I say books are a girl's best friend.

Yesterday the hubster came home bearing gifts. (Good man!)

Well, one gift, anyhow—which is plenty. It was a belated Christmas gift, something that had been on backorder since early December.

I am now the giddy owner of The Thinker’s Thesaurus by Peter E. Meltzer. This isn’t your typical Roget. No—the subtitle explains its haecceity (uniqueness): Sophisticated Alternatives to Common Words. This thesaurus gives ludic (playful) synonyms and piquant (interesting) phrases that aren’t found in a regular thesaurus.

Think of it as a Fancy Nancy book for grown-ups.

For example, who knew that foofaraw is another way to say that someone is making a fuss over a trivial matter?

And if you need a snazzy way to say that something is odd, The Thinker’s Thesaurus gives five entries:

odd (as in departing from the standard or norm) adj.: heteroclite
odd (as in eccentric) adj.: pixilated
odd (as in unconventional) adj.: outré
odd (as in perplexing) adj.: quisquous
odd (as in unusual) adj.: selcouth

So true, Sara Groves—there are different kinds of happy.

Who knew the word odd had so many variants?

See? This book makes the perfect gift—it’s ratiocinative (sensible), frutuous (fruitful, productive), and perdurable (lasting, durable).

For a word lover like me, it also gives hours of felicific reading.

In case your interest has been piqued, the book has a subscription service so you can register to receive a synonym-a-day. How great is that?!

Happy wordsmithing to you.

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