crackjaw

Pronounced: KRACK-jaw, adj/noun

Notes: You might guess this word, and it has many synonyms

Yesterday’s word

The word egregious means “extraordinary in a bad way; conspicuously bad; flagrant”

First Usage

This word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, I ran across this word in a comedy show (Yes, Minister) – a cabinet member was reading an article that referred to him as “egregious”. He asked another man what “egregious” meant, and the other man, in a wonderful, memorable, and evasive answer, said that it meant “outstanding in a certain way”. Oddly enough, when it first came into English, it was a compliment – it referred to someone who had a good quality that place him above others. This was no doubt due to its origin: it came from the Latin word egregius (eminent, distinguished). Over time, our word has shifted from a compliment to an insult – probably due to sarcastic or ironic use.

egregious

Pronounced: ih-GREE-jus, adj

Notes: I first ran across this in a comedy (see the Background / Comments in the next post)

Yesterday’s word

The word voluntourism is “tourism in which travelers do volunteer work”

First usage

This word is pretty recent; in came into English in the 1990s

Background / Comments

As you probably have guessed, our word is a blend of volunteer and tourism. I haven’t run across one, but they are becoming more common (apparently).

voluntourism

Pronounced: vah-luhn-TOOR-ih-zuhm, noun

Notes: I didn’t know this word, but you might be able to guess the definition

Yesterday’s word

The word epigone means “a follower; a disciple – also an inferior imitator”

First usage

This word came into English in the 1800s

Background / Comments

Well, I was distantly correct as to Greek origins. The word came into English from German. The Germans got the word from the Latin word epigonus (successor). The Latin word came from the (here it is!) Greek word epigonus, usually used in the plural form to designate the sons of seven legendary Greek leaders who were defeated at Thebes. This Greek word came from the Greek word epigignesthai (to be born after), from epi- (after) and gignesthai (to be born).

epigone

Pronounced: EH-puh-goan, noun

Notes: This looked Greek to me, but I couldn’t figure out the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word hokum means

  • nonsense
  • Trite material introduced to evoke an emotional response from an audience
First usage

This word is just over 100 years old, coming into English in the 1910s

Background / Comments

I thought that this word meant “nonsense” (the first definition above), but was unaware of the second meaning. I thought that the word “hoke” was the second meaning, but apparently, they are interchangeable. I ran across “hoke” (but maybe “hokum”) near the end of the film Holiday Inn. Our word was created by combining hocus-pocus with bunkum.

hokum

Pronounced: HOE-kum, noun

Notes: I wasn’t sure about this word; there are two meanings.

Yesterday’s word

The word claque is

  • a group hired to applaud at a performance
  • a group of servile flatterers
First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from French; the verb for “to clap” is claquer (the noun form is claque). When the word came into English, it was common in French theater culture to infiltrate the audience with hired members. These claque were given money and free tickets to laugh, cry, clap, etc at the right moment, hopefully encouraging the rest of the audience

claque

Pronounced: klak, noun

Notes: I thought this may be related somehow to clique.

Yesterday’s word

The word squirl means “a flourish or curve, especially in handwriting”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

It is thought that this word is a blend of squiggle and twirl (maybe whirl). I think my signature has a couple of squirls.

squirl

Pronounced: skwuhrl, noun

Notes: This is not a misspelling of squirrel, but it does sound similar

Yesterday’s word

The word desuetude means “discontinuance from use or exercise; disuse”

First usage

This word goes back to the mid-1400s

Background / Notes

Though similar in meaning to “disuse”, the origin of desuetude is quite different. It comes from the Latin verb suecerre (to accustom). Our word is not as common as ‘disuse’.

desuetude

Pronounced: DEH-swih-tood, noun

Note: I think I’ve run across this word in reading

Yesterday’s word

The word satisfice means “to satisfy the minimum requirements in a given situation”

First usage

This word came into being in 1956 (but see the comments below).

Background / Comments

There was a word satisfice that came into English in the mid-1500s. This word became obsolete, but our word was coined by Herbert A Simon as a blend of satisfy and suffice. The act of satisficing has a bit of controversy about it. Some people disparage this action as “taking the easy way out” or “just doing enough to get by”. However, when there is a lot to do and not a lot of time to get it all done, but doing just the minimum requirements can be a big help. Sometimes, too, people (engineers) can spend far too much time perfecting something that was certainly good enough for the situation. Or, if there are a lot of options, one can get stuck in “decision paralysis” – satificing can help with this by focusing on the really important criteria. In my career, I’ve seen both the good and the bad of satisficing; I remember an engineer who did an impressive amount of coding that seemed to work well. However, later analysis showed that he had removed a great number of functions that he just didn’t think were important without checking with anyone else. Did he satisfice? Certainly. But I’ve been on the receiving side of a request to satisfice: a supervisor cautioned us not to go overboard on features because the customer was “not paying us to build a Cadillac”

satisfice

Pronounced: SAT-uhs-fys, verb

Notes: An interesting word and useful

Yesterday’s word

The word frigorific means “causing cold; chilling”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Once I knew the definition, it seems obvious. The word comes from Latin frigorificus, the adjective form of frigus (frost, cold). This Latin root is related to the source for “frigid”, which you may have seen in the definition. Our word is deemed relatively unusual.

frigorific

Pronounced: frih-guh-RIH-fik, adj

Notes: I should have been able to guess the correct meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word scrouge means “to squeeze, press, or crowd”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1700s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, I mis-read this word as “scourge”, which is entirely different. Our word was altered from the word scruze, which is a combination of screw and squeeze. I suspect that our word came from people mis-hearing scruze – perhaps making it an early “eggcorn” word?