Personal

Feeling swivet

pwillow.jpg
Reeds Lake: East Grand Rapids

The reporters on NPR tend to use big words. It’s something I enjoy about public radio — being educated. Sometimes I even know the words. Other times I can figure them out by their context. Today, however, Nina Totenberg threw one out there that both perplexed and tickled me: swivet.

She used this gem in discussing the Supreme Court and their debate over using rulings from foreign courts when considering their own decisions. I’d never heard it or read it before. Although I could guess at the meaning, I kept repeating the word in my mind during the rest of my commute (swivet rhymes with divet, swivet rhymes with divet) so I could remember to look it up when I got in front of a browser.

For those of you as curious as I was, swivet is a noun that means: extreme distress or discomposure. As in, the decision caused swivet within the group. I think I’m going to plot a way to use it when chatting with someone. It’s a word I could have fun with.