The dictionary.com word of the day posts have been especially interesting over the holidays:
Moose Milk
| \MOOS-milk\ |
| noun 1. Canadian. homemade or bootleg whiskey. 2. Canadian. a cocktail of whiskey or rum and milk. |
| Quotes |
| My first drink was dad’s moose milk. That’s what he called it. Moose milk on accounta he brewed it so it come out kinda foggy lookin’ in the glass. White, kinda, a watery lookin’ white. — Richard Wagamese, Ragged Company, 2008 |
| Origin |
Moosemilk is a Canadian term that entered English in the early 1900s. Viridescent |
| 1. slightly green; greenish. |
| Quotes |
| The wrack broke behind them as she watched, for a moment they stood out motionless and black, in a glade of limpid viridescent sky. — Samuel Beckett, Murphy, 1938 |
| Origin |
| Viridescent entered English in the mid-1800s from the Late Latin viridēscere meaning “to become green.” |
Edutainment
| \ej-oo-TEYN-muhnt\ |
| noun 1. television programs, movies, books, etc., that are both educational and entertaining, especially those intended primarily for children in the elementary grades. |
| Quotes |
| In the flesh, he looked like one of those poised, balding experts who sit on New England porch swings in autumn answering questions for edutainment TV in maddeningly soft, self-assured voices. — Richard Powers, The Echo Maker, 2006 |
| Origin |
| Edutainment is a portmanteau of education and entertainment. This Americanism entered English in the 1980s. |
Mysophobia ( I definately don’t have this one)
| \mahy-suh-FOH-bee-uh\ |
| noun 1. Psychiatry. a dread of dirt or filth. |
| Quotes |
| To a moderate degree he suffered from mysophobia, spending unusual time at his ablutions, teeth-cleaning, dressing, and in the care and arrangement of his clothes. — Charles K. Mills, “Some Forms of Insanity and Quasi-Insanity in Children,” The American Lancet, Volume XVII, 1893 |
| Origin |
| Mysophobia is a New Latin term from the late 1800s based on the Greek mýsos meaning “filth” and phobos meaning “fear.” |
