Wondrous Words Wednesday
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. If you want to play along, grab the button, write a post and come back and add your link to Mr. Linky! All of my words this week come from my Word-a-Day calendar.
1. fustigate – “Hernandez missed most of the preseason practices because of an ankle sprain, and he fustigated himself for committing seven turnovers.” — Jorge Ortiz, San Francisco Chronicle, November 2004
Fustigate felt familiar to me, but I couldn’t define it. It can mean to beat with or as if with a short heavy club, but in this case, it means to criticize severely. Maybe I can remember this word since it sounds like fuss.
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2. umami – “Grilled artichokes bathed in anchovy butter make you suck the tender leaves for just one more hit of umami.” — Associated Press, July 15, 2009
Not surprisingly, umami has its roots in Japanese, and is a noun that means a taste sensation that is meaty or savory and is produced by several amino acids and nucleotides.
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3. bombinate– “For one reason or another, this veteran conductor has never had a publicity machine bombinating away on his behalf.” — The Boston Globe, December 2, 2000
Bombinate means to buzz or drone.
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Have you come across any new words lately?
I’m aware of the concept of umami, although I’m not certain that I really know what it tastes like. I like the sound of the other two, but they’re both new to me.
The only one I even had a chance with was the first one.
Fustigate sounded familiar to me too for some reason
Remember all those UMAMI commercials for awhile? It was a fad, perhaps, on some cooking shows awhile ago but I haven’t heard the word in some time.
Umami is a completely new concept for me. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I am very familiar with umami – yum! The others were new; I kind of like fustigate.
I’m pretty sure fustigate appears in the Passio in the Bible. It does in Italian, at least. So maybe that’s why some of you feel it sounds familiar.
Thanks for sharing!
The other two are new, and the idea of umami… I’m not even sure I get it
gonna use them all today!
Perhaps you remember the French verb: fustiger ?
I like umami… and don’t know it before reading your post. Thanks !
One of my favorite articles by Malcolm Gladwell is the story of ketchup, in which he talks all about umami. It’s very fun and online if you are interested: http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_09_06_a_ketchup.html
I kind of figured unami was Japanese but didn’t know the others. I like bombinate though.
Umami caught my eye, interesting words.
All new words for me though fustigate sounded familiar and when I looked at the meaning, I knew I was wrong..like bombinate!
It sounds like I need to get a Word A Day calendar! I knew of umami, and tried to convince my college psychology professor that it was indeed a word and a description of a flavor, and he didn’t believe me.
All of these are new to me too! I like “bombinate.” It’s funny, firefox tells me the word is misspelled. Silly firefox.
Glad to see you have another Word-A-Day calendar. They are so handy for regular participants in this meme.
Hi Kathy,
I know of ‘fustigate’, although I don’t think that I have ever come across it in any of my reading.
‘umami’ sounds delicious, when used in your example, it’s making me feel hungry just thinking about it.
‘bombinate’ sounds like a very fussy way of simply saying ‘buzz’ or ‘drone’ and not a word that I would ever bother using.
Thanks for sharing and hosting this great meme.
These are all new to me.
Fustigate is the only one that sounded remotely familiar, but I’m going to try to add them to my vocabulary. What a great meme! I didn’t know about this one. I’m going to try to participate next time!
I seriously have no clue how you find these but I am going to start writing them down for words with friends…
I’m embarrassed that you stumped me on all three!
I learned umami a few years ago and have recently started thinking about it when I make up my own sauces. As in, “this needs some of that umami flavor” — that usually prompts me to add some soy sauce (especially if it needs salt too) or some Worcestershire sauce.
The other two are new to me.
Interesting words, I like the sound of fustigate for some reason.
I actually knew umami, maybe too much Food Network. I love the other two, though, fun to say and actually semi-useful.
I didn’t know any of them but I like bombinate.
Whenever I read those words I often wonder if I have any clue at all about the English language!!
“Umami” is an old favorite. I really like both “fustigate” and “bombinate”. I must remember them!
I think this is the first time one of your Wondrous Words posts has made me hungry! “Grilled artichokes bathed in anchovy butter …” Mmmm!
I heart bombinate!
I absolutely love all of those – and wouldn’t have been able to define any of them! The first one reminds me of castigate.
Excellent words! Umami is especially wondrous!!