Velleity

Velleity

I'm reading through Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way on my lunch breaks this week. In a chapter on where words come from, he gave me a very cool word:

Some of these words deserve to be better known. Take velleity, which describes a mild desire, a wish or urge too slight to lead to action....

If I ever decide to change the name of my blog, I think velleity might be a perfect choice. There are some days where I don't rise much above velleity.

What the hell am I talking about? There are years where I don't get much past velleity....

In the same paragraph, he addresses the word "ugsome," a late medieval word meaning loathsome or disgusting. Seems like I've run across that one before, though I couldn't say where. It fits. It's a word that looks like what it means. I really want to whip "ugsome" at somebody in an argument now.