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Nov 30, 2025 This week’s theme Nouning the verb, verbing the noun This week’s words cavil shirtfront foin flyspeck toboggan How popular are they? Relative usage over time AWADmail archives Index Next week’s theme Words for people Send a gift that keeps on giving, all year long: A gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day or the gift of books AWADmail Issue 1222 A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and Language Sponsor’s Message: ONEUPMANSHIP 3.0 is “a rollicking excuse for mad, mutually-abusive annihilation.” One Up! -- guaranteed to turn your whole family into “greedy, self-serving punks.” Wise Up! will “ruin Christmas and friendships” or your money back. All our fun and games are BOGO today only. Shop now. From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) Subject: Interesting stories from the Net I’m a Marine Biologist. This Is How I Talk to Whales. The New York Times Permalink How Europe’s Minority Tongues Are Facing the Digital Future The Guardian Permalink From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) Subject: Nouning the verb, verbing the noun What verbs have you nouned, what nouns you have verbed, I asked readers this week. Here’s a selection from the responses: In response to “Unlock your next read, listen, and watch,” I would allow “read” to include at least “listen” to avoid judgment when I refer to a book I “read” when in fact I listened to it. I’ve tried to remember to say listen, but it doesn’t flow as well. -Susan G.L. Glovsky, Boston, Massachusetts (susan.glovsky hbsr.com) I use “to art” as every moment of life is a creative moment. You don’t need to stand by an easel. I first heard it from Dr. José Argüelles in the eighties. -Dominique Mazeaud, Santa Fe, New Mexico (heartistdm gmail.com) You said: But I don’t see any problems with the library’s playful invite. Nor do I. Ever! Even when they trod into nugatorious or awkward territory. It’s all for a good cause. For example, the public library in Worcester (MA) is great, and has great art inside and out. The alphabet mural shows “Wrdsmth” in the lower right corner. IS THIS YOU??? [Nope. Please see this . -Ed.] Inquiring minds would like to know. If it’s not, I’ll still give you the credit. I think this mural is super-duper! ☺️ Thanks, KUTGW, and very happy/merry/etc. to you & yours. -John Kilmarx, Lyme, New Hampshire (jkilmarx yahoo.com) Yes, language changes. But sometimes the transition is uncomfortable. The local public radio station has a self-promotional bit they replay several times each day, in which “public” is used as a verb. As in “We public the news for our community.” I feel my age when I tamp down the impulse to call and threaten to withdraw my support, but truly, I don’t see the need for this! -Pamela C. Sieving, Sacramento, California (pamsieving gmail.com) I cringe when my granddaughter says that her teacher is “cringe”. Is this cringeworthy or merely normal evolution? -Dwight Kaufman, Jackson, Tennessee (dckaufman mac.com) Email of the Week -- Brought to you buy the wicked smartest games in the world. My city has an annual Book Festival. After the event, city staff have to clean up and restore the area to its normal state. In a gutsy linguistic move, someone described this process to me as de-Book-Festival-ing the park. I had to agree that it was a legitimate verb. -Janette Rosenbaum, Gaithersburg, Maryland (janette.rosenbaum outlook.com) I didn’t invent this, but I like to use the phrase with a grin, especially when commiserating with a friend over the sorry state of the nation or an adverse twist of fate: “The world is worlding.” It’s a phenomenological concept, I believe, associated primarily with Martin Heidegger. -Calvin Hennig, South Portland, Maine (calhennig yahoo.com) On our local radio station, WTAD, Quincy, IL, there is one reporter who says they are “efforting” to get someone on the phone. This annoys me to no end! I want him to just say, “We are trying/attempting to get this person on the phone.” I guess I am old-fashioned! -Julie & Dave Eicken, Golden, Illinois (davejuli adams.net) As a longtime AWAD reader, I know language is always changing. But some words or phrases still sound ugly, at least at first. To wit: One of the sponsors of a morning broadcast on National Public Radio claims they help their customers “manage food spend”. This link is a different company, who apparently has been using the same phrase for more than 10 years. -Jonathan Harms, St. Louis, Missouri (harmsjb slu.edu) As a nurse at a clinic, one of my jobs was to “room” each patient. I brought them from the waiting room to the exam room, took vitals and history, and otherwise prepared them for the doctor’s visit. Also, I enjoy buffets, but I am not much fond of being told to plate my own meal. -Michael Fulton, Wooster, Ohio (fulton.4 osu.edu) I was trained by a charter member of the United Prescriptionists of the World: a high school English teacher with a stainless steel knuckle-rapping ruler of death and little tolerance for mischief. Don’t get me started about RSVP’ing. My P’ing is none of your business, even if you ask nicely in French. -William Schemel, Woodland, California (wschemel aol.com) Language seems a bit like morals. They’re always changing, but there are still good reasons to observe many existing rules, and/or to reject new ones. The status quo should not be kept forever rigid, but neither should there be a free-for-all. A rule, or a word, should have outlived its usefulness to be discarded, and a new one should serve some useful purpose reflecting the changing times. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) From: Phyllice Bradner (pbradner gmail.com) Subject: flags A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s brains and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead. -Arundhati Roy, writer and activist (b. 24 Nov 1961) When I read this quote I thought about how our nation’s flag has been so appropriated by the far right that I can no longer proudly display my flag for fear of having my intentions misinterpreted. Phyllice Bradner, McMinnville, Oregon From: Mardy Grothe (drmardy drmardy.com) Subject: flags Ms. Roy offered the “Thought for Today” in a speech at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2002; it was reprinted in her 2003 book War Talk. She was talking about the dangers of nationalism, which she described as “the cause of most of the genocide of the twentieth century.” In her talk, she continued: “When independent, thinking people ... begin to rally under flags, when writers, painters, musicians, film makers suspend their judgment and blindly yoke their art to the service of the nation, it’s time for all of us to sit up and worry.” For more quotations on the dangers of nationalism, go here. Mardy Grothe, Southern Pines, North Carolina From: Thomas Haberfelde (thaberfelde gmail.com) Subject: Shirtfront This word is also used to describe tract homes, when all of the architectural features are on the front. The back and sides are bare. Thomas Haberfelde, Clermont, Florida From: Stephen Harvey (ten.rajhsifllehs shellfishjar.net) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--shirtfront A shirtfront cricket pitch is one that is easy to bat on, due to the fact that it is extremely flat and smooth, and the bounce of the cricket ball off it is consistent and easy for the batter to predict, and therefore easy to score runs from. Stephen Harvey, Wellington, New Zealand From: Liliana Hoton (liliana.hoton cra-arc.gc.ca) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--foin A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together. -Eugene Ionesco, playwright (26 Nov 1909-1994) Indeed ideologies separate us. And at the moment this is more obvious than ever. Eugene Ionesco was a Romanian dissident who ran away from Romania and lived in France. He also wrote the play Rhinoceros, a species of which we see lots around these days. It’s a metaphor that denounces those whose rigid ways of thinking (Nazis, Fascists, etc.), stripped of any sort of humanity, lead them to inhumane actions. Liliana Hoton, Ottawa, Canada From: James Bogle (jbogle0 icloud.com) Subject: Pumpkintown Historical Marker USAGE: “In 1948, the Rev. Tim LaHaye, fresh out of seminary and working on an undergraduate degree at Bob Jones University, accepted a pastorate in Pumpkintown, SC, a flyspeck of a town so puny it doesn’t even appear on state maps.” Rob Boston; Left Behind; Church & State (Silver Spring, Maryland); Feb 2002. See the Pumpkintown historical marker. Jim Bogle, Columbia, South Carolina From: Steven G. Kellman (kellman1 gmail.com) Subject: Toboggan As e.e. cummings memorably wrote: all ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again: but winter’s not forever,even snow melts;and if spring should spoil the game,what then? More ... Steven G. Kellman, Professor of Comparative Literature, Jack & Laura Richmond Endowed Faculty Fellow in American Literature, Department of English, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas From: Donald Hellen (donhellen roadrunner.com) Subject: toboggan I moved from Western Pennsylvania to Southern Ohio over 40 years ago. I was not aware that in this part of the US, a toboggan refers to a knit hat worn when it’s cold outside. I had to ask someone about what they meant when I was familiar with the more common definition of a flat-bottomed sled, and what they said didn’t make sense in that context. I quickly learned that around here it means a knit cap as you mentioned in the NOTES section. Donald Hellen, Chillicothe, Ohio From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com) Subject: shirtfront and flyspeck Contemplating the word shirtfront and being a longtime NFL fan, I couldn’t resist depicting this gridiron scenario of a ball-carrier getting shirtfronted by a rival linebacker. American football is predicated on athleticism, talent, speed, agility, and extreme physicality, as the ultimate full-contact sport. The number of injuries occurring in any given NFL game is an indicator of the gladiatorial nature of the game. Even with helmets, shoulder and thigh pads, teeth guards... and jockstraps, injuries are bound to happen. Concussions! Rather than following my first instinct to elaborate on the scatological root of our word flyspeck, I opted to reflect on its meaning as “tiny”. Flies come in a myriad of species and sizes, from the very tiny ones represented by the likes of gnats, sand flies, midges, and no-see-ums, to the much larger mosquitos, tsetse flies, horse flies and deer flies. The tiniest ones usually fly in huge numbers, forming insect clouds, whilst the much larger species generally fly solo. Closely related midges and no-see-ums are biters and bloodsuckers (from humans and other mammalian hosts), and can be vectors for a variety of pathogens. Pesky gnats actually do much good as pollinators and being food items for reptiles and birds. Who knew? Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California Anagrams Cavil Shirtfront Foin Flyspeck Toboggan = Kvetch Plastron Organic offing Bit Fly so -Robert Jordan, Lampang, Thailand (alfiesdad ymail.com) This week’s theme: Nouning the verb verbing the noun Cavil Shirtfront Foin Flyspeck Toboggan = Minor things’ beef, vent Cannon, shove (& kick off?) e.g. thrust n lunge Worn trivia The bobsleigh type -Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com) = 1. Nitpick, beef An angry shove, confront Thrust knife, lunge Mote, ‘s nothing Bobsleigh with verve = Knock, fault one’s view Confront Avenging thrust Tiny, so no benefit High mph sleigh; revert, ebb -Julian Lofts, Auckland, New Zealand (jalofts xtra.co.nz) -Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com) Make your own anagrams and animations. Limericks cavil Whenever that couple would travel, The husband would constantly cavil. He’d kvetch and complain, Which drove her insane -- Their marriage was bound to unravel. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) He begged his dear love, “Be my wife.” Her rejection then cut like a knife. She replied, “It’s not cavil, For money, you have nil. I won’t live a penniless life.” -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) Justice Kavanaugh, pounding his gavel, Said, “Don’t bother this Court with your cavil! A skin color test Must be grounds for arrest, Or our nation will quickly unravel!” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “With no paycheck I’m feeling quite frazzled,” The controller of air traffic caviled. “It’s not safe in the sky When I feel I could cry.” Woe betide those who at that time traveled. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) shirtfront She can’t sleep through the night, as a rule, And her shirtfront is covered in drool. While some are unhappy At changing a nappy, She says she finds motherhood cool. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) The boy on his prom night was stressed. He needed some help to get dressed. His shirtfront had studs, So he’d need help from buds, For his tux to appear at its best. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “With daughter of mine you no flirt, runt,” Said Oog, “Or me make a big shirtfront. See this powerful chest? Me at bumping am best! If you understand what me assert, grunt.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) foin A fencer who hailed from Des Moines Was teaching us all how to foin. From the Bronx was a guy Who declared, “I won’t try -- Dat’s somethin’ I doubt I can loin.” -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) What club would the young fellow try? Each table he’d quickly pass by. But fencing he’d join, To parry and foin, Becoming a swashbuckling guy. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “DOJ is a sword we will foin; Go and kick all my foes in the groin!” Said Donald. “And Pam, You will not give a damn When what isn’t nailed down I purloin!” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) flyspeck The proofreader flyspecked each text And found himself feeling quite vexed. With the authors he’d plead, “Punctuation you need, Or readers you’ll leave all perplexed!” -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) A mere flyspeck, so why did I care? But it drove me nuts seeing it there! For some reason it clung So at long last I hung Something over it so I’d not stare! -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) “On the ocean we’re naught but a flyspeck; They won’t find us! Let’s end Captain Bligh’s drek!” Said the crew. “In Tahiti, There’s many a sweetie!” “Zey laugh at my jokes!” said a wry Czech. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) toboggan Little kids love to slide on slick snow; toboggans are cool, don’tcha know. But they leave it to dopes to slide without slopes. On prairies they need wheels to go! -Mariana Warner, Asheville, North Carolina (marianaw6002 gmail.com) Let’s ride a toboggan today -- It’s wonderful cold weather play! On top of that hill, We’re in for a thrill, For gravity will have its way. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) What a day! And what fun! Off we’d go! We tobogganed all over the snow! Those sleds are so long They can carry a throng! (Yeah, slight overstatement, I know!) -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) The snow came down heavy outside. He asked his wife, “Take a sled ride?” “You’re off of your noggin, To want to toboggan. You’re out of your mind.” She replied. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) The day I fell off my toboggan, I came to a stop on my noggin. But I could have done worse, For a pretty young nurse Liked my looks, and we ended up snoggin’. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Puns “My cavil-ry will crush these savages!” said General Custer. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) The royal cavil-cade proceeded towards the palace on King Charles’ birthday. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “This is not the kind of shirtfront-iersmen wear,” complained Daniel Boone to the haberdasher. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “Your top is on backwards. Put your shirtfront side out please,” the mother told her toddler. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “Claire Foin-ever does nude scenes,” the actress’s agent informed the movie producers. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “It’s a foin day, Mary Poppins,” Bert the chimney sweep greeted the nanny. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “If we could make a machine flyspeck-tacular publicity would result for our bicycle factory,” Orville suggested to Wilbur. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) The Nature Show ended with a butter-flyspeck-tacular. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) Hilda, a German tourist, went to the Turkish bazaar hoping toboggan for a lower price. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “Me fell in-toboggan got so stuck me thought future people digging for peat would find my mummified remains,” sighed a greatly relieved Oog. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and the government when it deserves it. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (30 Nov 1835-1910)

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