Ah, the pescatarian, the vegetarian who can’t quite commit. Pescatarians eat fish but no other meat.

Oh, so that’s what they call it! A Rebus. It’s those little riddles or phrases spelled out with pictures instead of words. Like the cap of a Haffenreffer! What the heck a puzzle that we all associate with children is doing on the inside of a malt liquor bottle cap I don’t know. Seemed fun then, seems dubious now. Like cigarette flavors and cartoon camels.

Photo credit: gracey from morguefile.com

I wouldn’t exactly call today’s word fun or interesting, but it’s worth pointing out the origin of this neologism. The term “wiki” is a noun, representing websites that let visitors make corrections, additions and new contributions. Like, of course, Wikipedia.

The first technology related reference to “wiki” is from 1995 and Ward Cunningham’s software WikiWikiWeb. Wiki sites use this software to let users alter the pages. Wiki is also a Hawaiian word, meaning “quick.”

Aloha.

Everyone’s feeling baroque these days (sorry I couldn’t help myself!)

Baroque is and adjective that relates an a noun to a particular style of art and music originating in Italy in the early 17th century sometimes called the renaissance period. They style is characterized by bold irregular shapes with large ornamental displays. You know it when you see it, though it’s a little difficult to explain. Of late, it’s been popular in two-tone. Here are some samples.

Here’s an interesting word:

Stanch is a verb meaning to stop the flow of a liquid (such as the flow of blood from an injury or water from flowing into the hull of a vessel). The word is pronounced “staunch,” the spelling of which happens to be just like the sound of “stanch.” Am I making sense here?

While stanch means to make something watertight, staunch is an adjective describing something that has been stanched. They both sound the same.

See, this is why I do this. If I saw this word elsewhere, I would have called it a typo for spendthrift.

Spindrift is a noun for sea spray off of the waves during a storm. It can also be snow or sand that becomes wind-borne during a storm. Reminds me of February. Ugh, it’s coming too soon!

If you don’t know what neologisms are, you should know you use them all the time. A neologism is a new word or expression that finds its way into language. Such as “blog” or “email.” Now, I want to take a moment to point out Merriam’s second definition. I thought they might be joking with the definition, “a meaningless word coined by a psychotic.”

Once again, dictionary.com comes to the rescue and explains that a neologism can be a word made of combinations of other words that only the speaker understands. This is a psychological term used to describe some of the speech idiosyncrasies of schizophrenics. Now that’s a lot clearer that ” a meaningless word coined by a psychotic.” That definition could fit any number of utterances from our recent former President.

Now, in these parts, the word of the day may be pabulum, but we see Paplebaum before doing a double take and saying, “oh, pabulum!” Go Sox!

Pabulum is a noun meaning any kind of food stuff consumed by plants or animals to live, or food for thought, like the word “fodder.” It can also mean something bland and unstimulating, which I found odd since many epicureans are seen tossing this word around.

Turns out that there was a baby food in the 1930s that was densely nutritious and sparsely flavorful. The manufacturer named the product Pablum, taking the name from our word of the day. This is the origin of the “bland” alternate meaning.

Photo credit: roxanneh from morguefile.com

Glaucous is an adjective meaning pale yellow green, light bluish-gray or bluish-white. Essentially, it is a word to describe anything with a powdery or waxy coating that creates a frosted look and rubs off easily. Sort of like grapes or plums when you pick them up from the store. I gotta say, though, the first thing I thought of were alien “greys.” Ooh-wee-ooh…

Cogent is an adjective that once again, Merriam’s has made more complicated than it needs to be.

Cogent just means that something that is compelling, telling or convincing. It can also mean to the point or relevant.

Cogent is usually used to describe an argument for or against something, so avoid using it that way in your writing. Somebody comment with a sentence that shows a more creative way to use this word.
Thanks!