I watch too much TV, and it’s a problem that will surely persist at least until the Olympic games are over. Fortunately for me the old boob tube also happens to be a good source of words.

For instance, did you know that the Olympic motto “citius, altius, fortius,” which translates to “faster, higher, stronger” (or “plus vite, plus haut, plus fort” in French) was created by French Dominican friar Louis Henri Didon and became the games’ motto in 1894, the year of the International Olympic Committee’s creation?

And if we fast forward to the current edition of the games, we’re greeted with another interesting word, which is the name of this year’s Olympic mascot, “Phryge,” which is pronounced “freej” in French (with the “j” pronounced like the “s” in “asia”). Plural, the “phryges” (which in English some pronounce “FREE-jess”) derive their name from phrygian hats favored by the country’s rebels during the French Revolution. The hat is said to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty.

And since everything French is en vogue for at least another week, some people (probably a bunch of bakers is my guess) feel the need to make sure we Americans all know the difference between a macaroon and a macaron.

A macaroon is, of course, that cookie that contains shredded coconut, while a macaron is a meringue sandwich cookie made with almond flour and has a thin sweet filling. Now that this matter has been cleared up, feel free to resume your binge-watching of virtually everything under the sun that’s considered a sport.

As I’ve mentioned before, another of my television addictions is the answer-and-question game show “Jeopardy!,” which is, of course, also an excellent source of strange and interesting words – some of them very short.

For example one of the two-letter words recently featured on the program is “id,” which is the innate instinctive impulses we all have as defined by Sigmund Freud in his 1923 essay “The Ego and the Id.”

Another tiny word is “a’a” (pronounced ah-ah), which is described as a “rough lava.” Another Hawaiian word for lava is “pahoehoe” (pah-hoy-hoy), which is a more fluid lava that moves beneath a cooling crust.

Another volcanic-related word comes from the TV program’s Unusual Words category. A “fumarole” is a hole in a volcanic region from which hot sulfurous gasses emerge. It comes from the Latin word “fumus,” which means “smoke.” And while we’re in the Pacific region, another unusual word is “kaiju,” which means “strange beast” in Japanese but is often translated into English as “monster.”

The definition of “cordwainer” is a shoemaker who makes new shoes out of new leather. The profession takes its name from the Spanish word “cordovan” or “cordwain,” which refers to the shoe leather that came from Cordoba, Spain.

A “stevedore” is a person whose job is to load and unload ships. This word also comes from Spanish, this time from “estibador,” or someone who packs.

A bacchanal, which takes its name from Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and ecstasy, is often defined as “an occasion of wild and drunken revelry.” The folks at Merriam-Webster define it simply as “orgy.”

“Widdershins,” which comes from the Scottish, indicates that something is being done in a counterclockwise fashion or in a direction counter to the sun’s course, and is considered wrong or unlucky.

Another Scottish word is “kerfuffle,” which always sounded Yiddish to me (especially when used by Judge Judy on daytime TV). It means “disorderly confusion,” which sounds redundant to me and also seems like an appropriate theme on which to end this piece.

Jim Witherell of Lewiston is a writer and lover of words whose work includes “L.L. Bean: The Man and His Company” and “Ed Muskie: Made in Maine.” He can be reached at jlwitherell19@gmail.com.