Vocabulary Mnemonics

July 12, 2025

Matt’s words

Impute (v): think someone guilty of or capable of; also, to imply or suggest

I can’t believe you would impute that I would lie. 

Are you imputing that I…

Mnemonic: An imp is a bad creature. Combine “imp” and “you.” I’m not saying you are an imp. 

Vexillology (n): study of flags

“… flags should have simple elements, a limited number of colors, and no words. One of the tenets of vexillology is that the elements of the flag should be simple enough to be easily drawn by a child.” — The Toledo (Ohio) Blade, 9 Jan. 2025

Mnemonic: Imagine a group of boys creating a flag to fly from their boat. They put a big X on it and call it their vexill (sounds like “vessel”).

Apparatchik (n): blind follower 

Played by “What We Do in the Shadows’” Matt Berry, Shazbor is a faithful party apparatchik and staunch defender of his country’s traditions …” — Damon Wise, Deadline, 25 Jan. 2025

Mnemonic: Parrot is in the middle. Think of a “parrot chick” who just repeats the party line. 

Gustatory (adj): related to eating or sense of taste 

For those who have never experienced the gustatory pleasure, these cream puffs consist of freshly baked pastry shells generously covered with powdered sugar and bloated with chilled vanilla pudding that has been pumped into them. — Carl Hamilton, The Cecil Whig (Elkton, Maryland), 12 Feb. 2025

Mnemonic: From the Spanish, “gusto” means flavor or taste. Also, breaking down the word, “gusto” means enthusiasm, and the “Tories” were the people during the American Revolutionary period who were loyal to England (the “bad guys,” from the perspective of the future Americans). The American rebels wanted to “eat the Tories’ lunch” with gusto.

Wend (v): to wind your way from one place to another 

They liked to wend their way up the mountain. 

Mnemonic: Wind your way to the end. 

Dr. Mom’s words

Epithet (n): a characterizing word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing (e.g., “Richard the Lionhearted,” “Ivan the Terrible,” “Miss Philanthropy”; more recently, a disparaging or derogatory word or phrased used to describe a person or a group

Old men are often unfairly awarded the epithet “dirty.”

The word “epithet” is suffering a vulgarization that is giving it an abusive imputation. H. W. Fowler, 1926

Mnemonic: “Pith” inside the word reminds us of a word or phrase being “pithy” (Episode 44), meaning concise or clever in just a few words. An epithet like “Peter the Great” is pithy, summing him up in just a word.

Egress (n): an exit; the action of going out or leaving a place

The frightened children desperately searched for a means of egress from the haunted house.

Mnemonic: Contrast “e”gress with “pro”gress or “in”gress. The latter words mean to move forward or into, but “e,” or “ex,” means to go away from.

Brackish (adj): salty, originally, but now meaning unappetizing, murky yucky, even stinky liquid

Dark long-body snake eels live in brackishwater where the Mekong River meets the South China Sea. —Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 19 Mar. 2025

Mnemonic: Brack rhymes with Drac, as in Dracula. Count “Bracula” drinks blood, which most of us would consider brackish. 

Hoary (adj): gray or white, as if with age

The trees in the orchard were hoary with lichen.

…a hoary old fellow with a face of white stubble…

Mnemonic: The word looks like “hairy,” but with an “o” instead of an “i.” The “o” can remind you of “old.” A hoary old man has white/gray and sometimes crazy hair. Something hoary refers to old/ancient.

Hanlon’s Razor (n): a mental model that basically says never to attribute to malevolence what can be adequately explained by incompetence. In other words, give people the benefit of the doubt.

Mnemonic: Think of two people, Han and Lon. Han is the man; he’s got a plan. He’s clever and always at the top of his game. Nothing gets past him. Lon, on the other hand, is a pawn; he’s wan (pale and sickly). He doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s essentially “gone.” Hanlon’s razor would say to assume Lon is at work rather than Han. Most people just aren’t that invested.

COLOSSAL COMPILATION:

The epithet Aunt Una the Unpredictable perfectly fits my dear relative, a hoary-haired apparatchik-turned-vexillologist of 95 years who, despite occasional gustatory challenges, manages to wend her way through the oft-brackish waters of life by following Hanlon’s razor and never imputing ill will to anyone or heading for egress at the first sign of rough seas.