Mean Business

If you’ve ever left a comment on a blog, you may very well have come across word verification — and if you’ve been following this blog at all the past several months, you may very well have seen my lists of verification-word definitions.

As I explained in my first such post (“Mean”), then illustrated in one last month
(“Even Meaner”), word verification is a check that authors on Blogger/Blogspot can select to help ensure that it’s humans leaving comments and not spamming robots. When one has comments enabled on one’s blog, among the info at the end of a post (labels, time stamp, etc.) is how many comments there are. Clicking on that line takes you to the comments page and/or a pop-up window where you can read the comments to date and submit your own. When verification is turned on, below the comment box will be a jumble of letters that usually could almost be a word — as opposed to the total mess of consonants and numbers often seen when filling out forms online — but isn’t, except on the rare occasions when the randomizing algorithm ends up with an actual word accidentally; you must type those letters correctly for your comment to be accepted. Some blogs also have moderation turned on for all or at least older posts, so your comment won’t show up until the proprietor of the blog has reviewed it.

I’ve taken to sharing definitions for my verification words in my comments, should a definition come readily to mind for the word on the screen at that moment. The idea is similar to Sniglets, which Rich Hall popularized on HBO’s Not Necessarily the News and in a series of books back in the ’80s, but in reverse. While I lay absolutely no claim to being either the first or the best at this, I amass these definitions regularly when commenting on other blogs and now offer them up periodically here on mine, often when there’s a dry spell. In this case, although I have posts in the pipeline, the Internet connection has been troublesome and my metaphorical batteries are low, so it’s a fine time. You’re not only welcome but encouraged to leave definitions for your own verification words when leaving a comment on this or any post here.

antanaut — n. One who travels among insects of the Formicidae family (cf. Henry Pym).

brinewe — n. Saltwater sheep.

bustort — n. Legally actionable incident on public transportation.

civerse — adj. Just one letter’s worth less multifaceted than diverse.

comackin — v. Two people mutually into totally sucking face.

Dewsquil — The sniffling, sneezing, aching, coughing, stuffy-head, fever, so-you-can-condense-on-the-lawn medicine.

dingic — adj. Of or relating to dingoes: “The main reason why Claire wanted Aaron to be adopted by a couple in the States was Australia’s noted problem with dingic infanticides.”

epersons — pl. n. Folks with a Second Life.

failfle — n. A failed waffle (possibly gone so awry that it turned into a felafel).

howiv — Michael Caine’s Cockney interrogatory: “Howiv yeh bwekfift, den, Suh?”

hugenias — pl. n. Really, really big gardenias.

joilty — n. Dyslexic cheerfulness.

kabion — n. Taxi molecule with a net electric charge.

litin — n. Peaceful demonstration held by smokers.

luouser — n. Someone who brought lice to the luau.

matsomat — n. All-night, coin-operated hangout for unleavened bread.

Nourn — A Viking goddess of fate (British spelling).

Osplashi — Japanese water park.

PediCA — Los Angeles chain of foot-care spas.

prodgi — n. A kid who’s extremely good at putting on his judo outfit.

rebeak — v. Fix up a poor, poor bird.

SinSin — The Devil’s licorice. [Here’s reference for the young; they were before my time as well, but familiar from my mom’s generation and a Billy Joel song.]

spitiv — n. A saliva drip.

squese — n. The secret language of huggers.

tallysm — n. Severe neurological reaction to doing addition too quickly.

troutic — adj. Of or relating to certain species of fresh- and saltwater fish.

unbunper — n. Pastry rationing in franglais.

wavary — n. The undulation of the ocean.

werea — n. Lycanthropes who transform into the first letter of the alphabet.