May 21 2008
Big Word Wednesday-Week 7
I’m calling myself out. Actually, someone else called me out, but they did so in a private forum rather than a public one. I thank them for that, and if I’d just keep my mouth shut, then some of you would never know the difference; but then, that would defeat the purpose of our little experiment here wouldn’t it? Those of you that have noticed it can quit laughing now. You see, in my brilliantly observant, tirelessly researched, poorly spell-checked post It Came From Planet Spudtron, I wrote “potato’s” when I should have written “potatoes”. There. It’s out in the open. Call me Dan Quayle (Hope I spelled THAT right) if you want to, at least I’m not in front of a classroom of children on national television with the Election hanging in the balance. That’s right, folks; if you want, you can blame (or Thank, if you’re a Clinton fan) “Potatoe” (singular) for 8 years of Bill Clinton. Well, for the first 4 at least. I can hear him now: “I did not have lunch with that potatoe…..Ms. Spudinsky.” Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get down to business.
One of this weeks words comes from yesterday’s post; Lester Holt Saves The World. I won’t waste a link on it, just scroll down 3 inches. The word is bated; as in bated breath. Some thought it should be “baited” with an i, but after the “potato’s” fiasco of May 15th, you can bet your bottom dollar I doubled checked it. It means: to moderate or restrain; to lessen or diminish; abate. It even has a definition for the actual phrase “with bated breath” (number 4): with breath drawn in or held because of anticipation or suspense. Long “a”, as in “bay”. Not the biggest of words, but one that is often misused. Our second word this week is pernicious. You may have heard this word before, but not known what it really meant. It doesn’t mean; a girl that “gets around” (promiscuous), it means: causing insidious harm or ruin; injurious, hurtful. Kind of sounds like a Rick Astley song. Remember; you can see all of the words in our series by visiting the Big Word Wednesday Homepage. Until next week.
You were right about “bated breath”. Unless you’re trying to lure a rainbow trout or possum into your mouth, in which case it could be “baited”. I try not to engage in debait (debate) over word spelling in blogger’s comment sections.
(NukeDad) Agreed. But you forgot to double space after the end of your sentence! Sheesh!
Bated breath was one of Shakespeare’s favorite phrases, in fact, we were taught in high school that he invented the word himself. Something to chew on.
I also wrote a blog article about this a while back (on a different blog) as it was a pet peeve of mine that people got it wrong with ‘baited’. It was the same with people who say “for all intensive purposes” instead of “for all intents and purposes”, “on a count of” instead of “on account of” or, my own personal devil, “persay” instead of “per se”. People hear the word or phrases and don’t bother to look them up before they use them.
I’m going to go crawl back into my hole in the wall now and nurse this killer migraine that’s been attacking me for three days now. But before I go, did I ever tell you how much I enjoy BWW? I do.
(NukeDad) Great examples Sue, thanks for the insight. Glad you’re enjoying it! See folks, it is possible to have fun while learning! Now, if I can just convince the kids.
Oh, and I don’t claim to have perfect grammar skills either. As displayed above, I don’t.
(NukeDad) I must not either, then, cuz I can’t see what you’re talking about. Shhhh! (haha)
Dude. Why you gotta go picking on Rick Astley like that? What did he ever do to you?
(NukeDad) He put Barry White’s voice into a skinny white man’s body. That just ain’t right.
Oh I hate to give away family secrets, but I do recall a time when the main Rock and Roll fan in the family was almost embarrased to admit that he “kinda” liked a Rick Astley song. Of course I’m setting myself up for some mild retaliation, but I think I can handle it.
(NukeDad) It is true, that in a moment of weakness, I did, in fact, listen to a Rick Astley song in it’s entirety. When it was over, I felt dirty; unclean. I immediately showered and vowed to never let it happen again. Now, let’s talk about your Gary Puckett and the Union Gap fandom
My 7-year old daughter was reading the ingredients on her bubble bath last night and she found a 7 syllable word. I was mighty impressed. she asked me how they could put something that I couldn’t prounouce in her bubble bath. then I got mighty scared.
(NukeDad) Don’t be scared, Manager Mom, that’s what we’re here for! Send us the word and we’ll break it down into the sum of it’s parts and defeat it’s hoity-toity-ness once and for all!
Really like this big word Wed. idea….first I’ve happened upon it.
will definitely keep up
Plus - laughed out loud at the Rick Astley crack!
(NukeDad) Thanks, Jon! Hope to see you around!
Oh, piss off. I checked it, too. With my husband. Who apparently blew $40K on a useless Princeton education where they sure did teach him how to drink, but clearly skimped on the whole “Spelling” bit.
Anyway, now my comment isn’t funny anymore and I am going to go sulk. Thanks, day-ruiner.
(NukeDad) Ouch! Throwing rocks again, I see.