Merriam Webster's 'word of the year' meaning: expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word 'yay'
Another on the list was 'Pecksniffian', from a character in Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit meaning: unctuously hypocritical.
Just listening to a radio interview while typing and the guest etymologist (Anatoly Liberman) is a bit scathing about both of these entries, but I missed the rationale! I think he thinks Pecksniffian (which I'm looking forward to using) has been around too long.
1 comment:
I wasn't sure what unctuously meant so:
unctu·ous·ly adv.
unctu·ous·ness, unctu·osi·ty (-s-t) n.
Synonyms: unctuous, fulsome, oily, oleaginous, smarmy
These adjectives mean insincerely, self-servingly, or smugly agreeable or earnest: an unctuous toady; gave the dictator a fulsome introduction; oily praise; oleaginous hypocrisy; smarmy self-importance.
It would be smugly agreeable to call someone an unctuous toady (if appropriate of course)...
x Jane
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