James Baquet

    Becky and Lily chat again about unusual words in the first edition of Webster’s Dictionary.

    Lily: Becky, you got me in trouble!

    Becky: What did I do wrong?

    Lily: Remember that word you taught me, “fopdoodle?”

    Becky: Oh, yeah. “An insignificant fellow.” Don’t tell me you called someone that?

    Lily: Yes, but I was only joking!

    Becky: Well, I told you that the first Webster’s Dictionary said that word wasn’t very nice.

    Lily: I couldn’t help it! It’s such a great word!

    Becky: I know. Here’s another one from the same list: “jackpudding.” Maybe next time you should use that instead.

    Lily: What does it mean?

    Becky: It’s a person who acts foolish in order to make people laugh.

    Lily: So, he wants the attention he gets from being strange?

    Becky: Yeah, like a class clown.

    Lily: I can definitely use that! Got some more words?

    Becky: Of course! Have you ever heard the word “propinquity?”

    Lily: Is that one of those old words?

    Becky: Actually, it’s a modern word, though it’s seldom used. Instead, we usually use “proximity.”

    Lily: Oh, I know that one! It means “closeness” or “nearness,” right?

    Becky: Exactly. But it has an opposite, one of Webster’s words that didn’t catch on. It’s “longinquity.”

    Lily: Oooo, that’s ugly!

    Becky: I know. Like “propinquity,” it’s based on a Latin word. Here’s another awkward word derived from Latin: “tardigradous.”

    Lily: What in the world does that mean?

    Becky: It means “slow-moving.”

    Lily: I think I get the “tardi-” part. Like if you’re too slow, you’ll be tardy to class.

    Becky: Right. Or to “retard” something means to slow it down.

    Lily: Okay, but what about the second half of the word?

    Becky: “Gradi-” means “to walk,” or just “to move.” When a planet is moving “retrograde,” it appears to be moving backwards.

    Lily: I see. I know these words didn’t catch on, but “tardigrade” seems familiar.

    Becky: Actually, there’s a tiny creature that lives in water, sometimes called a “water bear,” whose technical name is “tardigrade.”

    Lily: Oh, yeah! I learned about those on a TV show!

    Becky: Yes. They’re fascinating! They can live in almost any environment, from extreme heat to freezing cold, and they can live without food or water for more than 10 years. In experiments, they even survived in outer space!

    Lily: Wow! They’re survivors.

    Becky: They sure are. In fact, they’ve been around for over 530 million years, one of the longest existing species that we know of.

    Lily: Slow-moving, but tough!

    Becky: Well, I have to go. If I’m tardy to my next class, they’ll call me a jackpudding!