Luscious Lingual Limosis: An Appetite for Words by Jody Wallace

I’ve enjoyed many of the reflections on laughter as meditation, medication, and manducation that have appeared on the blog this month. 

Laughter and endorphins do indeed make us feel better, lightness in the dark, babies giggling, pets being adorable, jokes and puns. 

Like this gem:

Doctor: Sir, I’m afraid your DNA is backwards.

Patient: AND?

But do you know what else makes us feel better?

Learning!

In writing this blog post, I composed my first line, realized I might like to add more M words to make it funnier, and went searching on the Google for “long words that start with m.” So today we are going to get our brain endorphins churning by playing a fun game. We are all readers and writers on this blog, visitors and bloggers alike. Words are awesome. So here’s what I want you to do. 

• Go to this page: http://phrontistery.info/m.html (but not yet, keep reading first.)
• Skim that etymological deliciousness.
• Pick your favorite.
• Come back here and tell us about it, and why it’s your favorite.
• Congratulations, we made endorphins together! Here’s the link again - http://phrontistery.info/m.html

 Photo by Josefin 
on Unsplash

It was very very hard to pick a favorite. Obviously meerkats are a favorite of the whole world, and I don’t know what that word was doing on the list.

Morology was a really big contender, because it means nonsense, and nonsense has been one of my most-used words since, oh, very early 2020 for some reason. Then again, what about morassic? It means having all the qualities of a morass, and that could have been a popular word with any of us since, oh, very early 2020 for some reason along with nonsense.

 Photo by James Lee 
on Unsplash

But I’ve got to hand it to myriacanthous. Not only did my Word program really hate the spelling of that word, but it means “having many prickles.” Quite frankly, I think of myself as having many prickles, like a cranky cat, and so I should obviously love myself the most. I also think of a scene I included in one of my Dragons of Tarakona books, a paranormal romance series I write with a co-author so neither of us gets too worn out. The book in question is GOLD RUSH , and in the scene, the protagonists are going to fetch a mystical grail-like cup that the hero has hidden from the evil demons in a place he figured nobody would ever look. (https://www.jodywallace.com/books/gold-rush/)

Turns out that place was inside a (SPOILER ALERT) Saguaro dryad cactus who is the very definition of myriacanthous in so many ways. Also, the cactus dryad is named Doug. Because why not?

Please join in in the comments with some more appreciation of “long words that start with m” and tell us why you love them!

Jody W.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JODY WALLACE

Jody Wallace’s 30+ titles include sf/f romance, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance. Her fiction features diverse protagonists, action, adventure, and humor. Her readers frequently comment on her great characters, suspenseful stories, and intriguing and creative world building. When describing her methods, Jody says: “There are two sides to every story. I aim to tell the third. And I add cats regardless.” 

Outside of her fiction career, Jody has employed her Master’s Degree in Creative Writing to work as a college English instructor, technical documents editor, market analyst, web designer, and all around pain in the butt. The photo was taken at one of her first book signings, so years and years ago before she realized that myriacanthous was her favorite M word. You can learn more about her at https://jodywallace.com