Today's word: sockdolager (n.) something of exceptional size or extraordinariness; a knockout blow.

I firmly believe "thoughts and prayers", as advocated by the US President after yet another senseless mass shooting, will do zero to fix the stupidity which leads to humans treating other humans as expendable. And all the nonsense we choose to fill our heads with only serves as a distraction from dealing with things sensibly. Two things can save our species: a sense of empathy, and the ability to reason. Because reason has the ability to change our destiny, if we use it properly, I think it truly deserves the term "sockdolager".

My much-treasured Christmas present for 2017 is a book by Paul Anthony Jones: "The cabinet of linguistic curiosities". Each page contains a descriptive story about some obscure or archaic word. It occurred to me it would be a fun exercise to try and write, each day, a poem featuring the "word of the day" from the book.

Thanks for reading.

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