Make up your minds, Dictionary.com usage board!

Today's word of the day is virago, meaning either "a woman of extraordinary stature, strength, and courage" or "a woman regarded as loud, scolding, ill-tempered, quarrelsome, or overbearing." Now, I realize that to some people, there may not be a big difference here, but mysogynists aside, why have a word with two meanings which may be indiscernable given context?

I think the word was designed for political debate where one participant is a woman. "I respect this virago's opinion, but . . ." Who wants a word that is both an insult and a compliment?

On the other hand, maybe it's a good thing for smart, bitter school kids everywhere. I always wanted to tell really bad teachers (e.g. social studies teachers who tell you the Mason-Dixon line was in, say, Washington St.) that I would just love to defenestrate them sometime, in a really happy voice, just to see if they caught on. If I had been armed with a word like "virago" I may have just gone through with it. There are only so many times a kid should put up with someone trying to change her dominant hand just so it's easier to teach the kid cursive.

In other news, I love that new Spoon song "I Turn my Camera On" for no apparent reason. It has a disco song, and I find myself intentionally getting it in my head for runs. Urg.