You know what word I said recently? (to show you how bad my memory is – I can’t remember if I used it today or yesterday)
anathema
a·nath·e·ma [uh-nath-uh-muh]
n. pl. a·nath·e·mas
1. A formal ecclesiastical ban, curse, or excommunication.
2. A vehement denunciation; a curse: “the sound of a witch’s anathemas in some unknown tongue” (Nathaniel Hawthorne).
3. One that is cursed or damned.
4. One that is greatly reviled, loathed, or shunned
Not a word that is normally used in conversation. I just remembered a few moments ago that I used that word (either to the pastor at church yesterday or Mr. BIL – I honestly don’t remember). Obviously I forget the context in which I said it, but I cann tell you most assuredly that I used it correctly. (How do you like THAT sentence? You can tell I watched a Jane Austen movie this weekend (“Persuasion”, which aired on BBC America)). However, I can’t help but think that the person I was speaking to thought I was very hoity-toity for using such a word.
Do you have a word you used lately that probably made people think you were a bit bookwormy or condescending?
Yes, “meretricious”, as in tawdrily and falsely attractive, while speaking of Sir Paul McCartney’s “Ecce Cor Meum.”