Word of the Day
tzimmes
noun
fuss; uproar; hullabaloo: He made such a tzimmes over that mistake!
More about tzimmes
Tzimmes comes from Yiddish tsimes and is related to Swabian German zimmes, zimbes “compote, stew” and Swiss German zimis “lunch.” The German noun is a compound word, originally a prepositional phrase, formed from Middle High German z, ze, an unstressed variant of zuo “at, to” (German zu) and the Middle High German noun imbiz, imbīz “snack, light meal” (German Imbiss). Imbiz is a derivative of Old High German enbīzan “to take nourishment,” which is related to English in and bite. Tzimmes entered English in the late 19th century.
how is tzimmes used?
Don’t make a tzimmes out of it. You gonna upset the children …
Why do you have to make such a tzimmes over the maids’ stairs.
phub
verb
Slang. to ignore (a person or one's surroundings) when in a social situation by busying oneself with a phone or other mobile device: Hey, are you phubbing me?
More about phub
Phub was first recorded in 2010–14. It blends the words phone and snub.
how is phub used?
I found myself glancing at my phone in the middle of conversations … conveniently forgetting how annoyed I felt when other people phubbed me.
What we discovered was that when someone perceived that their partner phubbed them, this created conflict and led to lower levels of reported relationship satisfaction.
aberration
noun
the act of departing from the right, normal, or usual course.
More about aberration
The English noun aberration has wandered far from its Latin original. Cicero (106-43 b.c.) is the first (and only) Latin author to use the noun aberrātiō “distraction, diversion, relief (from pain or sorrow).” Aberrātiō is a derivative of the verb aberrāre “to divert, forget for a time; to wander off, go astray, deviate.” Aberration entered English in the 16th century.
how is aberration used?
They don’t want to believe that the United States is opposed to action on global warming. They’d rather see the Trump administration as an aberration.
I had never fought or thrown a punch at anyone. It was an aberration to my father, and he had instilled in me this idea of physical violence as an aberration.