No. 2 (quixotic) isn't so uplifting either. Haters of the S-word are placing all our hopes on serendipity, which is fitting ... but if there were any justice, loquacious would top the site. I'm off to do my part!
NPR jarred me this morning using ignominy in a report. I had assumed the stress was on the second syllable, but the preferred pronunciation stresses the first.
Every year I say I'm going to take off from work to watch the first two days of the USA intercollegiate basketball tournament, known as March Madness. Maybe I will next year...
My wife came across this word while reading and asked me what it meant. I explained that it was a small rodent that was cultivate for its fur, like a sable. It fit the context, and life went on.
(′f�?n·ag′n�?·zhə) (psychology) A disturbance in the recognition of familiar voices in which the affected individual has good comprehension of what is spoken, but the speaker cannot be identified. dictionary.com
Chris Doyle is also a regular loser on the Style Invitational, the Washington Post's weekly humor contest that has a vendetta against me personally not that I'm bitter.
there is a great spanish verb that combined an English idiom of three or four words into one. it's not pertenecer, but it's kind of like that. does someone know what i'm talking about?
i was giving an interview and the reporter asked whether a service would be available at her local prothonotary (she was in Pennsylvania, USA). i was so tickled that i repeated the word at least five times during our chat.
n. - The principal clerk in certain courts of law.
An Australian friend giggled when this came up in a conversation. Apparently it's slang for cunnilingus there, but I never found out why she was giggling! ;)
1. Arranging words or clauses in a sequence of increasing force. In this sense, auxesis is comparable to climax and has sometimes been called incrementum.
2. A figure of speech in which something is referred to in terms disproportionately large (a kind of exaggeration or hyperbole).
I think "attorney" is somewhat pretentious, as compared to "lawyer." There is a difference: a lawyer is one who practices law, while an attorney is one who represents someone.
But it bugs me when people opt for the more hoity-toity. "Attorney" vs. "lawyer." "I" instead of "me."
"Physician" over "doctor" (though on that one the words are truly indistinguishable and, if anything, physican is more precise in the medical field).
I don't wanna go all mainstream on you, but Grammar Girl had a recent segment on the verb TAZE. She contacted the manufacturer, who suggested the comparny preferred the verb TASER, not TASE or TAZE.
And the acronym - Thomas A Smith (?) Electronic Rifle - is simply amazing.
someone at work used this word in a conversation and brought the room to a silent pause.
is there a word for that dangerous word that you've only seen in print but, because you've never heard it aloud, aren't sure how to pronounce? my work colleague nailed it, but i'm just saying.
in 2007 the Washington Post stopped printing daily racing reports. they're still available on line, but these names will never jump from print again. a scratch for society.
Ruidoso is a great ski town in New Mexico. It is home to a Native American casino called the Inn of the Mountain Gods. That, my friends, is worth the price of admission.
so what do you do with a contranym - do you use it smugly, knowing that you're right, or to you avoid for fear that no matter what you do you'll always be wrong.
Comments by burntsox
burntsox commented on the word watchman
03.06.09. Not an ad - I just really want to see this flick!
February 27, 2009
burntsox commented on the list words-i-have-learned-that-i-can-t-ever-use-in-ordinary-speech-because-none-of-my-friends-know-them
Your friends don't know "friar"?! Take them to "Men in Tights," for God's sake.
February 27, 2009
burntsox commented on the word apposite
I impressed my wife -- hard to do -- by dropping this word appropriately (appositely?) into conversation. Thanks, Wordies!
October 26, 2008
burntsox commented on the word lethargy
An NPR commentator accented the second syllable, as if she were saying lethargic. I'd accept this from mere mortals.... but from NPR?
October 26, 2008
burntsox commented on the word sep
Read in all caps, an urban dictionary acronym for Somebody Else's Problem.
July 23, 2008
burntsox commented on the word reastiness
Roget's says it's a synonym for rancidity. But to my ear it sounds more oily.
June 25, 2008
burntsox commented on the list spanish-verbs
it is aprovechar, which means to take advantage of an opportunity
June 25, 2008
burntsox commented on the word ptisan
Don't spread it too widely or it will be in tall, grande and venti before you can say ....
June 24, 2008
burntsox commented on the word obsessive-compulsive
Is it even fair to put this on Wordie?
June 5, 2008
burntsox commented on the word schadenfreude
No. 2 (quixotic) isn't so uplifting either. Haters of the S-word are placing all our hopes on serendipity, which is fitting ... but if there were any justice, loquacious would top the site. I'm off to do my part!
June 5, 2008
burntsox commented on the word antimony
Yet another word I've lived without having to pronounce. The accent is NOT on the second syllable.
The Latin Stibium, origin of its chemcial symbol Sb, is easier to say.
June 5, 2008
burntsox commented on the list say-it-right
NPR jarred me this morning using ignominy in a report. I had assumed the stress was on the second syllable, but the preferred pronunciation stresses the first.
April 9, 2008
burntsox commented on the list say-it-right
I finally resolved how to say row. When it's a dispute, it rhymes with how. When it moves a boat, it's has a long 'O.'
March 31, 2008
burntsox commented on the word reify
A law professor used this in a lecture today. I didn't know what it meant then, but I'm now fairly sure she wasn't using it correctly.
March 26, 2008
burntsox commented on the list mispronounciations
How would you mis-pronounce deter?
March 25, 2008
burntsox commented on the word estrous
read this in a story about artificially inseminating the pandas in Washington's National Zoo.
March 20, 2008
burntsox commented on the word march madness
Every year I say I'm going to take off from work to watch the first two days of the USA intercollegiate basketball tournament, known as March Madness. Maybe I will next year...
March 20, 2008
burntsox commented on the word 86
Agent 86: everyone's favorite secret agent man.
March 19, 2008
burntsox commented on the word gamine
My wife came across this word while reading and asked me what it meant. I explained that it was a small rodent that was cultivate for its fur, like a sable. It fit the context, and life went on.
March 19, 2008
burntsox commented on the word gilding the lily
This has a strangely sexual connotation - if someone offered to gild my lilly, I would at least want dinner first.
March 19, 2008
burntsox commented on the list say-it-right
Saying ask as "axe" would be a deal-breaker for me. Check, please!
March 19, 2008
burntsox commented on the list say-it-right
Maybe it's a Boston thing in the USA, but my wife's family says "head-uck" (neither syllable accented). I find it quaint, and no, it doesn't give me
March 16, 2008
burntsox commented on the word posh spice island
::kneeling:: i'm not worthy
March 16, 2008
burntsox commented on the word vasectomy reversal of fortune
excellent ... and like fairies, a vasectomy reversal doesn't really exist.
March 16, 2008
burntsox commented on the word connoquenessing
http://snipurl.com/connoquenessing
March 16, 2008
burntsox commented on the list say-it-right
There are a lot of similar lists on Wordie. Just search lists for "prounounce."
March 16, 2008
burntsox commented on the list say-it-right
Vasectomy is divided between the 'a' and the 's.' It's painful just to think about.
March 16, 2008
burntsox commented on the list say-it-right
Most of the USA says aunt like ant. I fit the small regional demographic that rhymes it with "want." And I do.
March 14, 2008
burntsox commented on the list say-it-right
I don't know how to pronounce clitoris. Seinfeld suggests it rhymes with "Dolores."
March 14, 2008
burntsox commented on the word phonagnosia
I cannot readily recognize voices over the phone, even my wife, co-workers, or mother. Please say who you are when you call!
March 13, 2008
burntsox commented on the word phonagnosia
(′f�?n·ag′n�?·zhə) (psychology) A disturbance in the recognition of familiar voices in which the affected individual has good comprehension of what is spoken, but the speaker cannot be identified. dictionary.com
March 13, 2008
burntsox commented on the word granularity
People at work just started using this to mean they they have earthly idea what they're talking about.
March 13, 2008
burntsox commented on the list say-it-right
I had no idea palm, or calm for that matter, were pronounced without voicing the "l." Yet that is quite established in some parts of the Unitd States.
March 13, 2008
burntsox commented on the list say-it-right
My wife insists on pronouncing the "t" in often. This drives me crazy, but it's perfectly fine and accepted, though Bryan Garner disapproves.
March 13, 2008
burntsox commented on the word regale
Chris Doyle is also a regular loser on the Style Invitational, the Washington Post's weekly humor contest that has a vendetta against me personally not that I'm bitter.
January 24, 2008
burntsox commented on the word kwanza
... to be confused with Kwanzaa, the African-American holiday.
December 22, 2007
burntsox commented on the list spanish-verbs
there is a great spanish verb that combined an English idiom of three or four words into one. it's not pertenecer, but it's kind of like that. does someone know what i'm talking about?
December 22, 2007
burntsox commented on the word prothonotary
i was giving an interview and the reporter asked whether a service would be available at her local prothonotary (she was in Pennsylvania, USA). i was so tickled that i repeated the word at least five times during our chat.
n. - The principal clerk in certain courts of law.
December 22, 2007
burntsox commented on the word growler
An Australian friend giggled when this came up in a conversation. Apparently it's slang for cunnilingus there, but I never found out why she was giggling! ;)
December 21, 2007
burntsox commented on the word auxesis
In a wordie sense, consider:
1. Arranging words or clauses in a sequence of increasing force. In this sense, auxesis is comparable to climax and has sometimes been called incrementum.
2. A figure of speech in which something is referred to in terms disproportionately large (a kind of exaggeration or hyperbole).
3. Amplification in general.
http://rhetoric.byu.edu/figures/A/auxesis.htm
December 20, 2007
burntsox commented on the word attorney
Thank you for auxesis - that's why I come to wordie!
And, Groucho, my other ear is tone deaf to all cultures!
December 20, 2007
burntsox commented on the word attorney
lol - I'd say "solicitor" and "barrister" BOTH sound pretentious to my American ear!
December 18, 2007
burntsox commented on the word attorney
I think "attorney" is somewhat pretentious, as compared to "lawyer." There is a difference: a lawyer is one who practices law, while an attorney is one who represents someone.
But it bugs me when people opt for the more hoity-toity. "Attorney" vs. "lawyer." "I" instead of "me."
"Physician" over "doctor" (though on that one the words are truly indistinguishable and, if anything, physican is more precise in the medical field).
December 18, 2007
burntsox commented on the word shinty
a team stick sport played in the Scottish highlands. Found it on the 'Net while searching for the non-word "lozenger."
November 3, 2007
burntsox commented on the word jentacular
this was on AWAD last week!
November 2, 2007
burntsox commented on the word ipod
i love my iPod, but my wife won't use the nano i gave her for mother's day.
October 25, 2007
burntsox commented on the word ubiquitous
i see this word all over the place!
October 25, 2007
burntsox commented on the word aurify
Pb = lead - plumbum
Ag = silver - argentum
Na = sodium - natrium
Hg = mercury - hydrargyrum
K = potassium - kalium
Sb = antimony - stibium
W = tungsten - wolfram (German)
October 10, 2007
burntsox commented on the word capitalist
oh - i get it. then a socialist is someone who includes too many addressees in email and always sends Reply All.
October 10, 2007
burntsox commented on the word taze
sorry - two errors in a very short space. Thomas A. SWIFT, and the company uses "tase" as the verb.
October 8, 2007
burntsox commented on the word taze
all true, but the etymology suggests otherwise. TASER was the original form, so all bets are off.
October 8, 2007
burntsox commented on the word taze
I don't wanna go all mainstream on you, but Grammar Girl had a recent segment on the verb TAZE. She contacted the manufacturer, who suggested the comparny preferred the verb TASER, not TASE or TAZE.
And the acronym - Thomas A Smith (?) Electronic Rifle - is simply amazing.
October 8, 2007
burntsox commented on the word halcyon
someone at work used this word in a conversation and brought the room to a silent pause.
is there a word for that dangerous word that you've only seen in print but, because you've never heard it aloud, aren't sure how to pronounce? my work colleague nailed it, but i'm just saying.
October 6, 2007
burntsox commented on the word totipalmate
having all four toes fully webbed
October 6, 2007
burntsox commented on the list great-race-horse-names3
in 2007 the Washington Post stopped printing daily racing reports. they're still available on line, but these names will never jump from print again. a scratch for society.
October 6, 2007
burntsox commented on the word fraternity
eric c. hated calling a fraternity a "frat": what would you call a country, then?
October 6, 2007
burntsox commented on the word mulatto
so very outdated ...
October 6, 2007
burntsox commented on the word shiver me timbers
there is something inappropriately sexual about this. then again, i have gone on a date wearing an eyepatch.
October 6, 2007
burntsox commented on the word nevertheless
I will start a sentence with this word pretty much anytime I feel like it.
October 6, 2007
burntsox commented on the list interesting-new-mexico-place-names
Ruidoso is a great ski town in New Mexico. It is home to a Native American casino called the Inn of the Mountain Gods. That, my friends, is worth the price of admission.
October 6, 2007
burntsox commented on the word fulsome
so what do you do with a contranym - do you use it smugly, knowing that you're right, or to you avoid for fear that no matter what you do you'll always be wrong.
October 6, 2007
burntsox commented on the word callipygean-ass
entirely uncalled for, chained_bear! :)
I think you're stretching your list a bit far....
October 6, 2007
burntsox commented on the word town without pity
context, please?
October 5, 2007
burntsox commented on the word proctor
If he administers the med school boards, he becomes Proctor Proctor. Even worse, if he gives a rectal exam, he's Protologist Proctor.
October 5, 2007
burntsox commented on the word callipygean
ok. now that's funny.
I've put it back where it belongs now - in essence, I've gotten my ass back in gear.
October 5, 2007
burntsox commented on the word callipygean
well, that's really embarrassing. I guess it's been a while since I looked it up on the dictionary .... :(
October 5, 2007
burntsox commented on the list burntsox-s-words
It's not a real dictionary ... and certainly not worth taking out of the bookstore ... if it doesn't have a listing for "callipygian."
The word isn't so obscure, yet dictionaries that don't have something at this level aren't very interesting.
October 5, 2007
burntsox commented on the word depudicate
could this be an adjective, describing things to do with deflowering? "Ralph gave Jessica a depudicate massage before propositioning her."
October 5, 2007
burntsox commented on the list burntsox-s-words
My threshhold for choosing a dictionary.
October 5, 2007