Everyday Canvas

Sunday’s Focus: Words and Usage

Words are my life sentence in a way and by training, as language and thought go together. Even those who haven't formally studied linguistics have the affinity to play with words since there are normal words and also big words. Although most people have problems with big words, there's no reason why we shouldn't learn them. We can even use them without sounding like a prick. Not that, I use every word correctly all the time, but I try. Here are a few I thought I'd enter into my blog.


Mea Culpa is kind of an apology, a Latin expression with regret built into it, which can be used an interjection or a noun. The closest expression to it used today that I can think of is “My bad!”

-“You forgot to sweep the floor.”
-“Mea culpa! I'll do it right away.”

A certain presidential candidate owes mea culpa to the minorities of our nation.

Mea Culpa is not the same as excuse as excuse carries inside it the meaning of justification or qualification of a fault or defect.

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Rankle: to fester, to abrade while in the process of rotting (from Old French)

Figuratively speaking, it may mean to annoy or irritate while conveying a sense of ongoing emotional hurt or bitterness.

Cankle= calf + ankle
A wide, thick, or fat ankle that appears indistinguishable from the lower calf.

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Emoji = Cyberspace’s hieroglyphics or symbols, which as the machinations of Unicode, appear as true pictures
From Japanese, e = picture, moji = letter or character

Emoticon = Forerunner of the emoji, emoticon is a hybrid word made by combining emotion and icon.

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Unctuous is derived from a Latin word meaning ointment. It’s pronounced in three syllables.
Literal meaning is “oily and slippery, like ointment.”

Its original meaning used to be and to some still is, “sycophantic, groveling, and especially hypocritical.”

Although some food writers use it wrongly to mean, ‘succulent’.

Since anointing with oil is a symbolic act indicating that a person is being prepared for something serious, in religious context, “an unctuous person” is one who shows religious devotion or piety.

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A few Dys- words

dysgenic (adjective): showing or forcing on a damaging effect on the race, leaning toward or hinting at racial degeneration

dystopian (adjective): oppressive and miserable.

dystopia (noun) : opposite of utopia.
An existence in which people are oppressed by an intrusive government and horrid living conditions.

dysphagia (noun): difficulty in swallowing

dysplasia (noun): an abnormal growth or development

dysphoria (noun) = (opposite of euphoria) a feeling of unease or discomfort, such as embarrassment

dysphonia (noun): impairment of the voice

dyspepsia (noun): severe indigestion

dysrhythmia (noun): disordered rhythm in the brain waves

dyslexia (noun): a learning disability that shows difficulties in processing written language

dysentery (noun): an often epidemic or endemic disease of severe diarrhea

dystrophy (noun): a deterioration or wasting away of a body part or the whole body

dyskinesia (noun): impaired motion