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January 6, 2008

Inveigle (verb)

Pronunciation: [in-'vey-gêl]

Definition: To persuade by flattery or cajolery, to lure with clever words or trickery that blur the truth, to trick by deception.

Usage: The process of inveigling someone is inveiglement and those who engage in it are inveiglers. This word follows the second extension of the "i-before-e" rule, excepting words that sound like "Hey!" Since [e] becomes [i] before [n] and [m] in many dialects of English, you might also keep in mind that today's word begins on "in-."

Suggested Usage: Inveiglement need not rely on deception, "All his praise for the administration is part of Grimalkin's attempt to inveigle an invitation to the president's dinner table." At the same time, it does not preclude it, "Phil Anders inveigled a small fortune from Phyllis Banks by constantly dropping hints of marriage."

Etymology: Today's word started out as French aveugler "to blind" from aveugle "blind." Such exchanges of prefixes as we see here are rare but do occur: "abraid" started out as "enbraid." "Aveugle" descended from Vulgar Latin *aboculus "blind," based on ab "away from" + oculus "eye." This word is probably a loan translation, i.e. a translation of the parts of Gaulish "exsops," that is, exs "from" + ops "eye." Both the oc- in "oculus" and "ops" are results of Indo-European *okw-, also the source of English "eye," German "Augen," and Old Russian ochi "eyes" (still used in Serbian) as in the old Russian Gypsy song, Ochi chornye "Dark eyes."

January 7, 2008

Absquatulate (verb)

Pronunciation: [ahb-'sqwah-chu-leyt]

Definition: (Humorous slang) (1) To depart, abscond, take off; to die. (2) To argue.

Usage: Today's word is not one you would want to use on a job interview or in a PhD dissertation. It is a word created for humorous effect, not for clarity of communication. In fact, the wide variety of meanings of today's word, none of which have any connection with "squat," illustrate the frustration writers have faced in pinning down a meaning. The only sure meaning of those listed above are: take off, bug out, hit the road.

Suggested Usage: If you want to tell someone to leave you alone without insulting them, you might try this word: "Benny, why don't you absquatulate and do a few fartleks somewhere else." Of course, you run the risk that he will stay for more laughs like that one. Because the two words begin similarly, using today's word in the sense of "abscond" will usually work, "Duffy seems to have absquatulated with my date while I was in the bathroom; would you like to dance?" Probably not with anyone who talks like that.

Etymology: The origin of this word is difficult. The Latin prefix ab- means "away (from)" and the suffix means simply "do something." The stem is a combination of "squat" and the diminutive –ul "a little." Put them all together and you don't have much. Some wags would have the word originally mean "take off and squat somewhere." However, the 19th century America produced a lot of fake Latin words, including "argufy," "citify," "uppity," "high-faluting," and so on, and today's is simply another one of these. Plainness is a specialty of the US; we don't appreciate fanciness in word or deed except to bear the brunt of jokes.

January 8, 2008

MacGuffin (noun)

Pronunciation: [mê-'gêf-in]

Definition: The otherwise meaningless object in a film or book that provides the motivation for the action; a flimsy excuse for an action.

Usage: For an object to be a MacGuffin, it can have no meaning itself, nor can it help us understand a character or the story. Perhaps the most famous MacGuffin is the black statue in 'The Maltese Falcon.' Humphrey Bogart, playing Sam Spade, wraps up the case by saying, "Oh, and I've got some exhibits: the boys' guns, one of Cairo's, a thousand dollar bill I was supposed to be bribed with—and this black statuette here that all the fuss was about." A more contemporary example is the briefcase in Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction.' The Ark of the Covenant in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' doesn't fit the definition since it has meaning outside the film and plays a role in the film's climax.

Suggested Usage: You can use today's word in many contexts: "I don't know why Macie had to go shopping—she's on a search for some skincare MacGuffin." In other words, Macie is ranging the mall with only the flimsiest of excuses for doing so. "The boss wouldn't let me leave when my project was finished, so I spent the afternoon rifling the filing cabinet for a MacGuffin to get me out."

Etymology: François Truffaut attributes today's word to Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock tells the story of the word this way: "Two men are on a train. One man says, 'What's that package up there in the baggage rack?' The other answers, "A MacGuffin." The first one says, "What's a MacGuffin?" "It's an apparatus for trapping lions in Scotland." "But there are no lions in Scotland." "Well, then, that's no MacGuffin."

January 9, 2008

Elucidate (verb)

Pronunciation: [ê-'lu-sê-deyt]

Definition: Make clear, clarify.

Usage: The noun from today's word is "elucidation," the adjective "elucidative," and the one who elucidates is an "elucidator"—forms for all contexts in which you might want to use this word.

Suggested Usage: Today's word offers relief to the heavily overworked "clarify" and "clear up" in situations like this: "Thank you very much, sir, but could you elucidate the term "salary-neutral transmotion?" "Elucidation" does usually imply an elaborate clarification: "After I elucidated the process several minutes for him, Klinck finally grasped the fact that he could not ski up the hill but had to ride the ski lift."

Etymology:  From Latin "elucidatus," the past passive participle of elucidare "to enlighten" based on the intensifier prefix ex- + lucidus "bright," itself from the verb lucere "to shine." "Lucere" descends from *leuk "shine, bright" which became "leoht" in Old English which today is "light." The Latin word for "light" is "lux" (luc-s) which we find, rather surprisingly, in the name Lucifer "Light bearer." Why? A mistranslation of Isaiah 14:12: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" The original Hebrew refers to a fallen Babylonian king Helal, son of Shahar, whose names mean "Day star, son of the Dawn." Apparently, translators before the time of King James misassociated this passage with Satan and named whom they thought to be Satan as the Light-bearer, "Lucifer," a word the Romans also used for the Morning Star.

January 11, 2008

Hobbledehoy (noun)

Pronunciation: ['hah-bêl-dee-hoy]

Definition: (Colloquial) A youth at that awkward age between boyhood and manhood, a clumsy or unsophisticated youth.

Usage: There are two nouns, hobbledehoydom "the quality of a hobbledehoy, hobbledehoys collectively" (the most awkward boy in all hobbledehoydom) and hobbledehoyhood "the age or condition of a hobbledehoy, adolescence" (errors of one's hobbledehoyhood). An adult who has an awkward moment might be said to be hobbledehoyish, using the adjective.

Suggested Usage: Here is the word you have been looking for to describe nerds who can't add or plug in a computer: "Oh, mom, my blind date was a hobbledehoy who thought Chardonnay was a French actress!" You have to begin using the one noun simply because it is so fun to say, "I might have found her sophisticated in my hobbledehoyhood but not now that I am a suave, sophisticated man of the world."

Etymology:  Today's word is of uncertain origin and form. Its current shape may well come from an association with "hobble," a device that would cause an awkward or clumsy gait. However, this word has assumed so many forms since its emergence in the 16th century, it would be difficult to decide which to track backwards: "hobbard de hoy," "hobberdy-hoy," "habberdehoy," "hobidehoy," "hobby de hoy," "ho-body hoy," or "hobberdehoy." It might just as easily be related to "hobby" or hoberd "hawk" as "hobble."

January 12, 2008

Yenta (noun)

Pronunciation: ['yen-tê]

Definition: A nosy, meddlesome woman; a gabby, gossipy busy-body.

Usage: Isaac Bashevis Singer put the following words in the mouth of one of the women in his story 'Shosa' in 1978, "You were always ready to trade me for the first available yenta."

Suggested Usage: If a busy mind makes a busy body, self-professed yentas Raye Ann Greenbaum and Jackie Tepper are on the right track with their exercise routine, 'Stretch and Kvetch' (for which search Google). Chatrooms are a truly modern yenta's dream. You can find cyberyentas in numerous yenta centas around the Web. If you want the really juicy information, why ask Jeeves when you can ask a cyberyenta?

Etymology: Yiddish "yenta" comes from the woman's name Yente, a nickname for Yentl, borrowed from Old Italian gentile "amiable, highborn." The Italian word comes from Latin gentilis "of the same clan, name, or race" but Late Latin "pagan." Middle English gentil (also yentyll) "courteous" came from the same source, as do "gentle(man)," "gentile," and "genteel." The root originally meant "give birth" and so appears in Greek genos "race" with its English borrowings "gender," "general," "generation," "generous," "genre," and "genus." With the suffix -men, it descended to English as "German," "germ," and "germane" and, without it, "kin" and "kind."