Well, back atcha!

Ask and you shall receive.

Geez! I only asked!

I think it is a genus called politianocology.

Isn't that Congresscritters?

I think it means they revolve around the universe that is themselves and rarely emerge to take notice of anything else.

I learned solipsistic from that classic solipsist himself, Leo Tolstoy. Come to think of it, MOST writers would come under the dogegory of "solipsist," no?

Solipsistic was a new one for me,
almost on the verge of megalomania.

That's a good one.

How exzootic.

If you like "pandemic" you'll love "epizootic," a disease that is widespread in a non-human animal population.

I missed 7 out of 50. It helps me that I know a little philosophy. On the other hand, many of the rest I've only learned in the last five or six years. "Apotheosis" is the last word I figured out.

"Ersatz" is a word I've never had trouble with, but I've heard many people friends get confused over it. Besides swine, I can't believe so many people don't know "glut" or "antebellum"; I think the reason "pandemic" is on the list is that the mass media abuses the word to sensationalize every illness, so people are trying to figure out the difference between it and "epidemic."

I know most of them and some I have infererred the meaning from the context in which it was used. But, I have notice that people are using them more and more, probably in protest at the number of people who can't seem to spell at all, or can't be bothered.

Ruth wrote: "...I'm amazed that people never seem to have heard of The Three Little Swine."

That is perplexing. I wonder if that has to do with context. Maybe it was used in a sentence that seemed to infer an alternate meaning.

Newengland wrote: "Same way Big Brother Google knows. ISPs, etc. Except Google stores your searches forever, ready to share with the Feds (or others) if necessary. Not sure about the NYT."

A cautionary tale...

Same way Big Brother Google knows. ISPs, etc. Except Google stores your searches forever, ready to share with the Feds (or others) if necessary. Not sure about the NYT.

They've got links to the words and can track when people click for definitions. But damned if I know how they know who.

Interesting that feckless and fecklessness are both there! I knew parlous, but there were others that were new to me......and interesting too that both swine and pandemic were there.

How do they know who is looking up what?

Wow. A treasure trove of "Words of the Day" there! Sui generis, indeed!

NYT apparently tracks words that online readers have to look up. How many do you know? I plead guilty to not knowing parlous, but I'm amazed that people never seem to have heard of The Three Little Swine.

http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/06/ny-time...