Definition of Definition

Is it bad that I have to look up the definition of the definition of Mirriam-Webster's word of the day? Upon reading further, they did add some thoughts on the word that were more than adequate for me to absorb. However, if they hadn't added that nice paragraph, I'd be looking up also what servile meant so I'd understand exactly what sequacious meant (definition: intellectually servile).

However, this little research led me to discover a new word that I like: glabrous. I'd use it this way: I wish that I had arms as glabrous as my palms. Meaning: I wish I had hairless arms, just like my palms. Our palms never have hair; a fact that I didn't know until now. I feel smarter even if, technically, I may not be smarter. :-)

Sometimes I think that the "smart" people get bored with everyday words and come up with new ones just to frustrate the rest of us. I can visualize the scene: 6-8 people sitting around a poker table, all not too impressed with their hands and not really having that much fun, conversing about how Poker is a treacherous unintelligible game to which they decide to quite and pick up a scrabble board. With a sudden rush of adrenaline at the thought of putting 26 letters together to form what we call "words," they decide to try to one up each other by creating new words not found in the dictionary. The rules also include that you have explain where the word came from (meaning what other words were used to make it up) and that they have to use it in a sentence. I feel that the words with the highest scores were voted in to the next years dictionary as a way to frustrate the rest of us and help them feel even more pompous.

Then again, the rest of us make up words all the time without them knowing. How those get into the dictionary will be a mystery forever. I mean, who ever came up with the word confuzzled?! I have to wonder what the circumstances were for someone to have to find a new word to describe the fact that they were "confused and puzzled" all at the same time. Isn't that the same thing? Americans, go figure. :-)