GHOST BIKES: bicycles painted white, located at sites of fatal bike accidents

May 10, 2013

It is a sobering moment.  You are driving down the street and suddenly on the side of the road appears a white bicycle, sometimes with flowers on it. It is a ghost bike. Oh, there’s nothing supernatural about it.  It is a memorial placed there anonymously by someone who wants us to remember that on [...]

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PALATE [PAL-it] : the roof of the mouth, a sense of taste, intellectual or aesthetic taste

May 9, 2013

I have intentionally included all three of the most common definitions of the word palate as they are related. But it is in the realm of cuisine that the word palate may have the most interesting application.    Everyone has a palate related to food.  It may be eclectic, in the sense that a person will [...]

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ATROPHY [A-truh-fee]: wasting away as a result of disuse

May 8, 2013

In matters related to the human body, I am intrigued by the concept of atrophy.  It is the phenomenon which occurs when a specific part of the body is not used over a period of time.  The result is that the body part shrivels up and eventually can literally die.  It is a term which [...]

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GIG: a single engagement for a performer or other professional

May 7, 2013

There are a variety of meanings for the word gig, but for this posting I have chosen to focus on the one which inspired me to check out the word. It has to do with entertainment or other fields of employment where a professional books individual events, one at a time.    They are accumulated in [...]

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TARANTISM: the uncontrollable need to dance

May 6, 2013

I’m back again to my friend Tara Lafferty, whose birthday was yesterday.  She is a dancer and dance instructor.   But she outdid herself when she introduced me to the word tarantism, which is my word for this day’s posting.   I’ll bet I’m not the only person whose never heard it before.  Enjoy. (You, too, can [...]

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ALUM: non-gender-specific term for a graduate of an institution

May 4, 2013

It’s only a matter of days ago that I lamented the propriety of inventing words that are shortened versions of an already-existing word.  I pointed out at that time that there were probably good words already out there without needing to invent limited-meaning words.  (Surveilled) But it occurred to me that there are probably a [...]

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CIRCUMSTANTIAL: seemingly factual, but based upon existing conditions

May 2, 2013

We hear frequently that a trial is being held in the media rather than in the courthouse.  That’s a phrase that indicates that the media is too involved in weighing the evidence, testing the credibility of the defendant, and analyzing the information given by witnesses.   Almost before the jury has been charged the media has [...]

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SURVEILLED [ser-VEYLD]: to have observed under close scrutiny

April 30, 2013

Sometimes “made up words” bother me. I mean words that are finagled from other, existing words in order to make them fit into a thought or a comment.  People seem to do it all the time, and some linguists and editors have said that it’s okay.  They say that as long as people know what [...]

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KNAPSACK: a lightweight, frameless backpack

April 29, 2013

I’m one of those adults who worries about the weight kids are carrying around in their backpacks.   I’ve seen little kids on the way to school who are almost bent at the waist as a result of the weight they are toting. “In the day” it wasn’t uncommon to carry  a book bag with a [...]

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EXPEDIENT: fit to fulfill a purpose

April 28, 2013

Every now and then I discover that I’ve been using a word incorrectly.  Being somewhat of a wordsmith, this is embarrassing, to say the least. Such is the case for the word expedient. I have been using this word for years, thinking that it meant speedily, or in good time.  For some reason, there was [...]

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