David Zapatka Reader Luz Stella Perotti wrote, “I had a SPLENDID time reading that one (Splendor). It is one of my favorite words.” While reading a fiction writers evaluation team’s comments about what makes a story successful, I came across these sentences, “Successful: tight writing, sharp dialogue, creative use of language, vivid imagery, a surprising…
Tag: word of the month
November 2024, Clubs & Classes
Word of the Month: Neologism
David Zapatka Are you as fascinated with the creation of new words as I am? I find the people who create new words deliciously inventive and their new words fun to learn. While reading an article titled Literary Wordmakers by my friend, Richard Lederer, I ran across this sentence, “Although the identities of most of…
October 2024, Features
Word of the Month: Splendor
David Zapatka While enjoying Self-Culture in The Light of the Ancient Wisdom by I.K. Taimni, I read this sentence, “There are subtler worlds of progressively increasing splendor behind and inter-penetrating the physical world of which we are cognizant through our physical senses…” The word “splendor” has always resonated with me. It’s one of those words…
September 2024, Features
Word of the Month: Equipoise
David Zapatka While attending the Theosophical Society Convention in Wheaton, Ill., this summer, I saw one of the presenters use the word “equipoise” in his presentation. The usage of the word described a relationship balance between two philosophical thoughts. Equipoise—equi·poise noun 1. A state of equilibrium 2. Counterbalance 3. Balance of forces or interests verb…
Features, August 2024
Word of the Month: Wanly
David Zapatka Reader Bob Mack, commenting on the June WOTM column wrote, “I enjoyed your Chimichurri article, Thanks. Quite the background for such a great tasting meat sauce. I like the old Spanish dictionary definition, confusion. LOL. I recently took some Trader Joe’s Chimichurri sauce, from their deli section, and blended it with some hard-boiled egg yolks,…
July 2024
Word of the Month: Brook
David Zapatka While reading Esoteric Astrology by Alice A Bailey, I read, “He is instantly aware, once he is spiritually awakened, of his motivating impulses, and this leads him to an imposed self-discipline-the thing the Leo subject sorely needs and which must always be self-imposed and self-applied for he brooks no disciplinary measures which others…
June 2024
Word of the Month: Chimichurri
David Zapatka One of my favorite dishes on cruise ships is fish al fresco, “fish cooked and eaten in the fresh air.” This means the executive chef purchases fresh-caught fish in the ports, displays them in the outdoor grill section of the ship, then cooks them to order. One of my favorites is chimichurri on…
Features, May 2024
Word of the Month: Batten
David Zapatka While cruising around Asia, we heard we were going to encounter rough seas. Soon enough, we saw ocean spray splashing the 10th floor windows. Then there was an order to batten down the hatches, meaning to close the dead lights on the third floor. Storm covers (porthole covers) are called deadlights in maritime…
Features, April 2024
Word of the Month: Trochus
David Zapatka While cruising around Australia on the way to Thursday Island, I read this description about the port city. “The mixed population of Malays, Chinese, Japanese, and Melanesians are engaged mainly in pearling and trochus and sea cucumber fishing.” Trochus—tro·chus noun: 1.a. Capitalized. a genus of chiefly Old World tropical marine gastropods (family Trochidae)…
Features, March 2024
Word of the Month: Apricity
David Zapatka Friend and fellow pickleball player, Natasha Thompson, writes, “‘Apricity’ means warmth of the sun in winter. Did I expand your vocabulary?” Yes, you have, Tash, and I expect you will be expanding our readers’ vocabulary with this word as well. Maybe you will even bring it back into use as it has fallen…