Word Tasting Notes

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

fatal, lethal, mortal A couple of months ago, I read the following passage: “an extremely hazardous,

rude, crude Obviously, you'd have to be a stupid a**h*** not to know these words. Was that rude

courgette, zucchini  You want to know how to make zucchini? I'll show you how. I'll also

skedaddle If there's been sculduddery and you're skittish, don't dawdle – scat. Scatter.

Pope Francis and the construction site of Babel I normally stay away from politics and religion on

hoodoo  In the gloom and gloaming, hooded forms gather and loom in the amphitheatre, tall and peaked

deem, redeem Redeem appears in a couple of contexts: (1) saving souls and (2) savings bonds (and

pernickety, persnickety There are some pervasive misconceptions of editors. The humble word midwife

calamity What do you get when calm amity is alarmed by calumny and a call to military arms? Why,