Sunday, May 2, 2010

Word of the Day: Obbligatists

You know those boxes that appear on web pages during registration that ask you to type the work you see, and it is usually a non-sense word displayed with background noise and distorted letters? The one I filled out today asked me to type the word "obbligatists" which sounded like it might be a cool word to stick in my back pocket. Dictionary.com had never heard of it, and suggested "abblactate" instead, which means to wean. Not helpful.

A quick Google (the verb and the noun) helped me observe the word in context. Not as exciting or useful as I expected, obbligatists are apparently artists to play the oboe. If I ever find the oipportunioty to smoothly inject this word in conversation, it will probably be a depressing moment. Not that there is anything wrong with oboes or obbligatists, it just isn't a fit with my self-image. ;)

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