Blogging Challenge W(ordsmith)

I love wordsmith.org. A long time ago I signed up for their email list, and Monday through Friday I get a fun email about words, their history, useage, and even a link telling you how to pronounce it. Today's word is "shirty." It means bad tempered or irritable.

I'm afeared if people said it quickly too many times in a row it might get them into trouble in polite company.

Besides the fun books you read, are there any good sites you go to that broaden your vocabulary?

Blogging Challenge "U" Words

Nothing immediately came to mind for a "U" topic, so I thought I'd do a Google search to see if it triggered something. I found this interesting site for cross words. Some of the words are really curious, and I just have to find a way to use them in a story or play Balderdash with:

Ugsome - Ugly; offensive; loathsome
This one has such a caveman sound to it, don't you think?

Uloid - Resembling a scar; scarlike
Okay, this seemed like it would be medical.

Unbe - To cause not to be; to cause to be another
Hmm. Hamletlike. To unbe or not to unbe ... or whether or not to unbe that dude down the street.

Unbishop - To deprive, as a city, of a bishop; to deprive, as a clergyman, of episcopal dignity or rights
I initially thought about a chess move.

Unbosom - relieve oneself of troubling information; to disclose freely; OR to reveal in confidence, as secrets; to confess; -- often used reflexively; as, to unbosom one's self

I won't even say what flashed through my mind, especially when I saw the word unbosomer right below it.

Unboy - To divest of the traits of a boy

So how do you use this in a sentence? Does it refer to a boy becoming a man and casting off childish things? Or something else it might be? I notice there was a group called Unboy.

Unclue - To unwind; to untangle

This was definitely not what I thought. When I tried to find a Google image for this word, a lot of Uncle Sam pictures came up.

Upstare - To stare or stand upward; hence, to be uplifted or conspicuous

I'm trying to envision standing upward ... isn't that kind of what standing is--upward?

Do you like to use unusual words when you write? What do you do to expand your vocabulary? Have you found any particular thesaurus helpful?