Today’s quiz: Attitude can mean: a. Weight b. Height c. Temperature d. Posture A slew of splashy words start with the letter ‘q.’ A quorum represents the number of members required to be present to do business in a legislative body. Quondam indicates erstwhile, as in he was the quondam…

Today’s quiz: Mandarin can mean: a. Farmer b. Longshoreman c. Bureaucrat d. Wrestler. Here’s a nifty expression…square the circle…it’s trying to be on both sides of an argument. It’s like a politico saying he was for a bill before he was against it. ‘Thread the needle’ is a similar phrase…

Today’s quiz: Potted can mean: a. Conceptualized. b. Fertilized c. Summarized d. Hypnotized Did you know deep in the forest there can be a veritable nighttime light show, after a fashion? Under certain conditions fungi can emit an eerie crepuscular glow. This aura is called foxfire. Transposing foxfire yields the…

Today’s quiz: Currency can mean: a. Fear b. Flux c. Modernity d.Prevalence How about the cannon, a battlefield standby for centuries, although they are now more commonly called howitzers. I was reading an article in a respected national magazine and the author spelled it “canon.” Note the single ‘n.’ Duh…

Today’s quiz: Inform can mean: a. Pervade b. Crimp c. Distort d. Flow Don’t miss an opportunity to research a word you don’t know. If you postpone, you’ll forget. And as they say, that ship has sailed. Many moons went by before I got around to looking into ‘plasticine’ from…

Today’s quiz: Animus can mean: a. Cartoon b. Motivation c. Waste d. Circus Agency is a classy jewel. It indicates the wherewithal to get things done. A corporate CEO needs to have powers —agency — to meet his goals for the company. President McKinley said every agency of peace must…

Todays quiz: Cataract may mean: a. Lake b. Waterfall c. Stream d. Whirlpool A matchless and oft quoted passage from the immortal bard Shakespeare is “hoist on his own petard”…petard being a bomb. The phrase proclaims he blew himself up by accident. In this ironic twist, his own trap meant…

Today’s quiz: Sop can mean : a. Concession b. Cessation c. Cry d. Crystal Do you revel in controversy? In the realm of linguistics we call it a logomachy, a war of words or a war about words! Case in point: sanguine, sanguinity and sanguineness, rooted in the Latin word…

Today’s quiz: Keen can mean: a. Play b. Repair c. Mourn d. Gallop Here’s a troika of spiffy kernels relaying an inconsequential fuss or botheration: kerfuffle, contretemps and bow-wow. Certainly, for a spa to cancel a session would cause all of the above for their hedonist clients! Bow-wow is also…