I’ve just finished updating this next year’s “word fo the week” for webanimal, where I also have a gaming page. In doing so, I’ve become sadly interested in words again, signing myself up for all kinds of newsletter nonsense.

It’s not that I had lost interest. Having been an English teacher now for a few years, I constantly find myself scouring through dictionaries and grammar books, as if I were reading a novel. This recent updating task only gave me another nudge nearer the edge of the cliff.

I have been impressed by several words this week:

isthmus: a narrow strip of land (with water on both sides) connecting two larger land areas
obviate: to do away with; prevent the occurrence of
pizzle: bull’s penis used as instrument of punishment by flogging