Banal
Main Entry: ba·nal
Pronunciation: \bə-ˈnal, ba-, -ˈnäl; bā-ˈnal; ˈbā-nəl\
Function: adjective
Etymology: French, from Middle French, of compulsory feudal service, possessed in common, commonplace, from ban; First Known Use: 1825
: lacking originality, freshness, or novelty
Synonym(s): trite, bathetic (not kidding), cliche
Antonym(s): relevant, original, pertinent
Used in a Blog Post: http://tinyurl.com/2e4jbko
Why is it that when one turns “hard” into an adverb it suddenly takes on the exact opposite meaning?
Example: “You working hard or hardly working?”
It’s “funny”, it’s cleverly worded, but…what? What a silly language we Americans speak.
1 : characterized by routine or superficiality : mechanical <a perfunctory smile>
2 : lacking in interest or enthusiasm: where the musical genre “funk” is produced. Ha! Jokes.
Get it?
Synonym(s): complacent
Antonym(s): deliberate
Used in a Band Name: George Clinton & Perfunkadelic
Not Fakin' the Funk
Used in a Sentence: A one-time Olympic medalist in the Downhill Super 
Deluxe Bacon Cheeseburger Combined With Fries in the 1998 Winter Games, Michael’s technical prowess and frosty precision have since been relegated to the performance of mundane, perfunctory tasks at children’s birthday parties; those Sno-Cones won’t make themselves, Mike.
Happy New Year! What? It’s mid-February? So I guess it’s been a while since I’ve updated this. What’s two months in the scheme of life, anyway? A lot when considering that this blog has only been in existence for a grand total of four.
At any rate, I’ve come to the sobering conclusion that as my schedule continually changes, it becomes increasingly more difficult to post every day, or even once a month. So, to ensure that I post at least once a week, I’ve curtailed this feature to “Word of the Week”, and further elected to begin at the cheerfully arbitrary number of 45 so as to appear as though I have a little more “blogosphere cred”, nahmean? No? Hmm. Anyway, without further adieu, your “Word of the Week”:
Vicissitude
Main Entry: vi·cis·si·tude
Pronunciation: \və-ˈsi-sə-ˌtüd, vī-, -ˌtyüd\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French, from Latin vicissitudo, from vicissim in turn, from vicis change, alternation — more at week
Date: circa 1576
1 a : the quality or state of being changeable : mutability b : natural change or mutation visible in nature or in human affairs
2 a : a favorable or unfavorable event or situation that occurs by chance : a fluctuation of state or condition <the vicissitudes of daily life> b : a difficulty or hardship attendant on a way of life, a career, or a course of action and usually beyond one’s control c : alternating change : succession
Synonym(s): lifechangedness
Antonym(s): “Case of the Mondays”
Used in a Restaurant Name: International House of Vicissitude Pancakes
Used in a Sentence: As the bailiff dragged Megan away, she couldn’t help but to think to herself, “How did I get myself into this mess, anyway?” Then it struck her: when she came to, she realized how grateful she was that this kind, off-duty bailiff was to pull her out of the collapsing paintball factory, and how unfortunate it was that yet another one of life’s vicissitudes has led the author to write such a strange, disjointed example. Touche, Megan. Touche.
Another fine mess life has gotten her into...
1 : to give an omen or anticipatory sign of
2 : indicate, signify
Synonym(s): predict, foreshadow
Antonym(s): postdict, aftershadow
Spanish For: The niño.
Used in a Sentence: Though Becca was a staunch anti-Semite…portend.
“Bears Can’t Vote”
- courtesy of alert reader Ted Beidler
Today, I thought that I’d been the first person on the planet to combine a Latin apology and the word “media” into a clever portmanteau of sorts, such as:
“Media Culpa”
After a quick Google search, it turns out that I was wrong.
“Periodic Table of Elephants”
- courtesy of alert reader Mike Smith
“Movie”
Diminutive of the term, “moving picture,” this one may top them all; prior to film, there were only still pictures and audio, usually transmitted through radio waves. However, with the advent of talking and moving pictures and their ensuing popularity, the general public deemed, “moving picture,” too cumbersome and shortened it to, “movie”.
It’s a “movie” because it moves. The suffix “ie” just makes it cutesy. BS.
Circumlocution
1 : the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea
2 : evasion in speech
— cir·cum·loc·u·to·ry \-ˈlä-kyə-ˌtȯr-ē\ adjective
Synonym(s): circumduction, periphrasis
Antonym(s): justtheonephrasis
Used in a Sentence: Circumlocution is the tops.
Used in a Better Sentence: Barry used his cunning skills of circumlocution in an effort to satisfy the angry Chief of Medicine ‘s curiosity regarding the patient’s inability to produce the name of the doctor who unwittingly filled Mr. Johnson’s IV with Lucky Charms instead of the standard saline solution as Barry didn’t have the name of the doctor in question because in reality it was he who wittingly filled the patient’s IV with Lucky Charms; he was curious as to what would happen in such an event but he did not want to soil his squeaky clean reputation as the resident hospital prankster.
"You'll never comandeer me small shiny objects which have brought me fortune in the past but it is yet to be seen whether they will continue to do so on subsequent events in the future!"
