Wednesday, May 02, 2012

The Word of the Day for 5.2.2012 Is . . .

Caressive

It came up as a suggestion on a spell check I did at work, and I instantly loved the look of it.  It is at first glance just an adjective form of the verb caress, but it's more than that.  It seems like a combination of corrosive (which is not good) and caress (which is sweet and cuddly) so there is a nice dichotomy going on there.

Also, it reminds me of "Last Caress" by Misfits, which doesn't hurt in the least.

When looking up that word just now, I found this one:

Ninnyhammer

That means a "simpleton" or a "silly person."  I'm without a doubt calling my nephews that the next time they are running around giggling and carrying on like a bunch of damn . . .  ninnyhammers.



2 comments:

Gorilla Bananas said...

"Ninnyhammer" is a very interesting, because "Ninny" on its own means a silly person in England. As for "Hammer", I remember Clint Eastwood calling someone "Hammerhead" in Dirty Harrry. So "Ninnyhammer" could be a mid-Atlantic fusion word.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater said...

Gorilla: You see? We have combined across the pond for one kickass word. Ninny has been Eastwooded. Boom!