typographical clutziness

Ah, I love when the humble typo changes the entire meaning of a sentence whilst still making sense. Like when I accidentally added a stray "C" the word "remediate" this morning....

Oooh....new word!

i love this one.....


apogee \AP-uh-jee\, noun:
1. The point in the orbit of the moon or of an artificial satellite that is at the greatest distance from the center of the earth.
2. The farthest or highest point; culmination.

"How long is Happy Hour?"

I love moments when people (preferably people other than myself) say things like this.

That whole "maybe I should have thought that through a second before letting it jump out of my mouth as a sentence" type of moment.

by the way - it wasn't actually me who came up with this gem, in case you were wondering.

My new Favourite Word

neologism \nee-OLL-uh-jiz-um\, noun:
1. A new word or expression.
2. A new use of a word or expression.
3. The use or creation of new words or expressions.
4. (Psychiatry) An invented, meaningless word used by a person with a psychiatric disorder.
5. (Theology) A new view or interpretation of a scripture.



The word "civilization" was just coming into use in the 18th century, in French and in English, and conservative men of letters preferred to avoid it as a newfangled neologism.
-- Larry Wolff, "If I Were Younger I Would Make Myself Russian': Voltaire's Encounter With the Czars", New York Times, November 13, 1994
If the work is really a holding operation, this will show in a closed or flat quality in the prose and in the scheme of the thing, a logiclessness, if you will pardon the neologism, in the writing.
-- Harold Brodkey, "Reading, the Most Dangerous Game", New York Times, November 24, 1985
The word popularizing was a relative neologism (the Review boasted five years later, "Why should we be afraid of introducing new words into the language which it is our mission to spread over a new world?").
-- Edward L. Widmer, Young America


The French word neologisme, from which the English is borrowed, is made up of the elements neo-, "new" + log-, "word" + -isme, -ism (all of which are derived from Greek).
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for neologism

Word Nerd Part II

Oooh...It was a good one today! Bloviate!!

Word Nerd

I think I may have mentioned previously that I receive word of the day. From that you may have surmised that I am a bit of a word nerd.

Well, that may be true, but I think I've really only shared the tip of the iceberg. The true level of my word-nerdism has not yet been revealed. I truly love words and language.

So firstly, I do subscribe to Dictionary.com's word of the day email. Every day a new and exciting word arrives.

But it gets worse! I have a whole method for making sure that I actually learn them. I know, totally daggy. But there's no point reading the word and its definition (and it being used in various sentences and its historical derivation) and then promptly forgetting the word altogether. So the trick is to leave the email in your inbox, and every day when a new one comes in I'll see if I can remember what the previous ones mean. Sometimes it sinks in for the next day, and sometimes it takes ages, but I always get there in the end!

I also have my favourites. And I keep them in my inbox.

In case you're interested, here's my list:

• pleonasm
• pandemic
• importunate
• triskaidekaphobia
• philomath
• segue
• ostensible

If you don't know what they mean, guess you'll just have to look them up! ;-)

Words you just can't type

Does anyone else have words they just can't seem to type? That just come out as some weird alternative, no matter how many times you type them?

I certainly do. A couple of them are...(gulp! Just realised now I actually have to try to type them all!)

• Training
• Inflated
• Exercise

I'm sure there's more, I will have to update this post over the next couple of day's typing.

What words does everyone else struggle with?

Update - Add "Myself" and "forecast" to the list!