Friday, April 26, 2013

Mytacism

Mytacism: Excessive or wrong use of the sound of the letter m.

Roman grammarians seeking to classify vitia ("errors in language") borrowed this term from the Greek mytakismos (my refers to the letter mu).

One of the most egregious examples of mytacism is when people say "ok" by adding an m-sound at the start so it is pronounced "mmmmkay," or when they say "bye" by doing the same and so pronouncing the word as "mmmmbye."

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Misomaniac

Misomaniac (noun): Someone who hates everything and everyone. A person who values nothing and holds almost everything in contempt.

I know, I thought it referred to someone with a real addiction to a particular type of Japanese soup.

"I hear that Berrett-Koehler's Editorial Managing Director is just a bitter and angry guy -- a real misomaniac."