Vocabulary Mnemonics

April 26, 2025

Matt’s words

Port (adj, n, v): the right side of the boat

Store the drinks on the port side (adj)

Starboard (adj, n, v): the left side of the boat

The boat is tilting to starboard (v)

Mnemonic: Port has four letters, so does “left.”

Nautical mile (n): Around 1.2 land miles

Used to account for the curvature of the Earth.

The journey is 3,000 nautical miles (3,452 miles).

Mnemonic: Imagine tying two “knots” in a mile long rope to make it slightly longer.

Alee (adj, adv): on the side of the ship that’s sheltered from the wind

“Go on the alee side.”

Mnemonic: It sounds like “alley.” An alley is protected from wind

Flotsam (n): floating wreckage of a ship

Jetsam (n): cargo jettisoned to lighten the load; odds and ends

They thought they saw a pod of dolphins, but it was just flotsam.

An environmental envoi, perhaps, with Buzz washed up on a beach alongside other jetsam, or clogging the gullet of a whale?  —Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 21 June 2019

Everything was saved by default, so all the flotsam and jetsam of daily work was captured in a sort of running ledger.  —Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic, 12 Oct. 2021

Mnemonic: Sounds like “float,” and jet is the beginning of “jettison.”

Dr. Mom’s words

Salutation (n): a greeting, by gesture or utterance; standard way of addressing someone in a letter

We would not expect a love letter to include a formal address and salutation.

A handshake and saying “hello” are common salutations.

Mnemonic: “Salute” is at the beginning of the word, so think of soldiers saluting upon encountering each other. That’s their greeting.

Felicitate (v): to praise someone and say that you approve of or are pleased about a special or unusual achievement; to congratulate

The entire organization should be felicitated for its outstanding results.

I felicitate you for the efforts made and invite you to continue them.

Mnemonic: In Spanish, “feliz” means happy, as in “feliz cumpleanos” for “happy birthday.” So to “feliz-citate,” you make someone happy by congratulating them.

Indurate (v): to harden, as in rock, tissue, or people (by making callous, stubborn, or unfeeling); also, to make enduring, as in to confirm or establish; antonym is enfeeble

Life’s challenges can indurate one to privation and suffering, but be careful about becoming unsympathetic.

Mnemonic: Something you indurate endures. It is set, hardened, established.

Meta (adj): a prefix meaning “about itself,” or self-referential; analyzing something from a higher level, as if looking in on itself.

(The Greek prefix “meta” means change, beyond, after. We’re highlighting a way the prefix is commonly used today.)

Metacognition is thinking about thinking (cognition); metadata are data investigating data.

The enterprise is inherently “meta” since it doesn’t review movies, for example; it reviews the reviewers who review movies.

Mnemonic: Meta sounds like “midda,” or in the middle of. You’re in the middle of the thing after “meta.” For example, “metamemory” means you’re in the middle of memory, or your knowledge of your own memory processes and contents.

Beta (adj): the version of a piece of software, for example, that is ready to be tested on the public

Tesla opened the beta up to any car with the right hardware on the same day as the eight-car crash. -Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 22 Dec. 2022.

Take it from a film critic: Even gawky beta nerds get smothered by their own internalized masculinity. Merriam-Webster online

Mnemonic: Beta is the second letter of the Greek alphabet (after alpha), so think of the second version of something. It’s much closer now to being ready.

COLOSSAL COMPILATION:

After a thorough meta-analysis of reports investigating the foundering of the beta version of its new cruise ship, Happy Waves Cruise Line offers salutations and felicitations to passengers alee on the starboard side of the vessel, a fortuitous place to be because no flotsam or jetsam indurated there, and condolences to those on the port side who were, most lamentably, swept 10 nautical miles away into shark-infested waters.