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Aug 9, 2026
This week’s themeWords that sound dirty, but aren’t This week’s words crotchet bumbaze cumbrous pismire dowfart How popular are they? Relative usage over time AWADmail archives Index Next week’s theme Is it a noun or a verb? Both! Wordsmith Games
AWADmail Issue 1258A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and Language
Email of the Week -- Brought to you by ONEUPMANSHIP®
From: Madeline Johnston (johnston andrews.edu) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--crotchet Speaking of words that sound off-color, I just learned the day before yesterday: farding. My husband and I just celebrated our 70th wedding anniversary. Our children came and threw a big party for us. Thus, my son and his wife from Texas are here with us in Michigan for a couple of weeks. And whenever we get together, there are major Rewordable tournaments. So, he and I were playing, and I made the word “faring”. He soon stole it to make “farding”. I immediately challenged it -- and lost, which may have cost me that whole game. With considerable satisfaction, he then told me how he had learned that word. He is retired from a long career as a research chemist with Dow Chemical. They regularly conducted driver safety classes for their employees. One year they decided to lighten it up a bit, so they brought in a stand-up comedian to give the safety instructions. He asked the group, “What behaviors of drivers particularly irritate you?” People responded with the usual things, such as cutting others off in traffic, passing on the right, and more. Then the comedian said, “What really irritates me when I’m driving is to see women farding while they’re driving.” The audience snickered mildly, not sure whether they should laugh at the apparent vulgarity or not. And then he said, “I said farding, f-a-r-d-i-n-g, with a ‘d’. It means ‘to apply makeup’.” But, whether you fard beforehand or not, I highly recommend playing Rewordable. Our word-loving family loves it. And now, if I’m tempted to think I am wasting time, I can just remind myself of how very educational it is. Madeline Johnston, Berrien Center, Michigan From: Ted Hochstadt (tedbh yahoo.com) Subject: Bumbaze Although bum can mean buttocks, I was born and raised in the US, where the primary meaning I knew was “a person who has no established residence and wanders from place to place without lawful or visible means of support” (Merriam-Webster). Here is the great Pete Seeger singing “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum.” (video, 2 min.) It was only while living in countries where British English is spoken that I became familiar with the anatomical meaning of bum, and with one of my favorite words, bumfodder. I especially enjoy its political sense, as in the written proclamations and executive orders that Donald Trump so pompously signs. Ted Hochstadt, Falls Church, Virginia From: Alfred Fedak (alfred alfredfedak.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--cumbrous The following words are engraved on the tombstone of Mary Lefavour, who died in 1797 at the age of 74 and is buried in Topsfield, Massachusetts:
Reader pass on, and ne’er waste your time On bad biography and bitter rhyme For what I am this cumb’rous clay insures, And what I was is no affair of yours. It also appears as the third song in Last Verse: A Cycle of New England Epitaphs, my work for mixed voices and piano. Here it is performed by the Harvard University Choir (video, 17 mins). Alfred V. Fedak, Albany, New York From: Julia Kaplan (tenthwife yahoo.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--cumbrous This week’s words may sound dirty, but so far, their definitions all seem applicable to our president. Julia Kaplan, Brookline, New Hampshire From: Mark Farrell (markf_41 yahoo.com) Subject: Pismire I’d never heard pismire, but pissant has a similar figurative sense, and it even contains ant. Mark Farrell, Greenbelt, Maryland From: Ellen Satter (ellensatter hotmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pismire Today’s word made me think of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game books and the Formic Wars. I also had to investigate the origin of the name Formica. To my slight disappointment, it has nothing to do with ants: the material was developed as a substitute “for mica”, the silicate mineral. Ellen Satter, Trumbull, Connecticut From: Steven Feldman (midniterambler bellsouth.net) Subject: pismire You wrote:
Mire is related to Latin formica (ant), the source of formicate (to
crawl like ants), and Greek myrmex (ant). Myrmidon (an unquestioning
follower) has long been associated with myrmex, though the exact
connection is uncertain.”
Some orchid growers favor Myrmecophila, a genus of orchids whose hollow pseudobulbs house ant colonies in a symbiotic relationship. Steven Feldman, Coral Springs, Florida From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com) Subject: cumbrous and dowfart  
Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California Anagrams
Make your own anagrams and animations. Limericks crotchet That note you are holding too long; The music you’re reading all wrong. It’s only a crotchet. Now please do not botch it -- Such errors can ruin the song. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Said the mullahs, “Let’s help Donald win; It’ll be really great when he’s in. For war is his crotchet, And surely he’ll botch it! We’ll punch the US in the chin!” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) bumbaze When watching the news, I’m bumbazed. It feels so surreal; I’m amazed. Just what did Trump say? Good grief and oy vey! Whatever it was makes me crazed. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) The magician would leave folks amazed, All his fabulous tricks, many praised. When he then disappeared, The audience cheered, Just bewildered, and simply bumbazed. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “The Iranians I will bumbaze, And the war will be over in days,” Announced Donald. “Here goes! I’ll bomb children, then doze As each one of my lackeys obeys.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “From New York to Chicago with haze, You Americans I will bumbaze,” Said Canada. “Choke On my air! It’s no joke! Want to breathe? End your Donald Trump phase!” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) cumbrous My costume was cumbrous -- and how! -- As I played the rear end of a cow. But I wore it because I adored the applause, When off it would come for my bow. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Now Sisyphus, known in Greek lore, Was given an arduous chore. For against his broad shoulder, A cumbrous big boulder He pushed, and oh boy, he was sore. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) For our systems, red meat is too cumbrous; Eat things made from beans, such as hummus. Also veggies and grains; They’re so good for our brains! Too much fruit, though, will make your poops thund’rous. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) pismire Her kitchen with pismires was crawling, Which struck me as simply appalling! The place was infested, And so I suggested, That pest control she should be calling. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Aww, don’t give him one single thought! When they ask, y’know, “What hath God wrought.” They’re thinking of Benny A pismire! If any One word worked for him, that one ought! -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) Peter’s pest service was a bad hire, And his efforts were sure a misfire. He created a mess That caused much distress, And the winner? The tiny pismire. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) Said Marco, “I’m such a pismire, But to serve you’s my greatest desire.” Answered Donald, “Though little, With State you can fiddle.” “I’ll toe the line, sir, won’t misfire!” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) dowfart The dowfart repeated a grade. While classmates moved on, he just stayed. The second time round, He didn’t gain ground, Which left all concerned quite dismayed. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Said Moses, “From here we now part! Don’t let that bread rise, you dowfart!” “But matzoh’s too dry,” Came the baker’s reply; “As a foodie, quite lowbrow thou art.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Puns “Ouch! When you kicked me in the crotchet really hurt!” said young Donald’s opponent in the high school debating contest. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “Get off your bumbaze-l and make some pesto!” thyme admonished its neighbor on the spice rack. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “What’s wrong with shrimp and broccoli? How cumbrous-sels sprouts?” wrote the irate restaurant critic about the new Chinese place. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “From 3.14159, it goes on forever. Poor pismire-d in its own irrationality,” sobbed the math professor to his students. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) The old wi-dowfart-ed and hoped that the others at tea didn’t notice. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “The Nasdaq is the more volatile of the two, but still, when it poops, the Dowfart-s,” commented the stock market analyst. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The principal goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive, and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered. -Jean Piaget, psychologist (9 Aug 1896-1980)
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