She's reading Things Not Seen, by Andrew Clements - a story about a kid who comes out of the shower one morning to find he has become invisible.
I'm reading...well...tweets. About nothing in particular.
Yet while my morning reading material is Very Random in Nature, it does contain something quite interesting: A Very Awesome Word. It is so awesome, in fact, that I know merely reading it to myself will not do this Very Awesome Word justice. So, I shout it out loud:
"LICKSPITTLE!"
Lovely Girl doesn't even flinch. (She's quite accustomed to my random outbursts.) She just calmly looks up from her book. "Lickspittle?"
I explain that it is part of a "List of the Day" tweet by online dictionary wordnik, which I follow on Twitter (as any self-respecting Word Nerd should).
Then I shout it out loud again:
"LICKSPITTLE!"
and giggle to myself as I add it to my "Words I Like" list, which I keep with me at all times (as any self-respecting Word Nerd would).
Then I look up at Lovely Girl. "Let's look it up!" She may not share my enthusiasm, but she doesn't protest at being included, either, so when I find a few definitions via Google, I read them out loud - though I do refrain from shouting:
- from Merriam-Webster.com: a fawning subordinate
- from Wikipedia (which redirects from "lickspittle" to "sycophancy"): obsequious flattery; servility
- from my computer's dictionary: a person who behaves obsequiously to those in power
- from Wictionary: a fawning toady; a base sycophant; (by extension) the practice of giving empty flattery for personal gain
"So," Lovely Girl breaks in, reaching for her mug:
"A suck-up."
And just like that, she's cut off my rambling definitional glee with a synonym and a definition, both neatly rolled into one easily understood word. Her English teacher would be proud.
All I know is, suck-up is just as much fun to say as lickspittle.
And yes, it's going on The List.
