Spectacular Vernacular
Words amuse me. Many trace their origins back to the earliest languages in clear lineages. Others have evolved in fits and starts as people have twisted their meanings. Still others have been created in amusing ways.
My goal is to take what could be the dry topic of etymology and make it fun and entertaining with short vignettes on some spectacular vernacular.
Bafflegab
A horrid task, the annual income tax filing, looms over me as I struggle to comprehend governmental explanations filled with bafflegab.
Read the Spectacular VernacularMarginalia
Remember back in your school days when you opened a text book to discover the previous owner scribbled some marginalia?
Read the Spectacular VernacularFissiparous
Ever wonder what the reproductive process of worms has in common with complex political alliances? Fissiparous is the answer.
Read the Spectacular VernacularDecide
Why would I decide on such a simple word for this week’s Spectacular Vernacular? It’s the etymology that caught my attention.
Read the Spectacular VernacularFeckless
Watching Asheville city leaders explain how 40,000 citizens can go without water for days raised my curiosity on the word feckless.
Read the Spectacular VernacularMondegreen
Writer Sylvia Wright loved the character of Lady Mondegreen so much that she refused to accept she never existed.
Read the Spectacular VernacularEggnog
Nothing makes holiday gatherings better than useless knowledge to share over drinks, like what exactly is the nog in eggnog.
Read the Spectacular VernacularEvanescent
After a week of rain and dreary conditions, I’m ready for this normally evanescent weather to morph into some sunshine.
Read the Spectacular VernacularSophistry
People who employ sophistry use facts, figures, and logic skills, so their conclusions must be correct, right?
Read the Spectacular VernacularLitotes
Don’t worry about this one. You may not know this week’s vocabulary word, litotes, but the literary device is not uncommon.
Read the Spectacular VernacularPumpernickel
Pumpernickel is a common type of bread, but the reason it qualifies for a Spectacular Vernacular segment is the etymology is a real gas.
Read the Spectacular VernacularElision
Elisions can be formal and poetic or found in informal everyday speech, so I’m tryin’ to give examples in today’s vocabulary post.
Read the Spectacular Vernacular