Warrior Words
of the Week
Come each Monday to learn a new
word or phrase to add to your army.
word or phrase to add to your army.
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To purloin (per-loyn) is to steal. For instance, if someone were to sneak onto a ranch at night and steal cattle, one might call it a sirloin purloin. I am writing this at 4:30 in the morning, so I hope you will forgive my nonsensical attempt at humor.  If you want to greatly impress your parents, tell them that your sibling purloined your something or other. It sounds much more serious than simply saying they stole it. If your book goes missing in school, tell your teacher it was purloined. Watch the teacher's face carefully. It might result in a better respect for your efforts.
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A portmanteau (port-man-toe) refers to several things. It generally means a large trunk or piece of luggage that opens up into two equal parts.
There are tons of other portmanteaus, such as:
Bennifer = Ben Affleck + Jennifer Lopez and Brangelina = Brad Pitt + Angelina Jolie Sitcom = Situational + Comedy Newscast = News and Broadcast The fun thing is you can create your own new portmanteaus yourself. I did. I created the word grumpopotamus to describe my grandson, Harry, when he stomps around like a hippopotamus because he's grumpy. What portmanteaus will you come up with? Yes, this is a real word. All 28 letters of it. I almost don't need to tell you how to pronounce it because it's pretty easy to break down into syllables, but I'm going to anyway, because it is so much fun to say. Antidisestablishmentarianism (an-tie-dis-ess-tab-lish-men-tare-ee-an-is-um [Wow, did you see that? They take almost a whole line just for themselves, greedy little things] So, while the meaning of this word is not really terribly relevant today, in 19th century England, it very much was. What it means is to be for the country to be dictated by one church. For England, that meant the Anglican church, but we won't get into a religion lesson. Breaking it down, anti- means against, and -dis- is to break away from. -establishment- refers to the main or established religion, while -arian- is the belief in that system, and finally, -ism is the system itself. The United States could never be considered antidisestablishmentarianism because it was founded on the belief of religious freedom. Mostly I included this word because it is simply fun to say. Also, it is difficult to find an appropriate illustration for such a word—very difficult, indeed. Take my word for it. (See what I did there? "TAKE my WORD." Take it away. Never mind.) I will finish by telling you that this is not the longest word in the dictionary. The fear of living by this system is. That word is . . . wait for it . . . antidisestablishmentarionismnessphobia I advise against trying to say this word. I did and my tongue still hurts. I am a nefelibata (neh-fih-lee-bah-tah). And guess what. It might just be contagious. But, that's OK. It's a pleasure to be one. This is a fun word that comes from Portugal. It means "cloud walker" or someone who lives and walks in the clouds of their dreams and imagination. When I go to the store, I look at people around me and dream up lives for them. I write in my imagination almost all the time I'm awake, and even sometimes in my sleep. More than one of my stories has come to me in a dream, either when I'm awake or asleep. But being a nefelibata only really refers to my waking hours. How many of you are nefelibatas?  This surrealist picture is from Robyn Porteen, a brilliant artist and photographer.
It does a great job of portraying a nefelibata walking the clouds of their own imagination. I love it! This is her website. A juxtaposition (jux-tih-poe-zih-shun) would consist of two very different things placed side-by-side to show their contrast. If someone served you a sour dill pickle next to a sweet ice cream sandwich, they would have served you a juxtaposition on a plate. When you see a cat playing nicely with a mouse, that would be a visual juxtaposition. Someone whispering in a loud room would be an auditory juxtaposition.   Sanguine (sang-gwen) is another one of those words with multiple meanings. On the surface, it means blood-red, which kind of makes it sound less than nice. But, it has another meaning, which is more commonly used, and that is to describe someone who is bright, optimistic, and cheerful, even in the worst of circumstances. Sanguine people are also sometimes called "Pollyannas" and said to always look through "rose-colored glasses" which kind of goes back to the whole red thing. A person who is sanguine would look at everything as a potential blessing. They are usually lovely to be around, because they always see the positive side of things. |
AuthorI am Becky Lyn Rickman. I am a writer because I love words almost as much as I love the people in my life. I want to fill the world with magnificent words and then jump in and splash around in them. I live with Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, my cats, but the only words they really love are "meat" and "gravy." Archives
March 2018
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