I'm coming for you, Philbin.

An excerpt from a discussion I had earlier today…

“When I need to go into a meeting when I vendor that I’m ticked at will be present, it’s like I need something to do just before that enrage me enough to bring my actual feelings back to the surface so that they know how much they annoy me. Like having some video saved on my desktop of a play where my favorite team was cost a game by some egregious call made by the ref. Now THAT would be ideal for the situation.”

A few seconds later, it hit me. I’ve never used the word egregious in conversation before. Where did that come from?

In fact, I didn’t even think I knew what egregious meant. I never remember taking the time to actively seek out its definition. It’s not a necessarily complex word, reserved for the higher minds, but it is a bit unusual. The first thing the local Webster’s to at least ensure I used it properly (despite having no previous knowledge it was part of my vocabulary:

e-gre-gious. adj. conspicuously bad or offensive.

Ok, so I nailed it. That’s a relief. I would have hated for it to meant something like “booty.” (That would have changed the above sentence completely.) But this leaves me puzzled. Just where do people pick up words that they have no idea of their origin, only for them to be revealed years later?

My first guess, of course, lies with the SATs. This word just has that feel to it, you know? Like at some point nine years ago you stared at it long enough on a test that would likely determine your future for the next four years in some stupid analogy, that while it didn’t make any sense at the time, it’s come back to prove its worth. In fact, I think I can remember the exact question, laced with other meaningless words.

vociferous: copious as ebullient: ?
a) egregious
b) verisimilitude
c) acquiesce
d) monkey chow

I picked D.

But after a little research, I have found that egregious was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for August 29, 2005. Looking back to the post with that date, it appears that I was busy ripping the local sportstalk station for their egregious conclusion regarding the SATAN 81 jersey. Coincidence?

Maybe I’ve just been waiting for the perfect use of the word to officially add it to the rambling wreck that is my speech patterning. Then again, maybe I just have a subconscious urge to cause harm to a popular daytime talk show host and just EGG REGIS.

Only time will tell.