Hocus-Pocus - somewhat nonsensical phrase used in magic and conjuring; interestingly, it may come from a phrase used in the Latin Mass (which was then corrupted in a condescending way by non-believers). That Latin phrase is "Hoc est corpus (meum)," which means "This is my body." When said quickly (after dropping the meum), this phrase sounds quite a bit like "Hocus-Pocus." (All information is from
www.wikipedia.org,
www.etymonline.com and/or
www.dictionary.com).
RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – perhaps Hokey Pokey and Hanky-Panky.
Sample sentence – "In one of my favorite Looney Tunes episodes, Bugs Bunny turns a vampire into a bat by yelling 'Hocus-Pocus'."
ABBREVIATION OF THE WEEK: E.G. (exempli gratiā) - e.g. means "for the sake of example" and is used to indicate that whatever follows is an example of something previously stated. Exempli is a genitive singular Latin noun that means "example" and gratiā is a Latin preposition that means "for the sake of" and takes the genitive case for its objects.
GUESS THE APHORISM OF THE WEEK: Neither a borrower... (scroll for the answer)
...nor a lender be. (the speaker is Polonius, in Shakespeare's Hamlet)