My first word is from my 2014 365 New Words-a-Year desk calendar.
1. John Q. Public: a member of the public or the community, a person or citizen; it can also mean the public or the community personified
John Q. Public started to appear in print in the late 1930s, about 10 years after John Citizen. Some think that the Q was inspired by John Quincy Adams. John Doe had been used since the mid-1600s to represent the anonymous or average man. Female versions debuted later: Jane Doe (1930s), Joan Citizen (1940s), and Jane Q. Public (1980s).
I discovered the next one on the Word of the Day feature on She Reads.
2. librocubicularist: a person who reads in bed
Not surprisingly, I'm a librocubicularist (even though I'm still learning how to spell and pronounce this seven-syllable word). It's a rare word, although there are many of us. It's truly wunderbar to read in bed, isn't it? But isn't there a simpler term for someone who reads in bed? Hmm....I found my final word on Anna's blog, Diary of an Eccentric. I could tell what it meant by the context ("a segue into the next installment"), but I admired her use of the word, and since it was new to me, I looked it up online.
3. segue: (verb or noun) to proceed without pause; a transition made without pause or interruption
Segue is often used in music or film to indicate a continuous transition from one piece of music or film scene to another.
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme for word collectors, hosted by Kathy from BermudaOnion's Weblog. What new words have you garnered?
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