What makes the word "quixotic" so interesting? Well, the fact that it contains both a "Q" and an "X," of course. According to one English language word list I checked, there are only 26 words in the English language which contain both of those letters, and of those 26, nine of them are variations on "quixotic" (quixotically, quixotry, quixotism, etc).

Okay, so that's not really what's interesting about the word. The word is directly derived from the name of a character in what is perhaps the most famous piece of Spanish literature. Do you know who it is? Do you need a hint?

A novel by Cervantes. That contains windmills.

Yes, that's right. Don Quixote. Don Quixote was a somewhat crazy individual who read too many stories of the age of chivalry, and decided to go out into the world righting wrongs, fighting evil, and delivering justice wherever needed. The famous expression "tilting at windmills" is a reference to Don Quixote attacking some windmills because he believed them to be giants.

He was hopelessly hopeful, absurdly optimistic, and impractically idealistic.

And that's the definition of the word "quixotic." To be quixotic is to be exceedingly idealistic, unrealistic, and impractical.

Oh, and just so you don't stumble over the pronunciation, even though Quixote is pronounced kay-HO-tay, "quixotic" is not pronounced kay-HO-tic. It's kwix-OT-ic.

Do you have a friend with logomania? People with logomania can be very difficult to deal with in social situations. Conversation with them can be awkward, uncomfortable, and downright frustrating.

What is logomania? Let's break it up into its components.

logo: comes from the Greek word "logos" which means "word." 
mania: this word has a medical definition, but in simple, non-medical terms, it can be defined as "overactivity."

Thus, logomania is "overactive words." 

Most dictionaries define it as excessive speech, or compulsive talkativeness. Some even go so far as to describe logomania as pathological overtalkativeness.

When you are talking with someone who has logomania, you will find yourself looking at your watch, thinking, "I need to get going soon," but even when you tell the person that you need to go, they can't keep themselves from continuing the conversation. It can get really awkward when you have to get in your car, close the door, and slowly roll the window up while they're still talking to you!

Years ago I had a teacher who introduced me to logomania's synonym, logorrhea.

You can probably guess where this word is going. The suffix orrhea is a medical term which means "flow or discharge." Like diarrhea.

The teacher who taught me this vocabulary word had his own definition for the word: "Logorrhea is diarrhea of words and constipation of ideas."

What an unusual word jackanapes is! It is an archaic word which has been steadily declining in usage, though it has had a recent surge in popularity, possibly due to George R. R. Martin's use of the word in his very popular Game of Thrones.

But what does this word mean? Where did it come from?

The meaning is easy--much easier than the word origin question! A "jackanapes" is an impertinent or impudent person. Thus the Martin quote: "By his extreme youth, he can only be a prancing jackanapes, and so I name him."

If you want a mental picture to go with the word, picture a monkey on a leash used by an organ grinder. Full of mischief, and hard to control.

But where did this word come from? That's a great question--thank you for asking! There seems to be a variety of theories about where the word came from, as listed below. Before we begin, though, keep in mind that the name Jack is the diminutive for the very popular name John, and is widely used in fairy tales and nursery rhymes (Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Jack Horner, etc.). Jack became the equivalent of the "everyman." Think about the fact that the "Jack" in a deck of playing cards was once called the "knave."

• Originally, a mischievous person might be referred to as "Jack of the Apes," which got truncated to "Jacken Apes," and eventually "jackanapes."
• One such mischievous person lived in Naples, and was referred to as "Jack of Naples," or "Jack a Napes."
• Naples had (for some obscure reason) an association with monkeys, so calling someone "Jack of Naples" was equivalent to calling them "Jack of the Monkeys."
• William de la Pole, who was generally disliked, had a collar and leash on his coat of arms (here we go, back to the monkey-on-a-leash image!) so people called him "Jack of the Apes" or "Jack of Naples."

Incidentally, William de la Pole, who is generally considered to be the "original" jackanapes, was banished and then beheaded, so if you were thinking of leading a life of jackanapery (yes, that really is a word!), you might want to reconsider...

A couple months ago we wrote about the word pabulum which, on the surface, appears to have a straightfoward meaning, but has an ironic barbed point under the surface. This month's word, "leguleian," is very similar.

Take a quick stab at the general meaning of this word, based on the first two syllables. Did you guess that it has something to do with the legal system? If you did, you were right on the money.

Leguleian is a fancy word for someone who behaves in a "lawyerly fashion," or "like a lawyer."

That's all fine, but you might wonder . . . how does a lawyer behave? What exactly is the under-the-surface meaning of this fancy word?

To learn the answer to that question, we have to look at a word that is often listed as a synonym of leguleian: pettifogger.

Pettifogger is another fun word, and its meaning can also be partially deduced from the first two syllables. A pettifogger is an inferior-quality lawyer who takes on petty cases and uses ethically dubious methods to win. In other words, a shyster.

Thus, leguleian can be used in a couple different ways. It can be used unironically to state that someone is a lawyer, and behaving like a lawyer, or it can be used in a more insulting way to indicate that a lawyer is actually a crook.

Pay close attention to the context to determine the actual meaning!

The word nostomania is not a hard word to figure out; if you don't know what it means, study the word for a moment, and see if you can suss out its meaning.

Here's a hint: split the word between the "o" and the "m."

The second half, "mania," is easy to figure out; "mania" is a form of mental illness marked by excessive excitement, euphoria, or activity.

To figure out the first half, ask yourself what words you know that begin with the syllable "nost." If you thought "Nostradamus," you picked the wrong one. "Nostalgia" is the word you're looking for. Nostalgia is a longing for a time or place which has happy associations.  

Put those two things together, and you have excessive longing over a time or place with happy associations.  

Now we just need  to tweak the definition a bit; "nostomania" is all about a place with happy associations: home.

So "nostomania" is an excessive longing to return home. Or, to put it another way, it is extreme homesickness.

Example: Even though the camp had many fun activities, nostomania kept Joey from enjoying any of them.