A flaneur (flah-NUR) — from the French for “lounger/saunterer” — is an aimless idler.

Example (as used by The Atlantic in a review of The Idler’s Glossary by Joshua Glenn and Mark Kingwell): “This delightful chapbook proffers a puckish twofer: a whimsically learned defense of indolence and flaneurship … and an engagingly etymological lexicon of loafing, past and present.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

The magalog (MAG-uh-log) — a combination of “magazine” and “catalog” — is one of many direct-mail formats used by marketers. It looks like a magazine, complete with cover, and may have anywhere from 12 to more than 100 pages. It includes a combination of editorial content and promotional copy … all of it designed to get the prospect’s attention and persuade him to buy the product or products being sold.

Example (as used by Clayton Makepeace today): “Check out this promotion. It’s a magalog titled ‘Retirement Wealth Builder’ for Phillips Publishing’s Retirement Letter.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

Inane (ih-NANE) — from the Latin for “empty” — means foolish or pointless; lacking sense or meaning.

Example (as used by MaryEllen Tribby today): “When I saw Liz approaching that morning, I assumed I was in for some inane small talk. But it turned out she is a smart, well spoken, and interesting person who has added something to my life.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

To fester (FES-ter) — from the Latin — is (1) to become inflamed or infected, as a sore, or (2) to rankle, as a feeling of resentment.

Example (as used by Bob Cox today): “Give your distress a voice instead of holding it in and allowing it to fester and intensify.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

To mull over — possibly from the Middle English for “to crumble” — is to carefully consider. 

Example (as used by John Wood today): “[Merv] Griffin was mulling over game show ideas when his wife noted that there had been no successful ‘question and answer’ shows since the quiz show scandals.” 

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

Something that’s imperative (im-PARE-uh-tiv) — from the Latin for “to order” — is urgent, requiring immediate attention. Grammatically speaking, an imperative sentence is one that expresses a command.

Example (as used by Michael Masterson today): “So simple. Three imperative sentences — the first consisting of two words, the second three words, the third four.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

To steward (STEW-urd) is to manage property or money on behalf of somebody else. The word — from the Old English for “household” + “keeper” — originated as the title of the man in charge of running the day-to-day affairs of a castle or manor. His responsibilities included such things as supervising servants, collecting rents, and keeping accounts. 

Example (as used by Matthew Adams today): “I learned a great deal about human psychology by monitoring and trading financial markets. (Not to mention how to steward large sums of money.)”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

Implicitly (im-PLIS-it-lee) — from the Latin for “to entangle” — means implied without being directly expressed; understood without doubt or question. 

Example (as used by Alex Green today): “Take a moment and picture someone you trust implicitly. It could be a spouse, a parent, a sibling, a friend, or a business associate. How does this relationship make you feel? How easily do you communicate? How quickly do things get done?”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

Xenophobia (ZEN-uh-FOH-bee-uh) — from the Greek — is fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners.

Example (as used in a Rolling Stone review of the movie District 9): “Raised in Johannesburg … [writer-director Neill] Blomkamp dreamed of combining his interest in sci-fi with the tormented world of racism and xenophobia he grew up in.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

Equity (EK-wih-tee) refers to the ownership of a business in terms of its net monetary value.

Sweat equity is the value added to a business as a result of the unpaid hard work of its founder/owner.

Example (as used by Bob Bly today): “If you have little money, you must put a lot of your time into the start-up [business]. That’s what’s known as ’sweat equity.’ If you have little time but plenty of cash, you can pay others to do a lot of the work for you.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

Genteel (jen-TEEL) – from the French – means refined; well-bred and perhaps overly concerned with being polite. The word initially came into the English language as “gentle,” as in gentleman. 

Example (as used by Paul Boutin in Wired): “Here in Silicon Valley, the recession has a different face than in Manhattan or Detroit. Our panic is more genteel, softened by balmy California weather, a laid-back attitude, and, OK, the fact that we haven’t had a local industry completely implode.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

A quagmire (KWAG-mire) — from the Middle English for “bog/marsh” — is an area of soft, wet low-lying land that sinks underfoot. By extension, we use the word for a difficult or precarious situation.

Example (as used by David Cross today): “Finding topics to write about [for your website or e-newsletter] isn’t always easy. There is one type of article, though, that can pull you out of this creative quagmire. It will keep your readers happy and help boost your search engine traffic at the same time.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

A niche (NITCH or NEESH) – from the French for “to make a nest” – is an ornamental recess in a wall. The word is also used to refer to an activity that is specially suited to a person’s interests, abilities, or nature. (”When he discovered that he had a natural talent for teaching, he found his niche.”)

In marketing, a niche market is a narrow, well-defined segment of a larger market. Niche marketers identify a specific group of potential customers and focus on providing products and/or services to meet their needs.

Example (as used by Clayton Makepeace today): “There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of successful companies in every niche market you can name.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

Terra incognita (TER-uh in-KOG-nih-tuh) – Latin for “land” + “unknown” – is unknown territory; an unexplored region or new field of knowledge.

Example (as used by Ben Macintyre in a New York Times review of Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin): “The Amazon has always proved fertile soil for extravagant utopian fantasy. Victorian explorers, American industrialists, ideologues and missionaries all projected their dreams and ideas onto this terra incognita, this untamed wilderness of exotic possibility.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

Scrum (SKRUM) – an abbreviated form of “scrummage” – is a rugby play in which players from both sides line up around the ball and struggle to gain possession of it. By extension, the word is used for any disordered or confused situation involving a number of people – notably, the development of complex software.

Example (as used by Kelefa Sanneh in The New Yorker): “[Michael] Jackson gradually withdrew from the Top Forty scrum, but his songs never did.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]