Now here we go, here's a word I haven't seen. On second thought, it seems unlikely that I'd never before seen this word, because I've seen a lot of words, but if I had seen this word, it didn't jump out or sear itself into my memory. There's probably a good chance I saw it as a multiple-choice option on some standardized test. I might have even selected it, if that's true. But if I selected it, it was just a guess, because I didn't know what it meant. Or maybe I did know what it meant, but I've forgotten that I knew what it meant. We rely on our memories so much, for everything, but do you understand memories? Do you understand how they are formed? If you don't understand how they are formed - and you don't - can you understand how fragile they might be? Can you trust them at all? One of the primary criticisms of UZR is that it's a black box statistic. The human memory is a black box, too.
Today's word is "moschate", pronounced MOSS-kate. I don't think I've ever known this word, but as we just established, I guess I can't know if I've ever known this word. This is a word that feels new, for whatever that's worth. And here is its definition:
having a musky smell.
"Moschate" and "musky" sound kind of alike, so that should be easy. Think muscat grapes and muscat wine. An attempted example sentence:
From his lightning-quick bat to his striking blue eyes to his heady, moschate odor, Dustin Ackley's charm is impossible to resist.
We thank our lucky stars every day, or we should thank our lucky stars every day, that the Mariners have Felix Hernandez. We should probably thank them for Ackley, too.