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Aug 30, 2026 This week’s theme There’s a word for it This week’s words solivagant hyperphagia ophidiophobia obganiate chumocracy How popular are they? Relative usage over time AWADmail archives Index Next week’s theme Words made with animal parts Wordsmith Games 🧩 Jigsaw Riddle The Painted Tulip 🌍 Langitude Trace arabesque home AWADmail Issue 1261 A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and Language From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) Subject: Interesting stories from the Net How Decoding Beluga Whales’ Chitchat May Save Them -- and Teach Us More About Ourselves The Guardian Permalink Multilingual People May Have Brains up to 13 Years Younger ScienceDaily Permalink Sometimes It’s OK to Let a Language Die The New Yorker Permalink From: Chuck Dinsmore (salamanderdoc gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--solivagant Growing up in a relatively rural area of Maine, I learned to love wandering through the nearby woods and fields and feeling at home in nature. Nearly 80 years later, I still take great pleasure in solo naturalist walkabouts, now on trails in the many nature preserves near us. As Tolkien wrote, “Not all those who wander are lost.” Now I have a word for it. Thank you! Chuck Dinsmore, Damariscotta, Maine Email of the Week -- Brought to you by ONEUPMANSHIP® From: Arthur Lebowitz (grampsalot gmail.com) Subject: Vagus nerve Readers with medical backgrounds may have smiled at today’s word, solivagant. Latin vagus means wandering, which explains the name of the vagus nerve, cranial nerve X. The longest cranial nerve, it arises from the medulla oblongata in the lower brainstem and wanders through the neck and chest into the abdomen, innervating the heart, lungs, and much of the digestive tract. Arthur Lebowitz, Greenville, South Carolina From: Jenni Elion (jenni.elion gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ophidiophobia About a month ago, my husband finished mowing the lawn and left the mower at the top of the driveway while he came in for a drink. When he went back out to put it away, he saw a snake under it and called me to identify it. It was a copperhead. We tried to get it to move away, but it slithered into the garage behind a bin. We could still see it. We debated what to do, but none of the improvised methods we considered seemed safe. The snake was just being a snake, and we didn’t want to hurt it. We simply wanted it out of the garage. I googled “How do I get a copperhead out of...” and autocomplete supplied “the garage.” The first result advised us not to try to remove it ourselves but to call animal control. So we did, and we watched from a safe distance until an animal-control officer came and removed it. So I wonder: Can one have a normal fear of snakes? Is there a word for that? Jenni Elion, Raleigh, North Carolina From: Allen Roberts (aroberts arts.ucla.edu) Subject: ophidiophobia Can fear of snakes be considered “abnormal” if humans may have evolved a predisposition to notice them quickly and learn to fear them? How fascinating these creatures are at the deepest levels of human experience. I lived for years in a very rural part of Central Africa, where potentially lethal snakes such as boomslangs, mambas, and Gaboon vipers occur and can pose a real danger to anyone who blunders upon them. Yet some of my Congolese friends are not ophidiophobic; instead, they revere great snakes as manifestations of divinity. Aby Warburg got it right, as he so often did: “The serpent deserves its own chapter in the philosophy of ‘as if’.” There is plenty there to scare some people stiff, I suppose! AL Roberts, Cloverdale, California From: John Lepse (jtlepse gmail.com) Subject: obganiate One of my favorite lines from the classic sitcom Cheers comes when Diane tells Frasier that he is starting to sound like a broken record. He replies: “Oh, now you’re saying that I’m redundant, that I repeat myself, that I say things over and over.” John Lepse, Cedar Rapids, Iowa From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com) Subject: hyperphagia and chumocracy In young adulthood, Henry VIII stood about 6 ft 2 in and had a muscular, athletic physique. He excelled at jousting and enjoyed tennis, swordsmanship, and wrestling. In later life, chronic leg ulcers, gout, and reduced mobility led to considerable weight gain. He ballooned to an estimated 400 lbs and had an average daily intake of 5,000 calories. He was an avid wine and ale drinker and enjoyed his sweets, usually having his meals in private. There’s a fine line between gluttony and hyperphagia regarding Henry VIII’s conspicuous consumption. Trump named his son-in-law Jared Kushner a senior White House advisor in 2017. Kushner entered government with little diplomatic experience, though by Trump’s second term he had accumulated some. Trump later nominated Jared’s father, Charles Kushner, as US ambassador to France and Monaco. Charles Kushner had pleaded guilty to 18 federal counts involving false tax returns, witness tampering, and bogus statements to the Federal Election Commission. He was sentenced to 24 months in prison and later pardoned by Trump. The Senate confirmed him and he took up the post as ambassador that summer. The family connection makes this scenario as much an example of nepotism as of chumocracy. Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California Anagrams This week’s theme: There’s a word for it Solivagant Hyperphagia Ophidiophobia Obganiate Chumocracy = Is a nomad His voracity, if pigs eat much, haha! Herpetophobia (e.g., asp) I hector The old-boy network, I wager -Julian Lofts, Auckland, New Zealand (jalofts xtra.co.nz) = Ace highway hobo i.e., bulimia To fear a snake (scary!) Repeat a topic (odd trope!) High nepotism vs. High-worth = Roving the path His habit: eating too much I... I... fear a coachwhip! Dreary speaker Good ol’ boys, i.e., “the swamp” -Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com) -Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com) Make your own anagrams and animations. Limericks solivagant The solivagant goes it alone, As he travels to places unknown. “I’m not lonely as such. I don’t miss friends so much, For I still stay in touch on my phone!” -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) There she was, all alone, on the shore, Looking down, looking up, looking o’er. But I found it significant That she was solivagant -- She’d been married just hours before! -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) If crowds as you walk make you tense, Instead you just sit on the fence. A solivagant stroll Is so good for the soul, And the benefits you’ll find immense. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) Having spent his whole life as a litigant, In old age he’s alone, a solivagant. Donald’s president, yes, And that’s something, I guess, But for being unloved, there’s no mitigant. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) hyperphagia Hyperphagia is what you have got If you’re constantly eating a lot. Whatever the food, Well, you’re in the mood. Do you know when to stop? You do not. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Hyperphagia, they call it, and it Seems to be why my clothes do not fit Overeating -- can’t stop! Snaps and buttons just pop! (I’m as cute as a bucket o’ spit!) -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) “My problem is not hyperphagia,” To the tsar said his child Anastasia. “I eat due to nerves, For those Communist pervs May soon do what they call euthanasia.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) ophidiophobia Her ophidiophobia’s bad; Crawling things make her scream, “Oh, egad!” She stepped on a snake, And since that mistake, This irrational fear she has had. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) “Not snakes! My ophidiophobia May cause me to vomit all ovuh ya,” Indiana declared. “But although I am scared, I’ll escape to fight Belloq’s dystopia.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) obganiate Would you please not obganiate so! It’s really annoying, you know. Don’t tell me once more What you stated before, Or out of my mind I will go. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) I obganiate lots, don’tcha know, With a reason: I’m doing it so I’ll retain that new word And that meaning. Absurd? But you don’t have my fading mind, bro! -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) “Amelia,” said Fred, “don’t obganiate, Lest my ears with your chat oversatiate. If I get too annoyed, We’ll get lost in the void, And that isn’t a good way to aviate.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) chumocracy Chumocracy’s able to flower When all of my friends are in power. Oh, what a win-win! We’ll all rake it in, And richer we’ll grow by the hour. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) With the government now a chumocracy, Our republic is ending its odyssey. As we go down the tubes, At the wheel we have boobs, And what’s weird is we put them there consciously. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Puns “OK, Lazarus, I’m trying to demonstrate the power of faith here, solivagant-ill I say otherwise,” ordered Jesus. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “No need to get all hyperphagia-ust relax and I’ll carry you up the building safely,” King Kong assured his scene partner. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “Doc, in my nightmares I’m one of those clumsy, moronic Republican senators who grilled Dr. Fauci.” “Ah! Zees ees classic case of ophidiophobia.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “How much weight will B-obganiate practically the whole buffet!” wondered his friends at the Golden Corral. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “Did the people of Machu Pic-chumocracy pottery like this, or was it seen as serious art?” the museum visitor asked the docent. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. -Spanish proverb

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