November did not turn into the reading bonanza I hoped for and December was even worse. It did not take long to finish off the letter E but progress on the letter F was hampered by the Christmas shopping season. The letter F was largely a neutral affair. There were no sections that ran on forever but there also weren’t that many exciting words to be founds, despite what you’ll read below. Most of my notables are simply quirky for one reason or another. I did not accomplish my goal of finishing G by the end of 2014. In fact, I didn’t even finish F until January 1. In order to finish the dictionary this year, I now have to read three pages a day. This means I will have to read more than three pages a day at times to make up for reading drop-offs around holidays and other events that occupy my attention.
Here are the words I found interesting this month:
ESTIVATE- It’s the opposite of hibernate. I never knew there was such a thing. Did you?
ETHNIC- The original definition means ‘heathen.’ That is certainly not the meaning of it now. Still, it is still used as a means of distinguishing a difference between things. I wouldn’t recommend trying to bring back the original definition though. You just might find Al Sharpton knocking on your door.
EUPHUISM- Look at that word again. It is not ‘euphemism.’ This word comes from the writings of a man named John Lyly from the 16th Century. Originally it was a literary style focusing on a balance of several elements. Apparently it heavily favored pumping lots of similes, metaphors, and mythological references into a written work. It’s similar to what we call ‘purple prose’ today- overly fancy writing that serves the writer’s ego more than it enhances the composition itself. It may sound impressive to read but it’s also easy to spot because it also sounds very artificial and elitist. I’ve encountered a number of people who write well but don’t realize they fall victim to euphuism. At the time, I just thought they were trying to make themselves sound smart for knowing big words and mimicking the style of a gifted writer. Now I know the precise name for their egotistical behavior.
EX- WORDS- One thing I found interesting about words beginning with ex- is that many of them are not pronounced like the letter X as we might expect. Many ex- words should be pronounced ‘igs’ or ‘iks’ instead of ‘eks.’ It makes you wonder why the words start with an E instead of an I.
EXPRESSO- According to my almost 20-year-old dictionary, this is a legitimate spelling and pronunciation. Sorry Weird Al, you’re “Word Crimes” song is wrong.
EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION- Since I read it in 2014, I’m still going to note that it is 80 (though now 81) years old in terms of popular usage.
FABULOUS- This word has its origins in the word ‘fable.’ I never considered that that could be the origin but it actually makes sense it doesn’t just mean something great. It also means something so outlandish that it ought to be questioned.
FACSIMILE- It comes literally verbatim from Latin. Fac simile is the Latin phrase and it means to make similar. Pretty cut and dry right there.
FAHRENHEIT- The system for measuring temperature is named for Gabriel D. Fahrenheit. While Celsius is more widely used around the world, the Fahrenheit scale is older.
FAJITA- This word only hit the big time in 1971. That baffles me to no end. Those poor souls living before its advent never knew what they were missing.
FALASHA- This is the name of several communities of Ethiopian Judaism. I think I have heard of them before but I cannot be sure. As someone who is interested in religion and the movement of peoples across the globe, I will be sure to look them up for more details.
FALLOPIAN TUBE- Sorry ladies, these passageways that form a vital part of procreation are named after a man. Gabriel Fallopius was an Italian anatomist. These tubes were not named after him until almost 150 years after his death. So women can at least take heart in knowing that he didn’t get to ride any glory for naming part of their bodies after himself.
FASCISM- When I was in college I recall hearing a number of liberal students spouting their mouths off about how fascism was actually a right-wing philosophy, so if Democrats promote socialism and communism, then Republicans promote fascism. While I can see how fascism arises out of hyper-nationalism, which certainly tends to be a right-of-center ideology, fascism is completely incompatible with the American right wing because of fascism’s de-emphasis of the individual. While I am not a political scientist, nor have I studied fascism at length, I see fascism as largely a left-wing ideology. Sure, its basis is in love of country but fascism employs all the statist and authoritarian BS of the far left. There is a big difference between nationalism (saying my country is great) and fascism (saying my country is so great that I will lay down my rights and liberties for it because the ruling elites no better than I do).
FATHOM- What a potentially inaccurate measurement! Coming from the Old English term for outstretched arms, thankfully a fathom later became standardized at six feet. Given how much the length of outstretched arms vary from person to person, it’s a wonder this unit of measure ever lasted.
FEDORA- The name of this popular hat comes from the title of a play from the late 1800s. The titular character wore a hat styled like the fedora hat we know now and it became a fashion sensation.
FETTUCCINE ALFREDO- While the first part of this term comes from the type of noodle, the last part comes from the name of the restaurant in Rome that created the popular dish. I wonder if the restaurant Alfredo all’ Augusteo still exists. Any world travelers out there know?
FEZ- This amusingly small hat is named after a city in Morocco. Fez, or Fes, is the third largest city in Morocco. Big city, tiny hat.
FIGHTING WORD- How many Westerns have featured a character saying “them thar’s fighting words” to another person? Yeah, well those Westerns are all dead wrong. MW traces this term only as far back as 1917. The West wasn’t quite as wild then.
FIREWALL- My 1996 dictionary does not have a computer-related definition for this word yet. I’m sure the 11th edition included such a definition. This is probably one of the few instances I’ve come across so far of a word have a new meaning or usage since this dictionary was published.
FLABBY- Here also is a word with another meaning nowadays. Instead of just ‘soft’ as my dictionary suggests, I believe the term now also carries a connotation of pudgy or overweight. Or maybe I’m just wrong. At this point I think either option is equally probable.
FLAME- I find it interesting that as early as 1996, this word was used as a verb meaning sending or posting hostile message board posts. The internet was still pretty young in terms of commercial use still, so the age of this definition surprises me.
FLASH IN THE PAN- I never thought about the meaning of this term but it makes perfect sense when put in context. It refers to attempting to fire a flintlock firearm but only the external pan powder ignites, rather than the ignition entering the chamber and firing the weapon. I wonder if many anti-gun people know the meaning of this term. Would their use of it be a slight hypocrisy?
FLEA MARKET- This word comes to us from an actual market in Paris. It entered the popular lexicon in 1922. Such swap meet activity existed long before, but MW credits the French market for the origin of the term.
FLESH WOUND- I got a good laugh out of seeing this term in the dictionary. If you don’t know why, then you are missing out.
FL- WORDS- I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of fl- words having Scandinavian origin. It’s still refreshing, even now to see words that don’t simply come from Latin or Greek.
FLOWMETER- This is a device that is used and referenced constantly by the technicians where I work. Alas, as the accounting department, I never make field trips to see them in action. Now I know that it is spelled as one word and not two. Nitpicky but useful.
FORTÉ-In my dictionary there is an amusing usage note regarding the acceptance of this word when used to mean someone’s specialty or strong point. Basically they say the use of the word in that way has always been questionable and you should use it at your own risk because somebody somewhere will think you’re a moron for using it as such.
4-H- The group’s goal is to improve the head, heart, hands, and health of each member. Did you know what each of the four H’s were before you just read that?
FOURTH WORLD- I didn’t even realize this category existed to describe the economic well-being of a nation. To my knowledge, this term isn’t used anymore. Any sociology, history, or political science buffs know for sure?
FRASER FIR- I included Douglas fir so I felt it only right to include this one as well. Once again, it an American tree named for someone who is not an American.
FRUMPY- For some reason I always thought this word meant homely and chubby. According to MW, I’m right on the former but I don’t know how I came to hold the notion of the latter. Maybe that aspect of frumpy developed since my dictionary was published.
FUNCTIONALISM- Again, I read this word last year, so happy belated centennial to an interesting sounding philosophy.
FUTILITARIAN- This philosophy just sounds silly. If you think that all human endeavors are in vain, then why bother living? I’ll have to look into this one to see if it is more along the lines of human society trying to move forward or if all individual effort is pointless. It’s a very atheistic and anarchistic sounding theory. I mean, if all human action is pointless, isn’t trying to convince people of this concept doubly so? Methinks this either has a sarcastic humorist origin or somebody didn’t think it through all the way.
Page Count: 512.5/1600 (32.03%)
Countdown to the Letter G: 0 pages
