So, Pendulate actually had an interesting idea last time around: Word submissions. If you think you have a good word that you'd like to be featured in one of these threads, you could send it my way in a PM, and I'll make it happen (if the word is good enough). I'll mention your username in the definition somewhere, and have a "thank you" tab where all the names'll be kept. I think it's a pretty good idea.

The basic criteria for word submissions are:
- It has to be relatively uncommon
- It should be at least somewhat practical or useful in casual conversation
- While not completely necessary, you're more likely to get featured if it happens to be a word I don't already know.

You can submit as many words as indiscriminately as you like.

Pendulate actually managed to find a pretty elusive one for me the other day, so today's WotD was partially brought to you by him.

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The following word was submitted by Pendulate:
Anhedonia - /an - heh - DOE - nee- uh/
the Greek an-, meaning "without", and hedone, meaning "pleasure".

Many of you might be able to guess the meaning of this word by picking apart its roots. "Hedonia" in particular is very telling, as most of us are familiar with the philosophy of hedonism--or the belief that pleasure and happiness are the most important things in life. There's also the so-called "hedonic treadmill" concept, or the belief that, no matter how far our technological pursuits may go, we will never be truly satisfied; we will always find something to be unhappy about.

Anhedonia is a term used in psychiatry to describe a state of mind where it is impossible, or exceedingly difficult, to experience pleasure: After five years of crippling depression, he no longer derives any pleasure from his once most beloved activities, as a result of anhedonia. This state of mind is tightly linked to depressive disorders, and as such, should probably only be used in such contexts where one's anhedonia would be symptomatic of some type of depression.

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Penury - /PEN - yuhr - ee/
[penurious]
From the Latin penuria, meaning "need"

To live in penury is to live in extreme poverty. You might have heard of words like "destitute"; or, "he was living in utter destitution". They're the poorest of the poor. People living in a state of penury, however, are even poorer than that--they're the poorest of the poorest of the poor. Whereas someone in destitution may have at least showered within the last year, people living in penury may have never bathed in their lives. It's absolute poverty.

Yeah, I'll see if I can work in a more positive word to end today's list off.

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Copacetic - /KOH - puh - SEH - tik/
Etymology unknown.

"How are you feeling today?"
"Oh, I'm just copacetic, thanks."
"...Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."
"What?"

That was an actual exchange I had with a friend the other day. I used the word copacetic to describe how I felt that day--that is to say, just fine. Perfect. Everything was going smooth.

It's actually a pretty common expression, but perhaps more people ought to know about it, because it apparently sounds like some kind of crippling medical condition when used in the right tone of voice. But nope, all it means is that everything is peachy. I'd like to think most people know what it means, though--especially in America.

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I hope you're all having a copacetic day, in spite of your penurious, anhedonic lives.

you sucking my dick would be an incredibly anhedonic experience for me, but I'm sure you'd feel positively copacetic doing it, penurious fuck

Yesss, I was hoping you'd use that one.