Word of the Day: Quixotic

QUIXOTIC -- (like Don Quixote) extravagantly chivalrous and romantic; impractical; visionary; imaginary; foolish in the pursuit of unreachable ideals

First written reference dates back to 1688, though the book, Don Quixote, dates back to 1605.

Some examples of how to use 'quixotic' in a sentence (this is hard!):

As a young college student, she was mesmerized by the poet's quixotic world view.

After forfeiting her Miss America crown, the beauty queen realized world peace was probably quixotic at best. She decided to try for inner peace instead.

Two "Words of the Day"

It's been a while since I had a basic "Word of the Day" post. I like to choose semi-familiar words (words I hear occasionally) that I can't quite define.

alacrity -- eagerness, zeal, agility (from the Latin word for lively)

EX. Once Mom gave the go-ahead, the children set up their lemonade stand with alacrity.

desultory -- leaping from one subject to another in a disconnected fashion; random; also, disappointing in performance (from the Latin word for leap)

EX. Without an agenda, the staff meeting became a desultory discussion of football statitistics and restuarant critiques.

Three Definitions

I never use these three words because they are so similar that I become confused about which means what...So to get their definitions straight in my mind, I thought I'd blog about them.

After each word's simplified definition I've written a sentence to clarify how they might be used in context.

implacable: cannot be placated or appeased.

Despite the defense attorney's best arguments, the judge was implacable in his demand

that the full sentence be served.

inexorable: unalterable

He was confronted with the inexorable truth that his deception had caused her pain.

intractable: not easily controlled; stubborn

She had the mistaken impression that her intractable disposition was a virtue.

Word of the Day: Prosaic

I am ambrrassed to admit that I did not know the definition of the word 'prosaic' -- until now. And now that I know the definition of the word, the word itself makes sense.

prosaic: unimaginative, commonplace, dull; like prose instead of poetry; lacking wit

I searched high and low on the Internet to find 'prosaic' used in actual sentences, but didn't find any. (Okay, I didn't spend that much time looking.) So I decided to write a few of my own:

"A centerpiece of fresh flowers can turn the most prosaic meal into a romantic occasion."

"Her prosaic letters arrived like clockwork every Monday detailing the ordinary events of the previous week."

"Next to creative writing, she found laundry to be the most prosaic activity of all, yet she was compelled to do it."

Word of the Day: Relaxation

I'm about to embark on another vacation, so the word of the day is RELAXATION. I need to re-acquaint myself with that concept. I know it's a universally understood word (unlike my other "Word of the Day" entries, which are more obscure), but I think it's a word a lot of people like me (largely parent types) need to familiarize themselves with.

Relaxation:

• abatement or relief from mental or bodily work, effort, or application;
• a loosening or slackening;
• refreshment of body or mind

Last week in Tennessee I realized that a good vacation provides an opportunity to step out of your life already in progress and look at it from a distance. I had a just toured a plantation, so I likened it to the expanse of lawn that leads to the mansion. From a distance you can look at the home and see if its columns are straight or its roof lines are sagging.

You have to step away sometimes to see things accurately. Time will do that, if you're willing to wait. Reading a book will do that sometimes. A good drive will do it. But a good vacation seems to do it best for me. I come home re-vitalized, ready to make some changes.

Word of the Day: Loquacious

I chose today's word after driving my 6th grader to school yesterday. She was doing her vocabulary homework, asking me to define the words she didn't know, and, oops, I didn't know this one either. I'd seen it, of course, but didn't really KNOW what it meant. Perfect for a word of the day!

Loquacious (loh-KWAY-shuhs): excessively talkative, wordy, full of trivial conversation

Example sentences:

In contrast with the loquacious prosecutor, the defense attorney said few words before resting his case.

All plans for a productive day of housework were blown when a loquacious neighbor stopped by for a chat.

Word of the Day: Bliss

Follow your bliss.

Fuller Quote:

If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track

that has been there all the while, waiting for you,

and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living.

When you can see that, you begin to meet people

who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you.

I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid,

and doors will open where you didn't know

they were going to be. (Joseph J. Campbell, 1904-1987)

bliss: supreme happiness; utter joy or contentment; ecstasy

bliss out: (slang) to experience bliss or euphoria, or to cause someone else to experience bliss or euphoria (Example: "Just follow the trail to the meadow in bloom and bliss out." "This recording is guaranteed to bliss out Mozart fans.")

Some things that have caused me to 'bliss out' (in no particular order):

husband & children (family)

open road (adventure, discovery)

mountains (from a distance or in a canyon)

green furrowed fields in spring

shady woods

water: streams, falls, rivers, ocean waves

hot fudge sundaes

books, poems, quotes, ideas, words

art supplies & office supplies

dogs

fish tacos

crossword puzzles

animals in nature

Japanese gardens

the musty smell of a basement or a museum

rolling hills dotted with cows

small cottages

laundry fresh from the dryer

movie theater popcorn

sailboats on a pier or in a bay

picnics

floating in a swimming pool, ears submerged

perfume

Observation: Very few people need a reality check, but almost everyone needs an occasional 'bliss check.'

Question for Readers: What is your bliss?

Word of the Day: Spoonerism

Did you know that English has three times more words than any other language (and it's still growing by about 450 words a year)? That's why we are so prone to spoonerisms. If you transpose the first letters of two words, you are likely to get two other words that still have meaning.

Spoonerisms are named for an English clergyman and dean at Oxford named William Archibald Spooner. He once raised a toast to Victoria by saying, "Three cheers for our queer old dean!" He also gave a speech applauding British farmers in which he referred to them as "those noble tons of soil." The examples below are also his.

I seem to be accidentally making spoonerisms more and more as I get older, so I thought I'd get the terminology down and provide a few examples:

Spoonerism: the transposition of the initial sounds in a pair of words.

Some examples of spoonerisms:

When the boys come back from France, we'll have the hags flung out.

Let me sew you to your sheet.

Another Word of the Day

dilettante: one who dabbles in the arts; an amateur; an admirer of the arts or of a particular field of study; a dabbler - someone with a broad but shallow attachment to any field

The origin of this word: the Latin word for 'delight'

Why I chose this word: This is a word I hear or read occasionally without really knowing the meaning of or bothering to look up.

Actual use of the word found on the web: She was, in the parlance of the time, a 'sermon taster', going to any church where the preaching was supposed to be good; for a dilettante churchgoer Brighton was then an exciting place to be.-- Matthew Sturgis

Word of the Day

Being a word person, I thought it might be fun and interesting to feature an occasional 'Word of the Day' on my blog. (As if I hadn't already driven most of my once loyal readers away...)

To be featured on my blog, the words must meet the following criteria:

1. I must not know the definition of the word with any degree of certainty. It must be at least vaguely unfamiliar to me.

2. I must believe that the word would be useful to know. I must be able to imagine using it at some point in the future outside of a standardized testing scenario.

So, without further ado, my first word of the day:

bucolic: suggesting an idyllic rural life; pastoral; charming in its pastoral setting

An actual example found on the web: "Sonoma Valley is an attractive place -- a bit of boutique bucolic, for sure."

Why I chose this word: I heard Laura Ingraham use this word in a sentence the other morning on her radio program and realized I really should know that word!