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.
MadMania
Faith, Books, and Stuff
Tag: words
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.
n. Underhanded scheming or behavior; cheating. Yes, it’s a real word, and not just a Wizard Swear.
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 […]
n. An American portmanteau of the Old English word snow and the latter half of the Japanese word tsunami. Coined by my friend Chris, it describes a snowfall of epic proportions. While it may be used literally (“Man, Nebraska just got hit with a snownami! They got eight feet of snow!”), it is more frequently […]
When I was a kid I was taught that this was a disrespectful way to write Christmas, but it is simply a contraction–the X is the Greek letter chi which stands for Christ, the same way it does in the acrostic IXOYE. According to the Wiki, its use dates to at least the mid 1500s.
vir-AH-go. n. A domineering, violent, or bad-tempered woman. If this word sounds familiar to you, you must be a nerd: the Virago was Prince Xisor’s spaceship in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.
A device that saves time or labor.