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imjohn.bsky.social

@imjohn.bsky.social
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 18h
Here's a few interesting words: "Dasypygal" means “having hairy buttocks”. To be "cornobbled" is “to be hit with a fish” (I kid you not). A "twiddlepoop" is “an effeminate looking man”. “Toxophily" is “a love of archery”. A "wem" is “a stain, flaw, or scar”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Today's word is "augean": “extremely difficult” or “unpleasant” and/or “filthy”. After King Augeas (Greek mythology). Augeas had 3000 oxen, but he neglected to clean his stables for 30 years. Hercules cleaned them by diverting two rivers to wash away the filth (or compost, if you will).
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Today's word is "custos morum": a "guardian of morals" or a "censor". Think uninformed and unstudied prudishness, self-righteousness, and a penchant for judgemental decisions. The “custos morum" is quick to burn books, diminish arts, silence authors, all in an attempt to protect us from ourselves.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Today's word is "carroty", which is to say "annoyed", or "angry", or "the feeling one has after a scolding or an embarrassing mishap". An old saying (late 1800s) which states "smart as a carrot" used to be quite common and means "very smart indeed".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Today's word is "evanesce". Not to be confused with effervesce, this word means "to fade slowly". For instance, while champagne effervesces, a sunset "evanesces". I hope your day is punctuated, at it's end, with "evanscentuality" (ahhhh, there... that's the stuff).
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Today's word is "mendacity"; meaning either "the quality of being untruthful” or “a tendency to lie" or "a lie". Dating from around the 1540s, and coming from Latin "mendac", stem of "mendax" (lying), from "mendum" (fault or defect) that also gave us “amend”, “emend”, and “mendicant”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Today's word is "pluvious". In Spanish "lluvioso" or the older version "pluvioso", and in Italian "pluvioso" or, more usually "piovoso". Whew! OK... it all can be summed up as meaning "of, relating to, or characterized by rain” or “full of or bearing rain or moisture” or, simply, “rainy”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Today's word is "petrichor". This is “a pleasant, distinctive smell frequently accompanying the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather in certain regions”. Also: an oily liquid mixture of organic compounds which collects in the ground and is believed to be responsible for this smell.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Today's word is "thrang"; which means "busy" or "crowded with work" or "assembled". The word "throng" (to crowd) from English, and the German words "drang" (pressure) and "drangen" (to press); as well as the Flemish word "dringen" (to press or squeeze), all seem or could be the source(s).
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Today the word is “alazon”. An “alazon” is “a person characterised by arrogance, braggadocio, lack of self-awareness and boorishness”. James S. Fu, in his “Mythic and Comic Aspects of the Quest”, writes: “The self often suffers for being the alazon like Don Quixote, Monkey, and Huck.”
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Today the word is “anomy” (or “anomie”): “a lack of the usual social, moral or ethical standards in an individual or group” or “a state or condition characterized by an absence of social and legal norms and values” or “a state of isolation and anxiety due to a lack of social control and regulation”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Today's word is "poppling" meaning "rippling; rolling; boiling; roiling". It dates from at least the 14th. Originally used in reference to the sea, a river, etc... It has come to mean “a confusion or cacophony in a mind, a group, a situation”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Today's word is "stilton". In this case the word means "truth" or "true" or "factual", etc... Used it the sense of "That's the stilton" or "He's not the stilton"; the meaning here being a specific variation of "the cheese".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Today's word is "crinigerous". This is a word from the mid-1700s meaning “hairy” (as in over grown with hair). It derives from the Latin "criniger". I think it might be entirely appropriate to use it today as "a 'crinigerous' situation", meaning a hairy situation.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Today's word is "feaze". This means "to vex” or “to beat, to chastise” or “to worry”. To be "in a feaze" is “to be in a state of excitement, or of anxious fretful excitement”. In The Taming of the Shrew, Christophoro Sly says: "I'll pheeze you, in faith."
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Today's word is "randirooze", which is “a great noise or uproar” or “an exclaimation of a crowd or mob” or “a riotous outburst - as in a courtroom reaction to a statement or evidence which in some way might be found to be incendiary”. A "randirooze" occurs with every goal, touchdown, or knockout.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The word today is "gleed". This is “a glowing coal or ember”. The etymology is from the Old English "gled" and is the base or origin of the word "glowan", from which we get "glow". Personally, I like it when the fire is burned down and reduced to "gleeds"; glowing red-rimmed black in the dark.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Today's word is "autopathy". It is now rare to see it used at all... which is odd, since I can think of many applications just off the top of my head. “Autopathy" is "excessive feeling for oneself; or an instance of this”. In 1647 H. More wrote "Base fear proceeds from weak 'Autopathy' ".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Today “usufructry": Anglo-Norman term meaning "fruit usage" granting rights to gather "windfall" fruit/firewood blown down during storms. In 16c it meant "to have the general use of a thing". Peasants would pull down fruit which "may fall soon". In 14c it meant “to steal by deception".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Today the word is “defalcation”: “the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted to one's care [by another]” or “a sum of moeny which is misappropriated” or “a breach of trust by one who has the position of management or charge of funds or property belonging to others”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Today's word "cui bono". Latin: “to whose benefit?". Basically , the responsibility for an act can usually be determined by asking who stands to gain as a result of the act. It's first recorded by Cicero referencing Roman consul Lucius Cassius. Today he would say: "Follow the money".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Today's word is "ne plus ultra" meaning : “the ultimate or the perfect example of something" or “not further beyond". The Pillars of Hercules served as a warning to sailors not to go beyond the limit of the known world. The national motto of Spain, on the other hand, is "Plus ultra".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Today's word is "anatopism" which is "the error of placing something out of its proper place” or “something placed erroneously". Anatopism" is to place what anachronism is to time.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Today's word is "lithermon's-load". This is “a greater load, bundle or pack of items, which could be carried safely at one time, but is never-the-less undertaken to avoid the trouble of a second journey”. These days it's called a "lazy man's load".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Today's word/phrase is "Potemkin village", after Prince Grigory Potemkin, who, apparently, erected cardboard villages to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Ukraine and Crimea in 1787. A "Potemkim village" is “an impressive showy facade designed to mask undesirable facts”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Today's word is "sackering": “the practice of telling false tales of distress” or “a particular form of lying which is designed to mislead others so they might feel sympathy for the liar”. Often used to obtain "mercy money", such as donations to compensate one after a mugging or robbery.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Today's word is "imaginant": “one who is prone to strange ideas”. So, any and all Prophets" (any faith), Suffragettes, inventors, revolutionaries, poets, Stephen Hawking, Byron, most children, Dali, Poe, Jim Henson, etc etc “Imaginants" all. Mind you, “good” ideas are not part of the definition.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Today's word is "realpolitik": "practical politics" or "political realism" or “politics based upon national interests (needs) or material/monetary considerations as opposed to supposed moral or religious objectives”. There is no room for petty witch hunts or scapegoats in "realpolitik".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Today's word is "quien sabe", which means "who knows?" or "how should I know?". It's pronounced "key-en saw-bee" and is thought by some to be the origin of "Kemo Sabe" (what Tonto called the Lone Ranger), despite claims the phrase means some form of "friend".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Today's word is "globaloney", which is "nonsensical or absurd talk or ideas concerning global issues." It dates from around the 1940s. In 1943, in an address to Congress, C.B. Luce stated: "Much of what Mr. Wallace calls his global thinking is, no matter how you slice it, still globaloney.”
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Today's word is "frush". That is "to break"; "to crush"; or "to bruise". In Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida" : "I like the armour well; I'll 'frush' it and destroy the rivets all."
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Today nugatory”: “of little value”, trifling”,”having no force or power”, “ineffective or impotent”. In “In Praise of the Runners-Up”: “Candidates were humiliated, their campaigns ending with a returning officer reading out their nugatory scores to a sports centre full of jeering politicos.”
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Today's word is "lachanaphobia"; meaning, I kid you not, "fear of vegetables". Do not snort in derision, but consider the bone-crushing terror of the lonely man, walled-up in his small home, whilst in every one of his neighbour's homes, in every supermarket: leeks! Cabbages! and the dreaded parsnip!
corner.in
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Today's word is "Pope Joan". Stephen de Bourbon writes "Johannes Anglicus" was elected in 855 (John VIII). All phantasy. Calvinist scholar David Blondel debunked the lie in 1647 and Dollinger as well in 1863. A “Pope Joan" is “an argument made whereby the facts are inconsequential to the point”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Today the word is “canard”, defined as: “an unfounded rumor” or “false story” or “a baseless report, often of a derogatory nature” or “a deliberately misleading fabrication” or “an absurd statement”. Any piece of information that is intended to deceive people can be referred to as “a canard”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Today the word is “strategery”. It is defined as: “the use of dishonest or devious schemes in order to achieve a particular end” or “any trick or ploy designed to mislead”. “Strategery” is “a deliberate and depreciative malapropism which dates from the mid-1800s”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
The word is "in scuggery", which is a very old way of saying "hidden" or "secret", "dark". An item may be kept "in scuggery", or a coversation may be held "in scuggery". Also, a thief or other criminal may pursue his/her dealings "in scuggery".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Today's word is "plutolatry". This word comes from Greek "pluto" (wealth) and "latry" (worship). Pluto was the god of riches in Greek mythology. "Plutolatry" is an "excessive devotion to wealth".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Today's word is "phylogeny" meaning “the evolutionary development of a species, a group of organisms, or a particular feature of an organism”. As Audrey Schulman writes in 2012, "Recognize your 'phylogeny'. You are a Great Ape. We're more related to gorillas than most warblers are to each other."
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Today's word is "swan song". This expression derives from the ancient belief that swans spent their entire lives mute, erupting into song at their death. Socrates, Plato, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Byron and Tennyson all believed this. It was Thomas Carlyle, in the 1830s, who coined the actual term.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Today's word is "traceur", which is “a person who participates in parkour” (parkour: free runner). 2003 Philadelphia Inquirer Mag. 13 July 21/2: “Parkour competitors are called 'traceurs', and they do ‘runs’ across rooftops, down staircases, over railings in a stylish and acrobatic way."
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Today, for Canada Day, the word/phrase is the Latin "pium pectus pectoris est non politicae". This translates to "the patriotic heart is not political". Happy Canada Day.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Today's word is "doggerybaw". This word means "nonsense" or "silliness", but has also been somewhat extended in it's usage to mean "bullshit" or "willful deception". In this sense it could be used to refer to any political reasoning given for any decision (eventually) reached.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Today's word is "Pococurantism" which refers to "one who demonstrates indifference or dismisses concern of matters of importance, while taking great care, or expressing great interest in minor aspects of an issue."
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Today's word is "bumwhush" which means "ruin" or "obscurity" or "annihilation". A person whose views are deemed old-fashioned and out of date, or out of touch, might be called "Mr/Mrs Bumwhush". The term "bumwhushian" is a plan or political action irrelevant or ignorant of current necessities.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Today's word is “drumble”. Meaning: “a sluggish, slow-witted, or unintelligent person” or “a dullard” or “to move sluggishly” or “to dawdle”. It also means “to roll slowly, as a drum” (a drumroll) or “a slow rolling thunder clap”... and it means “ a hollow, dell, or gully”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Today's word is "reify": "to make (an abstract thing) more concrete or real” or “to regard or to treat (an idea, concept, etc.) as if having material existence". The Times Lit. Sup. : “To look upon them [sc. economic laws] as objective necessities, as bourgeois economists do, is to 'reify' them".
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
The word today is “cark”. “Cark” means to “disturb in mind or make uneasy”, “to cause to be worried or alarmed”, “anxiousness, or troubled of mind”, “to grieve”, “to vex”, “to oppress or over-whelm with grief” or “to be full of care” or “a weight for wool-trade, equal to 1/30th of a sarplar”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
The word today is "dam". This word was brought back to England in the mid-18th century by those military men, and their families, who served in India. A "dam" was an Indian coin of very little value. From this comes the phrase: "I don't give a dam”.
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imjohn.bsky.social @imjohn.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Today's word is "parvanimity", which means "small minded” or "meanness". It comes to us from the Latin "parvus" (small) and "animus" (mind). It dates from around the early 1600s.
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