This week’s theme
There is a word for it

This week’s words
arboricide
barbatulous
pseudonymuncle
whoness

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(soo-duh-NIM-uhnk-uhl)

MEANING:

noun: An insignificant person writing under a pseudonym.

ETYMOLOGY:

From pseudonym, from Greek pseudo- (false) + -nym (name) + -uncle (diminutive suffix), from -culus (diminutive suffix). Earliest documented use: 1875.

NOTES:

This word is on the opposite side of a grand literary pseudonym like Mark Twain or George Orwell. This is an insult for the relative unknown whose opinions are of zero consequence. The word uncle is a literal diminutive, from Latin avunculus (mother’s brother). When you call someone a pseudonymuncle, you are essentially saying their false name is as insignificant as they are. Think of all the anonymous internet commenters out there, spouting off while their opinions are just as consequential as a distant relative’s bad advice.

USAGE:

“The novelist became angry, called his critic a pseudonymuncle, and defended himself.”
Anthony Trollope; Chronicles of Barsetshire; Chapman & Hall; 1878.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: