David Zapatka Last month’s column on “negentropy” elicited this response from a reader, “My thermodynamics class was at 8 a.m., and I slept through that particular law. Thanks for the review, albeit a little late to do anything with it.” There’s an art to scheduling university classes, and avoiding 8 a.m. classes was one of…
Tag: word of the month
Community News, March 2021
Word of the Month: Librettist
David Zapatka Commenting on the January WOTM column, reader Tom from Arlington, Va., writes, “Here’s a Washington Post article where your word of the month ‘jeremiad’ is used by the paper’s reporter Michael Scherer. In this case, the reporter uses it to describe the words of the chairman of the Nye County Republican Party in Nevada…
Community News, February 2021
Word of the Month: Sublime
David Zapatka Friend Mike Schneider and I were discussing this quote from The Urantia Book recently, “Such spirit-born individuals are so remotivated in life that they can calmly stand by while their fondest ambitions perish and their keenest hopes crash; they positively know that such catastrophes are but the redirecting cataclysms which wreck one’s…
Community News, January 2021
Word of the Month: Jeremiad
David Zapatka Dear friend and Wisdom Seeker moderator Ellen Engel suggested the word jeremiad for this month’s WOTM. Jeremiad – noun jer·e·mi·ad | ˌjer-ə-ˈmī-əd, -ˌad 1. a prolonged lamentation or complaint 2. a cautionary or angry harangue. 3. a long, literary work, usually in prose, sometimes in verse, where the author bitterly laments the state of society…
Community News, December 2020
Word of the Month: Cool
David Zapatka After reading last month’s WOTM “groovy,” sister and reader, Debbie Zapatka, wrote, “That was cool, man! Does ‘cool’ have the same sort of history as groovy? A friend at work uses the word groovy all the time.” Sister and reader Judy Haberstroh wrote, “Interesting. The only person I know who still occasionally uses…
Community News, September 2020
Word of the Month
David Zapatka The poll results of the July WOTM column regarding the question, “Is it ‘It’s a few more miles still’ or is it ‘It’s a few more miles yet?’” posed by reader Sally Teusch are in and they are very interesting. There was one vote for ‘still,’ three votes for ‘yet,’ and four votes…
Community News, August 2020
Word of the Month: Contumacious
David Zapatka Sister and reader Judy Haberstroh wrote after reading the June column, “This one is interesting. Initially, I was leaning toward using ‘yet,’ but once I saw the specific definition of ‘still,’ I felt that was the correct word. However, when talking, I would more likely place the word ‘still’ after ‘it’s’ rather than…
Community News, July 2020
Word of The Month: Yet and Still
David Zapatka Reader Sally Teusch wrote after reading the May column, “I enjoy your column. Thank you. ‘It’s a few more miles yet’ or ‘It’s a few more miles, still.’ Looking forward to it. Warmly, Sally Teusch.” Let’s dive into both words to see where this journey takes us. Yet – adverb ˈyet 1. in addition; besides. 2. on top…
Card Games & Sports, June 2020
Word of the Month: Tsuris
David Zapatka Friend Marty Minnich and I were discussing the coronavirus pandemic when he closed his email with this statement, “I hope you and I will see each other fairly soon on the other side of all this tsuris.” Marty loves words so he threw in “tsuris” at the end of his message. He’s a fellow “verbivore.”…
Community News, March 2020
Word of the Month: Existential Is Dictionary.com “Word of the Year”
David Zapatka From existential threats to existential choices, the word “existential” was used in the news and in conversations around the country frequently this past year. “I’m trash!” was the insistent cry of Forky, the googly-eyed spork whose struggle to be a toy was at the heart of the summer blockbuster Toy Story 4. Forky’s plight was entertaining,…