WOW: encomium

PRONUNCIATION: (en-KO-mee-uhm)

Interesting word came my way (thank you Anu Garg!); it’s a noun and means glowing praise.

Reminds me that it’s review time in Corporate Land. I’m not sure much encomium will be flowing my way, as it’s my first time through this cycle at the new job. At my previous company, I wrote my own review. Can you say “lazy management?” You can bet there was a lot of encomium in those reviews. And without fail my bosses would take what I’d written verbatim and submit them for my review. Sweet, huh?

I suspect I’ll see a lot more meconium in this review. Familiar with that one? It’s the first stool of an infant—a “dark green fecal material that accumulates in the fetal intestines and is discharged at or near the time of birth.” Um? Bleuch.

Here’s a fancy pants example of our WOW in action:

"The speech cheered the faithful no end, as did Sarah Brown's smooth and skillful introduction of her husband. Yet though her encomium went down well with the party, it nauseated many television viewers."
Ruth Dudley Edwards; Why Mrs Brown Should Have Skipped the Heroics; Irish Independent (Dublin); Oct 4, 2009.

Oh those Irish! Always a ten dollar word.