SUE DE GROOT: Word of the week: absquatulate
'As we know from its empty desk and unpunched time card, absquatulate never really caught on'
“Absquatulate” is a pleasing word that means to leave somewhere abruptly, like when your mom asks you to pull the hairs out of her chin with a pair of tweezers and you have to rush out immediately because you left the iron on. That’s absquatulating. Unlike people who need suddenly to make themselves scarce, however, the word absquatulate hardly ever has any reason to absquatulate from anywhere because it is hardly ever called upon to do any work. When last did you hear someone say “absquatulate”?Instead of doing its bit for the English language, absquatulate gets to lie around and drink cocktails by the pool all day while other words shoulder far more than their share of the working word’s burden. Take stress, for example. (Please take it – it’s giving us all a headache.) Stress is a much older word than absquatulate but in the world of words there is no such thing as respect for one’s elders. Old, overworked words are often treated abominably. You won’t catch spoilt-brat words like...
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