Gamification

gamification \ gay-muh-fuh-KAY-shun \ noun

: the process of adding games or gamelike elements to something (as a task) so as to encourage participation

EXAMPLES

"Establishing user identity opens the door for brands to create incentives for customers to keep coming back through interactive reward systems and loyalty programs like gamification. The ability to earn e...xclusive rewards for taking desired actions makes customers feel recognized and valued…."
— Kevin White, Business2Community.com, May 23, 2014

"Users can pop open a dating app on a lunch break or at happy hour and scan for suitable matches in their free time…. There's also a gamification aspect: the delight of swiping through and discovering a match is something Tinder has accurately captured, and it makes it all feel like a game."

— Lauren Hockenson, Gigaom, May 23, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

The basic concept of gamification isn't new, but the word itself is a 21st-century addition to the English lexicon. The word refers to the incorporation of game elements, like point and reward systems, to tasks as incentives for people to participate. In other words, "gamification" is about making something potentially tedious into a game. Gamification is effective because it taps into people's natural desires for competition and achievement. Teachers, managers, and others use gamification to increase participation and improve productivity. Gamification is also often an essential feature in apps and websites designed to motivate people to meet personal challenges, like weight-loss goals and learning foreign languages; tracking your progress is more fun if it feels like a game.

 

Sophomoric

(One of my favorites!)

sophomoric \ sahf-MOR-ik \ adjective

1: conceited and overconfident of knowledge but poorly informed and immature
2: of, relating to, or characteristic of a sophomore

EXAMPLES

Judd's behavior at the party was sophomoric, but I've seen a more mature side to him in other settings.

"[T]his central character that I ended up playing … is a guy who's had his feelings hurt. He elects to try to fix his problem by crashing a kids' spelling bee. That has some relevance in his revenge scenario.… His execution of that, though, is pretty sophomoric…."

— Jason Bateman, National Public Radio, March 17, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Sophomores get a bad rap. A lot of people seem to think they're foolish (no matter what they do), when they know they're pretty wise. The history of the words "sophomore" and "sophomoric" (which developed from "sophomore") proves that it has always been tough to be a sophomore. Those words probably come from a combination of the Greek terms "sophos" (which means "wise") and "mōros" (which means "foolish"). But sophomores can take comfort in the fact that some very impressive words, including "philosopher" and "sophisticated," are also related to "sophos."

Fracking

(no, battlestar fans, not quite what you're thinking!)

fracking \ FRACK-ing \ noun

: the injection of fluid into shale beds at high pressure in order to free up petroleum resources (such as oil or natural gas)

EXAMPLES:

"In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie set an example in August when he vetoed a bill that would permanently ban fracking, then approved a one-year m...oratorium so his state could consider the results of federal studies."
— ScientificAmerican.com, October 12, 2011

"Nationally, the transport of oil by rail is on a steep upward trajectory, largely due to fracking in North Dakota and drilling in Canada's Alberta tar sands."

— Jayni Foley Hein, Grand Forks Herald, May 25, 2014

DID YOU KNOW

Hydrolic fracturing is a technique in which a liquid is injected under high pressure into a well in order to create tiny fissures in the rock deep beneath the earth which then allow gas and oil to flow into the well. The term "hydraulic fracturing" is first known to have appeared in print in a 1948 issue of Oil & Gas Journal. A 1953 issue of the same journal also contains the earliest known print use of "fracking." The word "fracking" (sometimes spelled "fraccing" or "fracing," particularly by those in the gas and oil industries) was created by shortening "fracturing." The addition of the "k" brings the word into conformity with the inflected forms of similar English words ending in a vowel plus "c," such as "shellacking," "panicking," and "frolicking."

Evince

evince \ ih-VINSS \ verb

1: to constitute outward evidence of
2: to display clearly : reveal

EXAMPLES:

Melanie evinced an interest in art at an early age, so no one was surprised when she grew up to be an award-winning illustrator.

"You have to make it easy for your customer to buy—as evinced by another example from my trip through Italy."

— Dorie Clark, Forbes, May 27, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Let us conquer any uncertainty you may have about the history of "evince." It derives from Latin "evincere," meaning "to vanquish" or "to win a point," and can be further traced to "vincere," Latin for "to conquer." In the early 1600s, "evince" was sometimes used in the senses "to subdue" or "to convict of error," meanings evincing the influence of its Latin ancestors. It was also sometimes used as a synonym of its cousin "convince," but that sense is now obsolete. One early meaning, "to constitute evidence of," has hung on, however, and in the 1800s it was joined by another sense, "to reveal."

Hashtag

hashtag \HASH-tag \ noun

: a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text (such as a tweet)

EXAMPLES:

Jessica used the hashtag #parenting to share ideas, advice, and stories with other moms online.

"On Twitter, the #blessed hashtag may still prompt some genuine sentiment ("blessed to have such a supportive family behind ...me") but more often than not it is blatantly self-promotional ("#blessed to be in 3rd place at the Webbys... please vote now!"), surreptitiously braggy, or just plain absurd (Tim Tebow's Twitter bio is just the single word)."

— Jessica Bennett, New York Times, May 2, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Social media has made the hashtag a ubiquitous part of Internet culture, starting with Twitter and expanding to other sites. Originally designed for categorizing posts, the hashtag can now be a tool for a supplementary coy or witty comment (e.g., #awkward). The word "tag" can mean "a word or phrase used for description or identification." "Hash" is short for "hash mark," a term for what we more commonly call a pound sign (and, less commonly, an octothorp). The "hash" in "hash mark" is probably an alteration of "hatch," a term for the crisscrossing of lines (as when adding shading to a drawing)

 

Saturnine

saturnine \ SAT-er-nyne \ adjective

1: born under or influenced by the planet Saturn
2a : cold and steady in mood : slow to act or change
2b : gloomy, surly
2c : sardonic

EXAMPLES:

Kevin's saturnine personality made his friends hesitant to invite him to parties, since he never seemed to have a good time at them.

"Cuomo has one additional liability: his deeply creased face and saturnine look that bears a resemblance to the portraits of a Venetian Doge plotting the next battle with the Saracens."

— Michael Brenner, The Huffington Post, May 19, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Eeyore is saturnine. The gloomy, cynical character of A. A. Milne's gray donkey typifies the personality type the ancient Romans ascribed to individuals born when the planet Saturn was rising in the heavens. Both the name of the planet and today's featured adjective derive from the name of the Roman god of agriculture, who was often depicted as a bent old man with a stern, sluggish, and sullen nature. The Latin name for Saturn was "Saturnus," which is assumed to have yielded the word "Saturninus" (meaning "of Saturn") in Medieval Latin; that form was adapted to create English "saturnine" in the 15th century.

Turducken

turducken \ ter-DUCK-un \ noun

: a boneless chicken stuffed into a boneless duck stuffed into a boneless turkey

EXAMPLES

For your next dinner party, you might want to take a shot at making turducken.

"Mike has adjusted his plans for fabled menus, taking into account the ages—and foibles—of his guests. The fabulous standing rib roast and turducken of years past will ...be replaced by something plainer."

— Sally Friedman, Northeast Times (Philadelphia), January 1, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

You can probably guess the origins of "turducken" just by looking at the word; it is a portmanteau (a word whose form is derived from a blending of two or more distinct other words) created by combining the words "turkey," "duck," and "chicken," and the dish does indeed incorporate all three varieties of fowl. "Turducken" was first noted in print in 1982, although it may have been in use before that. The dish is a cousin of ballotine, a less familiar food item consisting of deboned meat, poultry, or fish stuffed with seasoned meats or vegetables, rolled and tied into a bundle shape, and usually braised. (The word "ballotine" derives from the French word for "bundle.")

Yeah, i still can't believe it's an official word in our language. Enjoy!

Diffident

diffident \ DIF-uh-dunt \ adjective

1: hesitant in acting or speaking through lack of self-confidence
2: reserved, unassertive

EXAMPLES:

Always diffident and soft-spoken, Tony did not raise any objection when the cashier overcharged him for his purchase.

"You could call Mudhoney the reluctant, begrudging forefathers of grunge, and Nirvana their equally diffident progeny."

— Jason Bracelin, Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 10, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

"Diffident" and "confident" are antonyms, but both have a lot to do with how much trust you have in yourself. Etymology reveals the role that that underlying trust plays in the two terms. "Confident" and "diffident" both trace back to the Latin verb "fidere," which means "to trust." "Diffident" arose from a combination of "fidere" and the prefix "dis-," meaning "the absence of," and it has been used to refer to individuals lacking in self-trust since the 15th century. "Confident" arose from "confidere," a term created by combining "fidere" with the intensifying prefix "con-." That term has been used for self-trusting folks since at least the late 16th century. By the way, "fidere" puts the trust in several other English words too, including "fidelity" and "fiduciary."

Incongruous

incongruous \ in-KAHN-gruh-wus \ adjective

a : lacking congruity 
b : not harmonious : incompatible
c : not conforming : disagreeing
d : inconsistent within itself

EXAMPLES:

The sight of a horse and carriage amongst the cars on the road was a bit incongruous.

"The main issue is the game's incongruous mix of low-brow presentation and incredibly clever action; each seems to betray the other, but you won't have long to analyze that rift."

— Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, May 14, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Incongruous" is a spin-off of its antonym, "congruous," which means "in agreement, harmony, or correspondence." Etymologists are in agreement about the origin of both words; they trace to the Latin verb "congruere," which means "to come together" or "to agree." The dates of the words' first uses in English match up pretty well, too. The first known use of "congruous" dates from 1599, and the earliest print appearance of "incongruous" dates from 1611.

Matriculate

-In honor of recent graduates:

matriculate \ muh-TRIK-yuh-layt \ verb

: to enroll as a member of a body and especially of a college or university

EXAMPLE:

A spokesperson for the college said the school is expected to matriculate approximately 1,000 students for the fall semester.

"Work joined Symphony in the Valley at the tender age of nine and continued to perform with them before matriculating at Juilliard."
— Beth Slater, Aspen Daily News, May 9, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Anybody who has had basic Latin knows that "alma mater," a fancy term for the school you attended, comes from a phrase that means "fostering mother."

If "mater" is "mother," then "matriculate" probably has something to do with a school nurturing you just like good old mom, right? Not exactly. If you go back far enough, "matriculate" is distantly related to the Latin "mater," but its maternal associations were lost long ago. It is more closely related to Late Latin "matricula," which means "public roll or register," and it has more to do with being enrolled than being mothered.

Enjoy - as your offspring, or yourself!, consider their future matriculations!

Freegan

freegan \ FREE-gun \ noun

: an activist who scavenges for free food (as in waste receptacles at stores and restaurants) as a means of reducing consumption of resources

EXAMPLES

Josh is a vocal anti-consumerist who lives as a freegan and works to develop community gardens in urban settings.

"Sarah is ambitious and disciplined, and she lies to her boyfriend that she's o...ff to Dubai on assignment when she's actually hopping U.S. freight trains, Dumpster diving and hanging with freegans in order to track down the elusive anarchist collective."

— Claudia Puig, Detroit Free Press, June 14, 2013

DID YOU KNOW?

"Freegan" is a blend of the adjective "free" (in the sense of "not costing or charging anything") and "vegan," which developed in the mid-20th century to denote a vegetarian who not only avoids meat but other animal products, such as eggs and dairy, as well. While freegans are not necessarily vegans, the portmanteau "freegan" was likely influenced by the fact that both vegans and freegans often see their diets as an expression of anti-consumerism, concern for the impact of food production on the environment, and concern over the ethics of using animals for food.

Stoic

stoic \ STOH-ik \ noun

: one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain

EXAMPLES:

Stoic that she is, Edra finished the marathon despite a painful pulled tendon in her knee.

"Pitchers can be stoics. They usually say not getting a win because of offensive shortcomings does not bother them." ...

— Gerry Fraley, Dallas Morning News, May 4, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Zeno of Citium, born in Cyprus in the 4th century B.C.E., traveled to Athens while a young man and studied with the important philosophers of the day, among them two influential Cynics. He eventually arrived at his own philosophy and began teaching at a public hall called the Stoa Poikile. Zeno's philosophy, Stoicism, took its name from the hall where he taught, and it preached self-control, fortitude, and justice; passion was seen as the cause of all evil. By the 14th century, English speakers had adopted the word "stoic" as a general term for anyone who could face adversity calmly and without excess emotion. By the 15th century, we'd also begun using it as an adjective meaning "not affected by or showing passion or feeling."

Crowdfunding

crowdfunding \ KROWD-fun-ding \ noun

: the practice of soliciting financial contributions from a large number of people especially from the online community

EXAMPLES

"Facebook and Twitter, Square and Dropbox? Old news. Our series 'The Next Big Thing You Missed' looks at the newest ideas poised to remake tech—everything from musical crowdfunding to fresh markets tha...t work like the Apple Store."
— Wired, February 2014

"In the age of digital storefronts like Etsy and crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, inventors and designers can go from an idea to high demand for their product in very little time."

— Zoë Schlanger, Newsweek, May 16, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

"Crowdsourcing" and "crowdfunding" are two words that have recently found their way into the crowded pool of English. "Crowdsourcing," which typically refers to the practice of soliciting services, ideas, or content from a large group of people online, was coined by Jeff Howe in a 2006 article in Wired, and "crowdfunding" was created by entrepreneur Michael Sullivan in that same year. Both words conceptualize "the crowd" as a vast online community from which something needed may be obtained. In crowdsourcing, the crowd is called upon for needed assistance or information. A well-known use of crowdsourcing is Wikipedia, whose content is the result of various contributors. Crowdfunding, on the other hand, involves a more specific request: the crowd is solicited for financial contributions to a particular venture or cause, such as a film project or cancer research.

Ambrosia

ambrosia \ am-BROH-zhee-uh \ noun

1a : the food of the Greek and Roman gods
1b : the ointment or perfume of the gods
2: something extremely pleasing to taste or smell
3: a dessert made of oranges and shredded coconut

EXAMPLE:

"The pork loin was animal ambrosia nestled tenderly in great gravy. My taste buds treasure the memory…."
— Tony Stein, The Virginian-Pilot, April 20, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

"Ambrosia" literally means "immortality" in Greek; it is derived from the Greek word "ambrotos" ("immortal"), which combines the prefix "a-" (meaning "not") with "mbrotos" ("mortal"). In Greek and Roman mythology, only the immortals—gods and goddesses—could eat ambrosia. Those mythological gods and goddesses also drank "nectar," the original sense of which refers to the "drink of the gods." "Nectar" (in Greek, "nektar") may have implied immortality as well; "nektar" is believed to have carried the literal meaning "overcoming death." While the ambrosia of the gods implied immortality, we mere mortals use "ambrosia" in reference to things that just taste or smell especially delicious. Similarly, "nectar" can now simply mean "something delicious to drink."

Faze

faze \ FAYZ \ verb

: to disturb the composure of : disconcert, daunt

EXAMPLES:

My grandfather was a stolid individual who was not easily fazed by life's troubles.

"Those comments might faze some players, but Lee's optimism was a trademark the past three seasons at USC and his happy-go-lucky attitude persisted even while analysts raised doubts." ...

— Scott Wolf, Whittier Daily News (California), May 6, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

"Faze" is a youngster among English words, relatively speaking; it first appeared in English in the early 1800s. That may not seem especially young, but consider that when "faze" first showed up in print in English, the works of Shakespeare were already over 200 years old, the works of Chaucer over 400 years old, and the Old English epic Beowulf was at least 800 years old. "Faze" is an alteration of the now-rare verb "feeze," which has the obsolete sense "to drive (someone or something) away" and which, by the 1400s, was also being used with the meaning "to frighten or put into a state of alarm."

"Feeze" ("fesen" in Middle English and "fēsian" in Old English) is first known to have appeared in print in the late 800s, making it older than even the oldest extant copy of Beowulf in manuscript.

 

Perdure

perdure \ per-DUR \ verb

: to continue to exist
: last

EXAMPLES:

The artist's influence perdures in the themes and stylistic choices of his students.

"Wells brings the reader into the drama of multi-generational families, of friendships that perdure ... of relationships that grow as hardships and challenges color life."

— Fran Salone-Pelletier, The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, North Carolina), August 1, 2012

DID YOU KNOW?

"Perdure" may be an unfamiliar word for many of our readers, but those who suspect they see hints of its ancestry in the more familiar synonym "endure" are correct. "Perdure" was borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-French and traces back to the Latin verb "perdurare," meaning "to continue." "Perdurare," in turn, was formed by combining the intensifying prefix "per-" with the verb "durare," meaning "to last." "Durare" is also an ancestor of the English words "endure," "durable," "indurate," and "during," among others.

 

Sounds

sound \ SOUND \ adjective

1a : free from disease, injury, defect, or error b : in good condition : solid and strong
2: showing good judgment
3: complete or thorough b of sleep : deep and restful

EXAMPLES:

The ideal candidate for the position is a proven leader who can make sound decisions and carry out a creative vision.

"All submitted works must be structurally sound enough to withstand some handling, touching, and possible physical stress."

— The Herald (New Britain, Connecticut), May 11, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

English contains several "sound" homographs, all with distinct histories. For example, the "sound" that means "something heard" descends from Latin "sonus" ("sound"), whereas the "sound" that means "to measure the depth of water" traces to Old French "sonde" ("sounding line").

Today's word, however, is the contemporary form of Old English's "gesund." "Gesund" is related to several words in other languages, such as Old Saxon "gisund" ("sound"), Old Frisian "sund" ("fresh, unharmed, healthy"), and Gothic "swinths" ("sound" or "healthy"). Another relative is Old High German's "gisunt" ("healthy"), which led to modern German's "gesund," the root of "gesundheit."

Zowie

zowie \ ZOW-ee\ interjection

: — used to express astonishment or admiration especially in response to something sudden or speedy (less commonly today than previously)

EXAMPLES

Did you see the race? Zowie! That was some fast bicycling!

"Zowie! It's almost February of your junior year! Can you believe it? Because college admissions officers are super-interested in this pa...rticular year, think about ways you can really shine in academics and extracurricular activities."

— Marjorie Hansen Shaevitz, The Huffington Post, January 28, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

The word "zowie" was inspired by the sound of a speeding vehicle—a new phenomenon when the word entered the lexicon in 1902, the year before the Ford Motor Company sold its first car. It wasn't until the 1930s and 40s, though, that "zowie" really picked up the pace. "Zowie" isn't one of a kind.

The British interjection "pip-pip," used to say "goodbye," dates to around the same time and is thought to be imitative of a bicycle or car horn. And "toodle-oo" (a word that sees some use on the American side of the Atlantic though it is more common in British English) shares the same meaning and hypothetical origin.

Charlatan

charlatan \ SHAHR-luh-tun \ noun

1: a pretender to medical skill : quack
2: one making usually showy pretenses to knowledge or ability : fraud, faker

EXAMPLES

Even though the psychic seemed to know a lot of information about Irving's life, Irving was still convinced that the guy was a charlatan who made some lucky guesses.

"I've been reading the tabloids for 40 years! ... And I've been fascinated by charlatans and fakers and sociopaths for as long as I've been alive."

— Jean Hanff Korelitz, quoted in Newsday (New York), April 6, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

In medieval times, people claiming medical skills they did not have roamed throughout Italy, selling "medicine" that was often completely without worth. Many of these pretenders reputedly came from a village called Cerreto, and as a result, "cerretano" (meaning "inhabitant of Cerreto") became an epithet for a quack physician. In addition, these frauds used a practiced patter to attract customers, rather like the chatter of a circus barker. The Italian word for "chatter" is "ciarlare," and chattering was so associated with the "cerretano" that the spelling of the word shifted to "ciarlatano." By the early 17th century, we had anglicized the Italian word to "charlatan" and adopted it as our own.

Augur

augur \ AW-gur \ verb

1: to foretell (something) or to predict the future especially from omens
2: to give promise of : presage

From the Latin

EXAMPLES:

The state's new first-time home-buyer program augurs a healthy jump in home sales this year. ...

"The good news for our area in 2015 is that El Niños usually translate into milder winters for those in the northern part of the United States. It also augurs well for drought-stricken California, which will have a 60 percent chance of double its average rainfall. "

— The Daily Star (Oneonta, New York), March 12, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Auguring is what augurs did in ancient Rome. These were official diviners whose function it was, not to foretell the future, but to divine whether the gods approved of a proposed undertaking, such as a military move. These augurs did so by various means, among them observing the behavior of birds and examining the intestines of sacrificed animals. Nowadays, the intransitive verb sense of "foretell" is often used with an adverb, such as "well," as in our second example above.

"Augur" comes from Latin and is related to the Latin verb "augēre," which means "to increase" and is the source of "augment," "auction," and "author."