# Words You Want To Use, But Don't Know WITF They Mean **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 17, 2009, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730 "2009-05-17T07:01:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/41 "2009-07-26T16:26:21Z")
Oh, Og! Don’t get **me** started (former English teacher)! **Cavalry** for _Calvary_. Jesus Christ! 😉 Q ---
**Author:** ![Other\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Other\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Other_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/42 "2009-07-26T21:07:53Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > Someone once asked me if I was being _facetious_? > > That’s one which has always “tripped” me up. > > I thought it meant “many-faceted”. > > Sheesh! 😉 > > Q Beware; it is evil. RUN AWAY!!! From the thread, “The Ugliest Word”(My Post): > [@](#): > > I don’t like the word facetious. Someone I no longer like used that word too often, so now it is quite ugly and grating toward me. Which is why it is evil. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/43 "2009-07-26T21:30:47Z")
A little off the subject, but. . I was familar with the term “cat’s paw” since viewing the original “Star Trek” ep by that name. However, it was only in the past year or so that I actually learned [what the word meant](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cats%20paw). (Meaning 2, in this case.) ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/44 "2009-07-26T22:01:43Z")
The innate _concupiscence_ of this board often leads to ensuant penes. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/45 "2009-07-26T22:12:01Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > The innate _concupiscence_ of this board often leads to ensuant penes. Nothing a shot can’t cure. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/46 "2009-07-26T23:43:58Z")
They have lost all meaning to modern people, so using them puzles many. Some examples: -reprobate -tomfoolery -plug ugly -crapulous ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/47 "2009-07-27T00:56:17Z")
Ham doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/48 "2009-07-28T16:30:00Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > -plug ugly I have just at this very moment learned that I’ve been misreading that for decades. (I always thought it was “pug ugly.”) ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/49 "2009-07-28T17:41:32Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > I think **nonplussed** ’s definition needs to be changed legitimately to “unsurprised”. I find myself constantly re-looking up this word’s definition as it just won’t stick in my head. **Spendthrift** is another one like this. Although I _do_ use it, and once slyly got a friend to think I was complimenting him… until he thought about who’d complimented him and went to look it up. 😃 Same guy has problems with “stalagtite” and “stalagmite.” Even after I’d taught him the mnemonic. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/50 "2009-07-28T17:55:19Z")
Yeah, and why didn’t _Stalag 17_ happen in a cave? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/51 "2009-07-28T18:14:52Z")
> [@infinitii](#): > > I like hearing or reading new words and not really knowing what they mean, but if they pop up enough I sort of unintentionally decide what definition it should have (even if that’s wrong). Usually it isn’t wrong, because this is how vocabulary is naturally acquired. Research has shown that about 7-9 exposures in this manner (that is, contextualized exposure) are how we learn vocabulary. Humans don’t learn the vast majority of their vocabulary with a dictionary or homework assignments from their middle school English teacher. They learn it simply by hearing and reading meaningful, contextualized language repeatedly. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/52 "2009-07-28T18:46:28Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > According to [this site](http://www.answers.com/topic/eponym) an eponym is either something named after a person, or a person for whom something is named. Eponymous just means relating to an eponym. > > So I think “eponymous” can legitimately be used to refer to a character who gives his name to a book, but also in great variety of other cases. E.g., “You may have heard of the physicist Erwin Schrödinger, whose eponymous cat is simultaneously alive and dead.” Clearly ya’ll haven’t read enough (pop) music reviews. I’ve been convinced for a while that ‘eponymous’ can now only legally be used to describe an album. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/53 "2009-07-28T19:55:15Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Ineffable. Actually I know what it means but I can’t seem to put it into words. “Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.” Douglas Adams (Ineffable: Too sacred to be spoken. Inexpressible.) ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/54 "2009-07-28T19:58:22Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > (Ineffable: Too sacred to be spoken. Inexpressible.) I’ve seen people call something like this a “whoosh,” but I’m not sure what it means–it must have gone over my head. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/55 "2009-07-28T20:30:39Z")
> [@kjckjc](#): > > Inconceivable. > > I keep using that word. I don’t think it means what I think it means. It refers to males. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730/56 "2009-07-29T02:32:27Z")
prepossessing - I want it to mean self-aware or precocious since that always seems to fit the contexts it’s used in, but it just means pleasing or making a favorable impression. Why do people talk about children that way? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-want-to-use-but-dont-know-witf-they-mean/496730.md?page=2)