Panache -- Willie

pa·nache (p-nsh, -näsh) n. 1. Dash; verve. 2. A bunch of feathers or a plume, especially on a helmet. [French, plume, verve, from Italian pinnacchio, plume, from Late Latin pinnculum, diminutive of Latin pinna, feather, wing; see pet- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

 

Like his cousin Hayden, Willie's not a gobby teenager; he's got more panache than that.

Gobby -- Hayden

gobby [ˈgɒbɪ]

adj -bier, -biest

Informal loudmouthed and offensive

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

Hayden's not a gobby teenager; he's got more panache than that.

Scree -- Lucie

scree (skr) n. 1. Loose rock debris covering a slope. 2. A slope of loose rock debris at the base of a steep incline or cliff. [Probably ultimately from Old Norse skridha, landslide, from skrdha, to slide.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

An athlete on ice, Lucie would have no problem climbing scree to the top of a peak.

Bonhomie -- Gretchen

bonhomie

bon·ho·mie (bn-m) n. A pleasant and affable disposition; geniality. [French, from bonhomme, good-natured man : bon, good (from Latin bonus; see deu-2 in Indo-European roots) + homme, man (from Latin hom; see dhghem- in Indo-European roots).] bonho·mous (bn-ms) adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

 

Gretchen's bonhomie lightens every family holiday.

Nictitate -- Dad

nictitate: to wink

Dad's not a winker, so if you think he's nictitating, he probably has an eye twitch.

Thanks to the University of Washington's School of Social Work for their word for the day.

Fermata -- Mom and Gretchen

Fermata
noun
the holding of a musical note or rest longer than its usual duration.

A composer might indicate a formata that extends a musical note for Mom and Gretchen; for the rest of the family, who are atonal, the composer would indicate a formata that extends a rest indefinitely.

Thanks for the word and the definition to
http://www.factacular.com/subjects/Interesting_Words

Anastrophe -- Ann

a·nas·tro·phe (-nstr-f) n. Inversion of the normal syntactic order of words; for example, "Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear" (Alexander Pope). [Late Latin anastroph, from Greek, from anastrephein, to turn upside-down : ana-, ana- + strephein, to turn; see streb(h)- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved

When Ann gets too tired as she reads aloud, she transposes words and speaks in anastrophes.