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…
Tag: Word of the Month
Features, February 2024
Word of the Month: Redolent
David Zapatka While reading The Metaphysics of Ping-Pong: Table Tennis as a Journey of Self Discovery by Guido Mina di Sospiro, I ran across the word redolent. His use of the word while describing table tennis rubber was intriguing. Redolent—red·o·lent adjective 1. Exuding fragrance: aromatic 2. Full of a specified fragrance: a. scented (air redolent of seaweed)…
Features, January 2024
Word of the Month: Pulse
David Zapatka David Wittenberg, fellow member of the Grammar Police Special Interest Group, wrote this in a recent post. “For most Indians, meat is not a staple. The majority of the Indian diet consists of grains, pulses, and vegetables. As a result, Indians don’t talk about meat the way Americans do. The terms ‘veg’ and…
Features, December 2023
Word of the Month: Bildungsroman
David Zapatka Reader, friend, and fellow bridge player, Gayle Covey, writes, “This is a really favorite word; bildungsroman. My friend Judy taught me this word several years ago … and now it comes up all the time! All those YA (Young Adult) fiction writers, turning books into films … and, of course, it is the word…
Features, November 2023
Word of the Month: Resilience
David Zapatka Reader, friend, and fellow bridge player, Pat Schlect, writes, “I was very happy to see your article in the Sun Lakes Splash.I loved the subject. The word I would choose for research is ‘resilience.’ Why? If you had to pick one characteristic or quality you’d most like to have, what would it be?…
Features, September 2023
Word of the Month: Emotion
David Zapatka Do emotions happen consciously or unconsciously? Can emotions be chosen or do they just happen? While reading “I Am: The Power of Discovering Who You Really Are” by Howard Falco, I read, “Emotions are the clues that lead you to the treasure of everlasting peace.” Ponder this for a while. Are our emotions…
Features, July 2023
Word of the month: Grimoires
David Zapatka Reader Tony Sciabica wrote, “I read your article in the April edition of the Crossing. I found the word sempiternal interesting. My use of the word would be the following: Eternal means to me something that has no beginning and no end. Sempiternal has a beginning but no end. Semper fidelis has a beginning…
Features, May 2023
Word of the Month: Paladin
David Zapatka The NCAA basketball tournament is fondly called March Madness, and madness it was this year. There may have been more upsets in the big tournament this year than any other year. One of the biggest was the Furman Paladins, a small South Carolina school of 2,970 students, upsetting the #4 seed, Virginia Cavaliers,…
Features, February 2023
Word of the Month: Abecedarian
David Zapatka Reader, friend, and fellow pickleball player Janie Blake-Zunino writes, “While reading Dancing with the Muse in Old Age by Priscilla Long, I read the word abecedarian and found it interesting.” Abecedarian abe·ce·dar·i·an noun a person who is just learning; a novice adjective 1. arranged alphabetically 2. rudimentary; elementary Origin and Etymology—abecedary “alphabet book, primer” (going back to…
Features, December 2022
Word of the Month: Run
David Zapatka Reader Carmela Hopkins writes, “Every month I look for your column in the Splash. Have you considered an article on the word ‘run?’ You’re on a run. I mean roll.” There are more definitions of this word than any word I have researched. Here are a few. Run verb a. to go faster than…