Word Tasting Notes

disclass, sunglass, windlass, cutlass You're sailing past the Hebrides when you unexpectedly hear

dissolute, resolute The turn of the year is a time to turn the page on problems. For every problem

stuff It's the day after Christmas. You've probably given and gotten lots of stuff, and you

covert, overt What's the difference between covert and overt? Just what you can c. Well, that and

The 2026 Sesquiotica calendar Announcing the 2026 Sesquiotica calendar! My Patreon patrons above a

Silberhochzeit  December 9, 2000, was a silver day in Toronto: snow had fallen all the previous

infrigorating I was in a warm place last week, visiting friends who have an outdoor pool. It has a

cache, cachet, cash It's no secret that wealth comes with cachet, but the catch is that you need

spire  If you, as an architect, aspired to inspire, what might you do? Would you conspire to spear

spiral, helix  “The Art Gallery of Ontario has a marvellous spiral staircase,” I said to Jess and

ceilidh I arrived at Domus Logogustationis to find an assortment of women, mostly in their thirties

beguine Look out: That wiley big guy'll beguile you. He may seem like a colporteur for the

capade You know what a capade is, right? You've seen capade in various places, I'm sure,

mosey One thing that gets on my nerves is when I really gotta mosey somewhere and there are people in

avuncular Hey, how are ya? Doing great? I found out something interesting you might like. A couple of

garnish “You said you withheld the garnish for safety reasons,” Maury's friend Brandur said. “I

brandish, brandy  Maury's Icelandic friend Brandur is quite the firebrand. As I entered Domus

quick I'm reading the autobiography of Geddy Lee, and so I'm listening to even more music by

obsequious, bosque You know what obsequious means, I'm sure. You're far too intelligent, well

vain, vane, vein Would you fain be a vane, swivelling with the wind, empty of intrinsic direction,

calypso He came off the boat, onto an island, and he wandered far and long; at last he came to where

Pronunciation tip: French cuisine It's been a while since I've done a pronunciation tip video

caboose When you were a kid, did you always wave at a caboose when you saw one? There are four

plankton Imagine you're a right whale. Left to your own devices, you wander around the oceans,

lizardry Let us say, just to taste the air, that you want a word for the state, quality, or practice

slog A while back, I asserted confidently that “traipsing is exactly like walking, only much much

clod, clot, cloud, clout, klutz Look, lexically, and in life, sometimes things just get bumped about.

dalliance “Did I,” said Maury idly, “ever tell you of my deli dalliance?” “Your dilly-dallying?” I

greenlighted, greenlit, gaslighted, gaslit I'll launch today's word tasting with the

cremate, incinerate, cinder, Cinderella It is Cinderella's funeral. “Ashes to ashes,” someone