Hoopla

Word of the Day

hoopla \ HOO-plah \ noun

 

1a: excited commotion

1b: to-do

 

2: exaggerated or sensational promotion or publicity

 

EXAMPLESIn my opinion, the movie didn't live up to the hoopla surrounding it.

"There was no formal introduction, no hoopla as the leading scorer in Maryland men's basketball history took a seat behind the bench for the first time in his new role."
— From an article by Don Markus in The Baltimore Sun, November 29, 2013

 

DID YOU KNOW?

In French, the interjection "houp-là" is used roughly the same way as English's "upsy-daisy" or "whoops-a-daisy," as one might say when picking up a child. (This usage can be found in English, too, in such works as Booth Tarkington's The Magnificent Ambersons and James Joyce’s Ulysses.) In the early 20th century, the word, playing on the syllable "hoop," gave its name to a ring-toss game played at carnivals. But before that, "hoopla" was used in American English to refer to a kind of bustling commotion, and later, as a term for sensationalist hype.

Pelagic

Word of the Day

pelagic \ puh-LAJ-ik \ adjective

 

: of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea

: oceanic

 

EXAMPLES

She is studying to become a marine biologist specializing in pelagic plant life.

"During this time we also have the seasonal migration of pelagic fish from the northern Gulf waters to the Key West area."

— Sam O'Briant, The News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida), September 21, 2014

 

DID YOU KNOW?

Pelagic comes to us from Greek, via Latin. The Greek word pelagikos became pelagicus in Latin and then pelagic in English. (Pelagikos is derived from pelagos, the Greek word for the sea—it is also a source of archipelago—plus the adjectival suffix -ikos.)

Pelagic first showed up in dictionaries in 1656; a definition from that time says that Pelagick (as it was then spelled) meant "of the Sea, or that liveth in the Sea."

Over 350 years later, writers are still using pelagic with the same meaning, albeit less frequently than its more familiar synonym oceanic.

Saponaceous

Word of the Day

saponaceous \ sap-uh-NAY-shus \ adjective

 

: resembling or having the qualities of soap

 

EXAMPLES

"When boiled or bruised in water, the leaves turn saponaceous, and the resulting lather cuts through grease."

— From an article in Mountain Xpress (Asheville, North Carolina), March 16, 2005 - March 22, 2005

"Wilberforce's smooth and slippery manner had led a contemporary to call him saponaceous, after the adjective from soap."

— From an award acceptance speech by British writer Philip Pulman, printed in The Humanist, July 1, 2008

 

DID YOU KNOW?

"Saponaceous" is a New Latin borrowing by scientists that is based on "sapo," the Latin word for "soap." It describes natural substances, like aloe gel or some plant roots, used in making soap or having the properties of soap. It also describes things that feel or appear soapy—for example, some shales and clays, mica, and certain chemical preparations.

In the 19th century, "saponaceous" began to be used for people having a slippery, evasive, or elusive character. One famous example is the elocutionist Bishop Wilberforce mentioned in our second example sentence, whom British politician Benjamin Disraeli described as "unctuous, oleaginous, saponaceous."

In The Devil's Dictionary, author Ambrose Bierce uses Disraeli's quote to illustrate the word "oleaginous," noting that "the good prelate was ever afterward known as Soapy Sam."

Mea Culpa

Word of the Day

mea culpa \ may-uh-KOOL-puh \ noun

: a formal acknowledgment of personal fault or error

EXAMPLES

The mayor's public mea culpa didn't satisfy his critics.

"Here's my mea culpa: I admit I'm carrying around 20 pounds I could do without and also don't exercise enough."

— From an article by Eli Amdur in the Patriot News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), November 10, 2013

DID YOU KNOW?

"Mea culpa," which means "through my fault" in Latin, comes from a prayer of confession in the Catholic Church. Said by itself, it's an exclamation of apology or remorse that is used to mean "It was my fault" or "I apologize."

"Mea culpa" is also a noun, however. A newspaper might issue a mea culpa for printing inaccurate information, or a politician might give a speech making mea culpas for past wrongdoings.

"Mea culpa" is one of many English terms that derive from the Latin "culpa," meaning "guilt." Some other examples are "culpable" ("meriting condemnation or blame especially as wrong or harmful") and "culprit" ("one guilty of a crime or a fault").

Weal

Word of the Day

weal \ WEEL \ noun

: a sound, healthy, or prosperous state

: well-being

EXAMPLES

The president spoke of devotion to the common weal and the hope of creating a better country.

"'Higher healthcare costs'? No one could be for that, so the campaign [against it] looks like a flag-carrier for the public weal."

— Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Weal is most often used in contexts referring to the general good. One reads, for example, of the "public weal" or the "common weal." The latter of these led to the formation of the noun commonweal, a word that once referred to an organized political entity, such as a nation or state, but today usually means "the general welfare."

The word commonwealth shares these meanings, but its situation is reversed; the "political entity" sense of commonwealth is still current, whereas the "general welfare" sense has become archaic. At one time, weal and wealth were also synonyms; both meant "riches" ("all his worldly weal") and "well-being." Both words stem from wela, the Old English word for "well-being," and are closely related to the Old English word for "well."

Officious

Word of the Day

officious \ uh-FISH-us \ adjective

1a: volunteering one's services where they are neither asked nor needed

1b: meddlesome

 

2: informal, unofficial

EXAMPLES

Staff members view the new consultant as an officious individual offering unwanted feedback, but she is simply doing her job.

"During an interview this week with Morris News, Saxby, a Republican, said he is frustrated by the delay but attributes it more to officious federal bureaucrats than to partisan gamesmanship."

— Carla Caldwell, Atlanta Business Chronicle, April 2, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Don't mistake officious for a rare synonym of official. Both words stem from the Latin noun officium (meaning "service" or "office"), but they have very different meanings. When the suffix -osus ("full of") was added to officium, Latin officiosus came into being, meaning "eager to serve, help, or perform a duty." When this adjective was borrowed into English in the 16th century as officious, it carried the same meaning. Early in the 17th century, however, officious began to develop a negative sense describing a person who offers unwanted help. This pejorative sense has driven out the original "eager to help" sense to become the predominant meaning of the word in modern English. Officious can also mean "of an informal or unauthorized nature," but that sense isn't especially common.

Leitmotif

Word of the Day

leitmotif \ LYTE-moh-teef \ noun

1: a melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation in a music drama

 

2: a dominant recurring theme

EXAMPLES

The overcoming of obstacles and a love of theater are the two leitmotifs of her autobiography.

"'Collaboration' is the author's supporting theme, and he weaves it in throughout his anecdotes and character studies. Approached lazily, this kind of leitmotif would be more irritating than illuminating, but Isaacson fully commits."

— James Norton, The Christian Science Monitor, October 13, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

The English word leitmotif (or leitmotiv, as it is also spelled) comes from the German Leitmotiv, meaning "leading motive" and formed from leiten ("to lead") and Motiv ("motive"). In its original sense, the word applies to opera music and was first used by writers interpreting the works of composer Richard Wagner, who was famous for associating a melody with a character or important dramatic element.

Leitmotif is still commonly used with reference to music and musical drama but is now also used more broadly to refer to any recurring theme in the arts or in everyday life.

Rife

Word of the Day

rife \ RYFE \ adjective

1: prevalent especially to an increasing degree

 

2: abundant, common

 

3a: copiously supplied

3b: abounding

EXAMPLES

After the newspaper's managing editor was fired, speculation was rife about who would replace him.

"In the battle over Amendment 2, Drug Free Florida has decried the medical marijuana ballot initiative as being rife with loopholes."

— Dan Sweeney, The Sun-Sentinel (South Florida), October 15, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

English is rife with words that have Germanic connections, many of which have been handed down to us from Old English. Rife is one of those words. Not a whole lot has changed with rife in its 900-year history. We continue to use the word, as we have since the 12th century, for negative things, especially those that are widespread or prevalent. Typical examples are "shoplifting was rife" or "the city was rife with greed and corruption." Rumors and speculation are also frequently described as "rife," as well. But rife can also be appropriately used, as it has been for hundreds of years, for good or neutral things. For example, you might speak of "the summer garden, rife with scents."

Devise

Word of the Day

devise \ dih-VYZE \ verb

1a : to form in the mind by new combinations or applications of ideas or principles : invent

1b : to plan to obtain or bring about : plot

 

2: to give (real estate) by will

EXAMPLES

The author's childhood home was devised to the city and the Historical Commission will turn it into a museum devoted to her life.

"Students at the Ilead Charter School devised three ways to bash pumpkins into pieces. One method used rubber surgical tubing to create an Angry Birds-style slingshot to propel the squash through the air. A more direct device crushed the pumpkins with a weight and a bowling ball."

— Kevin Lillard, Juneau County Star-Times (Wisconsin), October 15, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

There's something inventive about devise, a word that stems from Latin dividere, meaning "to divide." By the time devise appeared in English in the 1200s, its Anglo-French forebear deviser had accumulated an array of senses, including "to divide," "distribute," "arrange," "array," "digest," "order," "plan," "invent," "contrive," and "assign by will."

English adopted most of these and added some new senses over the course of time: "to imagine," "guess," "pretend," and "describe." In modern use, we've disposed of a lot of the old meanings, but we kept the one that applies to wills.

Devise traditionally referred to the transfer of real property (land), and bequeath to personal property; these days, however, devise is often recognized as applying generally to all the property in a person's estate.

Threnody

Word of the Day

threnody \ THREN-uh-dee \ noun

: a song of lamentation for the dead

: elegy

EXAMPLES

Christina wrote the poem as a threnody for her grandmother, who had died the previous spring.

"Ian Hobson will lead the Sinfonia strings in Strauss' 'Metamorphosen,' his threnody on the destruction of German musical monuments at the end of World War II."

— John Frayne, The News-Gazette (Champaign, Illinois), September 11, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Threnody encompasses all genres. There are great threnodies in prose (such as the lines from Charles Dickens’ Bleak House upon the death of Little Jo: "Dead, your Majesty. Dead, my lords and gentlemen. Dead…."), in poetry (as in W. H. Auden’s "Funeral Blues": "The stars are not wanted now: put out every one, / Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun…."), and in music (Giovanni Pergolesi’s "Stabat Mater," for one).

Threnody, which we borrowed from the Greek word thrēnōidia (from thrēnos, the word for "dirge"), has survived in English since the early 1600s. Melody, tragedy, and comedy are related to threnody through the Greek root that forms their ending—aeidein, which means "to sing."

Prototype

Word of the Day

prototype \ PROH-tuh-type \ noun

1a: an original model on which something is patterned
1b: archetype

 

2: an individual that exhibits the essential features of a later type

 

3: a standard or typical example

 

4: a first full-scale and usually functional form of a new type or design of a construction (such as an airplane)

EXAMPLES

It's not clear at this point how the device will differ from its prototype.

"Someone seems to have gotten his or her hands on an iPhone 6 prototype and is now selling it on eBay for a handsome sum—bidding had reached $83,300 at the time of this writing."

— Lauren Walker, Newsweek, October 6, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

The prefix prot-, or proto-, comes from Greek and has the basic meaning "first in time" or "first formed." A prototype is someone or something that serves as a model or inspiration for those that come later. A successful fund-raising campaign can serve as a prototype for future campaigns.

The legendary Robin Hood, the "prototypical" kindhearted and honorable outlaw, has been the inspiration for countless other romantic heroes. And for over a century, Vincent van Gogh has been the prototype of the brilliant, tortured artist who is unappreciated in his own time.

Chouse

Word of the Day

chouse \ CHOWSS \ verb

: cheat, trick

EXAMPLES

In Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, the miserable Mr. Cruncher fumes, "If I ain't … been choused this last week into as bad luck as ever a poor devil of a honest tradesman met with!"

"The 18th fairway Saturday afternoon bore a scene only accessible in a gentrified sport such as golf; Polson's Jaylin Kenney bookended by Erin Tabish and Katie Fyall of Whitefish, all three girls calm and cordial as could be, each likely secretly hoping to chouse a collapse out of the other."

— Mark Robertson, Lake County Leader & Advertiser (Polson, Montana), October 9, 2013

DID YOU KNOW?

"You shall chouse him of Horses, Cloaths, and Mony," wrote John Dryden in his 1663 play Wild Gallant. Dryden was one of the first English writers to use chouse, but he wasn't the last. That term, which may derive from a Turkish word meaning "doorkeeper" or "messenger," has a rich literary past, appearing in works by Samuel Pepys, Henry Fielding, Sir Walter Scott, and Charles Dickens, among others, but its use dropped off in the 20th century.

In fact, English speakers of today may be more familiar with another chouse, a verb used in the American West to mean "to drive or herd roughly." In spite of their identical spellings, though, the two chouse homographs are not related (and the origin of the latter is a source of some speculation).

Trenchant

Word of the Day

trenchant \ TREN-chunt \ adjective

1:keen, sharp

 

2: vigorously effective and articulate; also : caustic

 

3a: sharply perceptive : penetrating

3b : clear-cut, distinct

EXAMPLES

The daily news satire show not only offers a healthy dose of laughs but also trenchant commentary on the current events of the day.

"Nowhere was hayseed dialect better used to deliver trenchant truths than in 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' Through the voice of an uneducated river-town boy, Mark Twain skewered pretense, pride, and the shameful inhumanity of slavery and racism."

— John Yemma, Christian Science Monitor, October 5, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

The word trenchant comes from the Anglo-French verb trencher, meaning "to cut," and may ultimately derive from the Vulgar Latin trinicare, meaning "to cut in three." Hence, a trenchant sword is one with a keen edge; a trenchant remark is one that cuts deep; and a trenchant observation is one that cuts to the heart of the matter. Relatives of trenchant in English include the noun trench ("a long ditch cut into the ground") and the verb retrench ("to cut down or pare away" or "to cut down expenses").

Demagogue

Word of the Day

demagogue \ DEM-uh-gahg \ noun

: a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power

EXAMPLES

The nation's voters ousted their incumbent president for a demagogue who persuasively capitalized on fears of another recession.

"Messrs. Cameron, Miliband and Clegg were personally far less popular in Scotland than the fluent demagogue Mr. Salmond. Did this older, gnarlier Scot ignite feelings of envy and inadequacy in the English trio's patrician breasts?"

— Quentin Letts, Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

When the ancient Greeks used dēmagōgos (from dēmos, meaning "people," and agein, "to lead") they meant someone good—a leader who used outstanding oratorical skills to further the interests of the common people. Mid-17th-century writers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Dryden—and, later, Jonathan Swift—employed the English word that way. But, at the same time, the word took a negative turn, coming to suggest one who uses powers of persuasion to sway and mislead. "A plausible, insignificant word, in the mouth of an expert demagogue, is a dangerous and a dreadful weapon," declared Robert South, known for his sermons, in 1716.

Fusty

Word of the Day

fusty \ FUSS-tee \ adjective

1a: saturated with dust and stale odors
1b: musty

 

2: rigidly old-fashioned or reactionary

EXAMPLES

We opened the windows to air out the fusty room.

"Unlike so many fusty historical monuments, her statue appears alive, with the writer’s cloak blowing in the wind, a huge raven flying in his path and a trail of pages … spilling from his briefcase."

— James Sullivan, Boston Globe, September 30, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Fusty probably derives from the Middle English word foist, meaning "wine cask," which in turn traces to the Medieval Latin word fustis, meaning "tree trunk" or "wood." So how did fusty end up meaning "old-fashioned"?

Originally, it described wine that had gotten stale from sitting in the cask for too long; fusty literally meant that the wine had the "taste of the cask." Eventually any stale food, especially damp or moldy food, was called "fusty." Those damp and moldy connotations were later applied to musty places, and later still to anything that had lost its freshness and interest—that is, to anything old-fashioned.