Quiz Time! A Thing You Might Not Remember About OMPR · 11:42pm Sep 6th, 2021
...Well, first of all, you might not remember that OMPR is/was One Man's Pony Ramblings, the mostly-fanfic-review-and-sometimes-other-stuff blog I ran for a long time. I mean, plenty of you probably do remember it, but it's been *checks notes* jeez, over three years, closer to four, since I stopped? Man, time flies.
But about that blog! One of the reasons I was able to keep it going so long was because so many people enjoyed it. I mean, sure, I didn't do it for the horsefame, and that’s good, because here I am, not horsefamous. But having people tell you they like what you're doing makes it a lot easier to keep going, you know? And the comments were always full of people discussing the stories I'd reviewed, commenting on what I'd said, reflecting on other goings-on in the fandom, and sometimes just being silly.
One of the folks who was a regular commenter was Deftfunk, who did a number of fanfic readings during his time in FiM-world. And just today, I was reminded of his greatest contribution to anything, ever, probably one particular fandom-specific fanfic review site: the Word of the Day. See, back at the end of 2013, he left this comment on my post about the episode Bats!:
On a completely unrelated note, I'm always learning some new word when I read your blog posts, Chris. I'mma start keeping track of them.
Word of the day: Pablum.
And then he did keep track of them. For almost a year.
Throughout 2014, he'd constantly be dropping into the comments to let us all know what the Word of the Day was. It was charming, and funny, and some of the other commenters started trying to guess which word it would be, or started offering WotD suggestions if he didn't post fast enough. I even found myself wondering what word he'd pick (despite some suspicions, I can confirm, at this late date, that I never deliberately threw in a five-dollar synonym just so he'd have something to use. That'd be cheating!). I got a real kick out of it, and I know other people did, too.
So, having been reminded of it, I went and searched out "Word of the Day" on my blog, and here they all are, in chronological order. I probably missed a few, but I think this is pretty much the lot. Want to see how many you know? Well, there are 46 WotDs, but be warned: merely knowing a lot of words won't get you through here. In addition to your usual dictionary-standard, the WotD is also populated with things I made up, proper noun-ings, pop culture references, and on at least one occasion, a misspelling. In other words, this isn't a vocab test, it's a test of your ability to read Chris's mind!
That said, feel free to give it a go. Click the links if you think seeing them in context will help. And when you're set, here's a handy scoring chart:
46: you definitely cheated, you cheaty McCheaterson.
40-45: You and I are in linguistic sympatico, friend.
30-39: You’ve got a great vocabulary, but it’s no match for my ability to neologize!
20-29: Gotta start hitting tha dictionary, brah.
10-19: I’m just proud of you for trying.
Less than 10: It’s like you don’t even know me :(
Without further adieu, Deftfunk's WotDs, a handy compendium:
Pablum
ramble-y-ness (sometimes, they were phrases, and sometimes, they were things I made up. Like this one, that's both!)
Inauspicious
Turgid
Skulduggery (with bonus WotD, "exegesis," courtesy of Soge)
Laconic (the selection of which cost PresentPerfect five internet dollars)
Blatherings
Blase
Flounce
Put-upon-ness
Nominally
Locution (in a crossover special with DannyJ)
The (to get back at me for using the word "boffo" in the post, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS A PERFEFCTLY APPROPRIATE NATIONAL LAMPOON REFERENCE)
Fug
Horologist
Vacillate
Privy
Amenable
Bowdlerization
Mete
Untenable
Horripilated (which was actually my WotD from one of the fics reviewed, but Deftfunk agreed it was a good'n)
Denigrate
Brobdingnagian (which wasn't actually in the post, but he'd just learned it, and it's a darn fine word after all)
Histrionic (as sniped by Anon, but again, Deftfunk agreed)
Cop ("embarrassedly admit to," that is)
Burgeon
Jejune (with an assist by Prof Oats)
Attenuate (in his triumphant return, after taking most of April 2014 off; although he'd missed days before this, this marks the point where the WotD became a "sometimes" thing)
Prodigee (though that one probably shouldn't count, since it was just me accidentally mixing together protegee and prodigy)
Apotheosis
Sycophantic
Renege
Lassitude
Culturalia (a made-up word, yes, but this one was made up by horizon, not me!)
Leporine
Blueshiftian
Bothan (I was surprised that this one blew past multiple people, but I guess you don't come to a FiM blog looking for Star Wars references)
Stolidly
Raison d'etre
Indemnity (though this one came from a guest post by Cold in Gardez, so I can't rightly take credit)
Fiat
Lachrymose (as sniped by Prof Oats, who as far as I know, still owes Deftfunk a lunch)
Oenophile
Bindle
Shatnerian
...Which brings us to December of 2014, and the last WotD I found. There may be a few other later ones, but I think I got most or all of them.
All in all, a fun little trip down memory lane for me. Hopefully you found it amusing, and not too self-indulgent (I get that this could come off as bragging about my vocabulary, but *gestures helplessly at “Prodigee”*).
There were a lot of fun things about running that blog; some of the people I e-met, things I learned, mistakes I made… maybe I’ll talk about some other bit of OMPR history sometime. But for now, this has been a blast for me, if for nobody else.
Ah man, has it really been that long since it ended? I'm losing my sense of time.
I outright knew 37, plus another 4 I could vaguely define. I'm almost on your level.
45. I admit, I'm not sure what to make of "fug." (Leporine did take me a few moments, but then I remembered a cinematic classic.)
I miss OMPR, and I also miss DeftFunk, he was great. :C
Ah, my fellow logophile! Obscure or underused words are always welcome, though potential neologisms are decidedly case-by-case. I personally learned "jejune" on your site, though it'll never supplant "asinine" as one of my favourite put-down adjectives.
Admittedly, I only felt confident for 28, but then I automatically discounted any where I felt I had to guess and couldn't just rely on memory, so take that as you will. "Horologist", for instance, I think is a clockmaker, but I don't allow myself to look it up to be sure, so I discount it.
Any excuse to hit the dictionary is fine by me, though never underestimate the treasure trove that is the thesaurus!
Yeah, etymology's more my speed. "Brobdingnagian" and "Yahoo" of all words share a common literary source, for instance. (And yes, "Brobdingnagian" is a delightful word, with a childlike, autological bent: I want to see it more often).
As a minor note: "Histrionic" I was aware of through "Histrionic personality disorder". For some totally inexplicable reason, it makes me think of Rarity.
5578749
5578768
I am duly impressed with both of you. You truly are Chris-adjacent when it comes to vocabulary, both real and made-up!
5578908
Words are great, aren't they? You'd probably have gotten most or all in context, e.g. "Horologist" was in regards to a story about Dr. Whooves. And of the girls, Rarity is def. the most histrionic one!
5578748
5578782
Time flies when you're remembering things that were fun.
Let's see which ones I know... without looking any of these up, or checking the links:
Pablum (nope)
ramble-y-ness (with the intention the ramble; e.g. 'excuse my rambling')
Inauspicious (not grand or elegant; e.g. plain)
Turgid (nope)
Skulduggery (foolishness, or with the intention to deceive?)
Laconic (nope; I've seen/heard this word before but I don't remember what it means.)
Blatherings (like rambling; talking incessantly)
Blase (Blasé spelled wrong? meaning boring or plain)
Flounce (to taunt/tease or hold something over someone; I remember this word being misused in a fanfiction, where Pinkie's 'bouncing' movement was described as 'flouncing' and someone complained in the comments about it.)
Put-upon-ness ('put on the spot' or expected to provide something)
Nominally ('an amount of' time/money/stuff; usually to be received at fixed times such as 'they received payments nominally' ... I feel like I got this one wrong.)
Locution (nope)
The ('it refers to' e.g. 'the door/place/car/etc. etc.)
Fug (nope)
Horologist (nope? I'm guessing... takes care of plants)
Vacillate (nope)
Privy (be informed, usually with secret knowledge, e.g. 'they are privy to the plans.')
Amenable (be nice, to provide comfortable living space or to take care of someone)
Bowdlerization (to edit or remove content from an old story for 'modern sensibilities')
Mete ('to flesh out details' such as two or more people figuring out the details of a plan)
Untenable (inhospitable? or unreasonable)
Horripilated (nope)
Denigrate (nope)
Brobdingnagian (nope)
Histrionic (nope)
Cop (take/steal, copper [the metal], police officer)
Burgeon (nope; I've seen/heard this word before but I don't remember what it means.)
Jejune (nope)
Attenuate (nope)
Prodigee (prodigy spelled wrong, as you said)
Apotheosis (nope)
Sycophantic (nope; I've seen/heard this word before but I don't remember what it means. It's used in Ed, Edd, and Eddy, it has something to do with dancing or rhythm if the cartoon is to be believed)
Renege (to go back on one's word, or back out of a deal that had been agreed to)
Lassitude (nope, but it sound familiar)
Culturalia (nope)
Leporine (nope)
Blueshiftian (nope, but it sounds fake)
Bothan (nope, you say it's from Star Wars so it's probably fake)
Stolidly (nope. Maybe something to do with storing cargo on a ship?)
Raison d'etre ('the/you're reason for [doing something]' something very important, such as 'what you live for' or your life's dreams')
Indemnity (nope... Maybe, being responsible/accountable for something... I feel like I've heard this word commercials for lawyers)
Fiat (nope... the car company? Is that how that's spelled?)
Lachrymose (nope, unless this is lacrimosa spelled differently; if so then it means, deep sadness or despair.)
Oenophile (nope)
Bindle (nope, maybe... an amount or group of things [like bundle]?)
Shatnerian (nope)
Eighteen that I'm fairly confident about.
5578782
I didn’t start following Chris’s blog posts until much later, so I never saw the series of his. I have never heard of DeftFunk either. I really am interested in audio fanfics, but I don’t know how to find the good ones. Authors will make blog posts when someone does a reading… but sometimes those are more out of gratitude than a recommendation based on quality.
5579836
Not to self-promote on main, but here is the list of every fanfic reader I have ever encountered. No guarantees they're all still active, but many of them at least left their channels up for posterity.
Use the date links on the left to find the blog that will actually link you to one of their videos. The list also includes my general opinion of them based on the first reading I heard, listed on the right. Hope that's useful. :)
Fug, horripilate, jejune, leporine, and oenophile—everything else I knew, or at least knew well enough to be comfortable using it myself in context (I'd probably miss some nuance on a couple of them, like burgeon and lassitude). I think I've seen fug and jejune used, and had a vague notion that wasn't too far off, but the dictionary definitions were different enough from what I thought that I wouldn't claim to have known them. I should have known leporine, and in fact my best guess for the word was the definition, but I don't think I've ever seen it used before. Horripilate and oenophile were completely new to me.