Book Club: This Friday is the Slow Reader Post of The Way Home by Belle Calhoune. Also, the MIP October Book Club Selection  will be announced!

Last week’s Word of the Week (WOW) was fissiparous. Merriam-Webster defines fissiparous as: tending to break up into parts or divisive. Therefore, I think it’s safe to say that Congress is rather fissiparous these days. Would you agree???

Today’s WOW is truckle. Here are my definition guesses for truckle:

truckle: (ˈtrə-kəl) 1. a truck driver’s act of chuckling 2. a true cackle (I sense a theme here!) 3. a belt buckle that’s the size of a semi (That basically includes all belt buckles in Texas).

What’s your definition guess for truckle? Send it to me here.

Wednesday’s Post: Children of the Day Reflection Time!

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: fissiparous; Word of the Week: cock-a-hoop; Word of the Week: recondite; and Word of the Week: collimate

Book Club Lovers: Go here to see the September 2014 MIP Book Club Selection! The MIP reading plan begins next Monday!

Children of the Day Reflections: Living Proof Ministries, Beth Moore’s organization, has given me permission to blog about my journey through Beth Moore’s newest study on 1st and 2nd Thessalonians each Wednesday, so get ready for the first reflection this Wednesday!

My first product review will be up on MIP this coming Friday! I have been asked to review a product for the first time. This is basically “Blogger Nirvana” and a big step forward for MIP, so please take a moment to read the blog Friday.

Top Mommy Blog Update: Because of the Top Mommy Blog status, I have been nominated for a Liebster Award, an award given to new, small blogs! So, thank you for clicking on that Top Mommy Blog button to the right of this post. You can click once a day and every click brings good things (like all of the above)  for the blog and for my writing career, so please keep clicking!

Book Club Readers: Are you ready to read Songs in the Key of Solomon tomorrow? You do NOT want to miss this one–trust me. Click here for the MIP Suggested Reading Plan.

Happy Monday, WOW Lovers! Last week’s Word of the Week (WOW) was offal and two long-time MIP readers chimed in with two correct definitions! And without knowing it, they submitted their guesses as father and son! I’m going to have to declare the son the winner, though, because he gave the first definition listed in Merriam-Webster, while “Dad” submitted the 2nd most common definition. So, congrats to Bruce for the winning guess and congrats to John on an honorable mention definition guess. I have a sneaky suspicion that there’s going to be some father and son razzing about this in the weeks to come. Here are those correct guesses, along, with a 3rd one as defined by Merriam-Webster Online:

offal: 1. the organs (such as the liver or kidney) of an animal that are used for food 2. the waste or by-product of a process: as trimmings of a hide, the by-products of milling used especially for stock feeds, or the viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal removed in dressing 3. rubbish

No matter how you define it, if you ask me, offal sounds awful.

Today’s WOW is preterit. Here are my definition guesses for preterit:

preterit: (‘pre-tə-rət) 1. the preparations one makes to tear it up, whatever “it” is. 2. achieving before it’s necessary to achieve it 3. an idiot who can’t spell prefer correctly

What’s your definition guess for preterit? Click here to submit it. Maybe you can outdo Bruce and John this week! 🙂

Wednesday’s Post: The Odd Days of July…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: offal; Word of the Week: shinplaster; Word of the Week: perdure; Word of the Week: eidetic; and Word of the Week: mien

Howdy, Word Lovers! It’s time for a new Word of the Week (WOW). Last week’s WOW was perdure and Merriam-Webster Online says that perdure means to continue to exist. Sounds very much like endure, hunh? But, I suppose endure carries with it the connotation that one continues to exist through pain or adversity and perdure does not. Thus, we could say that blue jeans perdure while my bottom endures their tight, low-waisted, non-flattering fit most days. 

This week’s WOW is shinplaster. This was just too fun a word to ignore, so here are my guesses for shinplaster: shinplaster:

(ˈshin-ˌplas-tər) 1. a permanent state of anyone who plasters for a living 2. how an arthritic shin feels on any given Monday 3. the shaky nature of a drunkard’s legs after a party weekend So, what is your guess for shinplaster? Be sure to let me know!

Wednesday’s Post: Spam Themes That MIP Seems to Attract

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: perdure; Word of the Week: eidetic; Word of the Week: mien; Word of the Week: risible; and Word of the Week: pettifogger

Book Club Lovers: Have you started reading the June MIP Book Club Selection? Beth Moore is so inspiring–I highly encourage you to make it a goal on your summer reading list!

Good morning, WOW lovers! If you watched the national news lately, did you catch the fact that one of the winning words for the National Spelling Bee co-champions was stichomythia??? That should ring a bell, because it’s a former WOW! See–you would win a spelling bee reading the WOW posts every week! Too bad they aren’t willing to give grown-ups $ 30,000 for spelling words correctly, hunh?

Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was mien. According to Merriam-Webster Online mien means air or bearing especially as expressive of attitude or personality as well as appearance or aspect. I hope that my mien indicates that I am a Christian! What do you hope your mien indicates about you?

Today’s WOW is eidetic. Eidetic falls under the category of “MaryAnn has heard this word and should know the meaning, but can’t quite yank it out of her rusty brain.” So, let me give my goofier ideas below and maybe the rust will dissipate enough that I come up with the actual definition. (I’m not holding my breath, though.)

eidetic: 1. a way to say, “I get it.” if you lisp 2. a goose feather down quality 3. the way someone struggling with dyslexia spells dietetic

What’s your definition for eidetic? Is your brain less rusty than mine?

Wednesday’s Post: The Odd Days of June

You might also like: Word of the Week: mien; Word of the Week: risible; Word of the Week: pettifogger; Word of the Week: hoise; and Word of the Week: orotund

Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was pettifogger. Merriam-Webster Online says that pettifogger is: a lawyer whose methods are petty, underhanded, or disreputable or one given to quibbling over trifles. Ouch. I think that last part could apply to me when I’m insisting my kids keep their elbows off the dinner table!

Today’s WOW is risible. Here are my guesses for risible:

risible: (ˈri-zə-bəl) 1. the ability for bread to rise 2. the ability of a woman to be Stockard Channing in Grease 3. the factor for developing Reye’s Syndrome after taking pain relievers

What’s your guess? Remember that the most accurate guess gets 5 points. The most creative guess gets 3 points and the second most accurate guess gets 1 point. Use this page to submit your guess. Those with the most points at the end of the year gets an MIP one-of-a-kind t-shirt! You know you need yet another t-shirt!

Wednesday’s Post: The Odd Days of May…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: pettifogger; Word of the Week: hoise; Word of the Week: orotund; and Word of the Week: stichomythia

WOW Fans: Today I begin a new, fun “perk” of this feature. Those who submit a guess for the Word of the Week (WOW) will be entered into a little (emphasis on the word “little”) ongoing contest to see who gets closest to the real, online Merriam-Webster guess of the word. NO FAIR looking the word up in any sort of dictionary or thesaurus! The person getting closest to the actual definition will receive 5 MIP Points. The person with the most creative definition will receive 3 MIP Points. The person getting the next closest to the correct definition will get 1 MIP Point. (This could happen a lot since many words have 2 or more meanings!)

I thought about having you submit a comment for the guess, but others may copy or put in a similar definition based on previous guesses and “copying” is just not fair. Thus, you must send me an email via the Contact Me page here at MIP to be eligible. The person with the most points by 12-31-14 will receive an MIP t-shirt….even if I have to make the T-shirt myself. When I’m rich and famous, the winner will be able to say they had the very first WOW t-shirt. By 2114 it might be worth enough for the winner to cash it in for a Starbucks latte (which will probably cost $ 500 by then). I would love to give you the Taj Mahal, but it was hard to fit a large Indian castle into my MIP budget this year. Have YOU ever tried to squeeze a building onto a spreadsheet with only 3 columns???

Ready to play? Good! Then, let’s get down to business and explore the true meaning of the last WOW from way back in January. It was orotund which Merriam-Webster defines as: marked by fullness, strength, and clarity of sound. It can also mean pompous or bombastic. (Some of you just looked up one of those last words, didn’t you! Caught ya!) So, a professional opera singer could be orotund two ways–have a great voice and know it a little too well!

Today’s word is hoise. Here are my pathetic excuses for definition attempts of hoise:

hoise: (ˈhȯiz) 1. A resident of New Jersey’s way of saying hose 2. a hefty amount of poise 3. a noise emanating from a horse

What’s your guess? Submit a guess by clicking here.

Wednesday’s Post: By popular demand…my brother’s eulogy…

You might also like: Word of the Week: orotund; Word of the Week: stichomythia; Word of the Week: styptic; and Word of the Week: pinchbeck

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Good morning, WOW (Word of the Week) Lovers! Last week’s WOW was styptic. Merriam-Webster Online defines styptic as: tending to contract or bind, especially tending to check bleeding. Let me guess: styptic is not an oft-used word by vampires.

Since this is the last WOW post for 2013, I thought it would be fun to look at new words that may, some day, become a part of the Merriam-Webster dictionary. There are some words on this list that I already know, such as ginormous. But, a fair few I did not know, so I’ve selected 10 that I don’t know and I am giving a definition guess for each one (3 seemed excessive this time!). For some I actually tried to give a definition, but you are about to discover which ones are completely  beyond my level of comprehension:

gription: the traction that is gained via one’s grip

bougie: the French way to spell nose mucous

schwack: any German item considered “un-cool”

pretendica: any unsubstantiated item found in the Enclyclopedia Brittanica

simplicated: being implicated in a crime by a simpleton

jackwagon: the wagon Jack hauled up the hill to fetch a pail of water

perspectivize: to give an opinion based only on one’s own perspective

tertile: the best way to misspell turtle

techronym: an acronym applied to new technology

figmentary: a non-existent item

Point to Ponder: How many did you already know? Show me up and tell me how many you know! Better yet, give the accurate definition for the ones you know.

Wednesday’s Post: The Odd Days of January 2014…

You might also like: Word of the Week: styptic; Word of the Week: pinchbeck; Word of the Week: suffuse; and Word of the Week: fard

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Book Club Members: Do you have Killing Jesus yet? Or are you hoping Santa will bring that to you? 😉

WOW Lovers: Next week I will reveal words and slang that Merriam-Webster Online is contemplating adding to its next edition. I will only list ones I don’t know. So, if you’re more up on current slang and terminology, this is your opportunity to show up this blogger/writer!

Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was pinchbeck. Merriam Webster Online describes pinchbeck as: an alloy of copper and zinc used especially to imitate gold in jewelry or something counterfeit or spurious. So, if you think you bought a loved one or friend something gold for Christmas, you may want to re-examine it for pinchbeck qualities!

Today’s WOW is styptic. What do you think styptic means? Here are my guesses:

styptic: (ˈstip-tik) 1. stuck on being cryptic 2. when a sty forces your eye to have a tic 3. optics used to enhance style

Wednesday’s Post: The 12 Days of MIP: 2 & 1…that proverbial partridge in a pear tree!

You might also like: Word of the Week: pinchbeck; Word of the Week: suffuse; Word of the Week: fard; and Word of the Week: hawkshaw