I had to spend some time in word jail this week.
Turns out supercede is not the right spelling.
It's supersede.
So convinced was I that Otto, my Czech speller was off his rocker that I actually phoned a friend: Mary M. Webster.
Yup. Supersede!
Did you learn a new word this week?
31 comments:
Well, apparently I just learned how to spell supersede.
Tatch: A spot or stain.
The blackguard has left a tatch upon my gentle reputation and there is nothing left for me to do but murder the wretch.
Patience, focus, determination. I have to relearn those on an almost daily basis... Oh, and the word "remember."
I too just learned how to spell supersede.
Also, maybe not a new word entirely but. In Frisco, North Carolina (at least I think it's in Frisco. It's south of Buxton) there's a big yellow-painted building with a red roof that's a touristy store that sells fudge and pirate crap and seashells and stuff, called the Scotch Bonnet. We've been taking this vacation since 1989 and I always thought a Scotch Bonnet was only the hot pepper that goes into like, jerk seasoning. Well, this year, I finally for the first time went into that store, and among the seashells? The Scotch Bonnet, which is North Carolina's state shell. Whoops.
(I did not buy any of their fudge, it's $14.99/lb. My aunt got some other fudge on Ocracoke from a little storefront that you don't even walk into, it's just a window next to a kite shop)
(The deletions above were mine, I was typing on a tiny iPhone SE and my thumbs can't spell.)
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I’m an occasional beach naturalist. I did not know what all that stuff was on the ocean and shore when I moved to the Puget Sound 16 years ago. So I became a volunteer naturalist; learning by teaching albeit with a 3 month course in all things near, in and on salt water.
This is the month of very low tides. I was out there ‘teaching’ beachcombers when a little girl asked me. “What do you call one algae?” I had to look it up.
Today’s new word is ‘Alga’ the actual, really, truly word for one member of an algae.
Grandma always said, “If you learn something new every day, you won’t get bored.
And boredom is no one’s responsibility but your own”
Nero Wolfe uses the word "egregious" quite often, and I always have to look it up. Every time. This has been going on for decades. I don't know why the meaning of that word will not stick in my mind; it just won't..
Propinquity! I've stumbled across it before, but I wouldn't have been able to use it in a sentence. I encountered it this week when I was cleaning up after a youth group project. We wrote short notes of encouragement, attached them to miniature plastic Chuck Taylors and the kids deployed them surreptitiously around school, the mall, and other places where they might be picked up by a kid who could us an encouraging word. Somehow the little red sneaker that shouted "Propinquity!" was left behind. I think I need to hide it in the YA section of my favorite library. Next to which book, though?
Adele, "egregious" is one of those words that's onomatapoetic for me, which makes it easy to remember. Brains are funny things!
For years, I have read and pronounced "mitigate" as "migitate."
But, Kate, is it "al-jee" or "al-ghee"?
I learn to spell new words every week. Sadly they're often the same words. Oh, and I verified how to pronouce corgi.
Ecstasy, Jubilance, Exultation - not new words but new feelings. I am done. I have finished not one book but two. Ok, not done, done but one full book ready for a last round of beta reading next week. And by time I am out of the query trenches, provided I am successful, I will have two complete manuscripts, and a third really close to done. I know, I know. I am only going to query one- the one that has been revised and revised over the last two and a half years and makes for a thrilling tale.
Boy, writing The End has never felt this good before. And I've done it many, many times. You guys know what I mean. Well, I am going to have a little drink and imbibe this feeling a bit longer. Before the query trenches casts me back to earth. I think I will let this sit two weeks. Then the beta readers. Another freshen up and dotting the I's and crossing the T's. Then September. Yes, that's the ticket. I will query in September. I've waited this long. September will be grand. Oh my, I feel so high. Maybe that's sleep deprivation and too much coffee. Well, we shall see.
My favourite Word of the Day from last week was 'Orgulous', meaning haughty, proud. I love words that evoke their own meaning.
I like Haggard Hawks on Twitter. This account tweets definitions of words that might be little used, or archaic or slang, such as Nugipolyloquous (one 'who talks a great deal on trivial subjects, or without saying anything worthwhile'). 'To do something SAUCE-MALAPERTLY is to do it insolently or impertinently.'
I've just realised that I could have used FUMIVENDULOUS (smelling of smoke) in that sentence yesterday. Curses.
E.M Goldsmith, high five!
Congratulations EM!
I think it is allowed a c there in British English. I definitely remember looking it up before and finding both spellings were correct. Ever thought of moving to London? The Queen lives there, it can't be that bad.
Words I learnt this week: Nicknackatory. It means toy shop, apparently.
Pilliwinks is a tortorture device, and I’m crushed that I can’t add it to my list of potential puppy/kitten names.
Re supersede
Is it any surprise, given the following?
1. Precede
2. Intercede
3. Concede
4. Recede
5. Secede
6. Accede
7. Cede
Supersede seems to be the only “s” one, so I think we can all sleep easier tonight!
I learnt me a mess of new words recently. I've been filling in the holes in my knowledge of Pratchett's Discworld. Last week was Sourcery.
I am not sure of those words will work in anything I write, my science fiction is different.
Supersede is one of those words from 1600's France. It has no intention of following the rules of the English language. It laughs at people like us, who used supercede since half a century's worth of the last millennium.
I thought you wear a bathing suit to go swimming, but I was wrong. According to my 3-y-o granddaughter, it's a baby soup.
@NLiu It’s not a question of dialect, but one of etymology. The ‘sede’ in supersede is from the Latin sedere (to sit), whereas ‘cede’ is from cedere (to go). The misspelling is common in most parts of the world, ‘cede’ just looks more natural to us.
Congrats E.M.!
Ooh, Latin etymology! Touche! I consider myself resoundingly trounced. It still doesn't explain why my dictionary was happy with either, but Ms Webster and Latin can't both be wrong. I bow out; and bow to your superior spelling prowess.
John Goodman (as Dan Conners) sings JAILHOUSE ROCK on Roseanne
I learned about bight yesterday evening when I was attempting to text “good night” and the little red line didn’t show up under bight. Turns out it is a curve or recess in a coastline.
I just discovered the phrase sui generis which means being in a class by itself.
NLiu not so much superior spelling prowess as the abject humiliation of getting it wrong on a spelling test in middle school and trying to figure out why!
This post triggered an old John Updike memory:
I drive my car to supermarket,
The way I take is superhigh,
A superlot is where I park it,
And Super Suds are what I buy.
Supersalesmen sell me tonic—
Super-Tone-O, for Relief.
The planes I ride are supersonic.
In trains, I like the Super Chief.
Supercilious men and women
Call me superficial—me,
Who so superbly learned to swim in
Supercolossality.
Superphosphate-fed foods feed me;
Superservice keeps me new.
Who would dare to supersede me,
Super-super-superwho?
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