Meretricious

Meretricious:       means 'gaudy' or 'plausible, but specious', 'deceptively pleasing' or (literally) 'like a prostitute'.

First encountered:   suggested by my friend, Kathy Jones, who also loves words - and likes this one particularly because it's a little bit tricksy.

How it's used:       That is a meretricious argument - meaning it sounds good but it's b******s
                          or she dressed meretriciously - meaning she looks like a hooker.

Why is it tricksy?:   Sounds like it might be a good thing, on account of how it sounds like 'meritorious'.

And here's a strange thing:   both have the same root.  From Latin, Merere which means to earn money, or to deserve.


Gaudy or Gaudi:      http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/     

Hiemal

Heimal                      of, or pertaining to, winter. Such a groovy word, it isn't even in Collins English Dictionary.

First encountered:    Whilst looking for places to swim on Boxing Day I came across this:  http://www.outdoorswimmingsociety.com/  where they thoughtfully provide information about places you can swim outdoors, and a list of different words for cold.  This was my favourite.

How it's used:            On the whole, it isn't.

How you might use it:   he thought he was being funny, but he could tell by her heimal stare that she thought he was an idiot.

                                      the heimal wind whistled along the beach, grey waves and greyer sea un-inviting to the assembled Christmas swimmers.

Where it came from:     It sounds German to me, but isn't.  Apparently, once again from a Latin root.

Today's heimal sea:        http://www.sunset-surf.com/Surf-Check  Web-cam courtesy of the Sun-set cafe at Gwithian.

A heimal stare

Image courtesy of Google images

Lacuna

Lacuna                           A hole, or cavity, or gap.

First Encountered:         Barbara Kingsolver's novel about Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Trotsky called 'the Lacuna'; and then recently in the plural 'lacunae', in a lecture, in a literary context.

How it's used:               in literature - the gaps between the plot that the reader fills in; or literally the gaps in manuscripts; in biology, tiny cavities in the substance of bone.

How you might use it:   You think you're very clever, but I could shoot pigeons through the lacunae in your argument.
                                     
Who used it first:         Another one for the Romans.



A child with lacunae in its teeth



Another use entirely:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZDoywctlmM  a band called Lacuna Coil. I think they might be goths.



Qua

Qua:                               'in the capacity of'

First encountered:          in a philosophy lecture.  Tricky little word. However many times I read a definition, I always forget it. This time it's going to stick.

A favourite of:               Philosophers and players of pub word games, especially word up.  Also very useful in Scrabble where it's worth twelve points.

First used (alot) by:      Aristotle allegedly.  An ancient greek given to philosophising in Latin.  Apparently.


Aristotle qua postage stamp

How to drop into everyday conversation:      *‘Since Aristotle divided being into many categories, being qua being deals with being in each category. Aristotle's description of being qua being is ambiguous...’  (but only if you're a philosopher, the rest of us don't care)

And for the rest of us:             Craig Revel Horwood is on SCD qua mean and nasty judge, but we all know he's a big softy really.

*Thanks to the Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy http://tinyurl.com/c3dpfvd

Anlage

Anlage:                           something in the earliest stage of development; or the foundation stage of (something).  Mostly used in biology.  Same as 'primordial'.

First encountered:         Just re-reading Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Chapter 3 First para: '...every seed armed with an appliance of dispersal...... each possessed with the anlage of movement.'

How to use:                    Some people believe life grew out of anlage soup.

                                        

Soup - probably lentil, not anlage

Used differently:           Their eyes met across the crowded room. It was the anlage of a love affair that destroyed them both and brought their families to ruin.

Where it started:           German builders - who didn't know that all words were supposed to start with the greeks and romans, and made up their own. 

Boondoggle

Boondoggle:          An unnecessary or wasteful project or activity.


First encountered:              Random googling un-earthed this quote: If we can boon-doggle ourselves out of  this depression, that word is going to be enshrined in the hearts of the American people for years to come. Franklin D Roosevelt

Is this a statement of his state of mind or the state of the States?

Poster available from http://www.zazzle.com/

How to use it in everyday conversation:  

• WE can boondoggle around all day but that won't get the washing done.
• If we can get the workers boondoggling they might not notice that we're pulling the country down around their ears Anon.  attributed to nameless (possibly tory) politician
• You say you are forming a short, blunt human pyramid but I say you are a boondoggler

Who started it?     According to Collins English Dictionary, possibly the Scouts.  Hmmm..... It's Bob a Boondoggle week

And there is Beer:   http://www.ringwoodbrewery.co.uk/beers/beer.aspx?bid=7

Uxoricide

Uxoricide :                          The person who kills, or the act of killing, one’s wife.

First encountered:            The world-famous Royal Standard Pub Quiz

An example:                      Henry VIII: A well-known Uxoricide who committed two uxoricides: Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. He was a big fat meany.

How to use it in every day conversation:  My wife is a pain in the arse.  I am feeling  uxoricidal today.  She had better watch out.

Who started it: Those accomplished speakers of latin, the Ancient Romans.  UXOR: wife.  We think Mariticide is much more likely....