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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Word of the day

Though my writing is not the best, and my speech is even worse, I enjoy words. I enjoy learning new words, finding odd words, etc. Today I saw a really good one in an e-mail I received, which provided the motivation to institute this new "column". I'll give the word, its definition and the "place" where I ran across it. This won't be daily -- just random as I find something I deem interesting. For today's word, I'm going back to a crossword puzzle answer from yesterday. This is a word I know, but probably have never used (definitely not in speaking).

Vapid -- without liveliness or spirit; dull or tedious; lifeless; flavorless; spiritless [Answer to 5 across (clue, uninspired), Crossword Puzzle, Tyler Morning Telegraph, 13 Nov 2007]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Words are interesting. They can be useless at times, especially with a congregation not given to strict English. New words can be lost in the sermon.

A new word can also be used to magnify the meaning of that word and drive home a point in that sermon. In this sense, it attracts attention, and hence "shouts" the meaning.

Your word "vapid" is best related to a more common word,"insipid" and the more familiar term "wishy-washy". So, we can talk about the wasted life dressed in false hope, but full of linguial expression..They know the words, but their "wishy-washy", vapid lifestyles don't measure up.

Keep them coming, mate.

Cheers,

Jim

R. L. Vaughn said...

Thanks for the comments, Jim -- and the encouragement.