Tag: word of the month

Word Of The Month: Orbisculate

David Zapatka We’re doing something different this month. We’re going to explore getting a new word into dictionaries. Reader Debbie M. writes, “Hello, I enjoy your column and want to offer a suggestion. ‘Orbisculate’ is a word not yet in the dictionary. I think we should help the young people who are trying to get…

WOTM: Enough

David Zapatka Have you had enough? How much is enough? Enough of what? Enough stuff? Enough politics? Enough religion? Enough of some person? Enough of some activity? What does enough really mean? Reader and sister Judy Haberstroh says, “I came across this excerpt and thought the word enough may be a good one for your…

Word of the Month: Ontology

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…