sorry i have not been updating. my play took up a lot of time but it was worth it. both performances went well. i am sad that my fun rehersals are over. now we have boring wish i was doing math homework instead rehersals for s.p.

anyway just wanted to say hello and i am back. here are a few words from when i was gone.

fetor (FEE-tuhr) noun, also foetor

A strong offensive odor; stench.

[From Latin fetor, from fetere (to stink).]

"Just imagine yourself trying to pick out fresh fruit while your

olfactory nerve is bombarded with the fetor of a bait shop run by some flea-bitten old coot called Gooey." Dell Poncet, Odors, Clinton and Fat, Philadelphia Business Journal, Jan 19, 1996.

nitid (NIT-id) adjective

Bright; shining; glossy.

[From Latin nitidus (shining), from nitere (to shine).]

Etymologically speaking, the word "neat" is a cousin of today's word.

"The last rays of the sun linger, hanging on to clouds whose bizarre formation is never more apparent, while the evening gently settles in, erasing the nitid contours of objects and people." Celeste Olalquiaga, The Artificial Kingdom: A Treasury of the Kitsch Experience, Pantheon Books, 1998.

sockdolager (sok-DOL-uh-juhr) noun

1. A decisive blow or remark.

2. Something exceptional or outstanding.

[Of unknown origin, apparently from sock.]

This sockdolager of a word has an unusual claim to fame in the US history. It turned out to be the cue on which John Wilkes Booth fired his shot at President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was watching the play "An American Cousin" in Ford Theater on that fateful night. His killer, Booth, an actor himself and aware of the dialog, knew the line that brought the loudest burst of laughter from the audience was:

"Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sockdologising old man-trap."

Booth fired his gun at that precise moment to muffle the loud noise of his shot with the guffaws from the audience, and quietly escaped.

"This year's storm was a sockdolager. The white stuff pounded the East Coast." Be Prepared, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), Jan 17, 1996.

bloviate (BLO-vee-ayt) verb intr.

To speak pompously.

[Pseudo-Latin alteration of blow, to boast; popularized by 29th US

President, Warren G. Harding (1865-1923).]

"The Legislature bloviates about protecting our youth and being sure that no one is left behind. But at the first sign of trouble, it's showing indications that it's more concerned with politics than education." Backing Off in Albany, The Buffalo News, Nov 8, 1999.