The word of the day is.....

I used to be a good speller. You name it, I could spell it. Well, maybe I couldn't win the National Spelling Bee, but still, I WAS a good speller.

But the past few years I've been finding myself struggling over how to spell simple words.

Like "the".

Okay, maybe not that simple. But words that wouldn't have stumped me in the past. Did you ever look at a word so long that it's spelling looks foreign to you?

Anyway, I've come to rely on this website more often then I care to admit:

www.dictionary.com

I usually leave it up as a tab on my lap top, because inevitably I will be looking up a word. Now I know you are asking yourselves, "Don't you have spell-check?"

Why, yes, yes I do. But I come from the old school where if you don't know the spelling of a word, you look it up in your Funk and Wagnells (for you younger folks, that was a publisher of a dictionary. I always liked saying their name.)

Dictionary.com is wonderful because if I type in the word I am looking for and misspell it, it offers words that I might be looking for instead (read CORRECT spelling).

Well, thanks for that! Thanks for being my brain today.

Besides being a dictionary and thesaurus, it offers many, many other enjoyable links like:

1)Daily Crossword, and if you like that then you'll really like
2)Crossword Solver which let's you type in clues for a crossword puzzle and gives you suggestions for answers (awesome!)
3)Word games
4)Word of the day

And, to my amusement, a whole list of new slang words and their definitions. I'm not going to keep these to myself. I am going to spread the wealth.

You're welcome.

The real definition taken right from the website is listed first; my interpretation or comments are listed second and are in italics.

1. Yatata-yatata - [ˈjætətəˈjætətə]

n. The sound of chatter or yak. : He gets on the phone, and it's yatata-yatata for hours.

This is not to be mistaken for "yada, yada, yada", made famous on Seinfeld, meaning the same as "blah, blah, blah."

I liked yatata-yatata much better when I first thought it was pronounced "ya-TATA-ya-TATA". It flowed so easily off the tongue. But I guess that sounds too close to "yo ta-tas" meaning "your boobies", so they had to put the accent on the first syllable.

2. umpty-ump [ˈəmptiˈəmpθ]

Thousandth, billionth, zillionth, etc. (Represents some very large but indefinite number.) : This is the umpty-umpth time I've told you to keep your dog out of my yard.

I personally like bazillion, or gazillion, but umpty-ump has a nice ring to it!

3. kafooster [kəˈfustɚ]

n. nonsense. : This kafooster about me being a cheater is too much.

This is a fun word! Say it! KAFOOSTER! It IS a nonsense word! I love it!

4. meshuga

crazy. (From Hebrew meshuggah via Yiddish.) : This guy is meshugah!

Another fun word that slides off the tongue! I love me some of those Yiddish words like verklempt, schlepping, chutzpah, etc. Almost makes me want to learn the language. ALMOST.

5. Tango Yankee

PHRASE. Means "Thank You." (NATO Phonetic Alphabet.): Tango Yankee for the email.

Ookaay, so Tango Yankee does NOT mean a Northern Dancer. It means "T" as in "Tango" and "Y" as in "Yankee", and I guess in texting you could write TY or just plain thx, but Tango Yankee is a take off of of the phonetic alphabet.

My husband was in the Navy, and he still relies on this alphabet when he relays things over the phone. I am amazed how things come to mind so easily for him, because I'm always scrambling like "P" as in, uh, "Puke", "A" as in "apple" and "T" as in "Tom". Here is the alphabet according to NATO:

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Pappa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whisky, Xray, Yankee, Zulu.

6. janky

n. Messed up; bad; inferior. : Sorry that my room is so janky.

Gee, why can't body parts be janky? Sorry that my foot is so janky. Sorry that my knee is so janky. I like it! Do you think the doctor will understand me when I go to see him next week about "Big Hall" and tell him that it's "janky"? He'll probably smell my breath to see if I've been drinking. Better yet, if I still don't have a regular voice by then, he'll probably shove a thermometer up my, er, ear.

7. AWHFY

abbreviation. Are we having fun yet? This isn't the fun that you stated or implied it would be, is it? This is really dull. , Gr8t d8t! AWHFY?

Another great abbreviation for texting. I think we should just go around saying it, "Aw-fee", short for "Are We Having Fun Yet?"

8. Rambo(ize) [ˈræmbo(ɑɪz)]

To (figuratively) annihilate someone or something; to harm someone or something. (Collegiate. From the powerful film character Rambo.) : The students ramboed the cafeteria, and the cops were called.

I LIKE this word! I wanted to ramboize my computer the other day when I couldn't hook up to the WI-FI. I want to ramboize this freakin' germ that has set up house in my body and doesn't seem to want to leave home.

9. EGBOK

abbreviation. Everything's Going to BE OKAY
Don't worry, everything will be fine. : EGBOK. Stop fretting.

When someone is worrying and whining about something, just think of the comfort they will get from you as they lean on your shoulder and you pat their back, murmuring over and over, "EGBOK, EGBOK." Sounds like alien talk, doesn't it? Maybe it would help to have you hands in the "Live long and prosper" position, too.



10. Glick [glɪk]

A strange person; a nerd. : Fred seems to be a classic glick, but he is really an all-right guy.

Well, why don't we call a spade a spade, and in this case, a nerd a nerd, but I guess "Glick" is the updated version. You know, I used to work with a man who's last name was "Glick". Let's just say that he lived up to his name.


11. Word of mouse

n. A message spread by email. (Contrived. Refers to a computer mouse. A play on word of mouth.) : A lot of these jokes are spread by word of mouse.

Now THIS is darn right adorable. Word of mouse. Ha! And so fitting for the millennium!

12. XMT

Abbreviation. Excuse My Typing; I am sorry I type so poorly. (Used in email and computer forum or newsgroup messages. Not pronounced aloud.) : XMT. I have a sore finger and I keep hitting the wrong keys.

XMT, not to be confused with XM as in XM RADIO, or XL, the word right before XM, meaning extra-large. XMT - that's what I should have put at the beginning of this post. If you could only see all the typing errors I have made. Thankfully I went back and corrected them. Well most of them. If you find any, I apologize!

Okay, little children, you've done your homework for today. Go pour yourself a big glass of milk and take a couple of warm chocolate chip cookies from the plate.

I said A COUPLE!

That means TWO!!