Grammar Moses: Befuddled by contemporaneous unwisdom?

The legal tornado that surrounds President Donald Trump can be viewed as a learning experience in a number of ways, including as a vocabulary lesson.

Listen closely to Senate hearings and you'll hear words that might send you to the dictionary - or at least a thesaurus.

That's been my experience, anyway. And, according to Merriam-Webster, the fine purveyor of word resources, I'm not alone.

Here are a few examples that come to mind:

• Contemporaneous: Ex-FBI Director Jim Comey testified June 8 about taking "contemporaneous" notes after his meeting with Trump.

Webster reports that "contemporaneous" hit it big on its website after a New York Times story about Comey's note-taking. There is hope for this world yet!

"Contemporaneous" is derived from the Latin tempus, meaning "time." It means something existing, occurring or originating during the same time.

So, Comey had his conversation with the president and immediately wrote down his account of what was said.

A similar word you might be more familiar with is "extemporaneous," which means impromptu, as in extemporaneous speech.

• Unwisdom: ABC News on Monday dug up Ken Starr, the independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton, and George Stephanopolous asked Starr whether Trump's ushering everyone out of the room to talk privately with Comey suggested corrupt intent.

"It suggests unwisdom," Starr responded.

What?! You can't just make up words, I shouted at the TV.

Then I, too, ran to my dictionaries.

"Unwisdom" is ... drum roll, please ... a lack of wisdom, folly.

Sure, but what a clunky word. And I don't suggest that because I was unfamiliar with it. (See how easily "unfamiliar rolls off the tongue?)

I've never been a fan of "untruth," either. Of course, I generally am not a fan of euphemisms.

If you were wondering, "stupidity" is used roughly 3 gazillion times as often as "unwisdom" in literature.

• Emolument: Don't confuse this with "emollient," a noun describing something that softens your skin, such as a lotion or a lack of hard work for which your grandfather probably criticized you.

"Emolument" is defined as a salary, fee or profit from employment or office.

Where it comes into play in the world of Trump is that the attorneys general from Maryland and Washington, D.C., last week sued the president, claiming payments by foreign governments to Trump's businesses violate the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause that lays out anti-corruption rules.

Weird warning

Dixie Terry from downstate Goreville is a longtime columnist for the Marion Republican newspaper.

"Several years ago, my late husband and I had vacation property at Fairfield Bay, Arkansas," she wrote. "Signs on several of the roads in the resort complex read: 'Beware of Joggers,' which we assumed should have been "Be Aware of Joggers.' After a couple of years, the signs were changed to the correct wording, but in the meantime it gave us a laugh each time we read it."

I suspect Dixie is correct, but how much do you really know about joggers?

Lay/lie intrigue

You never know what you're going to get at a train station, but Kathy Gilroy of Villa Park was puzzled by a sign she spied at the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago that reads: "No laying on benches."

"There were no chickens in sight," she wrote.

If you're scratching your head, one "lies" on a bench.

Chickens, of course, "lay" eggs.

Unless they're roosters.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.