Weekend Words C

OK, already, it has been a busy weekend. I mean we had Cowboy Day today, so that meant a parade which mostly consisted of small business owners driving tractors or Kubotas or even riding lawn mowers shamelessly promoting their businesses by throwing candy to (or at) the sidewalk gawkers. The Wayland Band was good, but they were just marching to the drummers' cadence (there's a good C word) when they went by us. Oh, yeah, we both had to be there. Cat loves a parade, no matter how small. And she is such a purist that she refused to sit in a folding lawn chair to watch it. Nosirree-bob, you're supposed to sit on the curb if you feel like sitting. I sat in my folding chair on the sidewalk, out of range of the candy hurlers, thank you. And upwind of the smoker to my right. It's West Texas so there is wind.

Well, now to the word. I would like to say that it is CHOATE (KO-it) meaning "fully formed, complete, organized" since that would be the logical antonym of inchoate (q.v.). But inexplicably the word simply doesn't exist--except as the last name of a friend who pronounces it the way that it is spelled. So this week it will be CIRCUMBENDIBUS, a whimsical combination of Latin and English which means an odd way around. Use it when you have had to do things not strictly by the rules. "Had to use a circumbendibus on that one, I'm afraid." It's sort of like a circumlocution, which is saying something in a way that is less than direct. I have on occasion been suspected of circumlocution, but generally I am just trying to express the idea perfectly correctly. I know you will understand; I certainly do.

Oh, here's another C word that I used just today--COMESTIBLE. It just means something that you can eat. It is sort of a circumbendibus for "food."