Perturbation

Perturbation has two distinct meanings depending on the context in which it is used. When used in physics or sciences such as astronomy, perturbation means a deviation of a system (sometimes slight). For example, in astronomy gravity occasionally causes deviations in the orbit of a celestial body. This is called a perturbation. However, when referring to human beings, it means mental unease or anxiety. A person's perturbations, therefore, are disturbances of her or his emotional state. While this disturbance is relevant to deviation, as an emotion perturbation appears to relate much more closely to the Latin which the word derives from: "to disturb greatly." Generally we are more familiar with the verb form "to perturb" when talking about states of mind. Being perturbed is not generally seen as something slight or minor, but it certainly is enraged either.

Pinchbeck

When pinchbeck is used derisively it means fake. When it is used less-derisively it means imitation. It is an eponym, or a word that is define from a proper name of an actual person or place. (See watt below.) In this case pinchbeck comes from the 18th century London chemist Christopher Pinchbeck who invented an imitation gold made from copper and zinc.

Awry

Awry usually means something is not working or not functioning the way they should, as in His plans to write a blog have gone awry. Awry, however, can also mean askew or crooked. Awry is a conflation of "wry" and "a-" which in Old English meant "on." In fact, according to the OED, "on wry" is the first noted use of awry.

Haze

As mentioned under smog the pleasant-sounding word haze is used often to indicate air pollution. The editors of Word! feel compelled to make a correction in calling haze a euphemism of smog. Haze can, indeed, be caused by smoke particles. It can also be caused by dust or water or anything in the atmosphere that "obscures the normal clarity of the sky" (Wikipedia: Haze). We apologize for the error, but still feel that "haze" is used as a way of making pollution sound somehow pleasant. Haze comes from the Old English haswa which means "dusky."

Smog

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, smog, a thoroughly unpleasant word used to describe air pollution, was first referenced in July of 1905 in the Daily Graphic. One Dr. des Voeux, treasurer of the Coal Smoke Abatement Society, is said to have used the term in a paper delivered to Congress. Suitably enough, smog, is a conflation of "smoke" and "fog." Euphemisms abound for smog in smog-bound cities. Haze is a particularly troubling one.

Opine

To opine as a verb means to express and authorotative opinion about a topic. It comes from the latin "to think."

Pinion

As a noun the pinion is the outermost part of a bird's wing--especially when extended in flight. The verb to pinion (to restrain) comes from this, in that birds that a pinioned have their flight feather tied back or restrained.

Fête

Despite its French appearance, fête is a word that has been in the English language at least since Middle English (think medieval). It does indeed come from the French feste, however, and is one of the few words in English that has an accent mark. Fête, as a noun, means a celebration. As a verb it means to laud someone or throw them a party.

Watt

A watt is the unit of measurement for electricity. It is equivalent to one joule per second (which is the force of one newton moving 1 meter per second in the direction of the force). One newton is equivalent to the force need to give one kilogram of matter an acceleration of one meter per second per second. Not sure what all that means? Neither is your tireless lexicographer. But I do know the next time that I flip on that 60 watt light bulb, there is a whole lot of shaking going on.

The watt, as with other terms used in physics, derives from the Scottish inventor James Watt, born on this day in 1736. (The newton was named for Isaac Newton and the joule was named for James Prescott Joule.)

Polymath

Given that it is the birthday of renowned physician and scholar Peter Mark Roget, the word for today is polymath. A polymath is a person with a vast amount of knowledge or learning. Roget was a polymath because he did not only concern himself with being a medical doctor, but was also very knowledgeable about literature and language and invented the ever-useful thesaurus. Polymath comes from the Greek meaning "having learned much." Poly- meaning "much" and -math deriving from manthanein--"to learn."

Bookworm

As I indicated yesterday, a bookworm is a person who loves to read and spends a great deal of time doing it. There is a great deal of folk etymology surrounding this word. Folk etymology for those of you who don't know, is a commonly accepted, but difficult to verify origin of a word. In this case, the word bookworm is often said to be derived from the an actual insect that infects books. There is an insect (anobium or furniture beatle) that may also chow down on your favorite book, but it turns out that the holes that one might occasionally find in books are most likely not caused by a single so-called bookworm insect, but more likely by a host of insects including, I hate to say it, cockroach larvae and the insect silverfish. The application of bookworm to human beings is supposedly a connotation or metaphorical use (like we've already seen with the word rampant.) Some dispute this connection in that according to the OED, bookworm seems to have been first applied to humans and then was only later (1855 to be exact) applied to insects that devour the pages of a book).

Bibliophily

Bibliophily is the love of books--not necessarily for their content, but more because of their format. In other words a bibliophile loves books in general and may even collect them. A bookworm, on the other hand, loves to read and the format of what she is reading doesn't necessarily matter. Bibliophily derives from the Greek words for both book (biblio-) and love (-phily).