mal  .  a . prop/noun/ the unintentional use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in  a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance I am interested in words–their origins, how they sound, what they mean, how people use them. So whenever I encounter an unusual, interesting   language usage, I pay attention. Recently, I came across  a handout I made some years ago to share with my students  (I liked having a good laugh with them). The handout is from  a compilation of bloopers that the admissions departments of Bates  and Vassar Colleges put together from  students’ admissions essays written in an effort to be admitted into these prestigious colleges. I found them…

pro  .  bi  ty / noun/  the quality of having strong moral principles, honesty and decency; integrity,  goodness, respect, ethics, sincerity This is a power-packed word that we have for  this week. Look at all the dynamic meanings probity  embodies.  It’s like a pomegranate bearing an abundance of seeds for generating good fruit. A treasure trove of virtues, this word has in it what we humans need–the values that should be deep-rooted in our individual character and in the society at large. “There is a time for every purpose under heaven,” says the Wise Man Solomon. He tells us there is a time to be born and a time to die, and he has a catalogue of…

ac  .  cess/noun/ entrance, entry Usually, my word for the week is not well known and is multisyllabic, but this week I  have chosen a common one. The word access has multiple meanings, two of which are listed above. However, some of the meanings are not one-word  synonyms  like “entrance” and “entry.”  For example, we have heard quite a lot of talk recently about “buying access” in government circles, something  with unsavory overtones, but not many people seem to be bothered by it since that sort of thing has been going on  forever.  There is also “free  access” to a building as is stipulated for handicapped individuals; or another meaning,  “access to health care,”  a  much-debated…

cog . i .  tate /verb/ to think deeply about something, meditate or reflect, contemplate, ponder This week’s word has a harsh sound, produced by  its hard-sounding  consonants, but it actually describes a peaceful, introspective mood.  One of the main meanings of cogitate is “to contemplate,”  and contemplation  requires setting aside time for reflective thinking.  In the Christmas season with its busyness and frenetic pace as we race to get all the last-minute shopping done, we may think it an imposition to be asked to stop and contemplate, but it’s something worth doing.  Let us pause and  contemplate the  meaning of  the Christ Child being born into this world.  By pondering this immense reality, we will  experience the real roots of our…

ju . bi . lant /adjective/ exultant, triumphant, joyful, gleeful, ecstatic, thrilled “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” the song says, and the sounds of Christmas are emerging as the special day draws closer. Jubilant,  our word for this week,  rings with the joyful melody of Christmas.  Something seems to happen in mid-December to put everyone but the diehard Scrooges in a jubilant mood.  Christmastime is a joyous time– with the forever-new  beloved carols,  fresh renditions of Handel’s Messiah,  the anticipation in the eyes of children, the bustling crowds of shoppers. All of this activity makes the air electric with  joy and lifts the spirits. It’s the time that reminds us of the long-ago angel-song: “Glory to God…

so . lil . o . quy /noun/ an act of speaking one’s thoughts  aloud when by oneself, regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play How a  particular word applies to us  might not be readily apparent when we first encounter it, but if we look more closely, we can see the connection. This is the case with soliloquy, our word for this week.  At first glance, it doesn’t seem to have any everyday application, but it does. The word means “speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself.”  Now, who among us hasn’t done that?  I have been doing it all my life, it seems. Speaking…

chro . nol . o . gy /noun/ the arrangement of events in time, the arrangement of events or dates in the order of their occurrence Do you remember when, as a child, you longed for Christmas to arrive, but it seemed that it would never  come? Time crawled as you waited for the special day. Yet the waiting time–the time between–was good for you because it was time for dreaming. No matter that you dreamed about things you never received. Dreaming does wonderful things for the soul. This week’s word chronology is about time. It suggests an orderly, meaningful sequence; it relates to things happening according to an established  or expected pattern. Time was when there was an established order to the events…

cre . a . tiv . i . ty /noun/ inventiveness, imagination, innovativeness, originality, individuality, vision,  initiative The word creativity shines a light on our unexpressed desires.  Have you ever found yourself wishing you were more creative?  I have, especially while looking at a beautiful landscape painting, or watching  a well choreographed play, or even after reading a great novel. It seems that some people have an inordinate amount of this thing called creativity while others don’t have any, or at least that’s what we often tell ourselves. Is it that the gatekeepers  have convinced us that the creative people are the artists and the musicians?  We should know better, however. It is the “gate seekers” who are…

grat . i . tude /noun/ thankfulness, appreciation, satisfaction I find it hard to believe, but, according to the Power Thesaurus, there are over 196 synonyms for the word gratitude. Undoubtedly, those dictionary makers must have exhausted the linguistic storehouse, counting distant shades of meaning in order  to be able to claim such a statistic. From what I have seen of  their list of  possible synonyms,  some of them wander far afield from the central meaning.  Grateful and gratitude are derived from an archaic adjective, grate, which means thankful, and comes from the Latin gratus (not “gratis,” which means something altogether different), meaning  pleasing, agreeable, and thankful, among others. Although the word gratitude has only…

ex .pec . ta . tion/ noun/ assumption, presumption, conjecture, prediction, a belief that someone  should or will achieve something The early-morning flash of  light brightens my bedroom, and even though my eyes are closed, I can tell that it is lightning, which, for me, is an unwelcome sight.  I have no qualms about  thunder, however, so I lie still and wait for the expected crash of thunder to follow, but there is nothing. More lightning.  Now comes a puny sound of thunder. The lightning continues to flash intermittently, but the thunder doesn’t  have a strong presence until quite some time after. It’s taking its  time meeting my expectation. An amusing sidelight on this week’s  word expectation is the way it was…