sockdolager

sockdolager

sok-DOL-uh-jer \  , noun;

1. A decisive reply, argument.

2. Something unusually large, heavy, etc.

3. A heavy, finishing blow.

My research indicates that "sockdolager" is the last word Abraham Lincoln may have heard before being shot. That's kind of a weird fact to be out there, we often spend so much time thinking about our last words when, in a lot of circumstances, it's not our last words that are important but the last words we hear that offer some illumination. It makes me wonder if I would want to know the last words I hear before dying, as opposed to the way I was going to die. Here are some phrases I would not want to be the last thing I heard in my life.

"Dolphins are very friendly."

"Did the one that bit you have a yellow marking on it? It's kind of important."

"Balance this apple on your head and don't move, I want to show you a cool trick."