epigram

Pronounced: EP-ih-gram, noun

Notes: I get this word confused with another word

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Yesterday’s word

The word prolix means

• unduly prolonged or drawn out; too long
• marked by or using an excess of words

First usage

Our word came into English around 1400

Background / Comments

I like having an alternative to “verbose” and “wordy”; in addition, I thought that this would be a great Scrabble word. It seems that our word has the idea of tedious and unreasonable dwelling on details; I’ve had people start telling me about an interesting thought they had and then get hung up on WHEN they had the thought – for example: “Yesterday while eating dinner around 6:30; or was it 6:00? Maybe it was 6:45? Actually, I thought of it first before dinner; not too long before, so probably about 5:45, assuming we had dinner at 6 o’clock, but I’m not sure that was the right time…” (and on on and so on). Our word came from the Latin word prolixus (extended; copious), which is a combination of pro- (forward) and the past participle of liquere (to be fluid) — quite appropriate, as words just seem to pour out of a prolix person.