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Sep 20, 2026 This week’s theme Words you might be tempted to emend This week’s words evert villein rosery mordent decedent How popular are they? Relative usage over time AWADmail archives Index Next week’s theme Words with scene-stealing examples Wordsmith Games 🧩 Jigsaw Riddle Sapphire Star 🌍 Langitude Trace Kilkenny cats home AWADmail Issue 1264 A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and Language From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) Subject: Words you might be tempted to emend This week, we featured words that look like misspellings of more familiar words. I invited readers to write a sentence using each featured word alongside its more familiar lookalike. Here’s a selection. When I evert my knickers, I’ll ask you to avert your eyes. -Jordana Capra, Santa Clarita, California (JordanaCapra earthlink.net) I averted being kicked out of the polling place when I everted my politically themed T-shirt! -Edie Wiley, Disney, Oklahoma (edylee42 yahoo.com) Finding himself in enemy territory, the soldier everted his coat and averted capture. -Daniel Evans, Caluire-et-Cuire, France (evansdw gmail.com) “Can Chris Evert avert everting the expectations for this match?” said the tennis announcer in hushed tones as the star’s unseeded opponent took the first set. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “I’m a villainous villein villin’ to do ze billin’,” said the blackhearted serf applying to be Dracula’s bookkeeper. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) The person who leads a decadent lifestyle runs the risk of becoming a decedent. -Craig Fairhurst, Ridgewood, New York (teacher94 verizon.net) “Whether he rows or he sails to its rosery to say the rosary, his daily trips to Jeff Epstein’s island are for the sole purpose of expressing his devotion,” insisted J.D. Vance’s publicist. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) The decedent had lived such a decadent life that her heirs were disappointed at the small size of her estate. -bbghusker (via website comments) To employ citizens to build a giant pyramid to house the body and riches of a kingly decedent seems rather decadent. -mmyotis (via website comments) “You’re quite the decadent decedent,” said Satan to Jeff Epstein, catching him in the act with underage souls. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) From: Russell Hollins (flybynyt28 gmail.com) Subject: Re: Evert Because of the process of tissue healing and the nature of scar formation, when medical students are taught the art of suturing skin, they are instructed to evert the edges slightly, which can help produce a flatter, smoother scar. Russell Hollins, Kingston, Canada From: Marybeth Webster (marybwebs gmail.com) Subject: Silence A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation. Tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. -Jean Arp, artist and poet (16 Sep 1886-1966) A moment of silence is all that I’ll get when I pass from this life of noise, constant jabber, constant comment. A whisper of silence enters my window left open at night to catch air, wakes me, shocks me, and I wonder what’s wrong. I can sleep through sirens, rushing ambulance wails, urgent fire trucks, sleep through kids yelling, dogs barking, and thunder. But silence? What’s that? I waken in hopes there’ll be more silence, lost silence. Marybeth Webster (b. 1929), Grants Pass, Oregon Email of the Week -- Brought to you by ONE UP!® From: Lawrence Crumb (lcrumb uoregon.edu) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--rosery When I was a graduate student at General Theological Seminary in New York City in 1961-62, the dean’s last name was Rose. Students referred to the deanery as the Rosary. Lawrence Crumb, Eugene, Oregon From: Michael Poxon (mikethestarman gmail.com) Subject: beads Your note on rosary beads also brings to mind the history of the word bead. It originally meant “prayer” and later came to mean one of the small objects used to count prayers. Michael Poxon, Norwich, UK From: Ann Bietsch (adbietsch comcast.net) Subject: mordents and musical ornamentation Mordents are among several common musical ornaments. Using D as the main note, here are some simplified examples. A GRACE NOTE might be E leading into D. It is written smaller than the main note; its timing depends on the musical context. An UPPER MORDENT is a quick D-E-D; a LOWER MORDENT is D-C-D. A TRILL repeatedly alternates D and E. It may begin on either note, depending on the style and context. A TURN circles the main note: E-D-C-D. If the main note sounds first and the turn follows, the complete pattern is D-E-D-C-D. These ornaments add expression and variety. Their execution varies with the composer, period, and musical context. Ann Bietsch, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania From: Heather Bean (Heather.Bean colostate.edu) Subject: Decedent My dad died a year ago today. Yesterday I asked the universe for a sign from him. He would have gotten such a laugh from this being the word of the day, so this feels like a definite wink from him. Heather Bean, Fort Collins, Colorado From: Margaret Koenig (azemkay gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--decedent What scares this 83-year-old woman is that I knew without a doubt what “decedent” meant. Margaret Koenig, Tucson, Arizona From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com) Subject: evert and decedent Here, Trump everts his jacket pockets -- the familiar cartoon shorthand for having no money. Froggy responds by citing two high-profile projects Trump has been championing: the White House ballroom and the proposed triumphal arch (aka the Trump Arch). Their financing won’t come out of Trump’s own pockets; the ballroom has many private donors, while federal funds have been reserved for the arch, which ultimately translates to taxpayer financing. Our word “decedent” conjured up the image of a zombie, one of the so-called living dead. The phrase is an oxymoron; “reanimated corpse” would be more direct. The thought naturally leads to Mel Brooks’s brilliant black-and-white comedy Young Frankenstein, in which an exhumed corpse is accidentally given an abnormal brain -- “Abby Normal,” as dimwitted assistant Igor recalls it -- and brought to life using lightning. And comedic mayhem ensues. Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California Anagrams This week’s theme: Words you might be tempted to emend Evert Villein Rosery Mordent Decedent = Twist, invert Overworked employee Long-stem rose bed they tend Music term He died, met the end -Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com) = Inside out, reversed Bondmen The rose grove (Kew?) Detect trill-type tweety moment Hmm...she died = To reverse Peon Hmm, get twenty dewy red UK roses dotted here Note embellishment Victim died -Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com) -Julian Lofts, Auckland, New Zealand (jalofts xtra.co.nz) Make your own anagrams and animations. Limericks evert Once I witnessed a sea star everting, And I found it a bit disconcerting. It had turned inside out, And there’s truly no doubt If that happened to me, I’d be hurting. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Personalities -- can they evert? Mine sure would if I were to feel hurt! I’d go inward and focus ‘Til I found the locus Of who and why did me the dirt! -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) The storm coming down left her pinned, So she waited till pelting rain thinned. Her umbrella everted, And she was deserted, Because it was gone with the wind. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “As my agency’s on high alert, The midterms, sir, we will evert,” Donald’s postmaster swore. “We’ll smudge bar codes, and more; On Dem envelopes, acid we’ll squirt.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) villein A peasant just working the land Was living a life far from grand. That medieval villein Had no time for chillin’ -- Vacations he couldn’t have planned. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) A villein who toiled for a lord Decided one day he was bored. “It’s not very pleasant, Just being a peasant. I want to be free!” he implored. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) He wanted a drudge for a wife. The result with his girlfriend was strife: “I’m not at all willin’ To be someone’s villein. So marry you? Not on your life!” -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “From a baron right down to a villein, Sometimes everyone needs penicillin,” Said the ad. “Guilty pleasures Are life’s greatest treasures If sex with your spouse isn’t thrillin’.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) rosery “Let’s visit the rosery, dear. It’s really quite lovely, I hear. And since there are bees In places like these, Your EpiPen I will keep near.” -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) My garden I think of with pride, For its beauty cannot be denied. And my fragrant, sweet rosery, Home to, who knows, a bee! That’s where I’d love to reside. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “As we walked in the paved-over rosery, His tiny hands grabbed at my hosiery,” Said Natalie Harp. “But I don’t like to carp, For I’m his, head, heart, leg, chest, and ovary.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) mordent “You’ll see there’s a mordent or two,” Declared a composer I knew. “You must vary each note In the way that I wrote -- That’s just what I want you to do.” -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) “It’s discordant!” yelled Prof James P. Krim. “It’s a mordent!” I yelled back at him. And we argued a while But he started to smile -- He liked sessions like that, did ol’ Jim! -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) “Our son has no musical ear, So lessons are pointless, it’s clear. He keeps playing a mordent, That sounds just discordant. He’ll not be a pianist, dear.” -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “Your playing is rather discordant, And you can’t hide that fact with a mordent,” Said the tutor. “I freeze When you’re pounding the keys; Oh! This call I must take -- it’s important.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) decedent The decedent had said in her will, “Give it all to my sweet boyfriend Bill.” This twist unexpected Left others rejected; Her husband is furious still. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) From his deathbed, Fred opened his eyes, Catching everyone there by surprise. He said, “You all needn’t Think I’m a decedent; My time isn’t up, I surmise.” -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) A pronoun with no antecedent Makes you dead to me; gone; a decedent. If that’s how you talk, At your presence I balk; Want to speak with me? Sorry, you needn’t. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Puns Methinks I’ll r-evert to submitting puns to Anu. -Jim Ertner, Greensboro, North Carolina (jde31459 gmail.com) “And don’t evert-ry that again,” said E. Jean Carroll to Donald when the jury announced its verdict. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) As one German said to another, “Hey, Wilhelm, are you villein to invite me over?” -Jim Ertner, Greensboro, North Carolina (jde31459 gmail.com) “Ve have shifted our paradigm from talk to pharmaceuticals. Zis pill villein-d your fantasies of sleeping vith your mother und murdering your father,” said the psychiatrist. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Mama Rosery-tha Franklin said in an interview, was the one role she wanted to play on Broadway. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “I see you’ve cleverly built hell in circles, Satan. Not rosery-ventually souls would leak out the sides,” observed Dante. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) As the husband sarcastically said to his wife, “I see you put even mordent-s in our car!” -Jim Ertner, Greensboro, North Carolina (jde31459 gmail.com) “You didn’t floss, so you’re going to need a lot mordent-al work,” scolded the hygienist. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) The intoxicated oral surgeon leaned over the side of his sailboat and fell in decedent-al records and all. -Jim Ertner, Greensboro, NC (jde31459 gmail.com) “Success! Decedent-ered de soil and it be growin’, lovebirds!” the Jamaican fertility specialist advised the anxious couple. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. -Upton Sinclair, novelist and reformer (20 Sep 1878-1968)

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