Titillate comes from a Latin verb meaning to tickle, and may be used both literally and figuratively. That is (literally), you can titillate by gentle touches in strategic places; you are then causing an actual (and always very pleasant) physical sensation. Or you can (figuratively) titillate people, or their minds, fancies, palates, (and this is the more common use of the word), by charm, brilliance, wit, promises, or in any other way your imagination can conceive.
Titillation has the added meaning of light sexual stimulation. (Note that both noun and verb are spelled with a double l, not a double t.)
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Every language has certain words and expressions that defy simple translation in other languages. So have dialects. English has no satisfactory term for the American Indian giver (someone who takes back a present he has given) or to shoot the breeze (to pass the time in informal chat).
Conversely, you will have to explain to an American what you mean when you talk about being bowled over. Once again, be sure to explain – or avoid – such expressions if they are likely to cause confusion.
A final word. In an informal document (a letter to a friend, say), nobody will mind if you dodge around between British and American usages. But for a longer, more formal one (an official report, for instance),the key rule is: Be consistent. Decide which ‘superdialect’ you are going to use and stick to it.
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Equestrian is someone on a horse (as pedestrian is someone on foot); an equestrienne is a woman on a horse (if you must make the distinction); and equine is like a horse, as in appearance or characteristics, or descriptive of horses.
Equestrian is also an adjective referring to horseback riding, as an equestrian statue; and equestrian statue; and equine is also a noun, i.e., a horse.
So the equ- in these words, from Latin equus, horse, is not to be confused with the equ- in the words of the previous section – that equ- is from aequus, equal.
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The various dialects of English differ from the standard language in rough proportion to how long they have had a separate identity. Languages need time to develop in their own directions and take on their own features. For this reason Scottish and northern English are generally more different from standard Southern British English than, say, Australian and New Zealand English are.
Over the last 400 years English has spread to all continents and in each country it has taken on its own peculiarities, creating new words to describe indigenous features of landscape, wildlife, and plantlife, and absorbing words from the local languages.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of words in the various dialects are common to all forms.
They belong to what is known as ‘World English’.
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Equivocate is built on another Latin word meaning equal – aequus (the spelling in English is always equ-) – plus vox, vocis, voice.
When you equivocate, you seem to be saying both yes and no with equal voice. An equivocal answer, therefore, is by design vague, indefinite, and susceptible of contradictory interpretation, quite the opposite of an unequivocal response, which says Yes! or No!, and no kidding. Professional politicians are masters of equivocation – on most vital issues they sit on the fence. You will often hear candidates for office say, publicly, that they unequivocally promise, if elected, to . . . ; and then they start equivocating for all they are worth, like people who say, ‘Let me be perfectly Frank with you’ – and then promptly and glibly lie through their teeth.
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