I found an old defunct word site while Googling, and they had a great thread called, "Special Word of the Moment." Whatever word strikes your fancy, you can post about. Or, you might comment on another's word.
A fellow logophile told me about a great word recently: parallax, meaning, "An apparent change in the direction of an object, caused by a change in observational position that provides a new line of sight." The person using this word used it in the context of filling a humidifier reservoir with water. He did not have the pitcher accurately aligned with the opening of reservoir because it was too far in front of him to judge accurately. This, he says, is an example of parallax.
What I like about this word is that it has so many uses, such as "annual parallax," "binocular parallax," "diurnal or geocentric parallax," "heliocentric parallax," "horizontal parallax," "optical parallax," "parallax of the cross wires," and "stellar parallax."
Comments? Or, do you have a word of the moment to add?
This thread is similar's to Bob's thread in Vocabulary. If a word comes to you, and you don't have any particular question about it, post it here.
I recently read about "badinage", meaning light playful talk or banter. It reminded me of Wordcraft. It was a Dictionary.com word of the day in 2002, and here is a great quote using it:
"Ken was determined to put the cares of the world behind him and do what he loved best -- having a few celebrity friends round and enjoying an evening of anecdote and badinage over a bottle or two of vintage bubbly and some tasty cheese straws. --Bel Littlejohn, 'My moustache man,' The Guardian, March 24, 2000"
While a familiar word to most of you, here is a word that isn't used much, at least here in the U.S.: screed, meaning a long, monotonous piece of writing. I read it today in a discussion of how profanity is becoming too commonplace in media: "This isn't a diatribe against profanity or a screed preaching abstinence from foul language."
I'm not familiar with that meaning of screed, Kalleh. The only meaning I knew was "to level concrete". I consulted M-W, the AHD and both defined screed as a noun meaning a board or straight-edge used to level the surface of concrete, but neither defined it as a verb. I found it listed as both a noun and a verb on the construction term glossary and on the OED.
From the OED:
Screed
noun More generally in Building, a level strip of material formed or placed on any surface (e.g. a floor or a road) as a guide for the accurate finishing of it.
verb Building. a. To level (a surface) by means of a screed;
Interesting. I haven't heard "screed" used as you and Jerry define it, Tinman; I've only seen it used as a long, diatribe. In that sense, of course, it is a noun.
My fellow logophile introduced me to amphigouri, meaning, "a verse composition which, while apparently coherent, contains no sense or meaning." Have any of you heard of that word?
I've seen it used as "amphigory," most recently by (of all people) Robert Heinlein, speaking as Jubal Harshaw. Didn't look it up, but the context was clearly what you describe: well-formed sentences making no sense whatsoever, really.
In the deep dark recesses of memory I think I can picture W.C.Fields using the word, too.
We discussed "hairy" words last year, but comate was not one of them. I thought it might be a botanical term. I couldn't find it in a botanical dictionary, but I managed to find it on WordNet. I found coma, comal, and comose in a botanical dictionary.
The only meaning of coma that I knew was the medical one, but I found out it has three meanings.
I found comate in the AHD and the OED with the "hairy" meaning. The OED listed it as obsolete.
Interesting, Tinman. I hadn't known those other 2 definitions of "coma," either. I have sent a note to my friend to see if he knew "comate" to be a word from botany.
Another interesting word that my logophile friend sent me was nimiety. From the 1913 Unabridged Webster's: (Ni*mi"e*ty) n. [L. nimietas, fr. nimius, a., nimis, adv., too much.] State of being in excess. [R.]
"There is a nimiety, a too-muchess, in all Germans." ~ Coleridge
While reading about Iran, I came across this quote: "The mullah's have governed the nation harshly." "Mullah" is a new word for me. I found that the roots are Arabic (Urdu mull, from Persian, from Arabic mawl, master, friend, from waliya, to become near, be in charge. See wly in Semitic Roots), and it means "a male religious teacher or leader." Does anyone know if it must be a religious leader, or can it be used, more generally, for a leader? The quote seems to indicate the latter.
quote:Originally posted by Kalleh: While reading about Iran, I came across this quote: "The mullah's have governed the nation harshly." "Mullah" is a new word for me. I found that the roots are Arabic (Urdu mull, from Persian, from Arabic mawl, master, friend, from waliya, to become near, be in charge. See wly in Semitic Roots), and it means "a male religious teacher or leader." Does anyone know if it must be a religious leader, or can it be used, more generally, for a leader? The quote seems to indicate the latter.
It is specifically a religious leader but you have to keep in mind that in the part of the world where you will find mullahs the religious leaders ARE the leaders of the people. Far from having the western separation of church and state in much of the middle east the Government governs only with the explicit consent of the religious establishment.
While we have all used the words "gorge" or "engorged," I wonder how many of us have used the word "disgorged," meaning to discharge violently.
I read a great use of the word today: "But on days such as Sunday, when the sky disgorges snow that is too deep, too heavy, for the no longer spry parents to easily push aside...."
What a great use of the word "disgorge." Oh, by the way, we got a lot of snow on Sunday!
I read about a great word today: "kakistocracies." The source described this as a useful and obscure word that means places run by the least qualified, least principled rulers. The article was discussing the past rulers of Afghanistan and Iraq.
I came across the word "comity" in my reading today. What a wonderful word, meaning "a state or atmosphere of harmony or mutual civility and respect." Now, if we had worldwide "comity," we'd have worldwide peace, wouldn't we?
I just read this sentence: "She was making a point about how Clinton's hardscrabble Southern upbringing and his relentless persecution by conservatives had caused many African-Americans to circle their wagons around him as if he were an honorary soul brother."
Oh, there are 2 here! I also have always loved the phrase "circle their wagons."
Kerfuffle What a glorious word! Can't you just tell what it means?
I read it today in reference to a "campaign 'kerfuffle,'" and now I remember just how much I love it!
Ahem, if I may bring up another subject which has been too much discussed on this forum? Remember our dear poster, jheem, who won't accept a certain word because of its spelling change? Might I refer him, and others, to this site about "kerfuffle?"
I was reminded of this word in the newspaper today, talking about the costly 2002 farm bill. Nice word! Heaven knows we have a lot of funded studies that are boondoggles.
obloquy My logophile friend introduced me to this word. I had never heard of it, so I really don't know how it is commonly used. However, the second definition listed in the online dictionaries sounds like a very useful meaning: "The condition of disgrace suffered as a result of public blame, abuse, or condemnation; ill repute." For example, I would think this could be used for describing Martha Stewart after her trial...or other people or countries who are disgraced.
Is it used that way? The meaning that is put first in the dictionaries seems so different from that: " Strongly condemnatory or abusive language or utterance." Condition of disgrace or condemnatory language?
In reading the quotes using the word, it seems as though the first definition is the most common. I think the second would be quite useful.
The etymology of the word supports the first definition: Latin obloqui, "to speak against," from ob-, "against" + loqui, "to speak." I agree that it would be useful to have a word to describe the disgrace and shame felt when the mighty have fallen. How about opprobrium or ignominy? Then we can look down upon them in disdain, scorn and contempt with our righteous superiority.
However, I don't put Martha Stewart in the same class as Richard Nixon. Nixon earned our contempt with his vindictive, revengeful, hateful nature. Martha Stewart's crime was one of stupidity and greed (avarice?), not vindictiveness. Funny, his crimes harmed the whole nation, and he spent not one day in jail.
And Dubya makes Nixon look like a saint.
I prefer opprobrium to ignominy (the word, not the condition), because it sounds better to me. Probably because of the repetition of the o and p sounds.
TinmanThis message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,
Tinman, I agree with you completely about Nixon and Martha Stewart. However, I was trying very hard to come up with something non-political.
Of course, I wanted to compare it to the way many of us in the states feel about the abuses in the Iraqi prisons (i.e. the condition of disgrace suffered as the result of public blame), but I was afraid I'd offend someone.
Quote "...Funny, his crimes harmed the whole nation, and he spent not one day in jail..."
It's strange, is it not, how many evil men spent little or no time in gaol or in receipt of punishment for what they did.
I remember reading that Dr Porsche (the car designer responsible for the Volkswagen as well as the car bearing his name) spent longer in gaol than did his one-time customer, Adolph Hitler!
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
I've seen it as thaumaturgy and I suspect the "thaumaturgika" form might be a cod back formation to make it look mare unusual and arcane in the same way that some authors spell "magic" as "magick". I'm only guessing that from the fact Google returns one hit for the -ika form but over 18000 for the -y form.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
Have you ever wished you could just delete your post....but it's too late because someone else has replied? Well, I feel that way about my "thaumaturgika" post here....and about my riddle post in wordplay. Yesterday was not one of my best days!
I am sure you are right, Bob. Please forgive my ignorance, people!
Preen - I love that word! I think it is because I can just envision someone "preening" around. It is a word that seems to sound like its meaning, at least to me.
Contretemps - what a great word to describe an unforeseen event that disrupts the normal course of things. I saw it used to describe Mrs. Kerry's "Shove it!" comment to a reporter who was harrassing her.
Commenting way to the beginning with Parallax, this is a word used often in astronomy. Many of you have probably heard of a parsec, which is a unit of distance. It is a shortened form of Parallax Arcsecond. If you measure the apparent size of an object in the sky 6 months apart, you can use geometry to determine distance, as long as the object isn't too far away. So, for anyone who has taking more than a passing interest in Astronomy, Parallax is probably a familiar word.
Tomorrow (today in England!) is Friday the thirteenth. I can only use this word a few times a year, so here is my chance! Are you paraskavedekatriaphobic?
rigamarole - I love this word! I used it today when my daughter sent me an electronic photo album of her Hawaiian trip. Usually, she will just have double pictures made and will give me one. Not now with the new wonderful digital cameras! Now, I have to go to the Internet, order what I want for $.29 ($.29 on my credit card?!!) apiece and wait for them to send them. Isn't that a lot of "rigamarole" for a picture, I asked her? Oh, no, that's so much more convenient she tells me!
By the way, I don't really understand the etymology of "rigamarole." Can anyone help? It seems to come from "Ragman," a game of chance (?) and from "rolle," Middle English, meaning list(?). What is the connection? Am I reading the etymology explanation wrong? I don't find those easy to understand sometimes!
Thanks, arnie. I found this site, too, but Quinion's discussion is better. I wonder if the difference in spelling is an American/British one. I have only seen it as "rigamarole."
The Take Our Word for It site (cited by Kalleh) looks like it may have become defunct. The last update (previously a regular occurrence) was in January. They have a notice on the home page saying
quote: We Will Return in May with Our Regular Publishing Schedule. Thanks for Your Patience!
Anybody know any more?
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Arnie, I don't know more, and I would like to. I have always liked that site.
Last night in Chicago we had bolides - flaming meteors that race across the sky at tremendous speed and explode. I hadn't heard the word before, though I imagine there are a lot of meteor-like words that I don't know. This one apparently is part of the annual Perseids display...another new word to me.
These bolides, though, sound dramatic. The streaked about the Chicago area at about 1:00 a.m., initiating at sonic boom. I was asleep, but those who saw and heard it said that there were blue-green streaks across the sky, followed by several loud booms.
I've always liked the word snood, and I've always wondered if it is at all related to snooty. Doesn't really seem to be, but it should be, don't you think?
******* "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. ~Dalai Lama
Snood has several meanings, most of them to do with forms of hair adornment. I don't believe there's any connection with snooty which, according to my COED, is a variant of "snotty".
And welcome to this board, by the way. You'll find we are a pretty friendly bunch - although there are some (not excluding this contributor) who can get very verbal when someone seeks to defend grammatical solecisms such as "Boss'" when they mean "boss's" or such words as "irregardless" when they mean "regardless"!
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
Yes, I knew about the snooty/snotty relationship. I guess what intrigues me is the visual stereotype of a librarian with her hair in a bun (a snood?) combined with the idea of librarians (see a theme here?) being snooty or snotty (although for me, this has sinusitis connotations) . . . giving me a connection between the words.
I remain a small (I'm being sarcastic with that one. Note the screen name) voice against the stereotype of my profession . . .
******* "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. ~Dalai Lama
quote:I remain a small ...voice against the stereotype of my profession . . .
We have a TV commercial here in the UK for Kit-Kat, a chocolate bar. It shows two men in a room banging things around and talking at the tops of their voices. A woman enters and starts screaming loudly. They share a Kit-Kat, still kicking up a din, and then they leave the room and silently walk into what is a obviously a library - they are librarians. The caption comes up: "Have a break, have a Kit-Kat".
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
"Holluschickie" - Now isn't that a nice word? I probably should have saved it for the Bluffing Game. It means a young male fur seal, especially one from three to six years old; it's also called a bachelor because the older full-grown males prevent its breeding.
I wonder if an unmarried man can then be called a "holluschickie."
