omnium-gatherum

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 9, 2019 is: omnium-gatherum \ahm-nee-um-GA-thuh-rum\ noun

: a miscellaneous collection (as of things or persons)

Examples:

"Muldoon's Picnic—the critically acclaimed omnium-gatherum of music, storytelling, poetry, and more—has become a staple of New York's cultural diet." — [BroadwayWorld.com, 4 Sept. 2018](https://www.broadwayworld.com/brooklyn/article/Irish-Arts-Center-Presents-New-Season-Of-Muldoons-Picnic-20180904)

"In his diary, a small, haphazardly kept omnium-gatherum, Arlen set down axioms, vocabulary words, and quotes from a wide-ranging reading list—Marcus Aurelius, Aristotle, Santayana, Nietzsche." — [John Lahr, The New Yorker, 19 Sept. 2005](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/09/19/come-rain-or-come-shine)

Did you know?

English abounds in Latin phrases. They roll off the learned tongue like peas off a fork: [tabula rasa](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tabula%20rasa), [ab ovo](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ab%20ovo), [a posteriori](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a%20posteriori), [deus ex machina](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deus%20ex%20machina), [ex cathedra](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ex%20cathedra), [mea culpa](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mea%20culpa), [terra firma](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terra%20firma), [vox populi](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vox%20populi), [ad hominem](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ad%20hominem), [sub rosa](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sub%20rosa). Omnium-gatherum belongs on that list too, right? Not exactly. Omnium-gatherum sounds like Latin, and indeed omnium (the genitive plural of Latin omnis, meaning "all") is the real thing. But [gatherum](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gatherum) is simply English [gather](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gather) with -um tacked on to give it a classical ring. We're not suggesting, however, that the phrase is anything less than literate. After all, the first person known to have used it was John Croke, a lawyer who was educated at Eton and Cambridge in the 16th century.