The Lemon Stand Vernacular...

What is 'vernacular' you say?

According to Dictionary.com one of the meanings of vernacular is "the plain variety of language in everyday use by ordinary people."  That was the simplest definition I could find.  The other online dictionaries had definitions but they sounded like gobbledygook to me.

What does 'gobbledygook' mean?  Well, again, according to Dictionary.com, gobbledygook means "...language characterized by circumlocution and jargon, usually hard to understand: the gobbledegook of government reports."

What does 'circumlocution' mean?  Well, we could be here all day at this rate and this is not my intended point of this post.  Oh, all right, just click on the link for the definition....

I love the word 'discombobulated' but Klaatu of Grey Matters commented on the last post: "Whenever I need to regain my combobulatedness, I stay in bed with kitties and books."  I didn't think I had ever heard 'combobulate' much less 'combobulatedness'.  Even my spellchecker is shrieking with it's dire warnings.

So I Googled it (I think most people can now say that Googled is in the modern vernacular) and came upon a very lively debate on the subject  Why Can You Be ‘discombobulated’ But Not ‘combobulated’? over at the blog 'Why?'.

I learned from this most wonderful post that apparently 'combobulate' is not part of the dictionaried English language.  For that matter, neither is 'dictionaried' in Merriam-Webster's Online English Dictionary.  At least, NOT at the time the post was written back in January of 2008 nor this one.

Even The Word Detective states that 'combobulate' is not a word.  The Word Detective is a cool little site I have just found (and joined) that answers any questions you might have about words.  If you want to take a look at what he has to say about 'discombobulate' or 'kittywompus' for that matter, then go to his entry titled, 'Book Em'.

Now I have wasted a crap load of time researched this odd duck of a word.  Combobulate.  Not as musical off the tongue as discombobulate but we will strive to make do.  Anything to pull me away from domestic goddess duties!

Combobulate IS, however, in a few online dictionaries, just not what I would describe as 'official' English dictionaries.  I even searched for combobulate in British English Dictionaries, Australian English Dictionaries and so on, just in case it had become official in any other English speaking country.  Like I said, I have wasted A LOT of time.

At Definition-of.com's Community Dictionary I hit the mother-load so to speak, where the definition of 'combobulate' is etched on my computer screen as:

"To put together in a somewhat mysterious manner. To bring something out of a state of confusion or disarray. To manufacture by some unusual or novel means."

They even go so far as to give examples of this fine word:

"We must think out-of-the-box in order to combobulate a solution to overcome all these seemingly impossible challenges."

And I just know you are dying to know that there is a second definition on this fine web dictionary...

To think extensively.  "I will have to combobulate for a while about my studies."

Now the online Urban Dictionary goes even further with this industrious word...  Just look how it has been fruitful and multiplied...

combobulate uncombobulated undiscombobulated discombobulated recombobulated rediscombobulated reundiscombobulated reuncombobulated

combobulated - The period before the feeling of discombobulation.

"Darn, I feel quite discombobulated right now, I miss being combobulated."

 What does 'industrious' mean?  Oh, never mind...

Am I the only person on the planet that becomes OCD over certain mysteries?  At least, if you have read to this point, you too have wasted a whole lot of time been elucidated.

Oh, and by the way Klaatu?  Your word STILL was not listed...

QOTD:  "We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own."  Ben Sweetland, author