David Zapatka While reading in the October Mensa Bulletin, member and contributor Ruth said she loved watching old monster movies and said, “I preferred all these monsters to quotidian life.” Quotidian: kwoh-TID-ee-uhn, adjective, 1. Occurring daily; happening every day 2. Ordinary or everyday, especially when mundane or trivial 3. (Medical) Recurring every day, particularly referring…
Tag: word of the month
Features, November 2025
Word of the Month: Coati
David Zapatka After friends recently hiked in the Chiricahua National Monument, I read this in a news article: “Wilcox, Ariz.—A merry troupe of coatis moms and babies were spotted along a road in Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona. Cousins of raccoons, the playful coatis gathered and excitedly squeaked with their tails shooting straight up like…
October 2025, Features
Word of the Month: Contronym
David Zapatka Reader, friend, and bridge player, Maria Davis, writes, “I ran across a word that was new for me today: ‘contronym’, a word that can have opposite meanings, like sanction or oversight. I ran across it playing a New York Times free online game called Connections—a fun daily quiz. A quick Google search turned…
Features, September 2025
Word of the Month: Corrival
David Zapatka Longtime friend, wordsmith, and fellow verbivore Bill Lewis recently sent me a summary of the Missouri State Games table tennis results where he presides as the grand master tournament director. He writes, “In a Johnny Quest race for first place in the Under 2100 division, there were 12 hardy corrivals.” Corrival—cor·ri·val noun 1:…
July 2025, Features
Word of the Month: Cudgel
David Zapatka Friend and fellow bridge player, Susan, writes, “I recently read a new word, ‘cudgel.’ Would you research this word for your column?” Cudgel—cud·gel noun: A short, thick stick used as a weapon. verb: To strike or beat with a cudgel; metaphorically, to forcefully apply or exert something, such as pressure or influence Origin…
May 2025, Features
Word of the Month: Gentle
David Zapatka Reader and bridge player Andrew Sauter wrote, “’shenanigans’ shows up every couple of years in movies, but why? Also, cool words like ‘syzygy,’ ‘brouhaha’ (ha ha it’s funny to say twice), the kids’ string game Cat’s Cradle (do cats sleep in there if you are not careful?)” While reading Titus Techera’s article, Recovering…
April 2025, Features
Word of the Month: Parsimonious
David Zapatka While at dinner with friends following a sectional bridge tournament in Fountain Hills, a friend, Susan, described herself as a parsimonious person despite the new $2,000 purse she was showing us. Parsimonious—par·si·mo·ni·ous adjective 1. exhibiting or marked by parsimony; frugal to the point of stinginess 2. sparing, restrained Parsimony—par·si·mo·ny noun 1a. the quality…
March 2025
Word of the Month: Compersion
David Zapatka Reader Linda Walker writes, “I was studying the Bible and wanted to know the opposite of jealousy. Google AI Gemini told me of a new word, “compersion.” It said, ‘Jealousy is the feeling of resentment or anger toward someone because they possess something you desire. Compersion is the feeling of joy or contentment…
February 2025, Features
Word of the Month: Ratiocinative, Ratiocination
David Zapatka Reader Lettie Harrald writes, “I just saw your column in the latest Splash about Gerunds and immediately thought about J.A. Jance’s recent blog also talking about Gerunds, among other things. I am taking the liberty of forwarding said article to you. You need to read through quite a lot of other stuff first…
November 2024, Features
Word of the Month: Neologism
David Zapatka Are you as fascinated with the creation of new words as I am? I find the people who create new words deliciously inventive and their new words fun to learn. While reading an article titled Literary Wordmakers by my friend, Richard Lederer, I ran across this sentence, “Although the identities of most of…