Wondrous Words Wednesday

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love.  Feel free to get creative!   If you want to play along, grab the button, write a post and come back and add your link to Mr. Linky!

I found the Publisher’s Weekly article “7 Weird, Wonderful Words You Should Use More Often” by Kory Stomper fascinating.  I only knew two of the 7 words and only use one of them  and really don’t use it all that often.  I’ve decided to highlight a few of the other words here.

1. lickspittle – “A “pickpocket” is someone who picks pockets; a “scarecrow” is something that scares crows; and so a “lickspittle” is someone who licks the spittle of others.”

I’m sure everyone’s known someone like this.  Stomper suggests using lickspittle instead of brownnoser.

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2. jawn – “The first time I ever heard this word was in a Philly bookstore, where one guy described Game of Thrones to his compatriot by saying it was “some kind of medieval porno jawn,” and I fell utterly and completely in love (with “jawn,” not with the guy).”

Stomper says jawn is used in Philadelphia for “thing.”  Now I want to visit the City of Brotherly Love just to test it out.

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3. retronyn – “One occupational hazard of being a lexicographer is that people assume that (a) there is a word for everything, and (b) you know that word. Most of the time, (a) is true and (b) is not, but “retronym” is one case where both (a) and (b) are happily true.”

Stomper says “a retronym is a word or phrase that we use to refer to an earlier and now less-usual version of something: “film camera,” “paper book,” and “snail mail” are all retronyms.”  Can you think of any others?

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What words do you want to celebrate today?