n. the epithet ‘jerk’ when pronounced with a non-rhotic accent; rhymes with ‘buck.’ Example: “Pahk the cah in the Hahvad Yahd, ya juhk.”
Category: words
Apr 06
Donuts
My friend Kay has written an article regarding donuts; I take exception to her spelling ‘doughnuts,’ but she is the one with the journalism degree and I am the one who dropped out of art school. Her site is kayhoflander.com, but here is a direct link to the article. Personally, I love donuts. It’s not …
Mar 31
Nugatory
I was sending a text to my woman, and I was in the process of typing “nuh-uh.” I got as far as “nu-” and my Razr suggested this word: nugatory. I thought some funny programmer had inserted his favorite duuuuude-speak version of negatory, but I was wrong. It’s an adjective of Latin origin meaning “of no …
Mar 25
Misremember
v. remember imperfectly or incorrectly Brian used this word, and we didn’t think it was a real word. However, it seemed like a perfectly accurate and descriptive word and I fully intended to steal it. But when I checked the dictionary, it turned out it is a real word.
Mar 18
Is ‘skanks’ a bad word?
There are some questions that you are prepared for when you walk into a room. Furthermore, there are especially some questions you aren’t prepared for when you walk into a room at church. The asker of the aformentioned question was a boy about eight years old who was cleaning up the room with a couple …
Mar 15
It’s Crayons, Dang It!
Unlike so much of American English, the proper pronunciation for those little bits of wax you color with as a child is phonetic: crayons. Not crowns.
Jan 19
Jiggery-pokery
n. Underhanded scheming or behavior; cheating. Yes, it’s a real word, and not just a Wizard Swear.
Jan 12
Zounds!
If you are a fan of Spaceman Spiff from the old Calvin & Hobbes comics, you know this word. It is one of those comic-book-sounding exclamations, akin to Great Scott! that you never hear anyone use in real life. You probably wouldn’t liken it to taking God’s name in vain, however the word actually dates to …
