brtom has adopted no words, looked up 0 words, created 24 lists, listed 2625 words, written 769 comments, added 0 tags, and loved 0 words.
Comments for brtom
-
brtom, how nice to see you here again. Been a while :-)
March 25, 2010
-
Hey, check out WordPlay's profile. :)
February 11, 2007
-
Yes, the listing, and also the citations, they're wonderful. The words are so much richer when shown in context.
December 16, 2006
-
Yeah, after looking at your LibraryThing and homepage I saw that. Neat stuff. More of a prose man myself. Anyway, keep up the listing as I'm enjoying it. ^_^
December 3, 2006
-
no no... yr good ... & i'm an english teacher ... and i write obscure pomes at http://brtom.typepad.com/one/
December 3, 2006
-
Oh, my bad. Imploded heads are rarely any good. I was just curious if you did any amateur or professional work in fiction since I liked the sometimes surreal definitions from the list.
That better?
December 3, 2006
-
a writer? ... must be ... if ... but you pose a ... my head is ... imploding ... a savage parlor ... sorry
December 3, 2006
-
Really enjoying your imaginary words list, although I'd argue that if you're writing them they're not imaginary.
Are you a writer?
December 3, 2006
Comments by brtom
brtom commented on the user john
Hi, John! Thanks for noticing. I've been living. Will always have a soft spot in my heart (if not my head) for Wordie/Wordnik. It was there when I needed it ... and I still may. All the best to you!
March 25, 2010
brtom commented on the word merditation
Pondering that which may not be worth pondering? Or ...
March 25, 2010
brtom commented on the word rantipole
This rantipole hero had for some time singled out the blooming Katrina for the object of his uncouth gallantries, and though his amorous toyings were something like the gentle caresses and endearments of a bear, yet it was whispered that she did not altogether discourage his hopes. Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
October 30, 2009
brtom commented on the word delate
In other words are there certain regular sorts of flourishing which we can see in this sphere which point to more than themselves, which delate, give away, point up, something about God? James Alison
October 11, 2009
brtom commented on the word frore
"God, how I hate the names / of the body's chemicals and anatomy, / the frore and glum department / of its parts ..." Wendell Berry, "Sabbaths 2005, XIV" in Leavings
October 3, 2009
brtom commented on the word snath
"I could see that the snath had a delightful patina that came with age and good care." Brian Lowry
March 13, 2009
brtom commented on the word borborygmi
"I looked forward to the librarian moms returning home to the borborygmic giants who would roll over on them in their sleep."
http://www.splicetoday.com/writing/the-devil-s-playground
February 17, 2009
brtom commented on the word plow
The humus stood dark and heavy over them once; the plow was its doom. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word humus
The humus stood dark and heavy over them once; the plow was its doom. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word mule
...how they would harness their mule teams in the early mornings in my grandfather's big barn and come to the woods-rimmed tobacco patches, the mules' feet wet with the dew. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word crop
Where that thicket stands there was crop ground, maybe as late as my own time. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word outbuildings
There are the domestic paths from house to barns and outbuildings and gardens, farm roads threading the pasture gates. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word palimpsest
I think of the country as a kind of palimpsest scrawled over with the comings and goings of people, the erasure of time already in process even as the marks of passage are put down. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word path
A path is little more than a habit that comes with knowledge of a place. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word economy
The idea was that when faced with abundance one should consume abundantly—an idea that has survived to become the basis of our present economy. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word ignorant
But one immediately reflects that the American Indian, who was ignorant by the same standards, nevertheless knew how to live in the country without making violence the invariable mode of his relation to it ... Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word clearing
The work of clearing the road was itself violent. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word peacefulness
I am forced, against all my hopes and inclinations, to regard the history of my people here as the progress of the doom of what I value most in the world: the life and health of the earth, the peacefulness of human communities and households. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word doom
I am forced, against all my hopes and inclinations, to regard the history of my people here as the progress of the doom of what I value most in the world: the life and health of the earth, the peacefulness of human communities and households. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word native
I came to see myself as growing out of the earth like the other native animals and plants. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word root
My language increased and strengthened, and sent my mind into the place like a live root system. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word neighbor
I listened to the talk of my kinsmen and neighbors as I never had done, alert to their knowledge of the place, and to the qualities and energies of their speech. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word kinsmen
I listened to the talk of my kinsmen and neighbors as I never had done, alert to their knowledge of the place, and to the qualities and energies of their speech. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word countryside
Home—the place, the countryside—was still there, still pretty much as I had left it, and there was no reason I could not go back to it if I wanted to. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word home
Home—the place, the countryside—was still there, still pretty much as I had left it, and there was no reason I could not go back to it if I wanted to. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word welfare
When I have thought of the welfare of the earth, the problems of its health and preservation, the care of its life, I have had this place before me ... Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word place
When I have thought of the welfare of the earth, the problems of its health and preservation, the care of its life, I have had this place before me ... Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word health
When I have thought of the welfare of the earth, the problems of its health and preservation, the care of its life, I have had this place before me ... Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word earth
When I have thought of the welfare of the earth, the problems of its health and preservation, the care of its life, I have had this place before me ... Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word deliberateness
In my acceptance of twentieth-century realities there has had to be a certain deliberateness, whereas most of my contemporaries had them simply by being born to them. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word aptitude
I seem to have been born with an aptitude for a way of life that was doomed, although I did not understand that at the time. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word hitch
... I learned to harness and hitch and work a team. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word harness
... I learned to harness and hitch and work a team. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word team
... I learned to harness and hitch and work a team. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word teamster
The Depression and World War II delayed the mechanization of the farms here, and one of the first disciplines imposed on me was that of a teamster. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word discipline
The Depression and World War II delayed the mechanization of the farms here, and one of the first disciplines imposed on me was that of a teamster. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word mechanization
The Depression and World War II delayed the mechanization of the farms here, and one of the first disciplines imposed on me was that of a teamster. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word place
All that any of us may know of ourselves is to be known in relation to this place. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word river
My house backs against the hill's foot where it descends from the town to the river. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word town
My house backs against the hill's foot where it descends from the town to the river. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word hill
My house backs against the hill's foot where it descends from the town to the river. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word house
My house backs against the hill's foot where it descends from the town to the river. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill"
July 19, 2008
brtom commented on the word whist
Ah ... me, too. I'd guess that - if a U.S. citizen knows the term - it's 10 to 1 that he/she got it from Around the World in Eighty Days. But when I found it in Howard's poem it just didn't add up.
February 15, 2008
brtom commented on the word whist
Yes, a card game ... but in British dialect it means "to become silent" as in this from Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547):
It was then night: the sound and quiet sleep
Had through the earth the wearied bodies caught;
The woods, the raging seas were fallen to rest;
When that the stars had half their course declined
The fields whist ...
February 14, 2008
brtom commented on the word aquamanile
from Wikipedia:
In Christian liturgical usage, an aquamanile (plural aquamanilia or simply aquamaniles) is a special ewer for the ritual washing of hands (aqua + manos) over a basin, in the ritual of the lavabo, in which the officiating priest washes his hands before vesting, again before the consecration of the Eucharist and after mass.
January 24, 2008
brtom commented on the word accrue
Carrying what has accrued to it (the body) from the moment of birth to the moment of death.
Whitman, "Starting from Paumanok"
January 9, 2008
brtom commented on the word effuse
I will effuse egotism and show it underlying all, and I will be the
bard of personality
Whitman, "Starting from Paumanok"
January 9, 2008
brtom commented on the word average
O such themes - equalities! O divine average!
Whitman, "Starting from Paumanok"
January 9, 2008
brtom commented on the word melange
Melange mine own, the unseen and the seen,
Mysterious ocean where the streams empty
Whitman, "Starting from Paumanok"
January 9, 2008
brtom commented on the word camerado
What do you need camerado?
Whitman, "Starting from Paumanok"
January 9, 2008
brtom commented on the word grandeur
I say that the real and permanent grandeur of these States must be their religion,
Otherwise there is just no real and permanent grandeur
Whitman, "Starting from Paumanok"
January 9, 2008
brtom commented on the word omnes
Omnes! omnes! let others ignore what they may,
I make the poem of evil also, I commemorate that part also ...
Whitman, "Starting from Paumanok"
January 9, 2008
brtom commented on the word philosoph
Dead poets, philosophs, priests,
Martyrs, artists, inventors, governments long since,
Language-shapers on other shores ...
Whitman, "Starting from Paumanok"
January 9, 2008
brtom commented on the word vivify
Chants of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota,
Chants going forth from the centre from Kansas, and thence
equidistant,
Shooting in pulses of fire ceaseless to vivify all.
Whitman, "Starting from Paumanok"
January 9, 2008
brtom commented on the word debouch
See, vast trackless spaces,
As in a dream they change, they swiftly fill,
Countless masses debouch upon them ...
Whitman, "Starting from Paumanok"
January 9, 2008
brtom commented on the word impacted
Yes, thanks, I explain that to my students. I've usually got no problem with verbing a noun ... so, I explain to them, I'll assume that's what they're doing. But, I also explain, the unintended connotations of this particular one are especially disagreeable to, at least, their teacher.
January 7, 2008
brtom commented on the word aureoling
A great one! How could I have missed it? Well, I did catch aureole ... but to find it used as a verb is just thrilling ... Thanks.
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word peeve
I don't like this word ... so why do I use it?
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word impacted
A personal peeve: this word is an adjective meaning "wedged or packed in together" ... It calls to mind unpleasant business related to teeth and bowels ... For that reason, it shouldn't be used as a verb in statements like: "Voters in South Carolina will definitely be impacted by what happened at the Iowa caucuses Thursday." source
My heart goes out to those soon-to-be-miserable South Carolinians.
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word constitution
Why, to be sure, a tale of scandal is as fatal to the credit of a prudent lady of her stamp as a fever is generally to those of the strongest constitutions.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word prudent
Why, to be sure, a tale of scandal is as fatal to the credit of a prudent lady of her stamp as a fever is generally to those of the strongest constitutions.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word valetudinarian
True, madam, there are valetudinarians in reputation as well as constitution ...
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word dropsy
She likewise hinted that a certain widow, in the next street, had got rid of her dropsy and recovered her shape in a most surprising manner.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word dancing-master
Yet such is the ill nature of people, that they say her uncle stopped her last week, just as she was stepping into the York Mail with her dancing-master.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word censorious
But the world is so censorious, no character escapes.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word traduce
We have pride, envy, rivalship, and a thousand motives to depreciate each other; but the male slanderer must have the cowardice of a woman before he can traduce one.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word wit
For my part, I own, madam, wit loses its respect with me, when I see it in company with malice.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word malice
For my part, I own, madam, wit loses its respect with me, when I see it in company with malice.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word own
For my part, I own, madam, wit loses its respect with me, when I see it in company with malice.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word backbite
Oh! there’s that disagreeable lover of mine, Sir Benjamin Backbite, has just called at my guardian’s, with his odious uncle, Crabtree
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word odious
Oh! there’s that disagreeable lover of mine, Sir Benjamin Backbite, has just called at my guardian’s, with his odious uncle, Crabtree
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word virginistic
"Mercy is pure and devote and ironically ends up marrying one of Angel's brothers; while Tess has mixed views about her religion and is no longer virginistic." Anonymous AP Literature student.
January 6, 2008
brtom commented on the word egad
Egad, that’s true!
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word discernment
Madam, it is impossible for me to suspect a man of Mr. Snake’s sensibility and discernment.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word sensibility
Madam, it is impossible for me to suspect a man of Mr. Snake’s sensibility and discernment.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word knave
I know him to be artful, selfish, and malicious—in short, a sentimental knave
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word fortune
Must I confess that Charles—that libertine, that extravagant, that bankrupt in fortune and reputation—that he it is for whom I am thus anxious and malicious, and to gain whom I would sacrifice every thing?
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word libertine
Must I confess that Charles—that libertine, that extravagant, that bankrupt in fortune and reputation—that he it is for whom I am thus anxious and malicious, and to gain whom I would sacrifice every thing?
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word intercourse
I must inform you that love has no share whatever in the intercourse between Mr. Surface and me.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word jointure
Now, on the face of these circumstances, it is utterly unaccountable to me, why you, the widow of a city knight, with a good jointure, should not close with the passion of a man of such character and expectations as Mr. Surface ...
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word dissipated
... the youngest, the most dissipated and extravagant young fellow in the kingdom, without friends or character ...
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word sneer
She wants that delicacy of tint, and mellowness of sneer, which distinguish your ladyship’s scandal.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word whence
Lady Sneerwell. The paragraphs, you say, Mr. Snake, were all inserted?
Snake. They were, madam; and, as I copied them myself in a feigned hand, there can be no suspicion whence they came.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word feign
Lady Sneerwell. The paragraphs, you say, Mr. Snake, were all inserted?
Snake. They were, madam; and, as I copied them myself in a feigned hand, there can be no suspicion whence they came.
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
brtom commented on the word rubicund
My face on niacin.
January 4, 2008
brtom commented on the word trill
"The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun." Whitman, Song of Myself, 2
January 4, 2008
brtom commented on the word full-noon
"The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun." Whitman, Song of Myself, 2
January 4, 2008
brtom commented on the word flood-tide
"Flood-tide below me! I watch you face to face;" Whitman, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, 1
January 4, 2008
brtom commented on the word fitness
"Knowing the perfect fitness and equanimity of things, while they discuss I am silent, and go bathe and admire myself." Whitman, Song of Myself, 3
January 4, 2008
brtom commented on the word filter
"You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self." Whitman, Song of Myself, 2
January 4, 2008
brtom commented on the word fathomless
"I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself," Whitman, Song of Myself, 7
January 4, 2008
brtom commented on the word exclamations
"What exclamations of women taken suddenly who hurry home and give birth to babes," Whitman, Song of Myself, 8
January 4, 2008
brtom commented on the word abscissa
Four years on, my personal declaration of, and against, lexical ignorance runs from "abscissa" (Cormac McCarthy) to "zugunruhe" (William Fiennes, who admittedly provided a helpful contextual explanation of this, the migratory restlessness of birds). James Meek
January 3, 2008
brtom commented on the word zugunruhe
Four years on, my personal declaration of, and against, lexical ignorance runs from "abscissa" (Cormac McCarthy) to "zugunruhe" (William Fiennes, who admittedly provided a helpful contextual explanation of this, the migratory restlessness of birds). James Meek
January 3, 2008
brtom commented on the word albedo
I was enjoying the book until I came across the following sentence: "The albedo of Gilgit's brown, barren hills is high, and the heat from the sun just seems to bounce around the bowl that the town sits in." James Meek
January 3, 2008
brtom commented on the word barb
"She barbs with wit those darts too keen before: —"
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 2, 2008
brtom commented on the word timorous
"Ah! seest thou not an ambushed Cupid there,
Too timorous of his charge, with jealous care
Veils and unveils those beams of heavenly light ..."
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 2, 2008
brtom commented on the word bade
"And bade the gentle inmate of her breast—
Inshrinèd Modesty—supply the rest."
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 2, 2008
brtom commented on the word uncouth
"Not stiff with prudence, nor uncouthly wild ..."
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 2, 2008
brtom commented on the word homage
"Whose judgment scorns the homage flattery pays!"
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 2, 2008
brtom commented on the word celestial
..." and while
Celestial blushes check thy conscious smile ..."
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 2, 2008
brtom commented on the word innuendo
"Attend, ye skilled to coin the precious tale,
Creating proof, where innuendos fail!"
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 2, 2008
brtom commented on the word coin
"Attend, ye skilled to coin the precious tale,
Creating proof, where innuendos fail!"
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 2, 2008
brtom commented on the word virulent
"By cunning, cautious; or by nature, cold, 15
In maiden madness, virulently bold!"
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 2, 2008
brtom commented on the word antipathy
"Ye matron censors of this childish age,
Whose peering eye and wrinkled front declare
A fixed antipathy to young and fair ..."
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 2, 2008
brtom commented on the word calumny
"Daughters of calumny, I summon you!" Sheridan, School for Scandal.
January 2, 2008
brtom commented on the word imbricate
I learned this word when I read an essay my brother wrote years ago. I was already old and deep into words then, so I was shocked to find a word I'd never seen or heard before.
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word howknot
"In his free left hand he holds a slim ivory cane with a violet howknot." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word changeling
"Against the dark wall a figure appears slowly, a fairy boy of eleven, a changeling, kidnapped, dressed in an Eton suit with glass shoes and a little bronze helmet, holding a book in his hand." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word poetry
"Poetry. Well educated. Pity." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word tyke
"Who owns the bleeding tyke?" Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word acushla
"OLD GUMMY GRANNY (Thrusts a dagger towards Stephen's hand.) Remove him, acushla. At 8.35 a.m. you will be in heaven and Ireland will be free." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word pentice
"Casqued halberdiers in armour thrust forward a pentice of gutted spear points." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word absinthe
"Absinthe, the greeneyed monster." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word philirenist
"Struggle for life is the law of existence but modern philirenists, notably the tsar and the king of England, have invented arbitration." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word carman
"Come now, professor, that carman is waiting." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word biff
"He doesn't half want a thick ear, the blighter. Biff him one, Harry." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word blighter
"He doesn't half want a thick ear, the blighter. Biff him one, Harry." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word tallyho
"Stephen with hat ashplant frogsplits in middle highkicks with skykicking mouth shut hand clasp part under thigh, with clang tinkle boomhammer tallyho horn blower blue green yellow flashes." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word cipria
"The twilight hours advance, from long landshadows, dispersed, lagging, languideyed, their cheeks delicate with cipria and false faint bloom." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word waspwaisted
"From a corner the morning hours run out, goldhaired, slim, in girlish blue, waspwaisted, with innocent hands." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word thimbleriggers
"The crowd bowls of dicers, crown and anchor players, thimbleriggers, broadsmen." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word sidle
"She sidles from her newlaid egg and waddles off." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word newlaid
"She sidles from her newlaid egg and waddles off." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word slyboots
"You're such a slyboots, old cocky. I could kiss you." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word treestems
"Figures wind serpenting in slow woodland pattern around the treestems, cooeeing." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word jellily
"Crawls jellily forward under the boughs, streaked by sunlight, with dignity." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word outhouse
"By word and deed he encouraged a nocturnal strumpet to deposit fecal and other matter in an unsanitary outhouse attached to empty premises." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word flounce
"When you took your seat with womanish care, lifting your billowy flounces, on the smoothworn throne." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word peccadillo
"Rain, exposure at dewfall on the sea rocks, a peccadillo at my time of life." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word gusset
"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step. Pyjamas, let us say? Or stockingette gusseted knickers, closed?" Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word gull
"A new purchase at some monster sale for which a gull has been mulcted. Meretricious finery to deceive the eye." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word mulct
"A new purchase at some monster sale for which a gull has been mulcted. Meretricious finery to deceive the eye." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word pshent
"On his head is perched an Egyptian pshent. Two quills project over his ears." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word doggone
"Are you a god or a doggone clod?" Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word filibegs
"Along an infinite invisible tight-rope taut from zenith to nadir the End of the World, a two headed octopus in gillies kilts, busby and tartan filibegs, whirls through the murk, head over heels, in the fob of the Three Lugs of Man." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word busby
" Along an infinite invisible tight-rope taut from zenith to nadir the End of the World, a two headed octopus in gillies kilts, busby and tartan filibegs, whirls through the murk, head over heels, in the fob of the Three Lugs of Man." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word murk
" Along an infinite invisible tight-rope taut from zenith to nadir the End of the World, a two headed octopus in gillies kilts, busby and tartan filibegs, whirls through the murk, head over heels, in the fob of the Three Lugs of Man." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word gramophone
"Outside the gramophone begins to blare The Holy City." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word mixolydian
"It is susceptible of nodes or modes as far apart as hyperphrygian and mixolydian ..." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word hyperphrygian
"It is susceptible of nodes or modes as far apart as hyperphrygian and mixolydian ..." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word tatterdemalion
"Florry Talbot, a blond feeble goosefat whore in a tatterdemalion gown of mildewed strawberry ..." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word cinnabar
"The floor is covered with an oilcloth mosaic of jade and azure and cinnabar rhomboids." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word pelisse
"In babylinen and pelisse, bigheaded, with a caul of dark hair, fixes big eyes on her fluid slip and counts its bronze buckles with a chubby finger, his moist tongue tolling and lisping." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word sugaun
"In caubeen with clay pipe stuck in the band, dusty brogues, an emigrant's red handkerchief bundle in his hand, leading a black bogoak pig by a sugaun, with a smile in his eye." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word shillelagh
"In bodycoats, kneebreeches, with Donnybrook fair shillelaghs." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word porringer
"... readymade suits, porringers of toad in the hole ..." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word billets doux
"... billets doux in the form of cocked hats ..." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word macintosh
"A man in a brown macintosh springs up through a trap-door." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word morganatic
"The former morganatic spouse of Bloom is hastily removed in the Black Maria." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word palfrey
"Bloom holds up his right hand on which sparkles the Koh-i-Noor diamond. His palfrey neighs. " Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word phallopyrotechnic
"Mirus bazaar fireworks go up from all sides with symbolical phallopyrotechnic designs." Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word giddyflecks
"(They rustle, flutter upon his garments, alight, bright giddyflecks, silvery sequins.)" Joyce, Ulysses, 15
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word aspergum
Aspergum trademark is currently owned by Insight Pharmaceuticals, the same company that produces the aspirin and caffeine based Anacin. (Wikipedia)
January 1, 2008
brtom commented on the word exaction
For their spirits were broke and their manhood impair'd by foreign vices for exaction. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word pusillanimity
For this was done in the divine contempt of a general pusillanimity. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word drub
For I prophecy that the Reformation will make way in France when Moab is made meek by being well drubbed by the English. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word sundry
For Red is of sundry sorts till it deepens to BLACK. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word clapperclaw
For Clapperclaw is in the grappling of the words upon one another in all the modes of versification. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word extant
For all the creatures mentiond by Pliny are somewhere or other extant to the glory of God. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word nosegay
For the Poorman's nosegay is an introduction to a Prince. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word ocular
For flowers are musical in ocular harmony. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word benevolence
For a man cannot have publick spirit, who is void of private benevolence. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word vitiate
For loud prayer is good for weak lungs and for a vitiated throat. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word vitiated
For loud prayer is good for weak lungs and for a vitiated throat. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word existimation
For my existimation is good even amongst the slanderers and my memory shall arise for a sweet savour unto the Lord. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word cress
Let Anaiah bless with the Dragon-fly, who sails over the pond by the wood-side and feedeth on the cressies. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word bowells
Let Huldah bless with the Silkworm -- the ornaments of the Proud are from the bowells of their Betters. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart) see bowel, of course
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word waggle
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command. (from Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word pricks
Let Jotham praise with the Urchin, who took up his parable and provided himself for the adversary to kick against the pricks. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word amerce
Let Anah, the son of Zibion, lead a Mule to the temple, and bless God, who amerces the consolation of the creature for the service of Man. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word clamber
For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer. (from Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word spraggle
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command. (from Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word waggery
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery. (from Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno)
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word prank
For he rolls upon prank to work it in. from Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno ... clearly used in a more antique sense ... what is it?
and also ... Let Anna bless God with the Cat, who is worthy to be presented before the throne of grace, when he has trampled upon the idol in his prank.
December 31, 2007
brtom commented on the word ngork
If you try to say it ... and read the poem ... you might get some sense of it
December 19, 2007
brtom commented on the word prununciating
It's more than a spelling error. At least, it is to me ... used in my poem ngork
December 19, 2007
brtom commented on the word gracility
Gracility meaning not “slender and dexterous,�? but “skimpy.�? from Isola di Rifiuti
November 17, 2007
brtom commented on the word based off of
This generation has never heard of "based on". Where does this "off of" come from?
October 25, 2007
brtom commented on the list banned
Um, okay. Cool, dude. That's a really neat one.
October 25, 2007
brtom commented on the list brtom-s-words
i know ... kinda cool, isn't it ... i like this quick access to all the lists
August 3, 2007
brtom commented on the word lists
wow that's crazy ... never saw that before ... i wonder why it happens that way ...
August 3, 2007
brtom commented on the word hum
"Empty of everything, in a hum of sempiternal readiness for that soul-wilting, muse-recoiling Jawohl, Herr Kommandant! to shoot up one’s spinal column as quick as a blastula ..." from John Latta's Isola di Rifiuti
August 3, 2007
brtom commented on the word blastula
"Empty of everything, in a hum of sempiternal readiness for that soul-wilting, muse-recoiling Jawohl, Herr Kommandant! to shoot up one’s spinal column as quick as a blastula ..." from John Latta's Isola di Rifiuti
August 3, 2007
brtom commented on the word sempiternal
"Empty of everything, in a hum of sempiternal readiness for that soul-wilting, muse-recoiling Jawohl, Herr Kommandant! to shoot up one’s spinal column as quick as a blastula ..." from John Latta's Isola di Rifiuti
August 3, 2007
brtom commented on the word placist
"Such are the vicissitudes of a provincial placist who has rejected the munificence of the 'post-war corporatist-collectivist consensus...'" Robert Cheeks in a review of Look Homeward, America:, In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-Porch Anarchists by Bill Kauffman
July 6, 2007
brtom commented on the word spiv
Author of the thunderous ongoing recitatif, the spiv recital, its shill featurettes and occasions... John Latta, Isola di Rifiuti
June 5, 2007
brtom commented on the word apophatic
"Isn't God the endpoint of the apophatic project, just as Buddha nature and emptiness is of Buddhist meditation? The season strains toward its apophatic culmination."
Paula's House of Toast
February 19, 2007
brtom commented on the word lugubrious
"(He lifts his mutilated ashen face moonwards and bays lugubriously.)"
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
brtom commented on the word bay
"(He lifts his mutilated ashen face moonwards and bays lugubriously.)"
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
brtom commented on the word knuckledusters
"He rubs grimly his grapping hands, knobbed with knuckledusters."
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
brtom commented on the word ramshorn
"From his forehead arise starkly the Mosaic ramshorns."
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
brtom commented on the word dynamitard
"Whereas Leopold Bloom of no fixed abode is a well-known dynamitard, forger, bigamist, bawd and cuckold and a public nuisance to the citizens of Dublin ..."
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
brtom commented on the word quoit
"(The brass quoits of a bed are heard to jingle.)"
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
brtom commented on the word rowel
"I'll dig my spurs in him up to the rowel."
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
brtom commented on the word hangdog
"BLOOM (Shuddering, shrinking, joins his hands with hangdog mien.)"
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
brtom commented on the word mien
"BLOOM (Shuddering, shrinking, joins his hands with hangdog mien.)"
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
brtom commented on the word vivisect
"Give him ginger. Thrash the mongrel within an inch of his life. The cat-o' nine-tails. Geld him. Vivisect him."
Joyce, Ulysses,15
February 8, 2007
brtom commented on the word thrash
"Give him ginger. Thrash the mongrel within an inch of his life. The cat-o' nine-tails. Geld him. Vivisect him."
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
brtom commented on the word birching
"Refined birching to stimulate the circulation."
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
Show 200 more comments...