Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Rhymes with "Luigi"

It wasn't easy picking the first word of the day. Even though it will probably be read by somewhere between no-friggin-one and no-freakin-body, I'd still hate to start out with a lame word.

I've wracked my brain, wracked my bookshelf, flipped through my "words of the week" (see the archive for my biweekly column at wordlust.com) and decided on "squeegee." Now there's a word that's beautiful and has a great personality too. I don't know if I've ever seen a squeegee-er (also known as a "squeegee bandit," "squeegee kid," or "squeegee thug" according to the Oxford English Dictionary) in action or felt a squeegee in my trembling hand, and I'm not sure if Shakespeare ever used one in his plays or weekly chores, but it's just a cool, refreshing word, like "nooky-nooky," "tootsie-wootsie," and "Yoko Ono."

If you can find a way to smoothly work "squeegee" into your blog or pillow talk today, then you're very susceptible to suggestion.

In David Greenberger's Duplex Planet magazine, which consists of interviews with nursing home residents, a man named Fergie has what I consider the final word on this word: "Squeegee--that means 'take it all' in French."

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