deadpan \DED-pan\ adjective – Marked by or accomplished with a careful pretense of seriousness or calm detachment. Displaying no emotional or personal involvement. Origin: Deadpan is a coinage from the 1930s combining “dead” and the sense of “pan” referring to the head or face.

feign \FEYN\ verb – To represent fictitiously; put on an appearance of. To invent fictitiously or deceptively, as a story or an excuse. To make believe; pretend. Origin: Feign enters English through French, from the Latin fingere, “to shape, invent.”

gumption \GUHMP-shuhn\ noun – Initiative; aggressiveness; resourcefulness. Courage; spunk; guts. Origin: Gumption comes from a Scottish term, possibly deriving from the Old Norse gaumr, “attention, heed.”

deciduous \dih-SIJ-oo-uhs\ adjective – Falling off or shed at a particular season, stage of growth, etc. Shedding the leaves annually, as certain trees and shrubs. Not permanent; transitory. Origin: Deciduous derives from the Latin dēciduus, “tending to fall.”