The Joy of Reading

As a writer, I’m also a reader. I usually don’t read the latest and greatest NY Times Bestsellers and all that. And I can’t quote from obscure memoirs and out-of-print novellas. I sure don’t refer to things written in French and expect my readers to know what I’m talking about. (Pero, yo lo hago in Español.) I rarely read the newspaper anymore. I just like to read interesting flotsam and jetsam wherever I find it. Some of the most entertaining stuff I read is on other people’s blogs. Or in other people’s bathrooms. Cereal boxes are good. And crossword puzzle clues.

Anyway, I recently ran across an interesting assortment of unusual words. (I added my guess for their definitions.) So start your week off with a smile.

1. flapdoodle—(much ado about nothing?)
2. nubbin—(the runt of the litter?)
3. petard—(why would anyone make up a word like that?)
4. unicameralism—(a one-camera religion?)
5. metanalysis—(They give you a PhD in Grammar if this word is in your dissertation.)
6. scattergood—(Either the brand name of shotgun shells or a Las Vegas loser.)
7. frog march—(Mardi Gras in the lily pads?)
8. prestidigitation—(A beautiful keyboard dance? It’s fun to say, whatever it is.)
9. hooey—(same as corn pucky!)
10. corn pucky!—(same as “that’s a buncha hooey!”)
11. canoodle—To caress and fondle. Really. (“Not in this lifetime,” she said.)

Oh, and have you read the front of a Dr Pepper can lately? You’ll notice that Dr isn’t punctuated. Never has been.

Sometimes when I read a grocery list, I wonder: is it a napple or an apple? A nonion or an onion?

I just read somewhere that the area south of the Mason-Dixon line was first called Dixon Land. Then it was Dixieland and now, for the most part, it’s just Dixie.

And last, I was just out reading our thermometer. Praise the Lord!!!