Word Journal

adverb, conjunction • therefore, thus.

The word is a corruption of Latin ergo (therefore, thus), and it is used facetiously to indicate that the reasoning which precedes the stated conclusion is absurd or ludicrous.

For example, the clown in Hamlet (V.i) reasons: “If the man go to this water and drown himself, it is [done wittingly], will he, nill he, he goes,—mark you that? But if the water come to him and drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life.”

noun • /klæk/

1. a group of paid applauders
2. a group of sycophants

adjective • /æn.əˈaɪn/ • ducklike; of or pertaining to, resembling, or characteristic of, a duck; of the duck family.

adjective • /ˈæn.sə.rajn, -rɪn/ • 1) of or resembling a goose; gooselike. 2) stupid, foolish, silly.

noun • an extremely rare, costly, physically impossible or otherwise unobtainable material that, if obtained, could solve an intractable problem with ease.

Note: While unobtainium is merely unobtainable, handwavium is simply impossible.

verb • /ˈluː.kjə.bɹeɪt/ • to work diligently by artificial light; to study at night.

From Latin lucubro: to work by lamp-light, work at night

noun • a word, phrase, or sentence that has the property of forming another word, phrase, or sentence when its letters are reversed.

For example, desserts reversed forms stressed, diaper forms repaid, deliver no evil forms live on reviled, and so on. Two adjacent semordnilaps thus create a palindrome (a string of letters that forms itself when reversed)—i.e., spam maps reversed makes spam maps. The word derives from the reverse spelling of palindromes, making palindromes and semordnilap a semordnilap pair.

From Ancient Greek κάθαρσις (katharsis, “cleansing, purging”) from καθαίρω (kathairō, “I cleanse”)

noun • spring fatigue that sets in when the sun has come out, yet it still feels like winter. (Estonian)

It is the yearning for sunlight and all of the earthly pleasures that you know must be right around the corner coupled with the grim knowledge that nature will find a way to delay your satisfaction for as long as possible. (via Itching for Eestimaa)

From Ancient Greek ὕβρις ‘insolence’.

verb • /ˈswɛʤ/ • 1) to shape metal using a hammer or other force. 2) to leave (a restaurant etc) without paying (colloquial).

noun • /ˌænədɪˈpləʊsɪs/ • the beginning of a sentence, line, or clause with the concluding word of the one preceding.

For example, Yoda’s “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

(from the Greek: ἀναδίπλωσις, anadíplōsis, “a doubling, folding up”)

noun • /ˈpɛl.ə.tan/ • 1) a small group; a platoon. 2) the main body of riders in a bicycle race.

noun • /ˈskju.ə.morf/ • a design feature copied from a similar artifact in another material, even when not functionally necessary.

Example skeuomorphs: a shutter-click produced by a digital camera, decorative rivets in a pair of jeans, or a simulated keypad on an iPhone.

noun • /ku.də.ˈfu.drə/ • 1) a thunderbolt. 2) a sudden overwhelming feeling of love for somebody; love at first sight.

noun • (archaic) a sweetheart

From Old (and modern) French condigne, from Latin condignus, from con- (denoting negation) + dignus (worthy).

adjective • 1) strictly and uncompromisingly just. 2) inflexibly rigorous or severe.