Scruple

I find this to be a word commonly understood but not easily defined.  Many seem to use scruples to be synonymous with morals, and while that definition may make sense in some uses, the true definition of a scruple is a doubt.  So while a scrupleless person may be immoral, it is because he never questions whether his actions are just, he has no doubt.

Thanks to John Kuhner for pointing out the origin of the word, which comes from Latin and means a little pebble.  Cicero described doubt and anxiety as a little pebble caught in one’s shoe — a minor but nagging sensation telling you that something is wrong.

Peruse

v. to go through thoroughly

or

v. to skim or read in a leisurely way

Here is an example of a word that has become an auto-antonym through simple misuse.  Thanks to John Kuhner for bringing this one to my attention a long time ago.  The word, from its very origins circa 1533, has always meant to go through with great care.  One would peruse (Latin for “go through”) something, by definition, closely, most commonly a book.

Many people have learned the word incorrectly, and it is quite common to hear someone use it to mean to skim something, or to peruse in a leisurely, and not necessarily careful way.  This was my original understanding of the word.  The Webster and Collins dictionary use this as the final definition (often left to common-use definitions).  The Oxford dictionaries deny this as an acceptable definition at all.  My dictionary widget from Random House won’t give the second definition an entry, but it will acknowledge its common acceptance in a usage note.  It asserts that people who use it this way are wrong.  Dictionary.com’s entry, from the American Heritage Dictionary, also has a usage note.  In this they refer to a Star Chamberish “Usage Panel.”  The panel has slowly been wearing down on this secondary definition.  In 1988, 66% of the panel rejected this defintion.  In 1999, only 58% did.

Here is the problem.  If almost half of the expert-level English speakers (assuming this Usage Panel consists of “experts” and not schmos like me) use this word to mean contradictory things, than how could the word be of any use? At least with cleave, there is the addition of a preposition in the adhere definition.  If someone asks you to peruse something, there is no way to know the level of effort they are requesting.  Word purists will insist on the 1533 definition, but unless they are only planning to talk to each other, the problem remains.

Vitriol

n.  cruel and bitter criticism. (Oxford American Dictionary)

The background for today’s word comes from a recent blog post by John Kuhner.  Mr Kuhner was recently fined $50 by the Transit Police for resting his feet up against a seat on the train early in the morning.  His post was picked up in an article in the Gothamist.  Go to both sites, but in particular, read the comments on the Gothamist.  Many, starting with the first, are the embodiment of the word vitriol, which I can only best define as a depth of hatred but not necessarily a depth of thought.  The word was the first that came to mind to both John and me when reading them.  BTW, A less biting discussion occurs at the subway blog Second Avenue Sagas.

The interesting thing about the word Vitriol is its origins.  It comes from Latin’s vitrum, which means glass.  How does a word that means glass come to mean something biting or acidic?

This history is shockingly scientific and has to do with sulfates.  I claim to have nothing more that a Wikipedish knowledge of sulfates; a sulfate is  a”salt of sulfuric acid.”  Some salts were known from long ago as vitriol salts because they had a glassy appearance.  This was the key jump in the meaning of the word.

From there, vitriol meant sulfuric acid, ultimately losing its glassy meaning.  Now, no one uses the literal meaning of vitriol, the acid, but only the more figurative phrase, best exemplified by New Yorkers determined to keep other people’s feet off of their seats.

Peccary

n. any of several piglike hoofed mammals of the genus Tayassu, of North and South America.

Thanks to the Random House dictionary for this definition, and thanks to John for today’s word.  In response to my question about the what sort of animal a peccadillo might resemble, John suggested a baby peccary.  I had never heard of such a thing, so I looked it up.  It looks like this.  I feel like I saw this guy (or his cousin) at the San Diego  Wild Animal Park but I’m not sure it was not some other sort of porcine creature (note the use of porcine, for while the peccary resembles a pig, it is not one).

According to Wikipedia, peccaries differ from pigs in that they are are omnivorous. Additionally, they are often called skunk pigs because of their smell.  Wikipedia also offers a picture of the rarely seen, and newly dubbed peccadillo with its mother (father?).