understand anachronism in one second

anachronism, noun.

    a person or a thing that seems to belong to the past and not to fit in the present

Cell phones and Coke in the hands of World War II soldiers?

You can also find this picture definition on figtionary

alight: to stop on a surface after flying

alight, verb, to stop on a surface after flying.

In this video, SpaceX Falcon 9 landed on a platform.

You can also find the definition on figtionary.

splint

You can also find the definition on figtionary.org

smile, smirk, laught at, sneer, and chortle

There are many different ways to laugh
When you smile, you are happy.

smirk: v. o smile in an unpleasant way because you are pleased with yourself, glad about someone else's trouble, etc.

When you chortle, you still are pleased with yourself but not in an unpleasant way.

When you laugh(or sneer) at someone, you show no respect and may hurt the person.

phalange

One day my kids asked me what "phalange" mean. I googled and got this.

Well, what is phalanx? I googled a little and found this better: 

So I decided to add this explanation to figtionary:

crucible

I was reading a book about communication published by Harvard Business Review. The book says there are 4 steps to persuade others. One of the step is to present evidence. The author suggests that you should present vivid evidence.

When I learn new vocabularies, I found that some words are easy to remember, some aren't. Words that create mental pictures are easier to understand and remember. Take the word crucible for example. One definition is a difficult test or challenge. This definition is abstract and hard to imagine. However, another definition a pot in which metals or other substances are heated to a very high temperature or melted is better because it has a physical object "pot" in it. The best of all is this

Now the "difficult test or challenge" is easier to memorize. When you are put in a crucible, you are under a difficult or challenge.

A picture is worth a thousand words, isn't it?

Mansionization

One day a friend asked me what "mansionization" means. The word is new and most of dictionaries don't have it. I googled and found a WIKI page about mansionization. It is a "planning issue of associated with the practice of building the largest possible size of home". So I decided to add it to my dictionary (on figtionary.org).

Click the little picture button to add a definition with a picture.

Fill in the definition details

And voila, the definition is in my dictionary. 

chutzpah

It took me a while to remember what chutzpah means until this cartoon.

amble, skedaddle, scurry

There are many ways people can go somewhere. Go is on the list of dead words. There are other words that describe "go" in a picturesque way.

amble: to walk slowly in a free and relaxed way.

skedaddle: to leave a place very quickly.

scurry: to move quickly and with short steps. (look at how the cute little kittens scurry away)

Thief, burglar and heist

Thieves steal things in general.

Burglars break into house and steal.

Burglar

Heists steal money from banks.

Heists

Can't remember the word that I am looking for

There have been a few times where I would like to find a word but couldn't remember anything about the word, not even letters that make up the word. Funny thing is I remembered things around the word. For example, there is a scene in House of Cards where president Garrett was talking about a covert operation that Frank was doing. During the conversation, Garrett said "Being not aware, is just as egregious" (Chapter 21). I barely remembered the word egregious but couldn't remember any. However I do know I learned that word from House of Cards.

Figtionary has a personal note. Luckily, I put down "house of cards" in the personal note on "egregious" when I looked up the word.

Figtionary has a feature to search words that you have looked up before. I typed in "house of cards" and search and voilà, egregious is found.