

Dec 19, 2017 This week’s theme

There’s a word for it



This week’s words

ergophobia

breviloquence

exeleutherostomize

corpocracy

obdormition



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breviloquence PRONUNCIATION: (bri-VIL-uh-kwens)

MEANING: noun: Speaking briefly and concisely.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin breviloquentia, from brevis (short) + loquentia (speaking), from loqui (to speak). Earliest documented use: 1656.

NOTES: So many choices when it comes to speaking. You might prefer short-windedness and be breviloquent or you can be talkative ( loquacious ). You can talk in your sleep ( somniloquy , which is a special kind of soliloquy). You can even speak through your tummy, literally speaking ( ventriloquism ).

USAGE: “She was, after all, Antonía Barclay, and was not known for her breviloquence.

‘I have always loved you, I will always love you, and I will never stop showing you how much I love you. In fact, Mr. Claymore, I really must insist upon proving my love for you by answering your infinite number of questions in complete sentences, complete paragraphs, and completely in calligraphy.’”

Jane Carter Barrett; Antonia Barclay and Her Scottish Claymore; River Grove Books; 2016.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: "Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!" -Charles Dickens, novelist (1812-1870) [in A Christmas Carol, published on this date in 1843]





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