The Words of the Week - May 15
Dictionary lookups from graduation ceremonies, wooded swamps, and Mother’s Day
‘Mom’
Sunday was Mother’s Day, which led to a number of related words entering the Top Lookups chart, from mother and matriarch to mom.
In 2006, former Brewers infielder Bill Hall had a rather rosy Mother’s Day when he used a pink bat to swat a walk-off home run to defeat the New York Mets in extra innings, 6-5, with his mom in the stands.
—Emmett Prosser, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11 May 2026
We define mom as an informal synonym of mother. It first appeared in print relatively recently, in the mid-1800s, and is a shortening of momma. Mom is also often used as a name, as in “Mom, you’re in the dictionary!”
‘Prothonotary’
Lookups for prothonotary reached the top of the charts on Monday morning, which is … unusual.
In addition, prior to payout of funds on hand from the Sale, the Sheriff shall file a proposed Schedule of Distribution with the Prothonotary’s Office …
—“Early May is when the warblers return in numbers,” [Rob] Blye said. “My favorites are prothonotary, yellow, yellow-throated, common yellowthroat and pine, all of which breed in Delaware.”
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Prothonotary may refer to a chief clerk in any of various courts of law. The word comes from the Late Latin word protonotarius, one element of which is notarius, meaning “stenographer.” While we allow that there may have been cause somewhere in the world to lookup lesser known legal words on Monday morning, prothonotary’s popularity may also have been due to the fact that it is part of the common name of the prothonotary warbler, May being an exciting time for birders. Prothonotary warblers are large eastern North American warblers (Protonotaria citrea of the family Parulidae) of wooded swamps that have golden-yellow heads and breasts and bluish-gray wings.
‘Remora’
An eye-catching story about a fish led to higher-than-usual lookups for remora.
When danger calls, some animals bare their teeth. Others take to the sky, or curl into protective balls. But the remora—a fish that often hitches a ride on larger marine animals like sea turtles, whales and sharks—sometimes follows a less dignified strategy: It disappears inside a manta ray’s rear end.
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Also known as shark suckers or suckerfish, remoras are long, thin, dark fishes that are distributed throughout the world in warm seas. Ancient sailors believed remoras had the power to slow or even stop a ship by attaching themselves to it; the name remora, which means “delay” in Latin, arose from this ancient superstition.
‘Podium’
High school and college graduations have renewed interest in the word podium.
Once on the podium, [Washington D.C. mayor, Muriel] Bowser framed her message around leadership, criticism, and transition, telling the Class of 2026 that she, too, is “graduating” as she prepares to leave City Hall after nearly two decades in local government.
—On May 18, the political science major and aspiring lawyer will stand at the podium and talk about the choices we make in our lives, how they help shape our trajectories, build our communities, and guide our future.
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Podium, as in the first quote above, can be used for a dais—a raised platform as in a hall or large room—and is often used for a dais used by an orchestral conductor. We are very sorry to inform those of you who care about this matter that the word podium can truly and without embarrassment also refer to what is also called a lectern (a stand used to support a book or script in a convenient position for a standing reader or speaker), as in the second quote.
But let’s back up a bit. Podium in its original English use was an architectural term. The word first referred to a low wall serving as a foundation or terrace wall; one early kind of podium was the kind that went around the arena of ancient amphitheaters and served as a base for the tiers of seats. The word comes from the Latin word podium, and traces back to the Greek word podion meaning “base.” Podion in turn comes from the Greek pod- (or pous), meaning “foot,” which we see in the word podiatrist.
There are plenty of people who would like to see the ideas of “base” and “foot” preserved in all modern uses of podium; however, the word podium sometimes refers not to a thing you stand on—that is, a thing that supports your feet, a base—but to a thing you stand behind and use to place notes, a book, or whatever else you’re glancing down at as you address or read to a group of people. You know the object: it usually has a slanted top surface and a place to stow a bottle of water or two underneath. It might go all the way to the floor or sit on a table.
If you’re frowning deeply as you read this you likely know the object as a “lectern” (a word from Latin legere, meaning “to read”). And it is indeed a lectern. But lecterns are also sometimes referred to as podiums (or podia, if you want to use a plural that nods to the word’s Latin history), at least in North America. And this has been true since around the middle of the 20th century, including in published, edited prose by skilled writers.
Word Worth Knowing: ‘Gadzookery’
Gadzookery is a noun chiefly used in British English to refer to the use of archaisms (old-fashioned or outdated language), as in historical novels. “Gadzooks . . . you astonish me!” cries Mr. Lenville in Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby. We won’t accuse Dickens of gadzookery (“the bane of historical fiction,” as historical novelist John Vernon once called it), because we assume people actually said gadzooks back in the 1830s. That mild oath is an old-fashioned euphemism, so it is thought, for “God’s hooks” (a reference, supposedly, to the nails of the Crucifixion). Today’s historical novelists must toe a fine line, avoiding peppering their pages with too many obscure turns of phrase while at the same time rejecting modern expressions such as okay and nice (the latter, in Shakespeare’s day, suggesting one who was wanton or dissolute rather than pleasant, kind, or respectable).
… had to deal with all manner of eructation and gadzookery. That’s another way of saying the chamber was full of beans …
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