Nuclear Family Warhead

I felt it fitting this week to choose some words that could be easily “misheard” or “misunderstood” to go along with the Obsessed With An Alien post.  Check it out to see how many songs you’ve been singing wrong all of these years.  So, with clarity as our goal, let’s get started.  Our first word is apologia.  It means an apology, as in defense or justification of a belief.  It’s pronounced: apple-oh-gee-uh.  Sounds like someone stammering after being offered fruit; “Apple?” “Oh! Gee, uh, don’t mind if I do!”   And, no, it isn’t that chick that was in Purple Rain with Prince.  That was Apollonia, who was once part of NASA, I think.  You may have also thought that it was the actor who played the giant foot piano with Tom Hanks in Big, but, wrong again.  That was Robert Loggia.  So, there we go.  Clarity at it’s finest.

Our second word this week is imbroglio.  It means a misunderstanding or disagreement of a complicated or bitter nature, as between people or nations.  Can you say Clinton/Obama?  It could also mean an intricate and perplexing state of affairs; a complicated or difficult situation.  Kind of like this blog.  The perplexing part, I mean, not the complicated part.  It’s pronounced: Im-bro-yo.  Keep the “G” silent.  Don’t say: Im-brog-leo.  No, this isn’t the last name of that Natalie girl from Australia who sang about being “cold and naked on the floor”, that’s Natalie Imbruglia who was in Johnny English with that Mr. Bean character.  So there you have it.  Wasn’t that as clear as mud?  I hope I didn’t confuse you and put you in an imbrogliotic state.  No, I don’t think it’s a word either.  Don’t forget to catch up on all of the words on the BWW Home Page.  There will be a test.

In honor of Memorial Day I thought we would choose a couple of words with confrontation in mind.  You can use these when you get into a war of words with someone who needs a good jab to their verbal solar plexus.  The leader of the play group is too easy a target, and I’ve used them as an example before anyway, so, let’s see……I know!  You know the seasonal help you meet when shopping for last minute gifts at Christmas?  The ones who can’t be bothered to give you an extra shirt box, even though you spent over $300 and asked nicely?  The ones who mutter; “Anything else?” with all the enthusiasm of a tenured postal worker?  That’s the type of people I’m talking about.  The ones who, no matter what you do, simply will not be happy.  Save these for them.  Hell, it’s not like you’re going to make their day any worse.

Our first word is putrescence.  Fans of The Princess Bride (Hi Momo!) will recognize this one.  The pronunciation is a little different than they way the old hag pronounces it in the movie, so use the little speaker button next to the word to hear the proper pronunciation.  If you happen to meet up with someone who is especially rude and ugly, you may want to drop this one early in the conversation.  It’ll give you the advantage, or at least let your sparring partner know that you’re a force to be reckoned with.  The second word this week is kvetch.  This one is kind of tricky, so again, I suggest using the pronunciation button to help you out.  You would think the “K” is silent, but it’s not.  It’s not fully pronounced either.  It actually has more of an “H” sound to it, really.  You start with the hushed “H” and throw in the tail end of the “K” and you’ve got it.  Kind of like when your trying to hock up a loogie in the middle of cold and flu season.  Sorry for the graphic description, but I don’t know how else to explain it.  Listen to it several times and you’ll see what I mean.  The first audio is by a woman, the second by a man, so the spectrum is covered.  As always, you can check the BWW home page  if you need to brush up on your verbal arsenal.  Enjoy!

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. 

Some days, the hamsters just rebel.  Today is one of those days.  I must have forgotten to feed them yesterday because every time I try to load a page, the little wheel keeps spinning, and spinning, and spinning….  I’ll teach them, though.  I’ll upgrade to gerbils and set the hamsters loose in the backyard; let them fight it out with the squirrels for third-of-an-acre supremacy.  Seriously, I mean, what the DELL is going on here?  I could call tech support, but then I’d have to watch 5 hours of The Simpsons just to get the right Calcutta dialect down.  I don’t have time for that.  Oh well, I’ll try.

Our words this week are tasty.  Tasty as in they could be the names of a meat sauce (salubrious) and a dessert topping (magniloquent) respectively.  “I’ll have the pork chops in salubrious sauce please.  Does that come with a salad?  And I’m saving room for that delicious looking carrot cake with magniloquent icing for dessert.”  OK, maybe food is a stretch, but they sound good! 

Our first word this week is salubrious-meaning favorable to or promoting health; healthful.  I still think it could give A-1 sauce a run for it’s money, but that’s just me.  Word number two is magniloquent-meaning speaking or expressed in a lofty or grandiose style; pompous; bombastic; boastful.  Kinda sounds like Kanye West.  But, if he wants to wear sunglasses that look like the back window louvre from a 1978 Trans Am, who am I to judge?  Remember to catch up on all of our words on the BWW page.  Now go out there and sound over-intelligent! 

Wow!  We had a little skirmish on the BWW page the other day.  A satirical comment was taken as serious by another commenter, and the response was a vicious smack down.  Or, was it a serious comment that was taken as satire by another commenter, and the response was a jesting put down?  I don’t know, you be the judge, the point is: Big Word Wednesday has the nation talking!  Well, the NFW nation, anyway.  A wise man once said: “Tis better to keep one’s mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt”.  Today’s translation would be something along these lines; “Yo! Spinny! Shut cha pie hole, fool!  I dun toldja ya soundin’ like an idjut when ya flap dem lips!”  I believe that would be counted as “A Statement Of Distinction” under the No Child Left Behind legislation.  At least you kind of understood what he was saying.  Our goal is to increase your knowledge of the English language and the 2/3 of the words that are in it that no one uses anymore.

This weeks words flow easily and have that “zinger” quality that we are looking for.  Drop one of these babies in the middle of a conversation and watch your sparring partner wither under the verbal assault.  All they’ll be left with is spittle hanging off of their lips and a desire to dash to their local community college and enroll in a correspondence course in vocabulary arts.  Word one is: elucidative; meaning, that makes clear, a clarifying example.  First glance may lead you to believe that the correct definition would be elusive, but, no!  Word two is cool.  It flows easily and sounds pompous enough to get you at least one more rung up the snootiness ladder (Ladder of Snoot?).  It is; benightedness; meaning intellectually or morally ignorant, unenlightened.  Ouch.  Probably want to save that one for the self anointed leader of the play group, or the in-laws; that is, if yours are bad.  Mine are fantabulous, so I better start looking for a play group with a Prada wearing leader.  Happy speaking!

Momo Fali commented last week that some assistance with pronunciation would be nice, so I wanted to point something out.  When you click on the word link, it will take you to the dictionary dot com page for the word(s) of the week.  Sitting next to the word should be a symbol that looks like a speaker with sound waves coming out of it.  Click on it and you will hear HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey pronounce the word for you.  Actually, there are quite a few voices in there pronouncing.  I think I heard Richard Burton the other day.  As long as Charles Nelson Reilly isn’t recruited by them, we’ll be OK.  Thanks again to Momo for the suggestion.

This weeks first word comes from my sister Leta.  She said she liked the Big Word Wednesday feature because as a society we had become languorous with our language.  After she said that, I immediately ran for my keyboard.  I used to run for my dictionary, but that is so 80’s.  1480’s, that is.  That’s when the word originated.  It is synonymous with lethargy and means: listless, lack of physical or mental energy.  I’ve been in touch with that emotion before.  Only one word this week kids, I’m feeling a little languorous.  Don’t forget to check the BWW page  for all of the words we’ve covered so far.

Being rather pleased with last week’s offering of 2 words, we will now be listing 2 words every Wednesday.   You can become twice as smart in half the time!  Our first word this week is lugubrious; meaning mournful, dismal or gloomy.  Not the cheeriest of words, but then, they can’t all be, right?  This fits in well if you have kids because the deeper definition states that it is “mournful; indicating sorrow, often ridiculously or feignedly; doleful; woful; pitiable; as, a whining tone and a lugubrious look.”  Yeah, I’ve seen this word in action a time or two; usually after a parental request has been issued.  We parents call it a “request”, the kids usually call it a “demand”.  Oh well, tomato/tomahto.

The second word for this week is pulchritude; meaning great physical beauty; comeliness.  Wow, wonder why this word isn’t used more often.  Pulchritude?  Sounds like a person with a bad disposition to me; but then, my name isn’t Mr. Webster, is it?  I would use this word with caution in mixed company, I have a feeling that unless the person is a semi-sesquipedalian, it could come off as offensive.  I’m almost offended just typing it.  Use your best judgement.  Don’t forget, you can always click on the BWW page  to see all of the words.  Now, go out there and sound smart!

Do you have keen vision?  Not vision like “I see you!”, but vision as in “I have a vision of what my future holds?”  Do you have keen mental perception and understanding?  If so, then you may very well be perspicacious.  At first glance you may have thought like I did; that when you read the definition of this word it would be something like “Someone who is prone to sweating”, but, like me, you would have been incorrect.  I actually had another word in mind for this week, but perspicacious was too sesquipedalian-ish to pass up! 

The first word nominated for this week was sagacious.  It means pretty much the same thing as perspicacious, except in this definition, rather than having vision, you have discernment; and we all know how vastly different vision and discernment can be.  I like sagacious because of the way it rolls off the tongue: SUH-GEY-SHUHS.  I like to hold my pinkie finger at an acute angle when I say it.  I think a cigarette holder like the Penguin used to use in the old Batman show would pretty much seal the deal: pinkie out, cigarette holder and sagacious.  Think of the ramifications of using those visuals the next time you’re at the store!  There you have it; a two for one Big Word Wednesday.  Don’t forget, you can always go to the BWW page to see all of the entries.

Alright friends and neighbors, this is the official announcement of our newest service to mankind.  We would never be so obtuse as to placate your insatiable yearning for verbiage of a sesquipedalian nature; much to your chagrin.

We know that people don’t really talk like that, but they used to!  And you still can, if your desire is to be beaten senseless at the car wash.  For those of you just wishing to learn some new words that you can use  occasionally, this is the place.  We’ll even link to dictionary dot com so you can see that we aren’t making them up.  Some of the words will stupefy you.  Others will make you say; “So THAT’S what that Euro-trash jerk meant!”, and still others will make your waiter or waitress think that with a vocabulary like that, you should certainly be a better tipper.

I know you’re thinking that all you really have to do is subscribe to Reader’s Digest for their “It pays to enrich your word power” section, and you would be correct.  To a point.  I promise you, we’ll list some words that I guarantee you would never grace the pages of RD.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good magazine, but ask yourself; “Have I really laughed out loud at any of the Life in these United States anecdotes lately?”  Besides, most of their stuff has moved to the Internet anyway.  Play it safe.  Stick with us.  Click on the page link above on the header bar to see the word for this week, or click here.