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This week we'll put aside the rarefied and look at some words of emphatic action. pullulate – 1. to breed rapidly or abundantly. 2. to teem; swarm: a lagoon that pullulated with tropical fish. quote: | ||
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nettle - to goad or provoke,as by constant criticism; also, to annoy, disturb, esp. by minor irritations quote: | |||
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So, I guess rabbits are "pullulators."  | |||
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Perhaps Mr. Tattersall was making oblique reference to that aspect of student life as well. | |||
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jugulate – to cut the throat of; also, to check or suppress (disease) by extreme measures The latter meaning would seem to cry out for metaphorical usage, but I have found only one example, hardly from the mainstream press. quote: I assume that jugulate traces back to the jugular vein. | |||
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I've not heard of the latter definition used in medicine, though surely I could have missed it along the way. | |||
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truckle - to act servilely or submissively to another Today's quote points out how the selection of a word, from alternatives, is an editorial coloring. quote: | |||
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Is there a word for words with close-sounding but misleading not-quite-cognates? The French speak of "faux-amis," false friends, which seduce you into thinking you know the translation but you're wrong. ("L'ananas" suggests bananas, for example, but it's really pineapple. Banana is "la banane.") The concept came to mind because of truckle/truculent; the paradigm may be meretricious/merit, which are practically opposites. | |||
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Hab, I don't know of any word for "faux amis," but your post prompted a look at some etymologies, and they turn out to be fascinating. Though merit and meritricious are near-opposites in meaning, they come from the same source, Latin merere "to deserve; to earn". I believe Jerry has already discussed this. My recall is that a meritrix was a woman who earned her living by the meritricious practice of selling her body. Truckle comes from a word for a "small wheel," leading to "truckle bed" (a low bed, on wheels) and then, since such a bed was for servants to sleep on, to the verb "to truckle" for subservience. Truculent, truck (in the sense of the vehicle) and truck (in the sense of to deal with or "have truck with") come from three completely different roots, none the same as "to truckle". I'd wondered if "to truckle under" and "to knuckle under", similar in meaning, could have a common source. Not so. "Knuckle" originally meant any joint in the body, particularly the knee, and "to knuckle under" was to "bend the knee" to one's superior. | |||
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"I assume that jugulate traces back to the jugular vein." A reader notes: Not exactly. Latin "jugulum" = 'throat'. "Jugular" is the English form of the derived adjective. "Jugulate" comes from a derived verb, "jugulare", with the same meaning. So the two English words came from two separate, but related, Latin words. deracinate - 1. to pull out by the roots [from Latin racine = "root"] 2. to displace from one's native or accustomed environment Like jugulate, the first meaning of deracinate invites metaphorical use. quote: | |||
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wordnerd thus spaketh: quote: Isn't that also called a 'trundle bed'? I've only heard 'truckling' once, and then in ABEV or ebonics or whatever the heck you wanna call it. 'Truckling' was used in a very similar way to 'trifling'. | |||
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quote: Where does 'juggling' and 'juggler' fit in? I'm assuming they aren't related [to 'jugular'] , but sometimes.....strange things happen!  | |||
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Nice question, WB. Found something interesting upon checking. Juggler is unrelated; it comes to use, through French, from Latin joculari "to joke". My source doesn't explain c changed to g, from joculari to juggler, but it does give the c in all the french words in the chain of derivation. | |||
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I am confused by the reader's comment that "jugulate" isn't related to "jugular vein". If the Latin "jugulum" means "throat", and "jugulate" means to "cut the throat of", I would surely think they are both related to the "jugular vein", which is located on the side of the throat. | |||
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Squeezing in the last two words for this week, plus a bonus: flummox – to confuse, perplex, bewilder Bonus word: gumshoe – (slang) a detective quote: periclitate – to endanger quote: | |||
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quote: Speaking of truckle beds (and how often does that happen), I stumbled upon an interesting (to me, anyway) bit of trivia involving said bed. Everyone, I assume, knows the rhyme: There was a little girl who had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forehead, And when she was good, she was very, very good, But when she was bad she was horrid. (And yes "forehead / horrid" isn't exactly a perfect rhyme, but don't get me started!) Did you know that the girl in question had a name? Or that this children's poem had two more verses. She does and it does: One day she went upstairs, while her parents, unawares, In the kitchen down below were at their meals, And she stood upon her head, on her little truckle bed, And she then began hurraying with her heels. Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys, A-playing at a combat in the attic, But when she climbed the stair and saw Jemima there, She took and she did spank her most emphatic! Now... I've never heard "hurraying" used this way but you can assume, more or less, that it means raising hell and screwing up the wallpaper. And you might comment on the fact that the mother apparently felt it was OK for the boys (as in "...will be boys") to be boisterous but, sadly, poor Jemima was thrashed for the same behavior, living as she did in pre-PC and otherwise unenlightened days. But! BUT!! And this is a big BUT, (which reminds me, the J-Lo marriage is off; you heard about that, right?) can you tell me JUST WHO WROTE this little ditty??? Now, obviously anyone can google up the answer but, once again, allow me to request "Grey Matter Only." I'd be very surprised if anyone actually knows the answer but, frankly, that's probably just ego on my part. I mean, if I didn't know it, certainly you shouldn't either but god knows I've been wrong along similar lines before. BUT! Assuming you don't know, care to give a guess? The answer, I think, will surprise you. | |||
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It was in a book of poetry that I loved as a kid, CJ. See PM, and I'll leave it for the others.  And you know Mae West's variant: "When I'm good I'm very very good, but when I'm bad I'm better." | |||
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Two points for Hic for his correct answer. Doesn't that strike you a strange? (The answer, I mean. Not that you got it.) Another variation on that same theme is the very wise observation regarding sex: "When it's good, it's great. But when it's bad, well, it's still pretty good!" | |||
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Well, only one person (Hic) guessed via private topic and he (she? Why the gender anonymity?) got it right. The author of "There was a little girl who had a little curl" etc was none other than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, more famous for "The Village Blacksmith," "Paul Revere's Ride" and others. First Place was to have been a lifetime's supply of the winner's favorite beer but since no other entries were received, Hic's outa luck. "First Place" and "Only Place" are not synonymous. (A damn shame, too...) | |||
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O.M.G. CJ? Did you live in my house when I was a child? Seriously, you're my imaginary friend from back then, right? The Goops thing and now this. I'm eyeing you suspiciously. And if you can guess my imaginary friend's name from when I was little--I'll buy RE and Budweiser and J.Lo's pink diamond. So there. (but my mom did used to always tell me that poem when I was a little one) And yes, I did mean, I will purchase RE outright. | |||
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I've enjoyed the Goops almost forever but, outside of this board, I have never encountered another soul who had even heard of them. Ditto Guy Wetmore Carryl, double dactyls, and probably a half dozen other examples that don't readily come to mind at the moment. Very erudite board, this. Regarding the imaginary friend thing -- I have long since forgotten who wrote this but I do recall enjoying some comic, maybe 20 years ago, presenting the following: 1st person - "When you were a child, did you ever have an imaginary friend?" Comic - "When I was seven (long pause for dramatic effect) I was an imaginary friend!" Might have been on "Taxi" or "Barney Miller" or one of those shows from that era. Was your imaginary friend named Danny Haystacks? Yeah, that was me. Did your mother recite the entire poem to you or just the best-known first verse? I stumbled upon verses two and three only recently while doing research on an only semi-related topic. The fact that she's named "Jemima" just slays me. Along similar lines, the horse who played Mr. Ed in the TV show of that same name was actually named "Bamboo Harvester." No, really. He was. (I just thought you needed to know that...) | |||
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quote: "Guessed?" he replies. (Yes, "he.") I was at first surprised that CJ was surprised to find Longfellow was the author. But then I realized: his surprise is that Longfellow would write in a light vein, not that he would write about children. For example, The Children's Hour is lovely. | |||
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quote: Don't be ridiculous. Why would anyone name a zebra "Bamboo Harvster" ? Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben. - Friedrich Nietzsche Read all about my travels around the world here. Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog. | |||
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OK, there went a perfectly good hour and a half googling up "Mr. Ed," a show I was never overly fond of even when it was first on in the 1960's. Long story short, my faith in Snopes.com has been badly shaken. I've read their story (def. Story, noun, fictionalized account) and I cannot bring myself to believe it. Does Snopes ever indulge in practical joking? Reasons for my disbelief: 1.) All, and I do mean ALL, of the websites and other references I checked list "Bamboo Harvester" as Mr. Ed's real name. 2.) The Snopes article lists "The Famous Mr. Ed: The Unbridled Truth About America's Favorite Talking Horse" as a source but when I googled it up, the site was mysteriously unavailable. 3.) The Snopes article says that a zebra, when shown on a black-and-white TV, appears gray. This strikes me as being patently ridiculous. I'm almost positive I can recall zebras on "Wild Kingdom" and similar shows from my pre-color TV childhood. 4.) To back up this claim, they show a photo of a zebra as seen on a color monitor as compared with a horse as seen on a black-and-white monitor and they are obviously not the same animal. Show the same shot of the zebra on both monitors and then maybe I'll consider this as evidence. 5.) They state that during the 1960's when NFL games were broadcast in black-and-white, "...football games were too often disrupted when players ran into the referees, whose black-and-white striped uniform tops made them almost invisible to onlookers." If the premise is that black-and-white stripes don't televise well, how would that cause the players on the field to crash into the refs??!! 6.) The Johnny Cash anecdote seemed similarly bogus. 7.) They said that when CBS changed to become an all-color network, this prompted studio heads to move "Mr. Ed"'s time slot to allow further shows to be broadcast in time periods still using black-and-white. I was an avid TV watcher in those days and distinctly remember that no one made a complete switchover to color all at once. That is why for several years TV Guide would list individual shows as "Color" or "B&W." If I were King of this thread I would definitely be calling for someone's head! In short, I strongly believe that either someone has pulled a fast one on Snopes or that the Snopes people are playing fast and loose with the truth for some reason. Maybe they think it's funny? I sincerely don't and in the future will not rely on this site for the honest, no-B.S., straightforward truth that I once did. From here on in, when I want the straight dope, I will go to "The Straight Dope." (P.S. B.H., You also have a PT on this. Grrr! Grrr!) [This message was edited by C J Strolin on Tue Sep 30th, 2003 at 10:25.] | |||
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There is a section on snopes called "lost legends" where the eagle eyed will notice that everything is made up. The Mr. Ed legend of course is in this section. It's done with a purpose (apart from wasting CJ's time of course which was only my purpose not theirs.) Basically they are demonstrating what is called "false authority syndrome" - the habit people have of trusting a "usually reliable source" in defiance of all sane evidence to the contrary. Of course Mr Ed was a horse not a zebra. The number of people they fool with that page (and the others in the section) is staggering. Even the ones they don't fool (like CJ) trust snopes to the point where they at least give the story enough credence to check it out. This is in spite of the blatant nonsense that finishes the the story as spotted in point 5 of CJ's response. In short what snopes is doing is saying "Trust no-one - not even snopes. Use your brain. Think for yourself." The other legends in "lost legends" are not all as easy to spot as bogus but bogus they are nonetheless. This one about fractions, and this one about pirates are both ifavourites of mine. Trust no-one ! Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben. - Friedrich Nietzsche Read all about my travels around the world here. Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog. | |||
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OK, first off, yes, you totally got me. Secondly, the truth of this matter doesn't make me any happier. Sure, "Think for yourself" is admirable advice but an equally worthwhile injunction, as conveyed to me by my grandfather years ago, is "Don't sh*t in the well" and I think this is exactly what Snopes has done. Why did they not post some sort of "Ha-ha, just kidding" disclaimer at the end of each bogus piece? In a checkout line at the supermarket just this morning, I saw a tabloid newspaper reporting the "story" (see above definition) of the wedding of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein complete with an "actual wedding photo" of a smiling Osama in a tux standing next to Saddam in a wedding gown. The bride's hairy chest was an especially nice touch. Of course, this is the sort of B.S. one expects from those papers and absolutely no one in their right mind believes a word they print. But Snopes is different. Or, anyway, at least I thought it was. The truth is precious, as is time, and those assholes (I spell that out because I'm not sure where the asterisks should go) (plus I'm pissed!) at Snopes have abused both. I have lost considerable respect for them and in the future will no longer consider anything they have to say as reliable information. Screw 'em! Screw 'em all!! | |||
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There is, of course, an icon at the bottom of the page that says "click for more information about this page". I find these sorts of sub-references very useful! Richard English | |||
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The only trouble is, it's "preaching to the saved." If you have enough wariness to want more information, you're already skeptical; if you aren't, you'll never get to the acknowledgement... | |||
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Yes, I agree, Hab. Now I won't be able to believe Snopes in the future; I will always be afraid that I missed something. Kudos to you, CJ, for not believing! They had me hook, line and sinker!  | |||
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All of the made up ones are in the Repository of Lost Legends which does in fact contain multiple disclaimers for those who look including the lines "Note: Any relationship between these ratings and reality is purely coincidental." and "We created The Repository of Lost Legends (TRoLL for short) for those of you who don't let the truth get in the way of a good story Everything in this category is a joke. Everything else is about as gold plated as is ever likely on the internet. CJ is just pissed off (to use the English vernacular because he wasted time trying to verify an obvious falsehood.) Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben. - Friedrich Nietzsche Read all about my travels around the world here. Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog. | |||
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Well, I'm a little miffed, too, because they made me feel stupid and foolish. I have always had the utmost respect for Snopes, and so I didn't even fathom, as CJ did, that they might be joking. [See my public outcry in the double dactyl thread! ][This message was edited by Kalleh on Tue Sep 30th, 2003 at 17:05.] | |||
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I once came home at an hour I was not expected and found my wife having sex with another man. It's an old story and, yes, that was pretty much it for that relationship. You're correct, B.H. I was pissed at having wasted my time researching this stupid story but the anger I felt (and still feel) towards Snopes is pretty much the same I felt that day long ago. I really loved her. I also loved Snopes and I trusted both wholeheartedly. This is the natural result of love and respect no matter who or what the recipient of these two feelings is. I admit that I didn't notice the "Click here for more information on this story" box. It definitely could have been clearer but I'll take my share of the blame for this portion of my pissedoffedness. My main gripe though (as I said in my PT to B.H.) was that I had thought I had discovered a case of some rogue fact checker or some other disgruntled employee purposely writing this nonsense in an attempt to discredit Snopes. Then I find out it was Snopes themselves and, regardless of their motive, it still stinks. Had I stumbled upon my wife being victimized by a rapist, it's entirely possible we'd still be together today. As it is, we don't even write. Similarly, as much as I've enjoyed Snopes in the past, we will now be undergoing, at the very least, a trial separation. | |||
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Dear God, what I have started here ? Let's keep a sense of proportion about snopes little joke. They've create a handful of spurious "legends" as a joke, gathered them all together under one heading with everything else on the site still guaranteed genuine. They've put disclaimers on the heading page and a link revealing the gag on the contents pages. They haven't gone about willy nilly scattering false legends throughout the site as that really would undermine their credibility. They haven't done anythjing other than poke a little fun at themselves. Everything that ISN't in The Repository of Lost Legends (a completely self contained section of the site) is just trustworthy as it ever was and to believe otherwise seems to me a little foolish. Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben. - Friedrich Nietzsche Read all about my travels around the world here. Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog. | |||
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Amen! | |||
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quote: The first verse was in a collection of children's stories, rhymes and poems, complete with the black and white art work. We read it together, and then she'd quote it when correcting my table manners. Ahh, mothers. As for imaginary friends, sadly enough, I had several. Danny Haystacks was far too normal a name for my crew--as I recall, one was named Heenyhopple and one was named Eaglepound. No, I don't know where they got those names. Yes, I have sought mental therapy! | |||
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I still have lots of imaginary friends. There's shufitz and wordcrafter and winterbranch and Richard English and jerry and tinman and CJ and lots more. I know that Kalleh and arnie aren't imaginary because I've met them but the rest of you... ...well I think I made you all up one day and the whole thing's got out of my control. Come to think of it CJ is probably real too. I'm not sure my imagination is good enough to have invented him. The rest of you though, all figments of my imagination. Sorry, but that's how it goes sometimes. Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben. - Friedrich Nietzsche Read all about my travels around the world here. Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog. | |||
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quote: TrossL, by separate means, has chastised me at some length for being such a baby about all this and for not being able to laugh at myself. This is incorrect. I find it absolutely hilarious that I spent nearly an hour trying to confirm that Alan Young is 5 foot 4 inches tall! What a waste of my life, yes, but funny as hell nonetheless. Would I have prefered someone else to have, to use her terms, "fallen into a big pile of poop on the way to the dance"? Of course. Arnie in particular would have been a very satisfying victim. But I don't regret my outrage. At that time, I was still very much pro-Snopes. My heart, if not my head, was in the right place. In my last post, I considered threatening revenge, something along the lines of "B.H., if you should receive a softly ticking package with the name 'Bamboo Harvester' in the return address, you might want to stick it into a bucket of water" but then decided, in these security cautious days, that this would make for a poor joke. And, after all, I was the person primarily responsible for making myself look foolish. Oh, well. Wasn't the first time and undoubtedly won't be the last. So "Truce," I say. I have hosed myself off and will proceed on to the dance. But, no, on their own recommendation, I won't consider Snopes to be the unimpeachable Voice of God as I did before. | |||
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quote: And now look at her, Winterbranch! All grown up and selling syrup!  | |||
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quote: Now, now... You're just trying to suck up to me after that Snopes thing. Actually, I misspoke earlier when I said I wasn't plotting revenge. I think I've mentioned elsewhere that much of the time I'm taking away from this board recently is being spent on another project. With a completion date now of mid-November or so I can reveal this project to be a book, my first. Without going into any great detail it deals with 1.) poetry, 2.) why poetry isn't taught in the schools or enjoyed in everyday life as it once was, and 3.) a possible solution to remedy this. While I didn't originally write it with revenge in mind, B.H., there is one small part of my little effort that you are absolutely going to loathe! (heh, heh, heh! aheh, heh, heh!! Revenge will be mine!) (in a good-spirited way, of course!) | |||
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By the way, while the whole Snopes thing irritated me beyond belief too (remember, I actually believed it!), I don't blame Bob at all. However, I do blame Snopes for being so incredibly childish, and I am not nearly as forgiving as CJ is! | |||
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quote: I doubt it. Anything that encourages the teaching of literature and poetry in schools has to be a good thing. The only way you could seriously annoy me would be to quote my work without permission but even then I'd be inclined to let my lawyers sort it out. Oh yes and what I meant to say was that "CJ is far too weird for me to have invented him." Sorry if my previous remark was in any way construed as complimentary. Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben. - Friedrich Nietzsche Read all about my travels around the world here. Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog. | |||
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quote: OK, that's it! Your visa to Almathea (see elsewhere) is officially on hold. | |||
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cachinnate: to laugh loudly or profusely without moderation. | |||
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Welcome, Derek!  We would love to see your participation here on our board.We'd love to know where you are from. I am guessing, from the time of your posting, the UK? | |||
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Actually, I'm from Canada. | |||
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Besot: To infatuate, or to make dull or stupid. (Merriam - Webster Dictionary Online) | |||
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Besot, is interesting, Derek, our new Canadian. To infatuate doesn't seem to be in line with to make dull or stupid, to me. However, in looking it up I do see that it means to cause to behave foolishly. I tend to think of it as the first definition in dictionary.com, which is an unreasoning love. Just because it is unreasoning, does that make it foolish? Isn't a big part of love "unreasoning," that is, emotional? | |||
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Hey, I'm No Longer the Most Junior Member! Higgledy Piggledy, Derek (Canadian) Newest to post on our Wordcrafter board. Likes words which might appear Incomprehensible. Keep posting, Derek. You Won't be ignored! As your Emperor (see elsewhere) allow me to welcome you to the group. We pride ourselves on being a rather erudite bunch, all very sober (with one possible occasional exception owing to an over-fondness for British brews) and sane (with one other possible exception owing to an early Lewis-Carrol-induced dementia) and welcome all like-minded individuals with open arms. (I was going to make that last bit something along the lines of "We welcome you with open minds and tongues," seeing as how this is an English language website, but I couldn't figure out how to word it without sounding a bit weird. That usually doesn't stop me but Kalleh frequently fears I'll drive new people away...) Into Double Dactyls by any chance? As a newbie, you are encouraged to try your hand at one or two. Complete rules for this odd poetic format can be found in the "Double Dactyls Again" thread in the "The Written Word" section. Again, welcome aboard! | |||
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Yes indeed, welcome Derek. But CJ. Surely a man who misspells Lewis CarrolL isn't really fit to be Emperor. Or is that just my dementia talking ? "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson. | |||
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