Cummingtonight:(′kəm·iŋ·tə′nīt) A basic silicate of magnesium and ferrous iron,
(Mg, Fe)7Si8O22(OH)2,
that is an amphibole mineral similar to anthophyllite but monoclinic and with more iron, and that occurs as fibres and lamellae in metamorphic rocks.
This mineral was found by Dr. J. Porter in a town called Cummington, Massachusetts. He named the mineral after the town, adding the -ite suffix to signify that it’s a mineral.
It’s so embarrassing when you write an important email, perfectly written, spell-checked, where it ends on the PERFECT note, cc’d to 5 very important people. You hit send and then…
DARN IT!!! I forgot the attachment!
Then you have to send a followup email with your tail between your legs… “Whoops, sorry guys…”
It’s like making a grand exit from the room after saying something witty, then having to skimper back in… a second later… “Oh I forgot my coat!”
iPhoneover: waking up the day after Apple announces the new iPhone 3G-S with video recording capabilities and realizing it will cost you $518 to upgrade!
Arrgggh!
I, of course, will still get the upgrade, but wow, expensive!*
Mondegreen: a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung.
First coined by the author Sylvia Wright in 1954, when she misheard the Scottish ballad “The Bonny Earl of Moray.” The lyric “they had slain the Earl of Moray and had laid him on the green,” she thought they had said “Lady Mondegreen”, hence the word.
We’re all guilty of committing mondegreens, right? To this day I still have no idea what the lyrics to “Blinded by the light” are!
Can you think of some other funny mondegreens?
Write some below and I will shoot a video on this word and included some of your best ones!
Today’s word I got in my inbox from the Urban Dictionary:
Douchebagette:a woman who exhibits the characteristics of a douchebag*.
*Douchebag: An individual who has an over-inflated sense of self worth, compounded by a low level of intellegence, behaving ridiculously in front of colleagues with no sense of how moronic he appears.
Being that I am in Cannes, France right now, I thought the following phrase appropriate.
Today’s phrase “It’s like déjà vu all over again” is funny because it is a joke.
It’s a joke because the “déjà vu” part makes the “all over again” part redundant.
It’s nerdy because kids today don’t even realize it’s a joke, they think it’s the proper expression!
The phrase came to us from the famous Yankee baseball player Yogi Berra who was also famous for his “creative use” of the English language bringing us such doozies as:
“You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.”
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
“I made a wrong mistake.”
“Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical.”
Oh, and here is a Monty Python sketch on the phenomenon of Déjà Vu
Cosmetic Neurology:the practice of using drugs developed for recognized medical conditions to strengthen ordinary cognition.
In other words, taking things like Ritalin, Adderrall or Provigil to help you cram in your studies.
Coined by Neurologist Anjan Chatterjee at the University of Pennsylvania as a play on the term “cosmetic surgery”.
Studies show that in 2005 4.1% of all undergraduate students had taken such drugs for off-label use. I wonder what that figure is today, 4 years later?
Have you ever taken such a drug for off-label use?
In honor of today being Earth Day… today’s Nerd Word of the Day is:
Hypermiling: the attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques.
These adjustments include things like:
• driving without shoes (to increase the foot’s sensitivity on the pedals)
• parking so that you don’t have to back up to exit the space
• “ridge-riding” or driving with your tires lined up with the white line at the edge of the road to avoid driving through water-filled ruts in the road when it’s raining
Every day we encounter nerdy words trying to find their way into the common vernacular.
Today’s word I got in my inbox from the Urban Dictionary:
Being that I am in Cannes, France right now, I thought the following phrase appropriate.
Cosmetic Neurology: the practice of using drugs developed for recognized medical conditions to strengthen ordinary cognition.
muggins on 
