Word Wednesday: New Year's Double Bonus Day

Happy 2012! Enjoy two new words for the price of one to kickstart a new year of dedicated blogging!

First up:

por·ten·tous

adj \pȯr-ˈten-təs\

: of, relating to, or constituting a portent portentous foreshadowing, hints of sinister and violent mysteries — Francine Prose>

: eliciting amazement or wonder : prodigious

a : being a grave or serious matter <portentous decisions> b : self-consciously solemn or important : pompous <portentous declamation unsalted by the least trace of humor — W. H. Pritchard> c : ponderously excessive portentous phrases — R. M. Coles>

— por·ten·tous·ly adverb

— por·ten·tous·ness noun

Use this word in a sentence!

The dead bird in the middle of the yard was portentous of much doom.

The extra weight I am carrying in my thighs is portentous of a rigorous New Year's exercise program.

This word is also associated with the word PORTENT, which is synonymous with omen, or sign. Some might believe that this connotes only negative usage, but quite the contrary! Portents can be good or bad. The point is, something portentous signifies something of, well, significance. But it sounds cooler when connected with doom.

Which brings us to our next word!

FORTUITOUS

for·tu·itous

adj \fȯr-ˈtü-ə-təs, -ˈtyü-, fər-\

: occurring by chance

a : fortunate, lucky fortuitous — Business Week> b : coming or happening by a lucky chance fortuitous train — Doris Lessing>

— for·tu·itous·ly adverb

— for·tu·itous·ness noun

Use this word in a sentence!

It was quite fortuitous that I had an umbrella in my car, because that rain came out of nowhere!

It is fortuitous that my husband surprised us with the corgi puppy, because Neurotic Dog was destroying everything in sight!

This word essentially describes a happy coincidence. Use this word when something has occurred for which you are relieved and grateful. I.e. a puppy coming along that calms down the other dog, who enjoys chewing on couch cushions when left alone.

Go impress people with your vast intelligence!*

*Note the hyperlinked words throughout the post. These are other vocabulary words that some people might not know. If you don't know them, look them up! If you do, feel free to use them in conjunction with the words of the day for double, even triple the impress effect! People will be stunned by your eloquence! (Or not, if they are used to it.)

Comments

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner(s)!

Did you know that you can buy an entire chicken at the grocery story for less than $6? Well, you can. And if you are willing to put up with a little home butchering, it can make enough food to last you almost a week. I bought a chicken last weekend for our Sunday meal, and used the last of it just yesterday. This is a huge help when you are trying to mitigate the expensive cost of meat in your grocery budget. First, it needs a little work. I roasted the chicken for our weekend dinner, and I always butterfly it because it cooks faster that way. I'm not going to sugarcoat it--butterflying a chicken is kind of gross. Really gross, actually. But if you can overcome your squeamishness, it cooks great. There are a lot of great tutorials for doing this on YouTube, but here is how I did it. Step 1: Remove the giblets (the heart, neck, and gizzard). This is disgusting because you must reach into a dead animal and pull out its organs. But once they are out, you can throw them away, ...

I Am Afraid of Snakes

I am giving you some valuable information here. Snakes are my biggest fear. My second biggest fear is that upon discovering my biggest fear, people will pounce on it and send me snakes in the mail, or put them in my bed, or my car, or throw them in my face like David Bowie did to Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth . So, the other day, when Norris was getting ready to go on a short trip, we were talking about all the critters in our yard. Normally I like all these critters. We have a bunch of toads (like, seriously, we have like 20 toads in our back yard—and that’s just the ones we can find. Toads freaking love us.) and a couple tree frogs, and some praying mantises, and snails, and a family of birds (dusky flycatchers—the babies all just flew away and I was very sad) that nested in our patio light fixture, and for a few days we had a raccoon living in one of our trees. We also have a couple of hawks (I mean two hawks that are in a committed relationship. We know they care about each...

The Fungus Among Us

Aren't they pretty? I love mushrooms. I think they are cute, and pretty, and fascinating. Before all this rain, I even bought a couple ceramic mushrooms to put in the flower bed because they make me think of the forest floor in a fairytale. Now that we’ve gotten so much moisture, though, we have tons of living mushrooms all over the garden! The main garden. Carrots in front. Speaking of the garden itself, it is nice and green, but having a little trouble actually growing because all the weather has kept temperatures cooler than they normally are this time of year. We haven’t gotten nearly as many spring blooms as we normally do, and all the tropical plants, like our passion flower vine and hibiscus and bird of paradise are enjoying the rain but not the cooler temps. Yellow squash! Nevertheless, here is what is happening in the garden this year so far: carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes, purple bell peppers, sweet jalapenos, zuchinni, land yellow sq...

As Yet Untitled

Search This Blog