WORD: callithump

How can you not love this word?!? Callithump is a noun referring to a loud and boisterous gathering or celebration. The word is a bastardization of "gallithumpian," which was a person who disturbed Parliamentary elections in 18th Century England, according to the good folks at Wordsmith.org.

The callithump outside the stadium after the championship game was deafening!

When the professor announced that the final exam would be canceled, a callithump erupted from the lecture hall.

Sergio del Limonar

WORD: maffick

This seems appropriate for a Saturday...or at least your Friday night.

This verb means literally, according to Wordsmith.org, "to celebrate boisterously." Derived from a small town in South Africa called Mafikeng where British troops were blockaded in 1899 and 1900. When they were ultimately "freed," London collectively celebrated.

After their last final exam, the university students were found all along frat row mafficking before they went home for the summer.

Sergio del Limonar

WORD: castigate

Last weekend while watching the Super Bowl someone accidentally sat on the remote, inadvertently causing the television to become bilingual and give us the play-by-play in Spanish. While we were attempting to remedy the situation, the announcer used the Spanish word "castigo," which means "punishment" during a particularly brutal tackle.

The English word castigate clearly has similar origins.* The verb is used to describe the severe reprimand or punishment of someone or something. If you're boss or significant other just chewed you out for the last half hour, saying you were castigated sounds way better than simply "getting yelled at."

Fred was going to castigate that mutt; after a year of obedience school Spot was still chewing up the sofa cushions when no one was home!

Knowing her mother was already going to castigate her for sneaking out her bedroom window past curfew, Lydia decided to continue partying even after the sun rose.

*The good folks at Dictionary.com have informed me that both words come from the Latin word "castigatus" which is derived from two other Latin words together referring to "making someone pure by correcting or reproving them." Who'd a thunk it?!?!

Sergio del Limonar

WORD: lacuna

Like a void, a hollow, or vacuous space, a lucuna is a noun describing an empty space or a gap in some sequence.

As the detective looked over his notes once again, he realized the key to solving this mystery was in the vacuna of minutes preceding midnight.


It was either Bobby's wild imagination, a vacuna in his judgment, or both, that might have explained why jumped off the garage roof with a towel around his neck like a cape.

Sergio del Limónar

WORD: Precatory

Try and use this one today! Precatory is an adjective referring to the request of something. It is derived from the Latin "precari" which means "to pray."

All of the laws Senator Cawshaus backs are precatory and have little mandate.

A precatory memo about skipping the usual lunch hour sent from the head of the company was met with mixed emotions by the employees.

Sergio del Limonar

WORD: inveterate

According to the Random House Dictionary, the adjective inveterate is used to describe something or someone who is "settled or confirmed in a habit" or is "firmly established by long continuance."

At the loss of his poker hand and with a causual inveterate movement, the gambler reached for his inside coat pocket where his cigarettes used to be, despite the fact that the pocket was empty and he hadn't smoked in five years.

The elderly Japanese woman inveterately began removing her shoes upon entering the house even though no one else was doing so.

Sergio del Limónar

YEAR IN REVIEW: WORDS

This is the fourth in the YEAR IN REVIEW series. Each day we will profile a different topic and choose out top 5 recommendations for the year. The ZONINO-iest, if you will.

1 loquacious
2 palpate
3 emporium
4 apoplectic
5 pernicious

CALENDAR: Cats Let Nothing Darken Their Roar

Mrs. Fitzsimmons 2, who is also still on maternity leave, sent me a link to a sight hawking calendars with weird phrases on them, such as the title of this post. Well, it turns out that each of the titles on this attractively, and slightly retro, designed calendar, spell out the name of the month within the phrase itself.

Even the name of the calendar, spells out "calendar." Go to Cats Let Nothing Darken Their Roar and click the link for "The Calendar" on the left side to see the rest of the months with their bizarre and poetic phrasings.

If you like what you see, each calendar runs between $32 to $60 depending on the size. A time keeper and a conversation piece all in one? What more could you ask for?!?


Sergio del Limonar

WEB: Etymology Dictionary

Did you know that the word "knuckle" comes from the late 14 century and is derived from the Germanic word "knokel" meaning "finger joint"?

Or how about that the word "pimp" most likely came from from the modern French word "pimper" meaning "to dress elegantly" and was first used in its current context in 1607?

The website, Online Etymology Dictionary is a treasure trove* of information for both the know it all, the Trivial Pursuit junky, and those of us who are just curious from time to time. The next time someone asks, "I wonder where that word comes from?" you can tell them!

Sergio del Limonar

*The word "treasure" is derived from the the old French word "tresor" of the same meaning and was first used in the mid-12th century. The expression "treasure trove" was first used in 1888.

WORD: Pogrom

I'm reading a fantastic book by Michael Chabon at the moment that will no doubt become a ZONINO! one day. Chabon is a genius with words and wordplay so I expect to find several gems of the etymologic sort whilst enjoying this novel.

Today I came across the noun "pogrom" which I had never encountered before. It means, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, "an organized, often officially encouraged, massacre or persecution of a minority group." The entry goes on to state that it most often refers to the persecution of Jewish peoples.

Unlike most of the other WORD entries, this is not one I would try to insert into my daily ramblings, but I feel its a word one should have shoved in the back drawer of one's brain for when smarty-pants writers like Chabon throw it out, you can keep pace.

Sergio del Limonar

WORD: chimeric

Potentially appropriate for the season that is upon us, this adjective is used to describe something fanciful or imaginary in nature. Stemming for the monster in Greek mythology, the chimera, shown at right in an drawing by illustrator Tina Ponzetti, which was composed of the parts of many different animals, the word brings to mind a childlike world where anything is possible, perhaps even confusing.

Under the fort he built in the living room using couch cushions and old bed sheets, Mathias created a chimeric world where there was no homework, split-pea soup, or dish-washing chores.

Waking abruptly from his nap during the sales meeting, Leon recalled with a smile the chimeric dream he just had in which his boss was suddenly sucked out the window in freak and tragic accident.

Sergio del Limonar

WORD: Palpate

This is one of those smartie-pants verbs that everyone should know, be able to use, but never have to in actual conversation. Meaning simply "to touch" but in an examinatory fashion, it would be acceptable to use in medicinal conversation or perhaps when discussing a creepy neighbor or an ex. Use with caution.

Standing before the oranges in the produce section, the elderly woman palpated each fruit as if she were a pubescent teenage boy in the back seat of his car with a girl for the first time.

Clinging to the wall with my back and in the blackest of darkness after the lights went out in the haunted house, I extended my arm and trembling fingers, palpating the pealing and damp surface for some semblance of a light switch.


Sergio del Limónar

WORD: Emporium

According to the good people at Random House and their Dictionary, an emporium is a noun referring to "a place, town, or city of important commerce, especially a principle center of trade." I think this is one of those words that is more fun to use in other less-intended meanings.

For example, an article I was reading today described someone's intelligence as "an emporium of knowledge." I want to try and toss around some "emporiums" when I get the chance now!

I had a neighbor growing up who never seemed to throw anything away, her garage was an emporium of odds and ends.

Stuart's ex-girlfriend was manic; her head an emporium of emotions desperately in need of a sedative.

Okay, so mine need some work, but this is definitely a fun one to play with!

Sergio del Limónar

WEB: Urban Dictionary

Remember in Mean Girls when Gretchen Wieners was "trying to make 'fetch' happen"? (It's "not going to happen," by the way.) Well, the next time you think your friend, co-worker, or annoying wannabe Valley Girl neighbor uses a newfangled version of the English language, head on over to the Urban Dictionary to check out it's validity and proper usage.

Designed with an easy-to-use alphabetic browsing tool, as well as a search function, Urban Dictionary has over 4 million slang entries accumulated since it's inception in 1999. Just feel like poking around? The main page features randomly selected words to peruse at your leisure.

The best part, in my opinion? For each definition, there is a link to another site that will print the word and definition on a coffee mug! Give your make-up loving friend a cup that says "Mascary" (someone that wears too much mascara) or your free-spirit-hating buddy one printed with "Hippie Catcher" across the front (breaking a bottle to spread the shards of glass everywhere, usually in a public place, to catch barefoot flower children).

Sergio del Limónar

WORD: Saccharine

Originally from the Greek word "sakkharon" referring to sugar, this adjective is used to describe something sweet or sugary.

I had to teach this word recently as my students were learning about different types of carbohydrates, including monosaccharides (single sugars) and polysaccharides (complex sugars). I then came across this gem of a sentence in Entertainment Weekly discussing the fascination and guilty pleasure that is Celine Dion which stated that her "lyrics [are] packed with enough saccharine sentiment to warrant an FDA warning label."

As Celine would say, "Touché!"

Sergio del Limónar

WORD: Loquacious

A friend facebooked me and used the word "loquacious." Given the context my guess to what it meant was correct but I thought it's use deserved a Zonino! so here we go...

Loquacious is an adjective used to describe someone who is overly talkative or perhaps just very wordy in their speech.

Heidi doesn't like to text message her friends because she feels she is too loquacious to be limited to a set number of letters.

I hate asking my colleague, Al, a question because his answers are usually way to loquacious than the answer requires them to be.

Sergio del Limónar

WORD: Lassitude

A perfect word for a hot summer day, this noun, related to "lethargy" and "indifference," can be used to express the absolute extreme of both these conditions.

The lassitude of the setting July sun made it difficult to imagine a cooler temperature.


With great lassitude the cat rose to its feet, slowly wandered a few paces to the other side of the hallway, and flopped back down again.


Sergio del Limónar

WORD: Autonomy

Autonomy: n. to demonstrate ones independence, being autonomous

It's not that this word is obscure or anything, nor will it make you look pretentious if you use it, it's just that it is a good word to throw in every once and a while to show you have something functioning inside your skull. Plus, you know, others might be impressed and secretly wish they thought to use such vocabulary without hating you for it.

Try and throw it into your conversation sometime today!

Sergio del Limonar

WORD: Pernicious

I was reading the Gabriel García Márquez Nobel Prize-winning "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and came across a word I had never heard before: pernicious.

After visiting the American Heritage Dictionary I learned that this adjective is used to describe anything that can cause great harm or be destructive in nature. In the story it is in reference to terrible insomnia-like disease.

Not that I'm in horrible fatalistic situations on a frequent basis, but I'm going to attempt to work this word in to conversation at least once this week.

The rumor started by the cheerleader about her ex-boyfriend was pernicious to his reputation on the football team.

Sergio del Limónar

WORD: Notional

This adjective can be used to describe the outcome of an idea (or notion) that may be considered abstract, theoretical, or speculative in nature. It is usually pertaining to something that is foreseen or visionary; an event that may hopefully occur in the future.

Not knowing the answer to the lab question, the physics student gave a notional response to his professor.

My boss has created a notional utopia of how the office functions when, in reality, it is a chaotic mess.

Sergio del Limónar