Word of the Day: Atrabilious
(adj.); gloomy, morose, or morbid; bad-tempered, irritable; from the Latin agra bili(s) (“black bile”) “Caleb stopped, massaged, then stopped again, as though he felt something under the skin. ‘Too big…
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Sara Menuck
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Brittany Hailer is a freelance reporter based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She graduated with an MFA from Chatham University where she taught creative writing classes at the Allegheny County Jail and Sojourner House as part of Chatham’s Words Without Walls program. Her memoir and poetry collection Animal You'll Surely Become was published in 2018 by Tolsun Books. She is a Justice Reporting Fellow for 2018 John Jay/Langeloth Foundation Fellowship on “Reinventing Solitary Confinement” and teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh. Visit her website, www.brittanyhailer.com, for more.
Word of the Day: Epimythium
(n.); the moral appended to the end a story or fable; from the Greek epi (“upon”) + muthos (“story, fable”) “Once upon a time there was a princess who went…
Word of the Day: Venatic
(adj.); of or relating to hunting; fond of hunting, whether for sport or livelihood; from the Latin venari (“to hunt”) “Love her or hate her, Banksy is putting herself at…
Word of the Day: Vaticinate
(v.); to prophesy or foretell the future; from the Latin vati– (“seer”) + -cin-, combining form of canere (“to sing, prophesy”) “Louisiana, Louisiana, They’re tryin’ to wash us away. They’re…
Word of the Day: Pneumatophony
(n.); the utterance of articulate sounds by a ghost or a spirit “Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere.…
Word of the Day: Periculous
(adj.); dangerous or full of peril; from the latin periculum (“an attempt, risk”) I’m normal. I live in a nice apartment. I think one thing [guys like Burroughs] didn’t have…
Word of the Day: Dépaysé
(adj.); out of one’s element; situated in unfamiliar surroundings; from the Old French despaisier (to exile) As a species, we’ve somehow survived large and small ice ages, genetic bottlenecks, plagues,…
Word of the Day: Horometry
(n.); the art, practice, or method of measuring time by hours and subordinate divisions; the art or science of measuring time; from the Greek hora (“time” or “season”) + metron…
Word of the Day: Flosculation
(n); an embellishment or ornament in speech; to speak in flowery language; c. 1651 Trouble. Trouble is a great dustpan of a word. Its roots are found in Latin in…
Word of the Day: Woofits
(n.); an unwell feeling, particularly in the head; a moody depression; c. 1918, from Nevil Shute’s The Rose and the Rainbow The archetype of the mad genius dates back to…
Word of the Day: Atelier
(n.); artist’s studio or workshop; c. 1840, from the old French astelier (“carpenter’s workshop, woodpile”) “Part of what I loved about poetry was how the distinction between fiction and nonfiction…
Word of the Day: Agastopia
(n.); admiration of a particular part of the body ALS constitutes progressive imprisonment without parole. First you lose the use of a digit or two; then a limb; then and…