Vocabulary Mnemonics

December 14, 2024

Matt’s words

Macabre (adj): having to do with death; grim

Inspired, Jack decides to stage his own macabre version of Christmas, complete with skeleton reindeer and presents that fight back.—EW.com, 30 Nov. 2024

Mnemonic: Think of a macaw killed by a cob of corn.

Kismet (n): destiny; fate; used to describe events that seem predetermined

I can’t believe we ran into each other! It’s kismet!

They didn’t know it right away, but when Heather Juergensen and Jennifer Westfeldt met at a New York theater retreat in the late ’90s, it was kismet.—Elaina Patton

Mnemonic: something to do with “met”

Gossamer (n): cobweb; something very light/thin or delicate

Her gossamer cape floated freely in the breeze.

No matter how far-fetched the premise or gossamer-thin the story… —Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 7 May 2020

Mnemonic: Think of a gauze hammer. It would just float away. That’s very close to a gossamer

Fondant (n): type of icing; frosting for decorative cakes

The signature Raspberry Lunch Box Tart, which is only available for lunch and dinner, is stuffed with raspberry marmalade and covered in strawberry fondant. —Deanne Revel, Southern Living, 14 Aug. 2024

Mnemonic: It’s not a fondue party, it’s a fondant party.

Somniloquy (n): sleep talking

“How long are we going to wait out here?” complained Nawin in his somniloquy. -–Sills, Steven (Steven David Justin)

Almost 61 percent of subjects in group three reported experiencing somniloquy at least “rarely” in the last year, and 40.9 percent reported somnambulism. – PhysOrg.com

I heard you doing somniloquy.

Mnemonic: Think “insomnia” combined with “loquacious.”

Dr. Mom’s words

Groak (v): to stare silently at someone while they are eating in hopes that they will share some of their food

Always careful not to establish eye contact with potential groakers, Mark wolfed down the last of his mother’s famous apple pie.

Do you grok (Episode 31) that when you groak it makes me not want to give you a slice?

Mnemonic: There’s a giant named Groak who is as grand as an oak (gr-oak). He’s eating a huge plate of food, and you, being a small, hungry human, groak at Groak so he might share some deliciousness with you. Your best hope, of course, is that Groak will choke and all the food will be yours.

Profligate (n): someone who spends money freely or foolishly; a spendthrift or fritterer. Also, a degenerate; a person who has sunk below the normal moral standard

Despite his brilliance and key role in the founding of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was nonetheless a profligate could not actually afford the lavish style in which he lived at Monticello.

Mnemonic: Think of “profit gate” in the sense of a scandal (originally in “Watergate”). Where did the profits go? A profligate person has been scandalously careless with the profits, and they’ve disappeared.

Pithy (adj): expressing an idea cleverly in a few words; concise, succinct

I envy people who can come up with pithy remarks on the fly.

Mnemonic: Think of a pithy smithy (a blacksmith). A skilled blacksmith strikes the metal and accomplishes the job in one fell swoop. He doesn’t have to pound a lot because he’s a pithy smithy.

Stoat (n): a small, brown-and-white, weasel-type animal whose fur turns white during the winter; from the weasel family; an ermine

The increase in seeds also means more rats, stoatsand feral cats — all of which pose risks to the bird.
Leah Asmelash and Brian Ries, CNN, 19 July 2019

You’ve been reading that awful little stoat’s awful little book. Robert Barnard’s Death in Purple Prose

Mnemonic: The word can be an acronym. What is a stoat? A small, thin, ocher animal that transforms. It looks so cute and sweet but it’s a feral, carnivorous little cuss you wouldn’t try to domesticate.  

Akrasia (n): the tendency to act against one’s better judgment due to a lack of mental strength or willpower

Borrowing Socrates’ notion in Plato’s Protagoras dialogue: Precisely how is it possible that, if one judges action A to be the best course of action, one would do anything other than A? That would be akrasia.

Mnemonic: It would be “crazy”—even though we all do it—to act against your own best interest because you don’t have command over yourself.

BIG sentence:

Kismet had determined that Groak, a profligate giant who unwisely had a pet stoat, suffered from several ailments, most notably somniloquy, which caused him to speak in pithy but macabre aphorisms while under his gossamer covers at night, and bouts of akrasia, which resulted in his consuming nothing but fuchsia fondant for days on end.cessary to the kingdom.