noun/Adjective:  Caitiff  (Archaic)
    1.  noun
      • A despicable coward; a wretch.
      • A mean villain; a despicable knave; one who is both wicked and mean.
    2. adjective
      • Despicable and cowardly.
  • Synonyms:
    1. villain
    2. brute
    3. savage
    4. monster
    5. devil
    6. wretch
    7. offender
    8. criminal
    9. knave
    10. beast
  • Usage:
    1. “I think you mean caitiff. You just misspelled it.”
  • Encountered: In the following text exchange with a superannuated golfing buddy that lives in the Magnolia State.  I had passed along the following cartoon with the comment that I had found the epitaph for my tombstone —  never mind that I want to be cremated.

To which he replied, “This is something I don’t have to worry about. Niceness is not in my vocabulary.”

I responded with, “I am a saint, myself.”

Parrying he said, “I think you mean caitiff. You just misspelled it”

With a feint and lunge, I remarked, “I see that doctorate paid off.”

In response, I received, “Told you I had no niceness in me.”

“No true,” I riposted, “You gifted me a new word!”

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