Vocabulary Mnemonics

April 19, 2025

Matt’s words

Insipid (adj): dull; flat; lacking taste or flavor

I just want to get home. I’ve had enough of this insipid coffee.

While it is fashionable to write off that decade as an insipid time, one long pajama party, the ’50s, in sport at least, were a revolutionary age. —Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated, 27 Dec. 1999–31 Jan. 2000

I’d climbed and fished in the emptiest reaches of the American West, but Alaska made the wilds of the lower 48 seem insipid and tame, a toothless simulacrum. —Jon Krakauer, Smithsonian, June 1995

Mnemonic: “In”means “not,” so it’s not something you would sip.

Shibboleth (n):  a belief held by a particular group that others usually don’t believe. Can sometimes be widely held

History: Ephraimites tried to sneak to the Gilead side after getting beaten. They made them pronounce “shibboleth,” and if they pronounced it wrong they killed them.

Progressive shibboleths… conservative shibboleths.

We need to be tough on crime…

We need to protect the planet…

Her mission was to make a beautiful, livable, and—most important—eco-friendly interior that bucked the tired shibboleth that green living isn’t pretty. — Charles Curkin, ELLE Decor, 30 Sep. 2022

Mnemonic: Think about how some people say “shi*” and others say “shoot.”

Epiphenomenon (n): a second phenomenon accompanying another and caused by it

Example #1: When we play, we have fun, which causes us to laugh.

Example #2: Break your neck. This causes pain, but it also causes depression.

Dreams, in other words, were just a neurological epiphenomenon left over from the meaningful parts of sleep — a side effect, an accident of biology, much like the way an incandescent light bulb designed to create light also happens to put out heat. —New York Times, 3 Nov. 2021

Mnemonic: Think of the epicenter of an earthquake. It’s not the direct center; it’s right above the center. Epiphenomenon is not the direct phenomenon; it’s around it though.

Pareidolia (n): Seeing meaningful images in clouds and other objects.

In fact, the human brain tends to perceive meaningful images in random patterns — a phenomenon known as pareidolia. —Ailsa Harvey, Space.com, 17 Jan. 2025

Look, that cloud looks like Santa? You’re just experiencing pareidolia.

Mnemonic: The beginning sounds like parade. At a parade you see lots floats and balloons that look like real things.

Gumshoe (n): detective

Lansbury became a household name thanks to her portrayal of an unusual gumshoe, often in perilous situations but always polite and clutching a sensible handbag. —Matt Donnelly, Variety, 16 Dec. 2024

Mnemonic: Detectives wore rubber shoes (“gums”) for stealth.

Dr. Mom’s words

Gourmand (n): a person who takes excessive pleasure in eating and drinking or one who enjoys good food and drink

During Lent, I spent my days longing to get back onto my computer, the way a gourmand anticipates a scrumptious feast.

Mnemonic: A gourmand may be a gourmet or a just a gorger.

Benighted (adj): in a state of pitiful or contemptible intellectual, social, or moral ignorance; overtaken by darkness

They saw themselves as bringers of culture to poor, benighted peoples. Merriam Webster

Mnemonic: “You be in the night,” as in “in the dark.” You’re ignorant or in a “dark” state of being.

Modicum (n): a small portion; a limited quantity

Some of my students exhibited barely a modicum of mathematical skill, especially after missing key concepts during the COVID lockdowns.

Mnemonic: A modicum of something is a moderate (on the small side) amount

Largesse (n): liberal giving, as of money, to or as if to an inferior; generosity

The family relied, thankfully temporarily, on the largesse of relatives after the father lost his job.

Whether the relative largesse of the period since then continues remains to be seen. —Chris Weatherspoon, The Athletic, 20 Mar. 2025

Mnemonic: Comes from the Anglo-French word “large,” meaning generous.

Matutinal (adj): of, relating to, or occurring in the morning

I’ve been hearing lately that, in the interest of my Vitamin D intake, my matutinal walks should occur when the sun is actually up as opposed to predawn.

He had awakened to black despair, but the sun and the matutinal breeze elevated his spirits considerably. Love Insurance, by Earl Derr Biggers (1914)

Mnemonic: Break the word up to be, “Ma tootin’ to all” that it’s time to get up. Imagine Ma with a bugle doing the morning reveille.

COLOSSAL COMPILATION:

Thanks to the largesse of a friend, a benighted gourmand, the unemployed gumshoe, without a modicum of care about wasting time, spends his matutinal hours engaging in discussions about pareidolial epiphenomena and his afternoons spewing shibboleths about every insipid topic he can think of.