Michael Gates's Blog, page 7
October 25, 2020
Don't be a RANTIPOLE! Wear your mask.
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's...
RANTIPOLE [RAN-ti-pohl] (noun, adjective or verb)
A wild, reckless person
"This rantipole hero had for some time singled out the blooming Katrina for the object of his uncouth gallantries, and though his amorous toyings were something like the gentle caresses and endearments of a bear, yet it was whispered that she did not altogether discourage his hopes."
--Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820) (TWITO, page 122)
October 18, 2020
Are you a MUMPSIMUS? Then you're wrong...
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's...
MUMPSIMUS [MUMP-sih-muss] (noun)
Someone who adheres to old ways that are obviously wrong
"The best of the joke is, that Johnston, who seems here to have deserted for a moment the old mumpsimus, contradicts himself in the very next page, and having laughed at ‘broken’ metaphors in one breath, attempts, in the next, to ‘reduce’ one, after a manner of surgery almost as awful as that of Warburton himself."
--T. D., "On the use of Metaphors" in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, (1825) (TWITO, page 92)
Hmm. Who might we apply this word to? I’m thinking of a certain mumpsimus from a certain political party. Maybe you are, too, even if it isn’t the same party. That’s politics.
The illustration is from the 1894 book Laughable Lyrics: A Fourth Book of Nonsense Poems, Songs, Botany, Music, etc. by Edward Lear.
October 11, 2020
Still can't descide who to vote for? That's ABOULOMANIA
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's...
ABOULOMANIA [ay-BOO-lo-MAY-nee-uh] (noun)
Pathological indecisiveness
"Chocolate or strawberry? Cursing his aboulomania, Sylvester continued to stare at the ice-cream parlor’s menu." (TWITO, page 9)
October 4, 2020
Would you vote for a MAKEBATE?
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's...
MAKEBATE [MAYK-bayt] (noun)
A person who creates discord or conflict
"I am no makebate, no inciter of quarrels," said Nelson. "I simply think that a discussion of one’' religion shouldn't be taboo in polite company." (TWITO, page 86)
September 27, 2020
Can we agree that 2020 is a TOURBILLON?
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's...
TOURBILLON [toor-bee-YON] (noun)
A whirlwind or vortex
"In this state of things, had I accepted and returned home, do you think that a seat upon the bench would have removed me from the tourbillon of politics?"
--John Quincy Adams, letter (1811) (TWITO, page 148)
September 6, 2020
Ignore all that campaign FANFARONADE
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's...
FANFARONADE [FAN-fer-uh-NAID] (noun)
Empty boasting, arrogant bluster
"We laugh at the fanfaronade of the French, but never in my life did I see fanfaronade approaching in extravagance to the fanfaronade of this piece, and every burst of vapour was received by the audience with bouts of applause."
--"Diary of a Constant Reader," in The London Magazine (1826) (TWITO, page 52)
August 30, 2020
It's not a good time to be HAPTIC with each other
HAPTIC [HAP-tik] (adjective)
1. Relating to or based on the sense of touch
2. Characterized by or favoring the sense of touch
"You will please keep your hands to yourself," Clara murmured to the haptic Mr. Weems. (TWITO, page 65)
August 23, 2020
Doesn't the world seem in a state of HOOROOSH?
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's....
HOOROOSH [who-ROOSH] (noun)
An uproar, a great fuss
"What a hooroosh aloft there! I would e’en take it for sublime, did I not know that the colic is a noisy malady."
--Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851) (TWITO, page 68)
August 16, 2020
Somehow it will all CONGLOBATE in the end
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's....
CONGLOBATE [KONG-lo-bate] (verb)
To form into a globe or ball
"He decided to conglobate all of his string into a sort of weird planetesimal."
--Michael Gates, The Word I'm thinking Of (2013)
TWITO, page 33
August 9, 2020
Doesn't it seem like there's more TOHUBOHU these days?
What's the word I'm thinking of? Today, it's....
TOHUBOHU [TOE-hoo-BO-hoo] (noun)
Chaos, confusion
"...it is now easy to see that this bird is the Creator walking in chaos, brooding over the primitive mish-mash or tohu-bohu, and finally hatching the egg of the world."
--Viktor Rydberg, Rasmus Björn Anderson, James William Buel, Teutonic Mythology (1907)
TWITO, page 147
