cholers, n. : “The mood of anger, irritability, grumpiness, or being short-tempered and impatient” (Roget’s Thesaurus of Words for Intellectuals) (pronounced KOH-lers). I don’t know about you, but I can certainly relate to this word! Some might call it grouchy, others crabby, and still others hangry (a quite accurate word denoting the combination of anger […]

ophidian, adj. : “Describes snakes or something snakelike; dishonest or mean-spirited” (Roget’s Thesaurus of Words for Intellectuals) (pronounced o-FID-ee-un). This word is unbelievably perfect if you ever find yourself needing to describe a villain in a story (or maybe not the villain…but someone else entirely!). It sounds refined and impressive, yet simultaneously insulting and indicative […]

hiatus, n. : “A gap or interruption in space, time, or continuity; a break” (American Heritage High School Dictionary) (pronounced hī-ā’-tes) I know this word isn’t as unusual as some of the ones I’ve done before…but it fit so well for this week I couldn’t resist (plus if you keep reading, there’s a bonus word […]

tardigradous, a. : “Slow-paced; moving or stepping slowly” (Webster) (pronounced tar’-dih-gred-us, with the accent on the first syllable, and equal emphasis on the remaining syllables). Turtles are notorious for their tardigradous way of getting around. Snails, inchworms, grandparents, and cantankerous children (like Jimmy below) like to operate at this speed as well.   “Jimmy, go […]

daggle, v. : “To trail in mud or wet grass; to befoul; to dirty, as the lower end of a garment.” Also, “To run through mud and water” (Webster)(pronounced dag’-gl, with the accent on the first syllable, like waggle). Anyone can daggle. Kids and puppies are probably the most frequent culprits, but sometimes even adults […]

flittermouse, n. : “A bat; an animal that has the fur of a mouse, and membranes which answer the purpose of wings, and enable the animal to sustain itself in a fluttering flight” (Webster). (Pronounced flit’-ter-mouse, like glitter-mouse; plural, flittermice; also flickermouse or flickermice) I know people probably don’t use the word bat very much, […]