New Year/New Words

Felicific
     adjective
causing or tending to cause happiness.

Nope. This is an adjective used when you’re suggesting that someone bears a distinct resemblance to Felix the Cat.

Jen had a felicific air about her.

Bonanza
     noun
a source of great and sudden wealth or luck; a spectacular windfall.
Sorry, I just can’t see this word as anything other than the name of the 1960s-70s cattle ranching teevee show. Yeah, I get that it’s a real and useful word but, I hear/read Bonanza and expect Ben and Hoss Cartwright to come waltzing in the door.

Flapjack
     noun
pancake

No, fuck that shit. A flapjack is a dude suffering from can’t-get-a-stiffy syndrome OR it’s the actual soft, noodle itself.

bronze Roman pessary dated between 200 B.C. and 400 C.E

Pessary
     noun
a device worn in the vagina to support the uterus, remedy a malposition, or prevent conception

Did you know?

It was illegal to provide information on contraception in the US well into the 20th century. Illegal—not just the contraceptives but INFORMATION about how to avoid getting up the spout!

In fact, on March second of 1873:

Congress passes the Comstock Law, an anti-obscenity act that specifically lists contraceptives as obscene material and outlaws the dissemination of them via the postal service or interstate commerce. At the time, the United States is the only western nation to enact laws criminalizing birth control. (source) 

While Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965 gave married couples the right to birth control, it wasn’t until 1972 and Eisenstadt v. Baird that single people had the same right. Now, here in the 21st bleedin’ century—the year of our feline supreme being, 2024—the MAGAt Party is trying to take away our ability to legally plan our families, our lives and manage our health.

Yep. Vote blue before the Tiny Schwanzed Party sends us all back to antediluvian times.

Fainéant /fay-nay-AHN/
     noun
an idle or ineffective person.

…borrowed from French; it derives from fait-nient, which literally means "does nothing," and ultimately traces back to the verb faindre, or feindre, meaning "to feign.” (source)

I really need to take a basic French language class. Italian? I, pretty much, can manage not to butcher the language. German? Studied in high school and college so, pronunciation-wise, I do okay. French? I have no feeling at all as to how properly say most words. Similar to Gaelic—I look at the phonetic representation and am mystified. HOW does anyone get TEE-shock out of Taoiseach?

Soi-disant / swa-dee-zahn /
     adjective
so called

Soi-disant comes from the French term literally meaning, “calling oneself.”
Soi-disant can also mean “self-styled” (source)

The soi-disant political prophet predicted big wins for the MAGAt Party, but he was full of weasel shit and stale trump farts.

Exsiccate
     verb
to dry up.

We are in that wretched time of year where it take multiple humidifiers, playing like a symphony orchestra, to fight off the exsiccation of my eyeballs.

Bosky
     adjective
covered with bushes, shrubs, and small trees; woody.
     Bosky comes from the noun bosk, “a small wood or thicket,”

That’s nice. I can’t hear this word without thinking of Bosc pears. Mmmmmmmm, pears. Pear cocktails, MMMMMM!

Armillary
     adjective
consisting of hoops or rings.
     Armillary comes from the Latin word armill(a), “bracelet, hoop,” which is typically worn on the arm.
The Latin word armill(a) was formed from the Latin word arm(us), meaning “shoulder,” and the diminutive suffix –illa.

Nope. Sorry, this is about like armory—a place where guns and other military shit is stored—only smaller.
We stored our peashooters and slingshots in the armillary.

Coruscate
     verb
to emit vivid flashes of light; sparkle; scintillate; gleam.
Coruscate comes from the past participle of the Latin word coruscāre, “to quiver, flash.”

Back in college, Kevin and I coruscated as we jitterbugged across the dance floor whenever Donna Summer came on the juke box.

Kenspeckle
     adjective
conspicuous; easily seen or recognized.

As opposed to Barbiespeckle which would be subtle and undoubtedly missed.