Back in 2003 wordcrafter posted about deracinate. I saw it used today when Charles Krauthammer was writing about why some Jews are threatened about Christmas. Basically he said that the Orthodox and the Conservative Jews aren't threatened because they are intricately familiar with their own religion and traditions. It is "the more deracinated members of the religious minorities, brought up largely ignorant of their own religious traditions, whose religious identity is so tenuous that they feel the need to be constantly on guard against displays of other religions -- and who think the solution is to prevent the other guy from displaying his religion, rather than learning a bit about their own."

He makes a lot of sense...and I love his use of "deracinated."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

Tsuwm's word of the day recently was:

flumadiddle
He says:
"U.S. slang also flumadiddle, flumdiddle
[perhaps alteration of flummery]
1) something foolish or worthless : nonsense, trash
2) bauble, frill"

I like it! I think he should rename his site to: The flumadiddle word of the day!

>The flumadiddle word of the day

just now spotted this -- to maintain rhythmic balance it would have to be flumdiddle, don't you think?

You're so right, tsuwm.

The flummdiddle word of the day
Makes everyone feel so gay! (original meaning!)
It says plunderbund's bad;
And a saulie's so sad,
But, cormorant? Greedy, they say.

In another thread, Cat introduced me to faff, and I love it. I particularly love tsuwm's definition of it, which is: "to spend your time doing a lot of unimportant things instead of the thing you should be doing." That is a concept that I didn't realize there is a word for! I will say that some dictionaries define it a little differently though; the Compact OED defines it as "ineffectual activity or to bustle ineffectually," which to me is a little more general and thus not quite as useful.

Another wonderful word I came across today that I haven't heard used in a long time was folderol. What a great word to use for "foolishness" or "nonsense." It seems to either be spelled "folderol" or "falderal." Does anyone know which is most common?

Kitsch (characterized by pretentious bad taste) - I read that word in the article where they talked about "blurb." They described the new McDonald's going up as "kitschy." What a great word! AHD says that it is German, probably of dialectal origin. I wonder if it is Yiddish...it sounds as though it is.

I've always assumed it was Yiddish.

Me too.

Two of my favourite bizarre-sounding words that I learnt several years ago are ripsnorting and rhinocerotic. Seldom have I chanced upon the occasion to use them, sadly - not least because they generally don't enter my head as 'first word of choice!

I love "ripsnorter," too. Whenever my very sweet husband and I have a "spirited disagreement" that is more spirited than usual, Shu always refers to it as a "ripsnorter!"

BTW, I haven't used "The Phrontistery" for awhile; I have forgotten how much I like it!

Cool - in looking up rhinocerotic, I learned many new words (alas, I won't retain them long). Maybe we should start a new game that is rhopalic!

(Almost sounds dirty! Although a good friend to me once pointed out - everything sounds dirty to me! lol)

I was looking for sub rosa in World Wide Words and found shufti. I hadn't heard of this word before, and of course it reminded me of our renowned Shufitz...so I had to read on. It apparently is an Arabic word that is a military slang word used by the Brits. It means "look" as in "take a 'shufti.' Do any of you use it?

Quinion also talked about a shuftiscope, which apparently has a number of meanings...one being 'an instrument used by doctors of research in cases of dysentery.'

I think Shu would prefer the former meaning!

"Shufti" is in pretty common use here, usually used exactly as you said, in the phrase "take a shufti" meaning "take a look".

I think that people now are becoming more likely to take a butchers than they are to take a shufti. Those who acquired the latter word during their army time in the Middle East are now fewer in number and younger people do not know the history of the term.

I might be wrong, of course, and it might become as English a word as have so many other imports from the outposts of Empire.

During my teens one of my best friends was the son of immigrants from Lebanon. At my urging he taught me some sentences in Arabic, among them, "Ana ba shufek abukra" (I'll see you tomorrow).

As Richard and Bob have said, "shufti" is still in pretty common use here, although I suspect its use is declining. Although its use originated as army slang, many people I've heard using it have quite obviously never served in the army.

By the way, before anyone asks, "butchers" is Cockney rhyming slang -- butcher's hook -- look.

quote:

faff, and I love it. I particularly love tsuwm's definition of it, which is: "to spend your time doing a lot of unimportant things instead of the thing you should be doing."

I generally just call it "being online."

The next time my kids have a sore throat, I am going to throw them and say, "Let me take a shufti!" BTW, have any of you Brits heard of that shuftiscope?

CW, being online causes me to faff a lot too...most recently it was that baby name site that neveu posted!

quote:

BTW, have any of you Brits heard of that shuftiscope?

Not before but I like it! A look-looker?

Limn

What a simple, but marvelous word. I just saw it used to describe a gifted author in this sentence: "...using his copious gifts of language to limn his characters' state of mind."

I must remember to use that word more often!

sarcophagus

Interesting word! I found it used in this sentence, though my dictionaries only call it a stone coffin with sculpture or inscriptions:

"...such as construction of a concrete sarcophagus to encase the Chernobyl nuclear power plant..."

The word history is interesting. From the AHD: The word comes to us from Latin and Greek, having been derived in Greek from sarx, “flesh,” and phagein, “to eat.” The Greek word sarkophagos meant “eating flesh,” and in the phrase lithos (“stone”) sarkophagos it denoted a limestone that was thought to decompose the flesh of corpses placed in it. Used by itself as a noun the Greek term came to mean “coffin.” The term was carried over into Latin, where sarcophagus was used in the phrase lapis (“stone”) sarcophagus, referring to the same stone as in Greek. Sarcophagus used as a noun in Latin meant “coffin of any material.” This Latin word was borrowed into English, first being recorded in 1601 with reference to the flesh-consuming stone and then in 1705 with reference to a stone coffin.

As the dictionary said, a macabre origin from a macabre word!

BTW, is the word now used more generally, as in the sentence referring to it encasing the Chernobyl nuclear power plant?

It's not a common metaphor, but I have seen it used in this way once or twice before.

quote:

BTW, is the word now used more generally, as in the sentence referring to it encasing the Chernobyl nuclear power plant?

The Russians and Ukrainians don't call the Chernobyl structure a sarcophagus, by the way. They call it the "shelter".

quote:

The Russians and Ukrainians don't call the Chernobyl structure a sarcophagus, by the way. They call it the "shelter".

Yes, I know, neveu. I was commenting on this use of the word in the article in a U.S. newspaper.

However, the real reason for posting this word is its interesting etymology.

I heard a word today that I wasn't familiar with: pettifoggers, talking about the "most pathetic of pettifoggers in Congress." What a great word! It means to quibble over trivia.

Nobody here is ever guilty of that, right?

Depends what you mean by 'quibble' and 'trivia', lol.