define:’d

An interesting indicator of what I’ve been up to during any given week is the “define:” history of my Google toolbar. As an experiment, I’m posting snippets from every week’s history to see if a pattern will emerge over the weeks. The entire definitions history for this week has over a hundred phrases (and this week was a slow one, too); This is my primary way of picking up new words as I encounter them.

Below, the most recent ones with comments in parentheses:

Copacetic (Seriously?)

Consortium (no plural)

Pugnacious

Symbolise (s vs z)

Initialise (s vs z)

Scilon

Google bomb

Artifice (Ruse; why art?)

Shoestring (more to it than meets the eye)

Eclectic (shades of meaning)

Rhizome (Biology vs Philosphy)

Ostentatious (As opposed to ostensible)

Autocracy (vs. monarchy. Apparently, there’s no difference.)

Talos

Precocious (Adj. used to describe the young Feynman)

August (Knew all the meanings, for a change)

Co$ (This one’s hilarious)

And I can never get past level 48 on Freerice. Not even when I cheat!