Have you ever heard or used the word apocryphal before? When I first stumbled upon the word in a book I was reading, I thought the word had a dark, brooding feel to it. Perhaps it's because you can almost spell "crypt" in the word. In reality, it means something -- whether a story, account, or statement -- that is of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true. Synonyms for apocryphal include fictitious, untrue, spurious, unsubstantiated, bogus, and false. I'm sure we can all point to one specific thing in school or the workplace that can often be described as apocryphal: rumors and gossip. Many of the statements made by candidates during the presidential election last year could also be classified as such, which is why fact checking has become all the rage in politics. All of us have friends, relatives or coworkers who relate stories that at times seem, well, exaggerated. And, yet, even though their authenticity may seem questionable...

The word of the day is laconic . To be laconic is to use very few words. Synonyms for laconic include terse, pithy, brief, concise, and succinct. I'm the perfect example of someone who's laconic. I don't like talking unless I have something meaningful to say and I've thought through my words carefully. That's why, when I actually have something to say, people shut up and listen.  I only wish that people who tend to blab others' ear off realized that they can be laconic and drive their point home without providing so much detail. Sometimes we don't need to hear the whole backstory, you know? Small talk, chitchat, blabber, babble -- it's all anathema to me. The only form of communication through which I'm known to employ many words? In writing, of course, as you can probably tell from this blog! Had you ever heard or used the word laconic before reading this post?

The word of the day is perspicacious. I first heard the word used by Bill O'Reilly as he was interviewing then-Senator Barack Obama on the Fox News Channel a month or two prior to the 2008 presidential election. O'Reilly commended Obama on being perspicacious in his "original assessment of the battlefield" in Iraq. Perspicacious means "having a ready insight to and understanding of things." Synonyms include discerning, shrewd, perceptive, astute, sharp, clear-sighted, insightful, and discriminating. From what I've seen, the word isn't used often, but it is a handy one to have nonetheless in case you want something in lieu of "insightful" or "sharp," which tend to come up more in daily conversation. Had you ever heard of or used the word perspicacious before?