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Feb 15, 2026
This week’s themeIs it a noun or a verb? Both! This week’s words windbag rizz deadname gundeck sandbag How popular are they? Relative usage over time AWADmail archives Index Next week’s theme Words that sound dirty, but aren’t 
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AWADmail Issue 1233A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and LanguageSponsor’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 Why Kids Are Starting to Sound Like Their Grandparents The New York Times Permalink Scientists Find a Global “Language” Hidden in Bird Calls SciTechDaily Permalink From: Elizabeth Block (elizabethblock netzero.net) Subject: Windbag You wrote, “The difference between a bagpipe and a windbag? The bagpipe eventually runs out of air.” I love it. Even though it’s not really true. I love bagpipe jokes. And accordion jokes, and banjo jokes. Favourite New Yorker cartoon, full page, shows a storefront, “Big Al’s Banjo, Bagpipe, and Accordion Palace.” A little sign in the window says “Closed due to Geneva Convention.” I have a copy in my guitar case. Elizabeth Block, Toronto, Canada From: Kenneth Kirste (kkkirste sbcglobal.net) Subject: Windbag I’ve not heard the word windbag used in years, but when I was a child in the 1940s, it seemed to be in frequent use. I recall my father using it to describe one of the women who lived on our street. It was used to designate a radio character on Fibber McGee and Molly (neighbor Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve). It defined the main character of the comic strip Our Boarding House (Major Amos B. Hoople). It showed up in movies. It characterized politicians, especially in political cartoons. By the time I got to junior high in the 1950s, its use seemed to fade ... maybe it just ran out of air. Ken Kirste, Sunnyvale, California From: Liz Burroughs (lizmburroughs gmail.com) Subject: Windbag This story may be apocryphal, but is nonetheless worth sharing: George Bernard Shaw received a letter addressed to George Bernard Shawm. While he was fulminating about it, Mrs. Shaw asked him if he knew what a shawm was. “Of course,” he replied, “it’s an archaic wind instrument.” Mrs. Shaw: “Precisely.” Elizabeth Burroughs, Johannesburg, South Africa From: Michael Poxon (mikethestarman gmail.com) Subject: various windbags Say “bagpipes” and almost everyone thinks “Scotland”, but in fact all the Celtic regions of the UK have their own versions. Ireland has Uilleann pipes, Cornish and Welsh versions were revived in recent decades, and the Northumbrian smallpipes are very much alive, actively part of the culture in Newcastle. Just across the channel, Brittany actually has two versions -- biniou bras (big biniou) and biniou kozh (old-style biniou). Both are very loud, shrill, and can be heard for miles! A friend was a bit of a bagpipe geek and actually ended up as a bagpipe maker at the London College of Furniture where he especially liked the Macedonian version. Michael Poxon, Norwich, UK From: David Policansky (davidpolicansky gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--rizz I hadn’t heard of middle clipping, but now that I have, Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi River, is an example of it. It’s a middle clip of Latin veritas caput, (true head [of the river]). David Policansky, Nantucket, Massachusetts From: Scott Swanson (drmemory 3rivers.net) Subject: Rizz One of my grandfathers used to say every spring:
Spring has come The grass has rizz [risen] I wonder where the birdies is! Scott Swanson, Pendroy, Montana From: Marty (Martha) Brinsko (martilou21 verizon.net) Subject: Deadname Agree with your take on today’s word. Catholic nuns and brothers in religious orders often take a new name to signify their new way of life. If Jack becomes Brother Sylvester, everyone is happy to call him by his new name! But if Jack becomes Jacqueline, that’s a different story. How unfortunate and silly, really. Thanks for your daily enrichment of my life! Marty (Martha) Brinsko, St Pete Beach, Florida From: David Hunter (david bicycletech.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--deadname You wrote: “...some folks find it hard to extend the same courtesy to a trans person and insist on using a name that no longer reflects who they are.” It is not a courtesy to affirm mental illness. David Hunter, Atlanta, Georgia
Are you a psychiatrist? Or play one on TV?
-Anu Garg From: Kathy Borst (kborst mcn.org) Subject: Deadname We were heartened the other night to hear my stepson has finally begun to let go of his daughter’s deadname, for the most part. It’s been a two-year process of overcoming his fear and denial of her identity. I’m so proud of my husband for modeling it for him. Kathy Borst, Yorkville, California From: Evan Brett (evanbrett4 gmail.com) Subject: deadname The changing of one’s name has been common throughout the history of many cultures. New names are chosen, or granted by the elder, in order to comply with one’s pending change of spirit. In fact, some will adopt as many as four different names as they progress through life. In today’s culture, Subud is a spiritual organization in which a change of name is encouraged. Such a change is indicative of the member’s spiritual growth. As the founder of Subud was an Indonesian Muslim, newly adopted names are sometimes Arabic. But even if the new name sounds strange in our English language, the deadname remains dead. Except in the case of an occasional jibe from an unforgiving family member. Evan Brett, Langley, Canada From: Mo Doyle (momcdo gmail.com) Subject: Deadname Bathroom “troubles” and transgender folks and other myths: Not only have transgendered people not caused troubles in bathrooms, they seem to be absent from the Epstein files. Perhaps rich, power-hungry men should lose their nepotistic names and wealth instead of getting upset because a person’s name has changed? Mo Doyle, Boston, Massachusetts
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From: SarahRose Werner (swerner nbnet.nb.ca) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--deadname Some decades back, when I came of age, I paid $50 in court fees and changed my name. This had nothing to do with gender and everything to do with family relationships -- or in some cases, the lack thereof. When I proudly announced my new name to my friends, one replied that I would always be [deadname] to her. To which I said, “Then you’re not my friend, because friends should have basic respect for each other’s rights.” She thought about it and admitted that I was right. It was three decades later that I heard the term deadname for the first time. It expresses precisely how I feel about my former name. I just needed the language to catch up with me. SarahRose Werner, Saint John, Canada From: Steve Reinheimer (sreinheimer gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--deadname Not a deadname, but an example of a refusal to use the correct name and one of my favorite exchanges in Star Trek: Next Generation from 2nd season, “The Measure of a Man”: Data: My name. It’s pronounced Data [DAY-tuh]. You called me Data [DAH-tuh]. Dr. Pulaski: What’s the difference? Data: One is my name. The other is not. (video, 21 sec.) Steve Reinheimer, Lake Placid, New York From: Morning Azule Waters (celticlassacramento yahoo.com) Subject: Deadname I was 17 years old when I decided to change my name. First, last, middle. It took friends and family several years to call me by my preferred name but they eventually got the hang of it. Fifty-three years later I am still surprised by the number of people who want to know my “real” name when they find out I changed it. I tell them “I forget.” I do think my name has helped shape who I am in life. Morning Azule Waters, Sacramento, California From: Judith Judson (jjudson frontier.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--deadname You did not mention the people who abbreviate your name without permission. It happens all the time, and it is rude. Nowadays, we also have the custom of calling people by their first name in professional situations, especially doctors’ offices. And then if requested politely to use the actual name on the screen or piece of paper the person who has taken the liberty acts affronted. Some names seem to attract this action, mine prominent among them. Dame Judi Dench made that choice or perhaps was named Judi from the get-go, whatever. Judith Judson, Pittsford, New York From: Victor Sloan (victor.sloan shengconsulting.com) Subject: Thank you Re your comments in the entry deadname. The hypocrisy is endless. Those same folks who want government “off their backs” are the first ones with their hands out after the second home they built on a sandbar washes away in a storm worsened by climate change. (which is of course a hoax :-) Victor S. Sloan, MD, FACP, FACR, Flemington, New Jersey From: Steve Benko (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Subject: Deadnames I have an old friend whom I call Dede, as she was known when I met her in the 1980s, but began calling herself Rachel, her middle name, in the 90s thinking it sounded more serious professionally. She happily answers to both, so Dede isn’t exactly a deadname, I suppose. At social gatherings, one can immediately tell who is an older versus a newer friend of hers by what they call her. Steve Benko, New York, New York From: David Alexander (alexa0838 gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--gundeck I was in the US Navy for five years and I worked at the US Bureau of the Census for fifteen years. I remember the use of the term gundecking from the Navy, but I also remember a word for something similar that was in use at the Census: curbstoning. It meant that someone went out to go door-to-door and survey a neighborhood, but was too lazy to do the work. They would instead sit in their car, parked at the curbstone, and fill out survey results that they thought were somewhat like what they would have obtained from the people they were supposed to be interviewing. Needless to say, anyone caught curbstoning was promptly dismissed. David Alexander, Greenbelt, Maryland From: Carla Miner (cjminer magma.ca) Subject: sandbag Project planners, proposal writers and grant applicants from time immemorial have sandbagged their plans, proposals and applications with tasks already done and targets already reached so that when the inevitable setbacks occur they still end up on time and under budget. Dr. Carla Miner, An erstwhile practitioner of the art, Carp, Canada From: Mackenzie Moyer (mmoyer recipeunlimited.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--sandbag Sandbagging is a strategic practice where a company sets low earnings guidance or expectations to easily exceed them later, boosting investor sentiment. By deliberately lowering the bar, management aims to produce “greater-than-expected” results, creating a positive surprise that can drive up stock prices. Mackenzie Moyer, Vaughan, Canada From: Frank Barrett (fdb912 gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--sandbag In sports, sandbagging has a distinct meaning: to temporarily play with lower effort to mislead your opponents. During qualifications, you go no faster than you have to, to lull your competitors into a false sense of superiority. Then, during the real contest -- a race, for instance -- you reveal your actual ability or speed. Frank Barrett, Louisville, Colorado From: Mark May (mdmay stanfordalumni.org) Subject: sandbag Golfers know this term in a slightly different context. Sandbag as a verb means to inflate one’s handicap to gain an unfair advantage over an opponent or opponents. It could be the numerical handicap used by golfers or it could be a perceived physical handicap that suddenly gets a lot better after the bets for the match have been made. Mark May, Los Angeles, California From: Michael Chirico (michaelchirico4 gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--sandbag This term is very common in rock climbing, where some routesetters/gyms are known for sandbagging their difficulty ratings. The definition in climbing -- where you underrate a difficult route -- most closely fits with definition 5, but basically stands on its own. (Ref.) Mike Chirico, Singapore From: Suleman Sobani (ssobani hotmail.com) Subject: Sandbag In my time with the US Marine Corps, I came across a few different uses for the word sandbag. 1. Dragging one’s feet, as in, “Quit sandbagging, devildog!” 2. Moving slower, or with less enthusiasm, than expected, as in, “He sandbagged through the whole exercise.” 3. A person who has to be carried by their team because they are unwilling, inept, lazy, or weak, as in, “Gunny, I don’t want that sandbag in my platoon.” Suleman Sobani, Ehime, Japan From: Mary Treder (mct919 hotmail.com) Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sandbag This word made me think of a similar one, stonewall, and the Doonesbury cartoons by Garry Trudeau during the Nixon era. History repeating itself, except much worse this time around. (original, revisited) Mary Treder, Puerto Peñasco, Mexico From: Andrew Lloyd (knockroe gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--sandbag windbag ... sandbag ... handbag vt. (of a woman politician), treat (a person, idea, etc) ruthlessly or insensitively. (BBC usage compendium). Andrew Lloyd, Borris, Ireland  
Subject: windbag and sandbag The Bloviator-in-Chief, a chronic verbal diarrhea sufferer, is proud of his Scottish-born mother’s lineage (nee Mary Anne Macleod). Here, I’ve transformed Trump into a bagpipe, paying homage to his Scottish mum, while also demonstrating that he’s the quintessential windbag. The revered Scottish bard Robbie Burns’ poem, “To a Louse”, comes to mind, notably the line, “Oh the gift that God could give us, to see ourselves as others see us.” 
Anagrams
Make your own anagrams and animations. Limericks windbag He’s a windbag who’s full of hot air. Utter nonsense he’s willing to share. Since he is the Prez, We’re told all he says -- It’s no wonder I’m filled with despair. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Said the Wizard, “I may be a windbag, But with Dorothy Gale you have sinned, hag! With the hand you’ve been dealt, She will cause you to melt!” But the witch just sat, watching his chin wag. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) rizz Mamdani’s a man with some rizz! At politics he is a wiz. He’s got quite a smile And personal style -- The Big Apple’s mayor he is. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) I can’t be sure just what it is But he makes me feel loaded with rizz. Which is pleasant, of course But I question the source Is it my charm exuding? Or his? -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) She said without any excuse, I’ve no talent to charm or seduce. Whatever that is, I simply can’t rizz, I have tried, but I know, there’s no use. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) One thing you can say about Liz, Is the lady sure knew how to rizz. Eddie Fisher and Burton Adored her, it’s certain, And many big men in showbiz. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) Said Richard, “My infinite rizz Will get you to marry me, Liz. But I just want to know: I am what number beau?” Answered Taylor, “That’s none of your biz.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “Drink Coke! It’s got flavor and fizz!” Said a girl with both beauty and rizz. But not fooled by the ad, “Sugar makes your health bad!” Said a little first-grade science whiz. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) deadname There once lived a fellow named Paul. His detractors still deadnamed him Saul. But millions take note Of the letters he wrote, And are faithfully heeding his call. -Paul Wiese, La Crosse, Wisconsin (pgw1015 gmail.com) Your deadname I’ll no longer use; I’ll call you whatever you choose. If I make a mistake, Won’t you cut me a break? Old habits I find hard to lose. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) My real name is too hard to say -- Multi-syllables get in the way. So folks call me Flash And the deadname’s just trash. (Would you be Methuselah? Oy vey!) -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) “Are you playing some kind of a head game? For Stephanie Clifford’s my deadname,” Said Stormy. “But say What you like; you’ll still pay For the time that you into my bed came.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Our blue-eyed VP has two deadnames; He apparently likes to play head games. “Neither Hamel nor Bowman Got young women moanin’,” He says, “so it’s Vance that I fed dames.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) gundeck Your research you never should rig. Don’t gundeck the numbers, ya dig? For if ever you’re caught, It will all be for naught -- The scandal you’ll cause will be big. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) When filing your taxes, take care: Don’t gundeck the figures you share. Since that is a crime For which you’ll do time -- I’m warning you cheaters, beware! -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) I hate working next to that guy! He gundecks his job, so that I Wind up doing it all He finds reasons to stall And they’re really effective ones (sigh!) -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) From the gundeck, the cannons were fired. The Chesapeake’s crew, they were tired. Dying Lawrence let slip, “Don’t give up the ship.” And so all his men were inspired. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “My nature I’ll no longer gundeck, And into your arms I will run, Shrek,” Said Fiona. “As ogres, Our looks and our odors Could hordes from Attila the Hun wreck!” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) sandbag All those sandbags which we’ve piled high Will protect us when water draws nigh. They’re there on the beach, So we’re out of reach -- But if there’s a tsunami we’ll die. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) The play momentarily stopped. From above, an old sandbag had dropped. The actor it missed Would go on. He’d insist. But the rest of the run, the show flopped. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) Imagine if nations would ban flags, And from borders remove all their sandbags. Yes I do paraphrase; Still, John Lennon I’ll praise Until Donald with lawsuits this fan gags. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Puns The hit single Dust in the Windbag-ged gold record status for the rock group Kansas. -Steve Benko, New York, New York stevebenko1 gmail.com) She knew her Gone with the Windbag-gage would be easy to spot on the airport’s luggage carousel. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “Holy cow!” shouted New York Yankees announcer Phil Rizz-uto dozens of times per game. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Rizz-o is my favorite character in the play Grease. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “That perm made my hair too f-rizz-y. I wanted a cute little bob,” complained the dissatisfied patron to the beautician. -Janice Power, Cleveland, Ohio (powerjanice782 gmail.com) After their huge success with Casey Jones, the Grateful Deadname-d Jerry Garcia Dear Leader for Life. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Her tired husband sighed, “I’m deadname me one good reason to get off this recliner this afternoon.” -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) Visiting an old cemetery late at night, from deep underground I heard a voice: “If you can bring me back from the deadname your price,” it said. -Janice Power, Cleveland, Ohio (powerjanice782 gmail.com) Once Captain Blackthorne taught him boxing, the sho-gundeck-ed insolent daimyos rather than ordering them to commit seppuku. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “I’ve only just be-gundeck the halls with boughs of holly,” Martha Stewart told her new assistant on her Christmas special. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “I need a beach vacation,” Bilbo told Gandalf after his adventure. But playing in the sandbag-gins lost the precious ring, destroying all hope for a sequel unless it could be found. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) As a city in the center of sandbag-hdad was a hub for caravans. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you
take into account Hofstadter’s Law. -Douglas Hofstadter, professor of
cognitive science (b. 15 Feb 1945)
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