• Valentine • Pronunciation: væ-lên-'tayn Part of Speech: Noun, Verb Meaning: 1. The name of St. Valentine. 2. A gift or card sent or given to a sweetheart of loved one on St. Valentine's Day, February 14, a day that celebrates love. 3. The sweetheart or loved one to whom a St. Valentine's Day card...

Tim,

I've bragged about this so many times, I'm not sure if you realized it, but I, too, am from Fayetteville, NC--grew up in the same household as Dr. Language of YDC, in fact. We always had words for each other growing up.

I try to find words that tell a story about us and where we come from, how we really think, what we are currently up to. Other WotDs aim at vocabulary building--and most of our words are chosen for that, too. However, the words of a language draw a map of the people who speak them and, to use your m...

• love • Pronunciation: lêv Part of Speech: Noun & Transitive verb Meaning : 1. A deep affection and respect for. 2. A sexual passion for someone or something. 3. Zero points in tennis scoring. Notes: We picked this Good Word for today to make sure you are ready for tomorrow, St. Valentine's Da...

It comes up only once in a Google search, a Canadian forum message that has been taken down. This suggests that it is idiolectic, i.e. part of the "dialect" of individuals and not widely known.

I never heard of it in North Carolina, Michigan, or Pennsylvania.

I think it came from here:

http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Cats/Kill.htm

I could be mistaken.

Well, it takes a while to build an Agora group but I'm happy to hear some familiar voices already. Feels good. I'm off on my third major language website in 10 years (Web of Online Dictionaries, yourDictionary, Alpha Dictionary). Business problems forced me out of yourDictionary. This site and the c...

• infantry • Pronunciation: in-fên-tri • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: The foot-soldiers in the military Notes: I thought we needed to look at this Good Word in honor of that branch of the military that is taking the brunt of the action in Iraq and to answer that age-old question: "Wh...

Wow! That example is better than mine. Wish I'd heard it in time.

The definition is only slightly off: metaphors are not completely true but they are partially. For example, if I call someone a pig, I don't mean that they have a wet snout, a curly tail, and a tempting haunch, but only that they eat too much. In other words, a metaphor is the use of a word implying...

• mantra • Pronunciation: mæn-trê Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. A sacred phrase of Hinduism, usually taken from the Vedas, repeated in prayer or meditation as an invocation to the gods. 2. Any phrase that is monotonously repeated over and over. Notes: Today's word comes straight from Sanskrit bu...

A good one. We will do it.

What will we do here? Whatever doesn't fit anywhere else.

I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Although many of you have already taken advantage of our Contact page and sent us suggestions, corrections, and other comments, we will set aside a forum here, too, where that sort of information may be discussed in the open Agora, as well as sent to us.

We will send out notices of new stuff we add to the site in our Good Word e-mails and may do an occasional newsletter, something our old software didn't permit. However, sometime we need to say more than a few words about new items and you may have questions about them. This is the forum for new res...