Terry O'Reilly

As a writer, I am in love with words.

I love the impact they can have, how shadings of different words have slightly different temperatures, and how a surprising verb can make a sentence not only memorable, but quote-worthy.

When I write, I always have my thesaurus and dictionary close by, and often I'll look up the meaning of an everyday word and actually be surprised at its origins.

You have to wonder how their meanings have changed so drastically over time.

For example, the word nice used to mean silly, foolish, and simple.

The word awful once meant something was worthy of awe.

That actually makes sense.

Full of awe.

Awful.

Who knew?

And naughty used to mean you had nothing.

Or not.

Every year, the Washington Post publishes the winning submissions to its annual contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

Here are the winners.

Coffee.

The person upon whom one coughs.

Flabbergasted, to be appalled over how much weight you've gained.

Abdicate, meaning to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

Esplanade, to attempt an explanation while drunk.

Willy-nilly, an adjective meaning impotent, funny.