A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Nov 2 12:01:02 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pseudologue X-Bonus: If the truth doesn't serve us, what does that say about us? -Lois McMaster Bujold, author (b. 2 Nov 1949) In Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well", one character describes another: ...he is a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker, the owner of no one good quality... Fortunately, the play is more than 400 years old. And it's fiction. I can't think of anyone today who fits that description. For our sake and the sake of the rest of the world, let's hope tomorrow's US elections end well. Meanwhile, this week we'll feature five words to describe people. Surely, no one person could qualify for all five. Can you think of any? pseudologue (SOO/SYOO-duh-log) noun A habitual liar. [From Greek pseudo- (false) + logos (word, speech). Earliest documented use: 1949.] NOTES: Some people stretch the truth. A pseudologue gives it a whole exercise program. "Calumny of Apelles", c. 1495 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/pseudologue_large.jpg Fraud and Deceit adorn Calumny's hair while Truth, on the far left, stands ignored. Art: Sandro Botticelli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumny_of_Apelles "For each pseudologue, the internal motive is different (and often hard to determine because of the obvious difficulty of ascertaining an honest family history)." Shiv Malik; The Messenger; Faber & Faber; 2019. -------- Date: Tue Nov 3 12:01:02 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--adventurist X-Bonus: This is the devilish thing about foreign affairs: they are foreign and will not always conform to our whim. -James Reston, journalist (3 Nov 1909-1995) This week's theme: Words to describe people adventurist (ad-VEN-chuh-rist) noun One who pursues reckless ventures, especially in politics, warfare, foreign affairs, or business, disregarding established principles and norms. [From adventure, from Old French aventure, from Latin adventurus (about to happen), from advenire (arrive), from ad- (to) + venire (come). Earliest documented use: 1815.] NOTES: An adventurist leaps before looking, then calls the landing a learning experience. "The Raft of the Medusa", 1819 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/adventurist_large.jpg Art: Théodore Géricault https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa "They are dealing with an adventurist with a penchant for acts of folly." Ehud Ya'ari; Bad Risk; The Jerusalem Report (Israel); Oct 30, 1997. -------- Date: Wed Nov 4 12:01:01 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chicaner X-Bonus: When the judgment day comes, civilization will have an alibi "I never took a human life, I only sold the fellow the gun to take it with." -Will Rogers, humorist (4 Nov 1879-1935) This week's theme: Words to describe people chicaner (shi-KAY-nuhr) noun 1. One who uses deception, especially in a legal, financial, or political context. 2. One who raises petty objections; a quibbler. [From French chicaneur (quibbler). Earliest documented use: 1673.] NOTES: A pickpocket takes your wallet when you aren't looking. A chicaner convinces you to hand it over, sign a waiver, and thank them for lightening your load. The verb form is chicane, https://wordsmith.org/words/chicane.html and the practice is chicanery. https://wordsmith.org/words/chicanery.html "Cheat with the Ace of Clubs", c. 1630-1634 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/chicaner_large.jpg Art: Georges de La Tour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Card_Sharp_with_the_Ace_of_Diamonds "[The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's] sole purpose is to make sure the deck isn't stacked in favor of chicaners and cheats." Catherine Rampell; The Rise of the Con-Man Economy; The Washington Post; Nov 29, 2016. -------- Date: Thu Nov 5 12:01:02 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--slangwhanger X-Bonus: To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves. -Will Durant, historian (5 Nov 1885-1981) This week's theme: Words to describe people slangwhanger (SLANG-wang-uhr) noun One who uses insulting or bombastic language. [From slang (abusive or bombastic language, a now-uncommon sense) + whanger (beater), from whang (to beat), a variant of thong. Earliest documented use: 1807.] "Stump Speaking", 1853-54 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/slangwhanger_large.jpg Art: George Caleb Bingham https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/29774/ NOTES: When the argument is weak, turn up the volume. A slangwhanger doesn't mince words. Other people, perhaps. "To his critics [William Hazlitt] would always be 'a slang-whanger', who wished 'to destroy the very foundations of modesty and decorum'." Arthur Krystal; Slang-Whanger; The New Yorker; May 18, 2009. -------- Date: Fri Nov 6 12:01:02 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--clodpate X-Bonus: The final and most important weapon against stupidity: modesty. -Robert Musil, novelist (6 Nov 1880-1942) This week's theme: Words to describe people clodpate (KLOD-payt) noun A stupid person. [From clod (lump of earth) + pate (head). Earliest documented use: before 1635.] NOTES: A clodpate has a head full of earth, still waiting for an idea to sprout. English has never suffered a shortage of ways to call someone thick-headed. Alongside clodpate, the language has clodpoll, clotpoll, clod-head, and clod-skull. "The Extraction of the Stone of Madness", 1501-1505 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/clodpate_large.jpg Art: Hieronymus Bosch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_the_Stone "What a small-minded, uninteresting clodpate he was." Christy Carlyle; Lady Meets Earl; Avon Books; 2022. -------- Date: Mon Nov 9 12:01:02 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pinchfist X-Bonus: The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. -Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (9 Nov 1934-1996) A miser, a scoundrel, a country bumpkin, an overactor, and someone invited merely to make up the numbers. An unpromising dinner party, perhaps, but a promising week of words. These words describe people, but they have something else in common: they are tosspot words, compounds formed from a verb followed by a noun that is its object. A pickpocket picks pockets. A repairman, however, does not repair a man -- unless you call your doctor a repairman. Better to call them a sawbones. https://wordsmith.org/words/sawbones.html Can you coin a tosspot word? Share it on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/pinchfist.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org. As always, include your location (city, state). Before sending, give your coinage the pickpocket/repairman test. pinchfist (PINCH-fist) noun A miserly person. [From pinch, from Old French pincier (to pinch) + fist, from Old English fyst (fist). Earliest documented use: c. 1565.] "Death and the Miser", c. 1625 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/pinchfist_large.jpg Art: Frans Francken II https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Frans_Francken_II_%281581-1642%29_-_Death_and_the_Miser_-_45044i_-_Wellcome_Collection.jpg NOTES: A pinchfist squeezes a quarter so hard the eagle gasps for air. You can't take it with you, though he's certainly going to try. English has never been stingy with words for stinginess. Some pinchy tosspot synonyms are pinchpenny https://wordsmith.org/words/pinchpenny.html and pinchgut. https://wordsmith.org/words/pinchgut.html Other tosspot synonyms are skinflint https://wordsmith.org/words/skinflint.html and clutchfist. https://wordsmith.org/words/clutchfist.html "He was an old pinchfist. It was rotten pay." Julian Symons; The Players and the Game; William Collins & Sons; 1972. -------- Date: Tue Nov 10 12:01:02 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--makeweight X-Bonus: As freely as the firmament the world, / So mercy must encircle friend and foe. -Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, poet and dramatist (10 Nov 1759-1805) This week's theme: Tosspot words makeweight (MAYK-wayt) noun 1. Someone or something of little independent value, added to fill a gap. 2. Something added to make up a required weight. [From make, from Old English macian (to make) + weight (weight), from Old English wiht. Earliest documented use: 1695.] NOTES: If you've ever written "United States of America" instead of "USA" in a high-school essay just to reach the required word count, you've used a makeweight. Your prose has put on weight even if your argument is still a little thin. See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/makeweight "London Improvements", 1845 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/makeweight_large.jpg Cartoon: Artist unknown. From "The Comic Almanack", 1845 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/52204/52204-h/52204-h.htm "[Nicholas Serota, the Tate's director] advises the new judges to short-list only artists whom they regard as capable of winning. 'There shouldn't be someone brought in simply as a makeweight.'" Sarah Thornton; Reality Art Show; The New Yorker; Mar 19, 2007.