Vocabulary Mnemonics

June 28, 2025

Matt’s words

Thermotropism (n): A plant’s tendency to move toward warmth.

A tree bending to be in the sun…

The way Mom naturally gravitates toward a space heater, you’d think she’s thermotropic. 😊

Mnemonic: Thermo means “heat.” Tropism is like tropics.

Boomerasking (n): asking a question of someone purely as a pretext for answering the question yourself; there is also boomersharing, boomercomplaining, etc.

Example: “How are you feeling?” I’m asking because I’m feeling pretty…

Johnny called me to ask me how my day went, but when he quickly launched into a tirade I realized he was just boomerasking.

Mnemonic: A boomerang loops right back to you, which is what you do after asking the question.

Scud (v): dart around, move around quickly

Still, he was alive, and the wind was in his hair, and the cloud was scudding through the sky like a galleon at full sail. – Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Mnemonic: Think of a scud missile.

Euphonious (adj): having a pleasant sound, as opposed to cacophonous

In her poem “The Ozark Odes,” for instance, one section comprises no more than the curious, euphonious names of Arkansas towns. – New York Times

Mnemonic: Think of euphoria and phone combined.

Star-crossed (adj): doomed to fail (usually referring to love)

“…a pair of star-cross’d lovers.” – Shakespear, Romeo and Juliet

One of the announcers actually gets teary because it seems the odds will never be in our favor, we star-crossed lovers of District 12. – Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Mnemonic: When the stars align things are working out. When they’re crossed bad things will happen

Dr. Mom’s words

Incontrovertible (adj): not able to be denied or disputed

…incontrovertible proof…

According to incontrovertible evidence, the bombings were carried out by the Federal Security Service (FSB) precisely to bring Putin to power. —Daniel Foster, National Review, 15 May 2025

Mnemonic: The Latin base of this word is “controversus,” which literally means “turned against.” (Imagine a Komodo dragon vs. a king cobra.) Something “in”controversus or incontrovertible is something you can’t turn against—it is indisputable.

Occam’s Razor (n): From philosophy: In problem solving, it is best to search for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. In other words, look for the simplest explanation first. It is also known as the law of parsimony. (Episode 7: parsimonious, or sparing, stingy)

Famous saying exemplifying this: When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.

Example from medicine: When explaining a headache, think of dehydration rather than a brain tumor.

Example from behavioral science: A child acts out late before bed due to being overtired, not because of a sleep disorder.

Mnemonic: Occam’s Razor sounds like “Awesome razor.” Picture an awesome—huge—razor. With this huge razor, you cut away all the fat, excess, etc., from a piece of meat. You cut away all the excess and try to get to the “meat” of it.

Asinine (adj): extremely or utterly foolish or silly

… geniuses like Brando strike self and material together in a way that sets off some incomparable spark, radiating so much charisma that they get away with choices that would seem asinine from anyone else.—Jeremy McCarter, New York Times Book Review, 4 Jan. 2009

It was asinine of me to expect my teenage students to excel on a test given on Halloween.

Mnemonic: The first syllable of the word says it all. You don’t want to make an a__ of yourself, so don’t do asinine things.

Elegiac (adj): (ell-uh-jye’-ic) relating to, or characteristic of, an elegy; expressing grief or loss through words

My favorite poets work is often haunting and elegiac.

Mnemonic: An elegy (which may be traced to the Greek word elegos , “song of mourning”) commonly refers to a song or poem lamenting one who is dead; the word may also refer somewhat figuratively to a nostalgic poem, or to a kind of musical composition.

Concoct (v): to prepare by combining raw materials; also, to devise or create (a story or plan)

…concoct a smoothie…

The clever student concocted an utterly impossible but entertaining story as to why he was late to class.

Mnemonic: “Con” means together, and the Latin verb “coquere” (co’-ker-uh) means to cook. So you are “cooking together,” whether it be foods or explanations.

COLOSSAL COMPILATION:

Hearing about boomerasking, my mind incontrovertibly scuds around, concocting asinine rationales for why I, sadly, engage in it often; subsequently, I proceed to ignore Occam’s Razor and favor explanations like my past star–crossed romances, my almost-clinical thermopropism, my uneuphonious voice, or my love of elegiac literature.