June Results!

The month of June was the perfect month for the Word Challenge. With all the changes that took place in June (new job + moving), the task of looking up the word of the day, learning it and then trying to use it in conversation wasn't as easy as I first thought it would be. With just about any other challenge on this years list I would have been set up to fail, but the "ease" of a conversational challenge and the busyness of this month made for an interesting month.

I downloaded Dictionary.com's word of the day notification on my iPod touch months ago. I set up an RSS feed pulling in the word of the day years ago, but they just pilled up and I never got around to learning anything new. This month, I erased everything and started fresh. "One day at a time". But as the days got busier, and my interactions with people became less frequent it became difficult to use often times, obscure words. Not to mention I wasn't going to foist these words upon my friends willy-nilly.

With much lucubration I had to figure out a way to make this work. If I could, I could be Wordsworth. What's that popular saying? "A proper word a day makes the ladies say: you are the coolest guy I've ever met." Something to that effect.

Challenge Result: PASSED


Analysis:

I'm calling this one a pass, but there definitely were some hiccups and some disappointments. There were times when the word of the day would have fit perfectly with the conversation at hand (Eisegesis), but then I'd forget how to pronounce it. One stipulation I set for myself was to learn these words and use them in a manner that made sense and say it properly. I wouldn't fail necessarily if I didn't use ALL the words in every day conversation as long as I was learning them, using most of them and on a daily basis. They days I couldn't use them in person I'd communicate them electronically, which in an age of "lollicopters and Ben ROFLisbergers" I suppose I was still accomplishing the goal, even if it felt like a shortcut.

Though there were days were the words didn't flow as naturally in conversation, I consider this a challenge because I did learn each of these words, and attempt to use them naturally. Even if it was just answering the Question of the Month "What's today's word?" The point of this blog is to live life with new experiences, to grow, to learn and to share. I haven't retained every word this month, but I have learned a few new ones, and that's the goal.

Credit: Rob Peterson

Towards the end of the challenge, I was getting off of the freeway and I rolled down my window to use sirocco on a homeless man. It was hot out, no cyclone, but still, there was definitely an oppressive wind. I wasn't going to just use this man for my challenge, I provided him with an avocado recently purchased at a Farmer's Market. Before I could impress him with my vocabulary he shocked me with , "this is perfect! I'm a vegetarian so I'm glad you gave me this".

Favorites:

Pecksniffian - Another great word I can use on all you troglodytes.
Catarrh - Even though everyone thought I was saying guitar, walking around Griffith Park talking about my "catarrh problem" with Jen Glen was a hoot.
Catawampus - No explanation needed.


P.S. Sub Challenge: FAILED

No one called me out on using certain four letter words like dude! The closest anyone got to calling me out was Miss Victoria Riley using it in an email. You know I have to read words out loud! I do believe I cut down on useless words like "stuff and thing" but no one won a free taco. I guess its hard to go social when its just the four of us. :)


I know a few people attempted to play along this month, how did it go?

Haw

haw
\HAW\ , verb;
1.
To utter a sound representing a hesitation or pause in speech.
2.
To turn or make a turn to the left.
noun:
1.
A sound or pause of hesitation.
2.
The fruit of the Old World hawthorn, Crataegus laevigata, or of other species of the same genus.
interjection:
1.
Used as a word of command to a horse or other draft animal, usually directing it to turn to the left.)

Aphorism

aphorism
\AF-uh-riz-uhm\ , noun;
1.
A terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation.

Catawampus

catawampus
\kat-uh-WOM-puhs\ , adjective;
1.
Off-center; askew; awry.
2.
Positioned diagonally; cater-cornered.

Attenuate

attenuate
\uh-TEN-yoo-eyt\ , verb;
1.
To weaken or reduce in force, intensity, effect, quantity, or value
2.
To make thin; make slender or fine.
3.
In medicine, to render less virulent, as a strain of pathogenic virus or bacterium.
4.
In electronics, to decrease the amplitude of an electronic signal.

Sirocco

sirocco
\suh-ROK-oh\ , noun;
1.
Any hot, oppressive wind, especially one in the warm sector of a cyclone.
2.
A hot, dry, dustladen wind blowing from northern Africa and affecting parts of southern Europe.
3.
A warm, sultry south or southeast wind accompanied by rain.

Torrefy

torrefy
\TAWR-uh-fahy\ , verb;
1.
To subject to fire or intense heat.
2.
In pharmacology, to dry or parch drugs with heat.
3.
To roast, as metallic ores.

Sabbatical

sabbatical
\suh-BAT-i-kuhl\ , noun;
1.
Any extended period of leave from one's customary work, especially for rest, to acquire new skills or training, etc.
adjective:
1.
Of or pertaining to or appropriate to the Sabbath.
2.
Bringing a period of rest.


I'd never heard of anything like this word before! So glad I did this challenge! Sabbaticals sound awesome!

Jujitsu

jujitsu
\joo-JIT-soo\ , noun;
1.
The ability to accomplish a task with no apparent effort or resistance.
2.
Method developed in Japan of defending oneself without the use of weapons by using the strength and weight of an adversary to disable him.

Xenogenic

xenogenic
\zen-uh-JEN-ik\ , adjective;
1.
To be completely different from either parent, or from the source of an object's creation.
2.
In biology, originating outside the organism or from a foreign substance introduced into the organism.

Pullulate

pullulate
\PUHL-yuh-leyt\ , verb;
1.
To exist abundantly; swarm; teem.
2.
To send forth sprouts, buds, etc.
3.
To increase rapidly; multiply.

Yarely

yarely
\YAIR-lee\ , adverb;
1.
With quickness or agility.


He has not updated his blog yarely, but he did yarely escape the bandits.


Note: yarely is marked as being misspelled in Word. So is "mispelled".

Virilocal

Form in an orderly queue...

Virilocal
\vir-uh-LOH-kuhl\ , adjective;
1.
Living with or located near a husband's father's family.


Nothing against my lovely 'rents. The ol' parental units, Mr. & Mrs. Mom and Dad, but I don't see a virilocal marriage in my future.

Eisegesis

eisegesis \ahy-si-JEE-sis\ , noun;
1.
An interpretation that expresses the interpreter's own ideas, bias, or the like, rather than the meaning of the text.

I had a great opportunity to use this word in a conversation. It would have fit into the conversation with ease, but I forgot the proper pronunciation so I opted out.

Later, I would have a second opportunity to use this word. Once again proper pronunciation was missing. I went for it anyway. Nailed it.

Abut

Abut \uh-buht\ , verb;
1.
To be adjacent; touch or join at the edge or border.
2.
To end at.

Brindled

brindled \BRIN-dld\ , adjective;
1.
Gray or tawny with darker streaks or spots

Crotchet

crotchet
\KROCH-it\ , noun;
1.
An odd fancy or whimsical notion.
2.
A small hook.
3.
In British musical nomenclature, a quarter note.
4.
A curved surgical instrument with a sharp hook.

Orison

orison
\AWR-uh-zuhn\ , noun;
1.
A prayer.

Your orison has been answered, I will update my blog with more words to learn!

Cosher

Cosher
cosher \KOSH-er\ , verb;
1.
To treat with special fondness


http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2011/06/13.html

Arroyo

arroyo
\uh-ROI-oh\ , noun;
1.
A small steep-sided gulch with a nearly flat floor: usually dry except after heavy rains.


I'd like to thank one of my three readers for helping me use this word, by asking me about the day's word. :)