Use More Words

More words!  Rules about judging continue to apply.


fauxgress (n): portmanteau of “faux” and “progress” - the mainstreaming or appropriating of a progressive goal through suspect logic and/or execution
example Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”
from Social Justice League

ensorcell (v): to bewitch, enchant - basically the verb for sorceror
usage As you can tell, I could not have been more ensorcelled by the movie star/makeup artist/entrepreneur [Salma Hayek].
from Lucky Magazine (yes, there are occasionally words in that magazine)

regret ceiling (n): the maximum amount of guilt or remorse one can feel before forgetting/moving on from a regrettable event or situation.  I mostly like this phrase because it could be a good way to explain certain aspects of my personality/behavior to other people: I am prone to high regret ceilings.

chichi: "showily or affectedly elegant or trendy; pretentious" (dictionary.com)  Onamatopoetic, no?
pronunciation: shishi

loaded for bear: mentally and/or physically prepared (or perhaps overprepared) for a strenous task.
etymology: Originated with hunters, who would need to carry different equipment (& different expectations) for hunting bear than for any other type of game in north america.
from Brian Cranston's interview with Marc Maron on the WTF podcast (Sidebar: Brian Cranston is AWESOME.  He was once wanted for murder.  And then he was the dad on Malcolm in the Middle.)

geech: I saw this word in a blog post that I apparently did not bookmark.  It was used as a verb and I think it was shorthand for gchatting, but can't find evidence of that usage in five minutes of Googling and apparently that's my research limit today. It has a number of colorful definitions on Urban Dictionary but other evidence (The Simpsons, as well as a namesake comic strip and beer) suggests connections to small-town/rural America.  Any insights would be appreciated!

farting at a fan: pointlessly doing (presumably minor) damage to one's self.  Gross, funny and accurate.
from Urban Dictionary Word of the Day

opuscule: A small or minor work.  (How deliciously dismissive does that term sound?  Probably because "puscule" sounds like "pustule." I don't think it's supposed to be derogatory but it's hard to escape the connection.)
from Dictionary.com Word of the Day

postprandial: after eating.  Like postcoital, but . . . also good. "Prandium" is Latin for "late breakfast" (or second breakfast). related: jentacular - pertaining to Latin "jentaculum," or first breakfast.
from I forget.

bellwether: this one is pretty well-known but the word's modern meaning of vanguard/trendsetter comes from the word for a ram (wether) who wore a bell to lead his flock of sheep. Both cynical and accurate as an analogy for cultural and political trends.

hangry: angry as a result of hunger
from Ceejus, maybe?  Not sure.