WOW: apophasis

 

This week’s Word of the Week is: apophasis.

Apophasis is an amusing little rhetorical device where a subject is brought up by specifically saying that it will not be mentioned.

An example would be: “I’m not even going to mention that ten bucks you still owe me.”

The word comes from the Greek meaning literally to say no or deny.

Related articles

• Apophasis and Praeteritio (knowledgeguild.wordpress.com)
• Denial: Neither a river, nor a strategy (speak2all.wordpress.com)

 

WOW: winsome

 

This week’s Word of the Week is: winsome.

It’s been a while, so I have decided to restart the tradition with a nice word.

Winsome means sweetly or innocently charming; winning; engaging.

I think it has a wholesome feel to it.  It comes from the Middle English word wynn meaning joy.

 

WOW: anacoluthon

This week’s Word of the Week is: anacoluthon.

An anacoluthon is a grammatical construction that involves the break from one structure to another within the same sentence.

An example from the movie Clue:

I killed Yvette. I hated her, so much… it-it- the f – it -flam – flames. Flames, on the side of my face, breathing-breathl- heaving breaths. Heaving breaths… Heathing..

WOW: decathect

This week’s Word of the Week is: decathect.

To decathect is to withdraw one’s self emotionally from something or someone in anticipation of losing it.

I suppose of this would largely depend on how accurate this anticipation is.  But even if it’s entirely accurate, I’m not sure if it’s entirely a good thing.

Even if the future loss is an absolutely sure thing, is it really healthy to deny one’s self what possible emotional benefits one might have left in order to avoid the pain of losing it?

And, particularly is the object is another person, it’s potentially cruel to that person to decathect one’s self from him or her.

WOW: brabble

This week’s Word of the Week is: brabble.

To brabble is to argue stubbornly over unimportant things.  The word also describes a noisy argument.

What I like about this word is that is sounds as nonsensical as most of these types of arguments tend to be.

WOW: stridulous

This week’s Word of the Week is: stridulous.

Stridulous means making or having a harsh or grating sound.

It is reminiscent of nails on a chalk board.

Maybe the picture is possibly in poor taste, that’s what the word makes me think of.

WOW: birl

This week’s Word of the week is: birl.

To birl is to cause a floating log to spin by treading on it.  This is a short word that, for some reason, I find really interesting.

This is apparently an odd, northern sport, like curling.

I’m sure it’s just a wild coincidence that they rhyme.  But curling has made it to the Olympics, so who knows, maybe birling isn’t far behind.

WOW: fulgurant

This week’s Word of the Week is: fulgurant.

Fulgurant means flashing suddenly like lightning.

Don’t have much to say about this word except that it sounds pretty cool and lightning is awesome.

WOW: catachresis

This week’s Word of the Week is: catachresis.

Catachresis refers to the intentional or not of misused or straining of language such as a mixed metaphor.

It comes from the Latin word meaning to misuse.

WOW: hamartia

This week’s Word of the Week is: hamartia.

A hamartia is a fatal flaw in literature or drama which brings about the downfall of the protagonist.

A classic example is pride or hubris.