Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was caitiff. According to Merriam-Webster Online caitiff is defined as: cowardly or despicable. I guess certain wealthy animators could have entitled a couple of movies Caitiff Me or a particular character in a beloved children’s story could have been called the Caitiff Lion, but I doubt the author of that story or the animators would have made as much dinero with such titles.

Today’s WOW is captious. For some reason I feel like I should know this word, but its definition is escaping me, so I have a feeling all my Word Nerds are going to deluge me with comments at the end of this post telling me the actual definition for captious.

Here are my 4 guesses (yes, a bonus guess!), so you can officially give me grief about it:

captious (ˈkap-shəs) 1. being held captive 2. captivating 3. like a captain 4. like Hawkeye Pierce

Good morning, Word Nerds! Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was anabasis. No one had a guess for anabasis, so let’s find out what Merriam-Webster says about the definition:

1. a going or marching up as in a military advance

2. a difficult and dangerous military retreat

Let me guess: the battle of the Little Big Horn was a bit of an anabasis for Custer.

This week’s WOW is calumny. Here are my guesses for its definition:

calumny (ˈka-ləm-nē) 1. column-y 2. like Callum 3. a quandary created by Californians

What’s your guess about calumny. Submit a comment below this post!

Wednesday’s Post: Journaling as Prayer…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: anabasis and Word of the Week: thrasonical

Good morning, fellow Word Nerds! Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was thrasonical. Thrasonical, according to Merriam-Webster Online is: of, relating to, resembling, or characteristic of Thraso. Uh-hunh. Okay. Who or what the heck is Thraso???  Thankfully, Merriam-Webster gives us some information regarding Thraso as follows:

Thraso was a blustering old soldier in the comedy Eunuchus, a play written by the great Roman dramatist Terence more than 2,000 years ago. Terence is generally remembered for his realistic characterizations, and in Thraso he created a swaggerer whose vainglorious boastfulness was not soon to be forgotten. Thraso’s reputation as a braggart lives on in “thrasonical,” a word that boasts a history as an English adjective for more than 440 years.

That was your English and History lesson for today. This will improve your next Trivial Pursuit game??? (Does anyone even play Trivial Pursuit anymore?)

This week’s WOW is anabasis. Here are my guesses for anabasis:

anabasis: (ə-ˈna-bə-səs) 1. based on a Frozen heroine 2. basic analogue 3. basal analysis

What are your guesses for anabasis? Submit a comment below this post to let me know! (I have a feeling all you smarties out there are going to know this one!)

Wednesday’s Post: Clarification...

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: thasonical and Word of the Week: bouleversement

Good morning, My Fellow Word Nerds! Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was bouleversement. Merriam-Webster Online defines it as reversal or disorder. If you ask me, the government either needs bouleversement or is already in bouleversement!

This week’s WOW is thrasonical. Here are my guesses for thrasonical:

thrasonical: (thrā-ˈsä-ni-kəl) 1. the sound of anthrax infiltrating the body 2. the effect of thrashing someone 3. the sound emitted from triad chords

What’s your guess for thrasonical? Post it in a comment below this post!

Wednesday’s Post: What’s the Proper Way to Treat All Teachers?

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: bouleversement and Word of the Week: morganatic

Good morning, Word Nerds! Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day weekend!

Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was morganatic. The Merriam-Webster Online definition for it is: of, relating to, a marriage between a member of a royal or noble family and a person of inferior rank in which the rank of the inferior partner remains unchanged and the children of the marriage do not succeed to titles or entailed property of the nobility/royalty.  The guesses for this word were great attempts, but unfortunately, not close to this definition.

This week’s WOW is bouleversement. Having studied French for 4 years, my guess is that this word originated in France, but I have no idea what it might mean, so here are my guesses:

Good morning, Word Nerds! Last week’s Word of the Week (WOW) was rhadamanthine. Merriam-Webster Online says that rhadamanthine is defined as: rigorously strict or just. I doubt that there is anything remotely rhadamanthine about this blog!

This week’s WOW is morganatic. My definition guesses for this word are as follows:

morganatic: (mȯr-gə-ˈna-tik) 1. resembling Morgan 2. having a humorous, but strict commanding officer demeanor during the Korean Conflict in the 50s (Think M*A*S*H*, my middle-aged compadres) 3. anything having to do with my organs

What’s your guess for morganatic? Post a comment here–try not to make it something that another reader already posted. It’s more fun when we all “play,” so take a stab at it!

Wednesday’s Post: Rule of Life…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: rhadamanthine and Word of the Week: Brobdingnagian

Sorry I’m a bit tardy on the WOW (Word of the Week) for today. Will you forgive me if I tell you that Brobdingnagian means, according to Merriam-Webster, marked by tremendous size?

The reason why Brobdingnagian is capitalized is because it references a place in Gulliver’s Travels! So, when I ventured that it was a resident from Brobdingnag…I was darn close–since that is the town in the book! As the hubby says, sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a nut.

This week’s WOW is rhadamanthine. Here are my guesses for rhadamanthine:

rhadamanthine: (ra-də-ˈman(t)-thən, -ˈman-ˌthīn) 1. your radish man 2. the process of ratifying a mandate 3. the word “rad” used to excess

What are your guesses for this word? Post a comment to this entry and let me know. Chances are that you will be way closer than mine!

Wednesday’s Post: To Time or Not To Time…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: Brobdingnagian and Word of the Week: tintinnabulation

The best thing about Mondays is that it’s Word of the Week (WOW) time, right? (Don’t argue with me…I like living in my delusional world!)

Last week’s WOW was tintinnabulation. Merriam-Webster Online says that tintinnabulation is: the sound of ringing bells, so the father-in-law wins this round of guessing and wins a hen and maybe two ducks. (Inside family joke, but since the only ones who read this blog are my family…it works, right?) Methinks he may have encountered this word before….hmmmmm….

Today’s WOW is brobdingnagian. Here are my lame guesses for this (since I’m blanking on even a silly guess for it!):

Brobdingnagian (bräb-diŋ-ˈna-gē-ən) 1. a person named Bob or Rob who rings the doorbells of the homes of AARP members 2. a person who robs dinghys 3. a person residing in Brobdingnag

What are your guesses for Brobdingnagian? Post a comment to this post to let me know!

Good morning, Word Nerds! (Own it!) Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was flapdoodle. The DD got this one immediately. Merriam-Webster Online officially says that flapdoodle means foolish words. Her definition was “nonsensical words” and an alternate definition for flapdoodle is nonsense. So, she’s pretty spot on with her guess.

This week’s WOW is tintinnabulation. (Try and say that 5 times fast.) Here are my guesses for it:

tintinnabulation (tin-tə-ˌna-byə-ˈlā-shən) 1. the ambulatory movement of a famed German Shepherd 2. what transpires after the three little porcine creatures refer to their chins 3. the sound resonating from kicking empty metal containers of fruit or vegetables

What’s your guess for tintinnabulation? Post a comment to this post! No fair looking it up first.

Wednesday’s Post: God Isn’t a Microwave…

You May Also Like: Word of the Week: flapdoodle and Word of the Week: mythomania

Good morning, Word Nerds! (Wear that badge with honor, gang!) 😀

Last week’s Word of the Week (WOW) was mythomania. A LOT of you had guesses about this one and it was fun to read what you thought about it. Some of you were even using it in a sentence on social media or winking at me in person as you used it. I LOVE THAT! Keep it up! So let’s see how close we got on all those guesses.

Merriam-Webster Online says that mythomania is: an excessive or abnormal propensity for lying and exaggerating. So, most of us got this one right and I stand by my 2nd guess from last week. If that isn’t mythomania, I don’t know what is! Go here if you’re forgetting my 2nd guess.

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

flapdoodle (ˈflap-ˌdü-d^əl) 1. an ancient arm tattoo on an AARP member  2. the drawing fighter pilots put on their planes in WWII 3. the ruckus a poodle makes when not content