Grammar Punk Blog

Bootless: useless; unprofitable

I guess if you don’t even have boots…

Of course, English being ridiculously verbose and full of itself, and not always entirely reasonable, bootless has absolutely nothing to do with footwear.

The boot in this instance is an obsolete and obscure (never!) noun that meant to use or avail. That old English word is ultimately linked to our modern word “better.” So, it follows that less better is…useless. Or bootless.

Talk about a great insult to hurt at your good for nothing next door neighbor who borrows your BBQ grill, your mower and half your yard tools all summer, returning them at the first snow fall—if at all.

Grammar Punk Sentence: S E 5

If only someone had warned her that starting her own Falafel Stand would be so disastrously bootless she’d have invested in AT&T instead.

Write a sentence that contains five words that contain the letters S and E and the word bootless.

Teachers of English, grammar and writing challenge your students with this interestingly obscure little word. Then share! 

FINE!

Is it just me or is the word FINE really irritating? And certainly overused. And…bland. Don’t get me wrong, the word fine is…fine. So I took a better look at this word that I heretofore found rather annoying. And as usual the word won.

Fine: in a good, acceptable, or comfortable condition

a)    made up of tiny particles

b)    with sunny and clear skies

c)    very thin, sharp, or delicate

d)    very good to look at

e)    delicately formed: showing special skill, detail, or intricacy, especially in artistic work

f)     small and delicate: set very closely and carefully together

g)    unpleasant: extremely unsuitable or undesirable

h)    very subtle: so particular or small that it may hardly be noticeable

i)      extremely pure: with any or most impurities removed, especially in a precious

j)      Well: very well

Okay, so it’s another of those small words that packs quite a wallop, definition-wise. My main objection to the word is its rampant overuse and—now that I’ve been reacquainted with its many facets—is that is just as underused. Quite like I feel about the word AWESOME. Or SWEET. Don’t get me started. Fine is…fine. It’s acceptable, delicate, sunny, delicate, unsuitable, subtle, pure and very well. So when asked how you are, please, please, please, say you are anything but FINE!

I feel the same way about OF COURSE but that is a subject for another blog.

Teachers of English, grammar, and writing, challenge your students with this small word. Sometimes it’s the small ones that are the most interesting…

Arcanum

Mysterious or specialized knowledge; language or information possessed only by the initiate;

elixir

a secret known only to the members of a small select group

This one comes from the Latin urcanus, meaning secret. Entering the English language as the Dark Ages gave way to the much more enlightened Renaissance, alchemists were regularly pursuing elixirs for changing base metals into gold, thus eventually adding “elixir” to the definition since they’re doings definitely fell into the mysterious or secretive category.

Most of us are more familiar with the more mundane “arcane” ar·cane: hard to fathom; difficult or impossible to understand. But isn’t it nice to have a more obscure fallback when you want to tell someone they’re being difficult and hard to understand.

Grammar Punk Sentence: C A 2 Arcanum

Inordinately proud of the Arcanum necessary to join the Elvis Hunk-A-Hunk-A-Burning Love Fan Club, they could boast only six members.

Teachers of English and grammar here’s a nice arcane word with which to challenge your students. Have them write a sentence that contains w words with the letters C and A and the word Arcanum.

Nonplus: to cause to be at a loss as to what to say, think, or do; perplex

This is a good one—and a bad one. Non should mean what it means, right? Non usually means “not” as in negative, huh-uh, not so much. Therefore, nonplussed should mean that you are calm, poised, unruffled. Wrong! In Latin non plus means “no more.” Who knew? When this one popped up in the 16^th century it was a noun meaning quandary or in a pickle. Somehow as time went on it became a verb meaning you don’t know what the heck is going on or how to proceed.  Pshaw on your plus.

Of course this begs the question what does it mean to be plussed but we won’t go there. Suffice it to say that plus is good, nonplus not so much.

Grammar Punk Sentence: S E 4

Stella stood stock-still in the doorway looking on in stunned horror at the elaborate surprise party in her living room utterly nonplussed; her birthday was two weeks ago!

Teachers of English, grammar, and writing, try to nonplus your students with this one. And you give it a try. Write a Grammar Punk Sentence that contains 4 words with the letters S and E and the word nonplussed.

Longanimity: a disposition to bear injuries patiently; forbearance

lon·ga·nim·i·ty

So why not just use forbearance? What would be the fun in that? Funnily enough, loganimity has a long history (get it?) It’s been around since the 15^th century, from the Latin longanimis, meaning patient or long-suffering. Okay, same question as first but that is what I love about this language! Longanimity just sounds cooler—and is much harder to pronounce. What more do you want from a word?

Grammar Punk Sentence: R E 5 Loganimity

Not necessarily known for her longanimity, the family reunion was clearly getting on my Aunt’s last nerve.

Teachers of English, grammar, and writing, here’s a good word challenge for your students. Challenge them to add this great synonym of a word to their word list and name a few folks that have—or don’t—the traits of longanimity. Write a sentence that contains 5 words that contain R and E and the word longanimity

fla·neur

Just so you know, an idle woman about town is called a flaneuse. This one is more a literary frame of reference, not a word your likely to run across terribly often. Synonyms include words like fop or dandy, also rather out of use. And frankly there’s not a lot to say about it but it’s a fun little word whose use has been lost but not its concept. I for one can think of several people of if not my actual acquaintance, surely currently taking up space on any number of reality TV shows.

Grammar Punk Sentence: L U 2

All Leonard needed was a leisure suit, a gold chain and a bad toupee to make him the stereotypical flaneur about town.

Give it a try! Write a sentence that contains 2 words that contain the letters L and U and the word flaneur.

Callithump: cal·li·thump·ian \ˌka-lə-ˈthəm-pē-ən\ adjective

A noisy boisterous band or parade

I’m not kidding, callithump is really a word. Even better it is apparently an “Americanism” that goes back to the 19^th century and from our Mother Tongue, an alteration of English dialect gallithumpian disturber of order at elections in the 18th century.

And yet again I have to admit entire ignorance of this lovely if somewhat discordant word. But what a great adjective to add to your vocabulary. The next time the neighbors are having a particularly loud party bang on the adjoining wall and yell at them to keep the callithumpian racket down!

If nothing else their sheer bafflement might shut them up for a while.

Grammar Punk Sentence: N A 3

Positively bristling with horns, bells, pots and pans, and various noisemakers Carmine was looking forward to being the most strident callithumpian at the Fourth of July Bash.

Teachers of English, grammar and writing, introduce your students to calithump! It’s a great word to add to their vernacular.

Remora: a bony saltwater fish with a suction disk on the top of its head that it uses to attach itself to a larger fish or a ship’s hull; a hindrance or drag

I know, this seems an odd choice for me, but this has always fascinated me. I am a huge fan of those under the ocean shows that show things like enormous fish that could swallow you whole and these little guys stuck to them like live bumper stickers. But what really caught me was the second definition: a hindrance or drag. Apparently ancient sailors believed the little critters sucking onto their hulls could actually slow or even stop a ship. Thus the name remora which in Latin means “delay.”

What a great insult for that guy who always tags along without bothering with an invitation. Or the third wheel type who orders an appetizer and will just have “a bite of your entrée,” Talk about a drag! Or a suck-up! Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Grammar Punk Sentence: Y E 2

Clinging like a remora, Deedee was determined to keep her new boyfriend at her side as they made their way through the crowd at her high school reunion.

All right teachers of English, have your students give this one a try.

Osculate: os·cu·late:

To kiss

To make contact or come together

In mathematics, a intransitive verb: to touch at a point of common tangency to a line passing between two branches of a curve, each branch continuing in both directions of the line

The first definition is much more fun, am I right? This one comes from the Latin osculum, which means little mouth. Makes sense. And yes, another word of which I was ignorant before running across it. I can’t say that I anticipate adding this one to my everyday repertoire, certainly not in speech but you have to admit it’s a good word, kissing-wise.

Grammar Punk Sentence: P E 3

Puckering up, my Aunt Jane refuses to allow any of the children to escape without at least one osculation apiece.

Teachers of English give this one a try. Write a sentence that contains 3 words with the letters P and E and the word osculate. Then give us a kiss!

Traduce: to expose to shame or blame by means of falsehood and misrepresentation: to violate or betray; to say very critical or disparaging things about somebody or something

A more familiar concept is the word malign. Calumniate does it too, as does vilify. Isn’t it interesting that there are three words that have something to do with “sticks and stones…?” Because of course words are hurtful and even harmful.

Traduce is yet another of those words that makes for a great insult—or at least the answer to one. A hearty “Don’t you dare traduce me!” will no doubt leave your insulter so confused he’ll stop talking. 

G O 2

Glenda’s unfortunate tendency to gossip caused the neighborhood to label her as a traducer of the worst sort and she was soon left off all party invitations.

Teachers of English challenge your students to play with this word. Put it in a sentence or have them try a little traducing of their own.