Laconic
luh-KAH-nik
Using or involving the use of a minimum of words: concise to
the point of seeming rude or mysterious
Laconia was an ancient country in southern Greece, bordering
on the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas. Its capital city was Sparta, and the
Spartans were famous for their terseness of speech. Laconic comes to us by way
of Latin from Greek Lakōnikos, which is derived from Lakōn, meaning
"native of Laconia." It has been with us since the 16th century and
has sometimes been used with the basic meaning "of or relating to Laconia
or its inhabitants" (though we're more apt to use Laconian for this
meaning today). In current use, laconic means "terse" or
"concise," and thus recalls the Spartan tendency to use the fewest
words possible.
Pinchgut
PINCH-guht
A miserly person.
Originally, a pinchgut was someone who didn’t give enough food
to a ship’s crew.
Exponent
ik-SPOH-nunt
1: a symbol written above and to the right of a mathematical
expression to indicate the operation of raising to a power
2 a: one that expounds
or interprets
b: one that champions,
practices, or exemplifies
You probably won't be
surprised to learn that exponent shares an ancestor with proponent—and indeed,
the Latin ponere ("to put") is at the root of both terms. Exponent
descends from exponere, which joins ponere with ex- ("out") and means
"to put forth" or "to explain." Proponent traces to
proponere, a word created from the affix pro- ("before") that can
mean "to put before," or "to display" or "to
declare." Proponent is related to propose and can describe someone who
offers a proposal, but today it usually means "one who argues in favor of
something." Exponent can also refer to someone who is an advocate, but it
tends to refer especially to someone who stands out as a shining representative
of something. In addition, it has retained its earlier meaning of "one who
expounds."