I love this word, but I am reluctant to use it because I am unsure how to pronounce it. Does anyone have a good rule of thumb to remember whether the “m” or the “n” is silent?

Slava, Luke, No, I have not yet viewed Stranger Things , but I will look into it on your recommendations. The series received very favorable critical reviews. As to my source materials for finding Good Words to suggest for the Agora, I am reminded of a popular quote (apocryphally attributed to Einst...

My favorite part of William Safire’s legacy was the weekly column he wrote for the NYT called “On Language.” In that column he would take an su courant word or phrase and analyze its origins, usage and worthiness. It was always witty, informed and entertaining commentary from a man who loved languag...

One of the delights of examining a useful and precise, but obscure, word (a feature in which the Agora excels) is discovering applications of that word outside the discussions on this site. Today I found this usage of “cosplay,” a word of whose existence I was unaware until 6 months ago. Here is an ...

While there may have been 13 Innocent popes, there was only one Hilarius pope.

See Pope Hilarius’ bio at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Hilarius

Peter Sellers, as Inspector Clouseau in one of the Pink Panther movies, delightfully conflates definitions 1and 2. There is a murder in the household, and suspicion turns to the sexy French maid. But Inspector Clouseau knows she is not the culprit and he vigorously defends her, loudly announcing to ...

“Friable” is a word often encountered in property inspection reports to describe the condition of asbestos found in older buildings. Friable asbestos is dangerous and unacceptable. The solution is to either remove the asbestos (the best solution, but often expensive) or to contain and stabilize the ...

Mulligrubs is a more colorful synonym for dyspepsia, featured as a GoodWord back in 2017. Interestingly, dyspepsia was suggested by a reader from North Carolina, while Alabama is mulligrubs territory. (BTW, reread the discussion under dyspepsia. It seems this country has been suffering chronic mulli...

I’m with Debby on this question. Hear! Hear!

This post is totally unauthorized, and Dr. GoodWord will probably ask me to take it down immediately. When he does, I will comply. If you click on alphaDictionary.com more than once a week, this message is for you. If that describes you, then I’m guessing you subscribe to at least one periodical. Ma...

I don't think theyn or thane are any longer spoken, even in Scotland.

I agree. Today no one is yclept a theyn.

Perhaps we should consider these two other virtues of “hap”:

1. It is one of those rare English words whose spelling is completely phonetic (at least to my ears).
2. It is a useful word to keep in mind when playing Scrabble.

I recently returned from a visit to Hawaii, where the presence of the ukulele is ubiquitous. George Harrison maintained a home in Hawaii and became an accomplished player. However, unlike his ventures into the sitar (and Indian music in general) in the late 1960s, he failed to elicit wider popular a...

I respectfully disagree with the good Dr GoodWord: I think “schmuck” still retains enough of the vapors of its original meaning to disqualify its use for “any occasion.” Same for its non-Yiddish cousins “prick” and “dick.” None are terribly offensive, but I’m judicious in using them. Also, all three...

Slava, perhaps your stress is caused by the pronunciations of “Parsippany” (that city in northern New Jersey) or “simony” (that important revenue center of the medieval Roman Catholic Church.) … More seriously, today’s good word reminds me of a wise comment of the late Christopher Hitchens, an exqui...