Author Archives: Richard

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”

Pronunciation: kwah-kwah-VUR-sal, adj Notes: I didn’t have any idea of this word’s meaning Yesterday’s word The word crural means “of or relating to the thigh or leg; specifically, femoral. Background This word usually shows up in a medical context; a “crural artery” or “crural nerve”. It comes from Latin cruralis, which is a combination ofContinue reading “quaquaversal”

Pronounced: KRUR-uhl, adj Notes: When I look at this word, I see “rural”, but that’s a false clue Yesterday’s word The word whigmaleerie means a whim a fanciful contrivance Background Not a lot of background; it is known to be a Scots term, but that’s about it. First usage The word was first used inContinue reading “crural”