Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: MA-fick, verb Notes: I don’t want to give away too much of the origin until tomorrow, but I have run across, in British literature, the term from which this word comes (“Mafeking Night”). In the context of reading, I assumed it was some British holiday that I was unaware of; moreover, I had notContinue reading “maffick”

Pronounced: PAR-lee, verb or noun Notes: This is another word I thought I knew until I read the definition Yesterday’s word The word coeval means “of the same age, antiquity, or duration” Background This word comes from Latin coaevus (of the same age), which is itself made up of co- (in or to the sameContinue reading “parley”

Pronounced: koh-EE-vuhl, adj Notes: With the pronunciation, it sounds as if it were somehow evil, but it isn’t. Yesterday’s word The word trombenik means “a lazy or a boastful person” Background The word comes from Yiddish tromba (trumpet, horn) [see, I was close with my guess of trombone-RL] combined with -nik, a suffix that denotesContinue reading “coeval”

Pronounced: TROM-buh-nick, noun Notes: The word is also spelled trombenick. I see ‘trombone’ in this word, and that’s not quite right Yesterday’s word The word Antaean means mammoth having superhuman strength Background The word Antaean comes from Greek mythology. Antaeus was the gigantic and powerful son of Gaea (the earth goddess) and Poseidon (the seaContinue reading “trombenik”

Pronounced: an-TEE-uhn, adj Notes: This is a word I both knew and didn’t know. I explain this comment tomorrow. Yesterday’s word The word fiddlesticks (plural) is pretty well known as an interjection meaning “nonsense”. The singular, fiddlestick, also has a meaning you’d expect: “the bow with which the fiddle is played”. However, there is anotherContinue reading “Antaean”

Pronounced: FIH-dull-stick, noun and interjection Notes: The interjection is well known, and one meaning is straightforward, but there is a meaning I didn’t know Yesterday’s word The word bespoke means custom-made dealing in or producing custom-made articles Background In old English, the verb bespeak meant (among other things), “to speak”, “to accuse”, and “to complain”.Continue reading “fiddlestick”

Pronounced: bih-SPOKE, adj Notes: I thought this means “spoken for” or something like that… I was wrong. Yesterday’s word The word flapdoodle means “nonsense”. Background The origin of this word is unknown First usage This word showed up in the mid-1800s.

Pronounced: FLAP-doo-dull, noun Notes: You can probably guess this word, but I couldn’t admit that I knew it, so it’s been added Yesterday’s word The word Beltane is the Celtic May Day festival Background This word has been spelled “beltene”, “belltaine”, and “beltine”: it’s earliest mention was in an old Irish dictionary, attributed to Cormac,Continue reading “flapdoodle”

Pronounced: BELL-tane, noun Notes: I knew a little about this word, but could not properly define it. Yesterdays’ word The word quaquaversal means “sloping downward from a center in all directions” Background It comes from Latin: quaqua (in all directions). Note that quaqua comes from qua (in what direction). To quaqua is added versus (towards).Continue reading “Beltane”