This post is the second post in a two-part epic where I recount an absolute Kladderadatsch of a group project story. I try to avoid posting two words from the same language in a row, but as with Verschlimmbesserung before it, I simply couldn't resist this unfortunately perfect 2020 word. You can read the first …
Verschlimmbesserung
2020 is a disaster. We entered into this new decade optimistic and excited, talking about the "Roaring Twenties" of yester-century — and now, after just eight months, we're only one horseman short of the Apocalypse. (For those keeping score at home, so far we have Pestilence, Death, and Famine; I don't even want to think …
Untitled
This is the first post I started to write without a word in mind. It had to be about the coronavirus and COVID-19, of course — the situation is so overwhelmingly pervasive that this post started writing itself in my mind without even waiting for a word to come along. So I went ahead and …
Tsundoku
"It's not hoarding if it's books," a popular Internet saying proclaims. I, for one, heartily agree — but maybe I'm biased. I was raised by book lovers; books have been part of my life (and my home) for as long as I can remember. In my childhood homes, they piled up every which where: packed …
Romjul
The week between Christmas and New Year's often feels like a strange sort of limbo. Some people are still on vacation, while others are forced into a brief stint back at work sandwiched between two mini-vacations; you might be subsisting entirely on leftover food for days on end; the presents you received are still brand …
Besinnlich
It's so easy to get caught up in the rush of life. It's tempting to fret about the little things, particularly as the holiday season approaches at full pelt — down-to-the-minute travel plans, scrambling to wrap up business at work in preparation for the end of the year, trying desperately to find a way to …
Dreich
I will admit upfront that I'm not one for small talk. I'm not good at it and I don't particularly enjoy it. You could argue that one is a consequence of the other, but I just feel that there's seldom anything of interest to be gained from, say, exchanging pleasantries about the weather. Unless the …
Trolsk
A foggy October morning. A chill in the air as the world stirs to life in the sleepy pale of the morning light. Colors muted by a dim haze that sits silently upon the ground. As you walk along your usual path, the ground is firm and crunches softly underfoot, bitten by a light frost …
Feuillemorte
We're well and truly in the heart of fall now, and that means seasonal words abound! Autumn and winter always seem to be the seasons described with the most poignant and evocative words — their proximity to the end of the year makes them the most appropriate seasons for reflection, and in our thoughtfulness we …
Taivaanrannanmaalari
Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." I've referenced the White Queen's quote from …
Verbomania 