Brinjal

My dictionary informs me that brinjal is the name for the dark purple South African fruit which is - for reasons unexplained - cooked and eaten as a vegetable. I'll take their word for it. There's no mention of whether it's a vegetable dreaded by children. Perhaps someone of South African background can inform us of the taste of a brinjal. Thanks for your interesting contributions. I thoroughly enjoyed them and have chosen, as today's winner,Vicki Malicki for her choice of brinjal as a rite of passage.

Here's VM's meaning: Brinjal is an ancient Indian custom where upon reaching the age of 13, Indian males must eat exactly 13 of the hottest chillis available in India. This is where the term Delhi Belly originated from, as you can imagine the after effects of eating 13 very hot chillis is not too pleasant.

Pusillanimous

Pusillanimous is a synonym for timid and cowardly. I will try to use that in a sentence today! Thanks for your intriguing meanings for pusillanimous. I enjoyed reading them.Congrats to Whitedaisy for a great meaning.

Whitedaisy's winning entry is: Pusillanimous refers to the society of mysterious black cats which always comes out from nowhere. No one knows their names and where they came from. These cats are pusillanimous.

Cognomen

A cognomen is another word for nickname. My dictionary also says it's another word for surname. I prefer the nickname version. Thanks for your innovative meanings. I loved them all and I enjoyed this creative and very academic sounding meaning from Vfmac, today's winner:

The cognomen was an old position among young scribes. One so honored was tasked with holding up an open book for an elder, acting as a human podium in essence.