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Nov 6, 2026
This week’s themeWords to describe people This week’s words pseudologue adventurist chicaner slangwhanger clodpate
The Extraction of the Stone of Madness, 1501-1505
Art: Hieronymus Bosch Wordsmith Games
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargclodpate
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: A stupid person.
ETYMOLOGY:
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.
USAGE:
“What a small-minded, uninteresting clodpate he was.” Christy Carlyle; Lady Meets Earl; Avon Books; 2022. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The final and most important weapon against stupidity: modesty. -Robert
Musil, novelist (6 Nov 1880-1942)
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