Lets Have Words by Mary L Holden

English poet and novelist Charlotte Bront? lived between the years 1816 and 1855. She wrote seven beautiful words into this great big question: “Who has words at the right moment?”

Words are always a good thing to have in your arsenal of tools for living life. In this, and in forthcoming issues of In the Limelight magazine, the “Let’s Have Words” column will begin with a quiz that leads to the word’s definition and a challenge for you to use it in a sentence.

These seven words are at play in September 2020. Have fun guessing (or knowing) the definitions and then, be empowered to place them in a sentence (as did others in the “answer paragraphs”) the next time you engage with someone in a “Let’s Have Words” kind of conversation.

Embiggen

A) To imply.

B) The outer ring of a two-piece tart pan.

C) To enlarge (as on a computer screen).

D) A loop of elastic used to hook an interior button of an overcoat.

Irregardless

A) A support for double negatives.

B) Despite the fact or condition.

C) Humoring the word “regard.”

D) The enjoyment of swimming upstream.

Latrophobia

A) An intense fear of doctors.

B) Anxiety when in Southern latitudes.

C) To feel scared of driving on Los Angeles freeways.

D) Dread of the calorie count in lasagna.

Microtarget

A) Archery: when an arrow fails to pierce the “boss.”

B) Medicine: Proper use of the lancet in gathering tiny samples of blood.

C) Cards: A fake “tell” in poker.

D) Marketing: Data regarding an individual buyer.

Univerbation

A) Condensation of several words into one.

B) Adding more than three herbs to a recipe.

C) Sorting dirty laundry into proper categories.

D) The sound of an audience that will not shush.

Agathokakological

A) A love of reading mysteries.

B) The process of becoming a martyr.

C) A procedure used to crush grapes.

D) Composed of both good and evil.

Opprobrium

A) Standing on the middle ground.

B) In a state of utmost dishonor.

C) The mood during graduation ceremonies.

D) An inappropriate solution to a problem.

The transitive verb, embiggen, means to make more expansive, such as when you use two fingers to enlarge a photo held inside your cellular telephone’s screen. “This incredible chart was the final product. (Click to embiggen.)” ~ Erik Malinowski

Irregardless of the fact that this adverb was first seen in print as early as 1795, it did not make it into a dictionary until the year 1912 when the Wentworth American Dialect Dictionary noted that it may have originated in western Indiana (although it was known to have been in use in South Carolina). “We label irregardless as ‘nonstandard’ rather than ‘slang.’” ~ Merriam-Webster, Inc.

Medical doctors strike fear in the body parts of those with latrophobia. “What noun represents the worst condition: latrophobia or pandemic?” ~ Anonymous

Have you ever researched a purchase on the internet, perhaps a mattress, and then noticed advertisements for mattresses of many brands? If yes, you were a victim of advertisers skilled at making microtarget a noun. “Microtargeting lets campaigns tap Facebook's vast caches of data to reach specific audiences with pinpoint accuracy, going after voters in certain neighborhoods, jobs and age ranges, or even serving up ads only to fans of certain television shows or sports teams.” ~ Nancy Scola, 1986

The phrase, “God be with you,” became “goodbye” through univerbation. “Standard examples of univerbation are cupboard, brainstorming, or necklace.” ~ WordHippo

This adjective itself: agathokakological, is composed of Ancient Greek words for good (agathós) and evil (kakós). “For indeed upon the agathokakological globe, there are opposite qualities always to be found." ~ Robert Southey

It’s a thing, a noun; opprobrium is “a state of extreme dishonor,” and Jane Eyre knew exactly what it meant. “My head still ached and bled with the blow and fall I had received: no one had reproved John for wantonly striking me; and because I had turned against him to avert farther irrational violence, I was loaded with general opprobrium.” ~ Charlotte Bront?

Mary L. Holden is a freelance editor and writer.

www.marylholdeneditor.com.

Published In the Limelight (Winter 2020 edition)