At 04:35 PM 8/19/2003 -0700, you wrote: >Anyone else have any cool or interesting words they like? My favorite neologism (new word) is retronym. Retronym is the term for an existing word or figure of speech which has been modified to distinguish itself from a newer variant (usually due to technological advances). The best known examples of retronyms are acoustic guitar, analog watch, and manual typewriter. Those items were previously just called guitars, watches, and typewriters until the new versions came along and people needed to call the older items something new to differentiate them from the new items. And I'm fond of a neologism that I made up: Triskember Triskember is the mythical thirteenth month which, like tomorrow, never actually arrives. It's when my projects will actually be be completed. And for the linguists in the audience... Yes, I know that December would be "10th month" and is from Latin roots meaning that the mythical next month should be Undecember (or Tredecember for 13), but that doesn't sound nearly as cool as Triskember and it's not my fault that the month names and numbering systems aren't aligned. Charley Sumner charles_sumner at harvard.edu An open mind is one thing, letting geese run around in there is completely different.