ArcaMax

Q: Are there any other words besides "facetious" that contain all the vowels in alphabetical order? -- Mary Lundquist, Bristol, Connecticut

A: You (alpha)bet!

As Richard Lederer notes in his rollicking book "The Word Circus," "facetious" is the shortest English word with all five vowels in alphabetical order.

But he lists 17 others, ranging from "arsenious" (resembling Arsenio Hall) to "lamelligomphus" (a cross between a llama and an elephant) and "parecious" (resembling Paris) ... and, yes, my definitions of these actual words are all facetious.

As for "A-E-I-O-U" words that someone might actually use, we have exactly one: "abstemious" (restrained in the consumption of food, alcohol or obscure words).

Q: Why is the word for an act of decapitation "beheaded" instead of "deheaded"? I'd be beholding. -- Bruce Alexander, Amston, Connecticut

A: Let's approach this question head-on.

In most cases, the prefix "be-" increases or intensifies the verb it precedes, as in "befuddle" (worse than "fuddle") and "bedeck" (more than "deck").

So why doesn't "behead" intensify the verb "head" -- meaning you have a bigger head or two heads -- instead of meaning you have no head? If it did, "to behead a soccer ball" would mean to hit it very hard with your noggin, and "to behead for town" would mean to go there very quickly. (French aristocrat, rushing out the door, says to wife in 1793, "I'm beheading to Paris.")

The mystery of "behead" is solved when we realize that one meaning of the verb "head" is to remove the head or top of something. Thus, we still speak of "heading" shrimp (removing their heads) or "heading" dandelions (removing their flowers so those white seeds don't fly all over our yards).

So "behead" is an intensive form of the verb "head," suggesting an especially ferocious type of "heading."

Q: Can you tell us what a "stem-winder" is? -- Paul Tieger, via email

A: Until the late 1800s, winding a watch required a winding key. Then someone invented watches that were wound by a stem, and these were called "stem-winders."

These newfangled "stem-winders" were such a marvel that "stem-winder" came to denote any person or thing considered first-rate, including an eloquent, top-notch speech.

But perhaps because these sterling orations were often very long, "stem-winder" also came to refer, quite negatively, to a speech so lengthy that audience members' watches ran down and they had to rewind them before it ended.

Thus, "stem-winder" is something of a sidewinder. When using it, be watchful.

========

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Copyright 2025 Creators Syndicate Inc.