Dedicated to my favourite Boss

I know it is not Wednesday, but as tomorrow is "special" I am releasing this week's word early! 


Our wonderful word is... MINUTIA.  I chose it because I have been thinking about my work mates.  My boss in particular hates fancy words that mean something simple.  For example "pedagogy" and "embed." LOL 

Anyway, I once used minutia in conversation and he got quite cranky with me.  Firstly, because he didn't know what it meant.  Secondly, because I could have quite easily said it a different way.  However, in my research, I discovered that the word minutia is often misused.  The definition is as follows... 

mi·nu·ti·a

   [mi-noo-shee-uh, -shuh, -nyoo-]  Show IPA

–noun, plural -ti·ae  [-shee-ee]  Show IPA.

Usually, minutiae. precise details; small or trifling matters: theminutiae of his craft.

That seems a little ambiguous to me, but basically it is saying that minutia is a single detail or insignificant piece of information.  Minutiae is the plural form of minutia, so Minutiae refers to more than one detail or a collection of insignificant items of information.  So we have all been pronouncing it wrong for years... don't worry though, I'm not going to start walking around saying minutiae... it sounds funny!

Hope you enjoyed your Vocabulary lesson for the week :)