@TxTom that's awesome! Reminds me of a child's play kitchen with those bright colors
Gustatory (adjective | GUSS-tuh-tor-ee)
Gustatory describes things that are related to or associated with eating or the sense of taste.
// The deli has been widely praised for its astonishing variety of gustatory delights.
Did You Know?
Gustatory is a member of a finite set of words that describe the senses with which we encounter our world, the other members being visual, aural, olfactory, and tactile. Like its peers, gustatory has its roots in Latin—in this case, the Latin word gustare, meaning "to taste." Gustare is a direct ancestor of gustatory, gustation, meaning "the act or sensation of tasting," and degustation, meaning "the action or an instance of tasting especially in a series of small portions." More distant relatives of gustare include choose and disgust.
Reminisce (verb | rem-uh-NIS
To reminisce is to talk, think, or write about things that happened in the past.
// After the official reunion dinner, the old friends gathered at a pub to reminisce about their high school days, now long past
Do you remember, say, the 21st night of September? Fantastic. Earth, Wind, and Fire does, too, on their classic hit from 1978, “September.” More than remember, the band reminisces—that is, they share details and express feelings about what they remember: dancing, a bell ringing, souls singing, et al. Reminisce distinguishes itself from words like remember and recollect by implying a casual recalling of experiences long past, often with a sense of nostalgia. Reminisce and its relatives reminiscence and reminiscent all trace back to the Latin verb reminisci, meaning “remember.” Reminisci in turn shares roots with mens, the Latin word for “mind.”
Druthers (noun plural | DRUH-therz)
What It Means
Druthers is an informal word that refers to the power or opportunity to choose—in other words, free choice. It is used especially in the phrase if one had one's druthers.
// If I had my druthers, I would travel all the time.
Nowadays, you’re much more likely to encounter the plural noun druthers than its singular forebear, but that wasn’t always the case. Druther, an alteration of “would rather” in some U.S. English dialects, first appeared in writing in the late 1800s. “Any way you druther have it, that is the way I druther have it,” says Huck to Tom in Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, Detective (a sequel to the more famous Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which also included the word druther). This example of metanalysis (the shifting of a sound from one element of a phrase to another) had been around for some time in everyday speech when Twain put those words in Huck’s mouth. By then, in fact, druthers had also become a plural noun, so Tom could reply, “There ain’t any druthers about it, Huck Finn; nobody said anything about druthers,” though druthers didn’t overtake druther in popularity (at least in print) until the mid-1900s.
@IronLemon @GuyverGordon
I used to enjoy playing Stratego with my dad too. We also used to play blind chess too, but we both liked Stratego and Battleship better.
Pugnacious (adjective | pug-NAY-shus)
Someone described as pugnacious shows a readiness or desire to fight or argue.
// There's one pugnacious member on the committee who won't agree to anything.
Pugnacious individuals are often looking for a fight. While unpleasant, at least their fists are packing an etymological punch. Pugnacious comes from the Latin verb pugnare (meaning "to fight"), which in turn comes from the Latin word for "fist," pugnus. Another Latin word related to pugnus is pugil, meaning "boxer." Pugil is the source of our word pugilist, which means "fighter" and is used especially of professional boxers. Pugnare has also given us impugn ("to assail by words or arguments"), oppugn ("to fight against"), and repugnant (which is now used primarily in the sense of "exciting distaste or aversion," but which has also meant "characterized by contradictory opposition" and "hostile").
Adversity (noun | ad-VER-suh-tee)
Adversity refers to a difficult situation or condition, or to a state of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune.
// The soldiers were honored for acting with courage in the face of adversity.
// The team overcame many adversities on their way to summiting the mountain.
The world, alas, is full of adversity of all kinds, from misfortune to outright calamity. But while we—being humble lexicographers, not sagacious philosophers—cannot explain the source of such adversity, we can explain the source of the word adversity. If you’ve ever faced adversity and felt like fate, the world, or something else was turned against you, it will not surprise you that adversity traces back to the Latin verb advertere, meaning “to turn toward, direct,” itself a combination of the verb vertere, “to turn,” and the prefix ad-, “to.” The past participle of advertere is adversus, meaning “turned toward, facing, opposed,” which eventually led (via a couple languages in between) to the Middle English word adversite, meaning “opposition, hostility, misfortune, or hardship,” and the adversity we know today.
Uncouth (adjective | un-KOOTH)
Uncouth describes things, such as language or behavior, that are impolite or socially unacceptable. A person may also be described as uncouth if they are behaving in a rude way.
// Stacy realized it would be uncouth to show up to the party without a gift, so she picked up a bottle of wine on the way.
Old English speakers used the word cūth to describe things that were familiar to them, and uncūth for the strange and mysterious. These words passed through Middle English into modern English with different spellings but the same meanings. While couth eventually dropped out of use, uncouth soldiered on. In Captain Singleton by English novelist Daniel Defoe, for example, the author refers to “a strange noise more uncouth than any they had ever heard,” while Shakespeare wrote of an “uncouth forest” in As You Like It. This “unfamiliar” sense of uncouth, however, joined couth in becoming, well, unfamiliar to most English users, giving way to the now-common meanings, “rude” and “lacking polish or grace.” The adjective couth in use today, meaning “sophisticated” or “polished,” arose at the turn of the 20th century, not from the earlier couth, but as a back-formation of uncouth, joining the ranks of other “uncommon opposites” such as kempt and gruntled.
Collaborate (verb | kuh-LAB-uh-rayt)
To collaborate is to work with another person or group in order to do or achieve something. Collaborate can also be used disapprovingly to mean "to cooperate with or willingly assist an enemy of one's country and especially an enemy who occupies it during a war."
// Several research teams from various countries collaborated closely on the project.
// They were suspected of collaborating with enemy forces.
The Latin prefix com-, meaning "with, together, or jointly," is a bit of a chameleon—it has a habit of changing its appearance depending on what it's next to. For example, if the word it precedes begins with l, com- becomes col-. In the case of collaborate, com- teamed up with the verb laborare ("to labor") to form the Late Latin word collaborare ("to labor together"). Be careful not to confuse collaborate with corroborate, another com- relative. This word was formed when com- (this time shape-shifting to cor-) joined forces with the Latin word robur ("strength"). Together, by way of the Latin verb corroborare, they created the meaning "to support or help prove (a statement, theory, etc.) by providing information or evidence," which carried over into the English word corroborate.
Fastidious (adjective | fass-TID-ee-us)
Someone described as fastidious is extremely or overly careful about how they do something. Fastidious may also describe someone who is difficult to please, or someone who always wants to be clean, neat, etc.
// Our parents taught us to be fastidious in keeping our rooms clean, making sure to dust every surface and sweep out every corner.
// He's a fastidious dresser whose fashion choices seem to anticipate the newest trends.
If you presume that the adjective fastidious bears some relation to fast, not so fast. Fastidious comes from Latin fastidium, meaning "aversion" or "disgust." Fastidium is believed to be a combination of fastus, meaning "arrogance," and taedium, "irksomeness" or "disgust." (Taedium is also the source of tedium and tedious.) In keeping with its Latin roots, fastidious once meant "haughty," "disgusting," and "disagreeable," but the word is now most often applied to people who are very meticulous or overly difficult to please, or to work which reflects a demanding or precise attitude. Our own fastidiousness requires us to point out that the familiar adjective fast comes not from Latin, but from Old English.
Beowulf
Old English - Modern English comparison
More information:
Old English text alongside scanned images of original manuscript pages: https://ebeowulf.uky.edu/ebeo4.0/CD/main.html
The sole surviving manuscript of Beowulf is located at the British Library.
resurrection (noun | rez-uh-REK-shun)
In Christian theology, Resurrection (typically capitalized in this use) refers to the event in which Jesus Christ returned to life after his death. In general contexts, resurrection refers to the act of causing something that had ended or been forgotten or lost to exist again, to be used again, etc.
// Church members look forward to celebrating the Resurrection every Easter.
// The community applauded the resurrection of the commuter rail system.
The word resurrection first arose in English in the 14th century, coming from the Anglo-French word resurreccioun, which in turn comes from the Late Latin verb resurgere, meaning “to rise from the dead.” Originally, the word was used in Christian contexts to refer to the rising of Christ from the dead or to the festival celebrating this rising (now known as Easter). Perhaps showing the influence of the Late Latin verb resurgere’s Latin forerunner, which could mean “to rise again” (as from a recumbent position) as well as “to spring up again after being cut” (used of plants), resurrection soon began to be used more generally in the senses of “resurgence” or “revival.” It even forms part of the name of the resurrection fern, an iconic fern of the southern United States often seen growing on the limbs of live oak trees. The fern is so named due to the fact that in dry weather it curls up, turns brown, and appears dead, only to be “brought back to life” when exposed to moisture.
bodacious (adjective | boh-DAY-shuss)
Bodacious is used as an informal synonym of remarkable and noteworthy, as well as sexy and voluptuous. In some dialects of the Southern and Midland US, bodacious is used by its oldest meaning: "outright, unmistakable."
// The bodacious decor of the boutique hotel is intended to appeal to the young and the hip.
Some of our readers may know bodacious as a word that figured prominently in the lingo of the 1989 film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Others may recall the term's frequent use in the long-running "Snuffy Smith" comic strip. Neither the creators of the comic strip nor the movie can claim to have coined bodacious, which began appearing in print in the mid-1800s, but both surely contributed to its popularity. The exact origin of the word is uncertain, but it is most likely a blend of bold and audacious, and it may be linked to boldacious, a now-rare British dialect term meaning "brazen" or "impudent."
liaison (noun | lee-AY-zahn)
Liaison refers to a person who helps organizations or groups work together and provide information to each other, or to a relationship that allows such interactions. Liaison can also refer to an illicit sexual relationship.
// The new position involves acting as a liaison between the police department and city schools.
// The committee has maintained close liaison with some of the former board members.
If you took French in school, you might remember that liaison is the word for the phenomenon that causes a silent consonant at the end of one word to sound like it begins the next word when that word begins with a vowel, so that a phrase like beaux arts sounds like \boh zahr. We can thank French for the origin of the term liaison, as well. It comes from Middle French lier, meaning “to bind or tie.” Other English senses of liaison apply it to all kinds of bonds—from binding and thickening agents used in cooking (as in “a butter and flour liaison”), to people who work to connect different groups, to the kind of secret relationship sometimes entered into by two people who are romantically attracted to one another.
slough (verb | SLUFF)
Slough is a formal verb used for the action of getting rid of something unwanted. It is usually used with off. Slough can also mean "to lose a dead layer of (skin)" or "to become shed or cast off."
// The editorial urges the mayor not to slough off responsibility for the errors in the report.
// The exfoliating cleanser promises to gently slough away dead skin cells.
There are two verbs spelled slough in English, as well as two nouns, and both sets have different pronunciations. The first noun, referring to a swamp or a discouraged state of mind, is pronounced to rhyme with either blue or cow. Its related verb, which can mean "to plod through mud," has the same pronunciation. The second noun, pronounced to rhyme with cuff, refers to the shed skin of a snake (as well as anything else that has been cast off). Its related verb describes the action of shedding or eliminating something, just like a snake sheds its skin. This slough comes from Middle English slughe and is related to slūch, a Middle High German word meaning "snakeskin."
spoops
[Hall, Benjamin. A Collection of College Words and Customs. Cambridge, 1856.]
spuddle
[Mackay, Charles. Lost Beauties of the English Language. New York, 1874.]
ostensible (adjective | ah-STEN-suh-bul)
Ostensible is used to describe something that seems or is said to be true or real, but is possibly not true or real. In other words, it is plausible rather than demonstrably true or real.
// The ostensible purpose of a filibuster is to extend debate, but in reality it is used to delay or prevent action.
British philosopher and economist Jeremy Bentham once wrote to Indian religious leader Ram Mohan Roy asking him to “send me two letters—one confidential, another ostensible.” By ostensible he meant that, unlike the confidential letter, the latter was intended to be shown to people other than Bentham himself. This sense of ostensible shows clearly the influence of the word’s Latin ancestor, the verb ostendere, meaning “to hold out for inspection,” “to show,” “to make clear by one’s actions,” and “to demonstrate.” Ostensible is still used today as it is in Bentham’s letter, but it is much more likely to suggest a discrepancy between a declared or implied aim or reason (i.e., the aim or reason that someone displays or “shows” to others) and the true one. For example, someone might give “seeing an old friend” as their ostensible reason for planning a trip when in reality they are planning on spending most of their time relaxing on the beach.