Thursday Word: Scutch
Jan. 29th, 2026 06:24 amThe textile world is full of interesting words, and my latest TIL moment was scutch. Scutching is part of processing natural fibres like cotton, flax, or hemp. Scutching can be performed manually or mechanically. Watch the clip below to get an idea of how it works.
Tuesday word: Serendipity
Jan. 27th, 2026 09:40 pmSerendipity (noun)
serendipity [ser-uhn-dip-i-tee]
noun, plural serendipities
1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.
2. accidental discovery, or an instance of this: Alton’s premiere novel was a serendipity that affected my thinking in the most positive way.
3. good fortune; luck: What serendipity—she got the first job she applied for!
Other Word Forms
serendipiter noun
serendipitist noun
serendipitous adjective
serendipper noun
Related Words
fluke, happenstance
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Origin: Serendip + -ity; coined in 1754 by English novelist Horace Walpole ( def. ) for an ability possessed by the heroes of a fairy tale called The Three Princes of Serendip, using a former name for Sri Lanka
Example Sentences
New ideas spring, as if by serendipity, from individuals.
From The Wall Street Journal
“Gen Z wants to connect authentically. They believe in romance. They’re open to serendipity,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times
When you’re just another tourist following a well-trodden itinerary, serendipity is rare, but the Georgian hinterland seems to regularly yield chance happenings.
From The Wall Street Journal
She felt relying heavily on AI to source investment opportunities could kill the serendipity of scouting for deals, which can uncover talented entrepreneurs in unsuspecting ways.
From The Wall Street Journal
Then in the 1940s, "serendipity" catapulted it into the big time, says Prof Silhavy.
From BBC
Now YOU come up with a sentence (or fic? or graphic?) that best illustrates the word.
Monday Word: Scabrous
Jan. 26th, 2026 02:34 pmadjective
1. having a rough surface because of minute points or projections.
2. indecent or scandalous; risqué; obscene.
3. full of difficulties.
examples
1. Ryan was forty-five years Gorey's junior, and his scabrous, willfully crude comics cross the self-flagellating confessionalism of underground artists like R. Crumb with the postpunk cynicism of Peter Bagge, the grunge cartoonist known for his bilious, bleakly funny strip, Hate. Born to be Posthumous by Mark Dery
2. O’Neill resolves the triangular conflict with a combination of religious fervor, metaphoric brooding and scabrous humor. "Michelle Williams finds the modern spiritual essence of Anna Christie at St. Ann’s Warehouse" by Charles McNulty. Los Angeles Times. 15 Dec 2025.
origin
Latin scabr-, scaber rough, scurfy; akin to Latin scabere to scratch
Holly Poly 2025 Post Deadline Pinch Hits
Jan. 25th, 2026 07:43 pmEvent link:
Pinch hit link: Details and claims in this post
Due date: February 1st
#2: Riverdale (TV 2017), Glee (TV 2009), Person of Interest (TV)
#4: Dead by Daylight (Video Game), Borderlands (Video Games), Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
#7: Disco Elysium (Video Game), Final Fantasy VIII, The Locked Tomb Series | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
#17: Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), LEGO Ninjago (Cartoon 2011-2022), Miraculous Ladybug, Bungou Stray Dogs, Nanatsu no Taizai | The Seven Deadly Sins - Suzuki Nakaba (Anime & Manga)
Traumatic Experiences Pinch Hits - Due February 10th 8PM PST
Jan. 25th, 2026 08:59 amEvent link:
Pinch hit link: Current Pinch Hit Post
Due date: February 10th at 8PM PST
Assignment Requirements
PH 2 - Dredge (Video Game), Trigun (Anime & Manga 1995-2008), 間の楔 | Ai no Kusabi (Anime)
PH 5 - Dial M for Murder (1954), Home Before Dark (1958), The Country Girl (1954)
PH 6 - Given (Anime), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime), Wind Breaker (Anime), Outlast (Video Games)
PH 7 - Four Assassins (2011), RoboCop (Movies 1987-1993), Half-Life (Video Games), Crossing Jordan (TV 2001)
PH 8 - The Defenders (Marvel TV), Charmed (TV 1998)
PH 10 - The A Word (TV), I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Video Game), 崩坏:星穹铁道 | Honkai: Star Rail (Video Game)
PH 13 - The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, The Fall (2006)
For more details/to claim, view the pinch hit post.
Sunday Word: Malediction
Jan. 25th, 2026 08:25 pmmalediction [mal-i-dik-shuhn]
noun:
1 the utterance of a curse against someone or something
2 slanderous accusation or comment
Examples:
Despite this Sisyphean malediction, with each call for new proposals, the community still tries to push its boulder back to the mountaintop. (Robin George Andrews, NASA Just Broke the ‘Venus Curse’: Here's What It Took, Scientific American, June 2021)
Mr Badoglio said he discovered a curse on the director by sleeping in the bedroom of the movie’s stars. Mr Badoglio then spent three months entreating his cemetery spirits to undo the malediction, until Mr Zeffirelli was able to begin filming again. (Laura Rysman, Telling Fashion's Fortune, The New York Times, September 2021)
"Not a promise, not an oath, or a malediction or a curse. Inevitable. Wasn't that how she put it? I told them. Warned them." (Wildbow, Worm)
Five minutes afterwards the piano resounded to the touch of Mademoiselle d'Armilly's fingers, and Mademoiselle Danglars was singing Brabantio's malediction on Desdemona. (Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo)
(click to enlarge)
Origin:
mid-15c, malediccion, 'a curse; condemnation, excommunication,' from Old French maledicion 'a curse' (15c) and directly from Latin maledictionem (nominative maledictio) 'the action of speaking evil of, slander,' in Late Latin 'a curse,' noun of action from past participle stem of maledicere 'to speak badly or evil of, slander,' from male 'badly' + dicere 'to say' (from PIE root deik- 'to show,' also 'pronounce solemnly'). By 1530s as 'evil-speaking, cursing, reviling.' (Online Etymology Dictionary)
Malediction, which at one time could also refer to slander or to the condition of being reviled or slandered, derives (via Middle English and Late Latin) from the Latin verb maledicere, meaning 'to speak evil of' or 'to curse.' Maledicere, in turn, was formed by combining the Latin words male, meaning 'badly,' and dicere, 'to speak' or 'to say.' (Merriam-Webster)
Author: bluerosekatie
Fandom: Rockman | Mega Man Classic (video games)
Pairing/Characters: (use full names rather than initials or nicknames)
Rating/Category: Gen, Teen
Prompt: Rockman | Mega Man Classic (game), Dr. Light & Blues | Proto Man & Rockman | Mega Man, how good I could have been
Spoilers: Spoils Mega Man 3 pretty much entirely.
Summary: Proto Man lived past the end of Blues’ story — and he hoped Dr. Light had forgotten about him. He didn’t plan to find out.
Notes/Warnings: Contains a self-harm depiction.
Read it on Ao3 here!
Fanfic, Sense8, Nomi Marks & Lito Rodriguez, Closeness
Jan. 22nd, 2026 05:35 pmAuthor: soricel/freevistas
Fandom: Sense8
Pairing/Characters: Nomi Marks & Lito Rodriguez
Rating/Category: G
Prompt: Closeness
On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/78102826
( Read more... )