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• oscitancy •

Pronunciation: ah-sê-dên-si • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A fit of yawning. 2. The drowsiness, slowness, laziness or indolence caused by fatigue or need for sleep.

Notes: This word is the noun from the adjective oscitant "yawning, drowsy, sluggish", itself based on the seldom used verb oscitate "to yawn or gape open". Don't forget to change the Y to I before the plural ending: oscitancies.

In Play: Oscitancy is usually accompanied by a previous Good Word, pandiculation, stretching from sleepiness: "Mortimer talked a half hour about the advantages of eating raw seeds and vegetables to a sea of oscitancy and pandiculation." However, this word is probably more often used in reference to sluggishness or dullness resembling that of sleepiness: "Jacob seems a bit more oscitant to finish cleaning the garage than he was to start the job."

Word History: Today's word comes from the present participle, oscitan(t)s of the Latin verb oscitare "to yawn, open, gape", made up of os "mouth" + citare "to move". The root of citare, cit-, is shared with the hest of English behest (old [k] became [h] in Germanic languages like English). (We never oscitate at the words suggested by Luciano de Oliveira, the Brazilian Dude of the Alpha Agora because his suggestions are always intriguing.)

I just call it sleepwalking

mark please-don't-wake-me-up Bailey

So, is the agent noun, a person who yawns, an oscitanter, an oscitantite, an oscitantic, an oscitancic, or an oscitater?

I'm leaning towards the last, since it is closer to the verb form.

I like oscitater. It sounds like a bored terminator.

It reminds me of the McD's commercial with sleeping people drift into the Mickey D's to wake up with a coffee and McMuffin. Of course I didn't say I liked the commercial, there's not much about McDonald's I do like.

mark have-a-heartattack-on-a-bun?-you-want-a-stroke-with-that? Bailey

sleeping people drift into the Mickey D's to wake up with a coffee and McMuffin.

I can't imagine much worse to wake up to than a McCoffee and a McMuffin. A McNightmare.

-- PW

oh McEWE! yes! I hate them right down to their plastic kiddie jail.

mark no-fast-food-just-fast-women Bailey

My nephews, aged 2, 3, and 5, are extremely fond of the McGriddles. It's quite the site watching those young toddlers shovel down their breakfast.

As for me, I'd rather suffer through fits of oscitation than consume one of those unnatural morsels.

-Tim

I used to be on a fire department where the majority of McDonald's french fries were manufactured (yes, that is the correct word). Once, one of the semi-trucks with a load of their product caught fire and we responded. Best smelling fire I ever fought.
That's about as close as I care to come to their mcproducts.