Salutations, savvy studiers! Welcome to today’s episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. Get out your lucky rabbit’s foot, your four leaf clover, and your horseshoe, because today’s word is: triskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is the extreme superstition about the number thirteen. The word comes from the Greek ‘treiskaideka’, meaning ‘thirteen’, which in turn comes from ‘treis’ meaning three and ‘deaka’ meaning ten. Whilst there are numbers regarded in different cultu...
Jun 04, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Hola, language lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. Today we are travelling to Mexico, so get out your snorkel and get ready for some swimming because today we are talking about: axolotls. An axolotl, also known as the Mexican walking fish, is a neotenic salamander related to the tiger salamander. It’s basically a funky looking underwater lizard, found in the elevated lakes of Mexico. Salamanders, unlike other amphibians an...
Jun 03, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Good day to you, fellow logophiles! And welcome to today’s installment of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents! I hope you’re hungry - hungry for knowledge! - because today’s word is: jentacular. Now I know what you’re thinking, ‘jentacular? Isn’t that just a word for someone named Jen who is spectacular?’ But sadly, you would be mistaken. Jentacular is an adjective meaning ‘of or pertaining to a breakfast taken early in the morning, or immediately on getting up.’ You would pe...
Jun 02, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Top o’ the mornin to you, literary listeners! It’s time for a wee episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents! Why not grab a nice pint of Guinness (but not if you’re driving a motor vehicle, maybe wait until you get home), as we journey to Ireland for today’s word: macushla. ‘Macushla’ is an affectionate form of address meaning ‘my darling’ or ‘my dear’. It comes from the Irish ‘mo’ meaning ‘my’ and cuisle meaning ‘pulse’; thus, my pulse or my heart. Similarly, the Irish ...
Jun 01, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Hello there my fabulous philomaths! It’s time for another episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents! Unruffle that feather in your cap, because today’s word is: superbious. Superbious is an adjective meaning proud, insolent or overbearing. For example, ‘Johnathan was rather superbious about his debate championship win, but didn’t realise his fly was undone as he walked around the party.’ It is usually referred to someone who has pride in an excessive or exaggerated way. ...
May 31, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 16
What is up, my grammar gangstas? Welcome to another go around of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. I ask you to take a deep breath in, take a deep breath out, and know that you are a wonderful and important human as we discuss today’s word: kakorrhaphiophobia. Kakorrhaphiophobia is, simply put, the fear of failure, defeat, or looking bad. Now I know some of you out there might be thinking, ‘Oh yes, this phobia certainly applies to me’, but it is normal for almost everyone ...
May 28, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Greetings, my witty word nerds! It’s that time again, the time for An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents! Today we are taking a trip off the Eastern coast of Africa; that’s right, we’re going to Madagascar to talk about the ‘aye-aye’! No, I am not saluting you, captain, nor am I celebrating in Spanish! Instead I am referring the aye-aye, a long-fingered lemur native to Madagascar with rodent-like teeth that perpetually grow, and a special thin middle finger. I know what you’re ...
May 27, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Salutations, wisdom wickers! And thank you for joining us for another episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. Get your oars out and start a-rowing, because today’s word is: weequashing. Weequashing is the spearing of fish or eels by torchlight from canoes, as in, ‘Jennifer, make sure you get the torch out of the garage, I want to go weequashing tonight!’ Weequash is derived from the word ‘wigwas’, an Algonquin word meaning ‘birch-bark’, which is likely to refer to the...
May 26, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Good day to you, language loving listeners! A hearty welcome to today’s installment of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. Today we are journeying to the glorious and tropical Caribbean to explore the word: mamaguy. Mamaguy is a West Indian word for trying to deceive someone by flattering them or telling them lies. The verb describes someone deceiving or teasing, either in jest or by deceitful flattery, and the noun refers to an instance of such deception or flattery. So you...
May 25, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Welcome back to you, etymology enthusiasts! Here we are for another episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. We’re hoping today’s word has no place as an adjective in your life right now, for today’s word is: Sisyphean. Sisyphean is a term meaning, laborious, endless and futile. As in, ‘man, digging this hole to China in my backyard sure is Sisyphean!’ This word has a rather detailed origin; it comes from Greek mythology’s legendary King Sisyphus, who was condemned for...
May 24, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 11
It’s that time again my auditory adventurers! Another episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents is before you! So what is today’s word, you might be asking? Today’s word is onomatomania onomatomania onomatomania! Now you might be thinking to yourself, is my listening device broken? Why on earth did our trusty host repeat that word so many times? And I will tell you! Onomatomania is the irresistible desire to repeat certain words or sounds. Ahhh, now you see what I did th...
May 21, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Salutations, logophiles! A warm welcome to today’s installment of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. Now, I am going to ask those of you with a mischievous penchant to please, keep your mind out of the gutter! - as we discuss today’s word: lucubration. Yes! It sounds the same! But it is not! For lucubration means writing or study, often lasting late into the night. For example, ‘after several hours of lucubration, I was able to finish writing this interesting episode.’ See?...
May 19, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 8
It’s that time again word-wonderers! Welcome to today’s episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandoliquents. Keep your head on straight, because today’s word is ‘tsansa’. Tsansa is a human head shrunk as a war trophy specifically by the Jivaro people of Equador. You might be thinking - ‘what?!’ - but allow me to explain. Though headhunting has occurred in several other regions of the world, this practice of head shrinking has only been documented in the northwestern region of the ...
May 18, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Good day, language-loving-listeners! It’s time for another episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents! And do I have a word for you today? [whispers] Do I? Oh! Yes I do! Today we are talking about ‘luftmensch’. Luftmensch is a Yiddish insult meaning an ‘impractical dreamer with no business sense’, as in, “Hey! Luftmensch! Get back here and do some work!” You get the idea. The Yiddish language has several words to describe social misfits. More specifically, a luftmensch is...
May 17, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Hello hello, you audiophiles! And a warm welcome to An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. Today’s word is a delightful little Greek nugget, that may even define you yourself, cheery listener! Today we are talking about ‘sophphophilia’. Sophophilia is defined as a person who loves seeking wisdom and knowledge. It certainly applies to me! The etymology is beautifully simple - from the ‘sophose’ meaning wise or wisdom, and ‘philia’, meaning love. Thus - ‘wisdom love’, or a love o...
May 14, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Hello hello, linguistic lovelies! We are here for another installment of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. Today we’re talking about a very specific kind of animal, and you might think I’m mistaken, but I am in fact talking about - the zorro! Zorro, the masked hero created by Johnston McCulley in 1919 and famously portrayed by Antonio Banderas in ‘The Mask of Zorro’ series? No! The Spanish name for the South American fox? Yes! Zorro is an incredibly cute South American fox...
May 13, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Hello to you, you word nerd! Welcome to today’s episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. Get your wings out, but don’t go anywhere, because today we are exploring the word ‘cassowary’. Cassowaries are a flightless species of bird that are native to the tropical forest of New Guinea, East Nusa Tenggara, the Maluku Islands, and northeastern Australia. They are characterised as a ratite without a keel on their sternum bone, and are the third-tallest and second-heaviest li...
May 13, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Greetings, word wizards and witches alike! And a humble welcome to today’s episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandloquents. Is that a ringing you hear in your ear? It may be so, for today’s word is ‘tintinnabulate’. Tintinnabulate is a lovely specimen of language meaning to ring as a bell, or tinkle. From both the Latin ‘tintinnabulum’ referring to a bell, and ‘tinnire’ to jingle, this word describes the sound of a ringing bell as it did in Roman times. To Romans, these bells i...
May 12, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Bonjour, linguaphiles! Welcome to today’s edition of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquence. Today’s word, like my salutation, will not be in English, but rather, a word from the Latin language - ‘pauciloquent.’ Pauciloquent is an adjective meaning someone who is brief in speech, or utters few words. You would probably not describe me, your host, as pauciloquent, as I am rarely of few words. This word comes from the classical Latin ‘pauciloquium’ where ‘paucus’ refers to little ...
May 11, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Good day to you, fellow logophiles! Welcome to the very first installment of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents. Our first word, rather aptly, is a word describing the length of other words. Today, we are talking about ‘sesquipedalian’. Written by Taylor Davidson, Read by Zane C Weber Subscribe to us on ITUNES , STITCHER , SPOTIFY , or your podcatcher of choice . Find us on FACEBOOK or TWITTER Become a Patron of That’s Not Canon Productions at Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See a...
May 10, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Hello there! You! Yes, you! Do you take great pleasure out of using large and obscure words that no one understands? Perhaps you enjoy peppering a strange adjective into a work email, or finding a new verb to pursue as a hobby? Or perhaps you’re a seasoned logophile such as myself. Well this is surely the podcast for you. An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents brings together all the world’s most interesting, bizarre and fascinating language to teach you a new word everyday. On ...
Apr 29, 2020•1 min
