thtownse has adopted no words, looked up 0 words, created 19 lists, listed 364 words, written 279 comments, added 0 tags, and loved 41 words.

Comments by thtownse

  • I am beginning to warm up to this one.

    July 27, 2012

  • I am listening to a series of lectures-on-CD by linguist John McWhorter, and am starting to think I am too hard on the peculiarities of spoken language. Most of the items on this list annoy me because they are dumb, but some are legitimate verbal English. But in revisiting these, almost every one of them makes me cringe.

    July 27, 2012

  • Wow - this is a truly astounding list. However did you go about compiling it? It looks like the work of several years of eschewing the company of humanity as you spend each waking hour typing...typing...

    July 27, 2012

  • It seems obvious who are the big boobs here.

    July 20, 2012

  • Often found in National and State forests. More common in summer. Variable number of sleeping accommodations.

    July 20, 2012

  • While I think it reasonable that cheese may be older than Jesus, I would not think that Nazareth is a big cheese area - too dry.

    December 7, 2010

  • I do notice that a Wordnik denizen has chosen "rubicon" as a user identity, so I apologize if any offense is taken.

    December 7, 2010

  • I don't know what the deal is, but in Bloomington Indiana, wherein I doth make my humble abode, the term "Rubicon" is suddenly all over the place - there are businesses, an office park, a recurrent event - I think there is also a Jeep called this. I can only assume this is a fad word and I make it a point to automatically reject fads.

    December 7, 2010

  • Love this one

    December 6, 2010

  • Wow - how can I say I have lived without knowing of this wonderful list! Every entry is an extravaganza of verbal vim!

    December 2, 2010

  • Such a list! Wordnik paydirt!

    December 1, 2010

  • See also the song Hinky Dinky Dee here - http://www.amazon.com/Bottle-Let-Me-Down-Songs/dp/B000066JE8

    December 1, 2010

  • sorry - had to do it.

    November 30, 2010

  • I live for this feeling!

    November 23, 2010

  • Mesas are only found in Spain, whereas buttes are found in France and possibly Canada.

    November 13, 2010

  • 11 has long been my favorite number.

    November 12, 2010

  • *chortle*

    November 12, 2010

  • Does it actually work?

    November 12, 2010

  • Now why must these legitimate music terms be called pretentious? I suppose opera fans are perceived as pretentious and perhaps rightly so in some cases, but I don't think of myself as pretentious simply because I take tremendous delight in the splendid pulchritudinous virtuosity of coloratura ornamentation?

    November 11, 2010

  • Take that, jwjarvis!

    November 10, 2010

  • Enjoy your fennel, ruzuzu! HAHAHAHA!

    November 10, 2010

  • This one is particularly horrid. Heard it the office, spoken in all seriousness. Had to leave the room.

    November 10, 2010

  • Thanks, ruzuzu but can we have Elephant Ears instead?

    November 5, 2010

  • *fires fuflun-loaded trebuchet*

    November 5, 2010

  • ruzuzu - no, Rush did a series of atheist/libertarian rants propounding the virtues of Godless science and white dogs fighting with mythical whatsits (spoiler: the doggie, personified by a bitchin' wah guitar solo, wins).

    November 5, 2010

  • This is a very funny unintentionally funny phrase.

    November 5, 2010

  • Hmm - interesting combination of paprika and fennel. Asked for dionysus, and was redirected to a Rush album.

    November 5, 2010

  • What is a fuflun, pray tell?

    November 1, 2010

  • Do what I do - don't make the first; just start with the second.

    October 29, 2010

  • Graphic!

    October 29, 2010

  • These are insidious web advertisements disguised as commentaries or articles.

    October 25, 2010

  • I Recently viewed this.

    October 25, 2010

  • Love it. For a good laugh, look up LOLMetal on the webs if you haven't already.

    October 24, 2010

  • ruzuzu - sure I guess. I mostly just like the awesome drum solo after the gamelan break.

    October 23, 2010

  • Thanks a lot, century dictionary. Why don't you go discriminate against someone your own size!

    October 23, 2010

  • Most of my lists are bombs, Bil.

    October 23, 2010

  • I love this Rush song!

    October 21, 2010

  • THAT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD BAND NAME

    October 21, 2010

  • Perhaps the funniest of the US presidents. The ones I tend to agree with politically are all so serious.

    October 21, 2010

  • Wait - that guy looks just like Punky Meadows!

    October 20, 2010

  • not what I thought it meant...

    October 20, 2010

  • totally meta dude

    October 20, 2010

  • Love this one - it will play well at the bowling alley gigs.

    October 20, 2010

  • You will join my band. You will play the doubleneck guitar and you will enjoy the plethora of Rush songs - RUSH SONGS R U S H S O N G S!

    I'm thinking a Rush cover band, called "Hurry" or something. You in?

    October 20, 2010

  • I just saw "Them!" - talk about creepy bugs!

    October 20, 2010

  • vice versa? I'm scared to add this until someone smart tells me it is Latin.

    October 19, 2010

  • Great list!

    October 19, 2010

  • Bilby, I hope you get over your code.

    October 19, 2010

  • I know a fiddle tune from Missouri called the "Findy Sickle Two-Step". I am guessing the title refers to 1899 and not 1999.

    October 18, 2010

  • Yes! - from The amazing Randi?

    October 18, 2010

  • A friend of mine has a band called this.

    October 18, 2010

  • No, that was Styx (Come Sail Away, right?). Rush's Xanadu is just yet another rock ditty that draws on classic literature to create a morality play analyzing the balance we must all strive between our reckless desires and the inevitable, disastrous yet unforeseeable consequences of going too far in our quest for immortality. Really now I think about it, not too different from O N-J's "Xanadu"?

    October 16, 2010

  • Thanks for sharing this - it is interesting.

    October 15, 2010

  • No dude, it's based on an awesome Rush song.

    October 15, 2010

  • Gross - I like it.

    October 15, 2010

  • This seems too - how shall I say this delicately - too "Australian" - a band with this name would never go viral.

    October 15, 2010

  • Thet's a good'un

    October 15, 2010

  • Has anybody seen my pinking shears?

    October 15, 2010

  • Don't know ruzuzu but that would surely be a fun list.

    October 15, 2010

  • I am currently using this one, so nobody steal it, KTHXBAI

    October 15, 2010

  • OK, what is this???

    October 15, 2010

  • SPAM

    October 15, 2010

  • OMG - you guys are absolutely prolific! Some of these are gold. Anybody want to start a band (need at least 50 people)?

    October 15, 2010

  • I ma what I ma and that's all that I ma.

    October 15, 2010

  • Why do you never hear about sanctidaddies?

    October 14, 2010

  • Isn't this a band from the eighties?

    September 29, 2010

  • madmouth - what does "Meatkin" mean?

    September 29, 2010

  • No mention of "Precambrian Oolitic Quartz"?

    September 29, 2010

  • sarra - isn't "living daylights" merely a politenessy version of "God" in this context?

    September 29, 2010

  • Dis is weewy funny

    September 29, 2010

  • Actually now you mention it I really like the word "jibe".

    September 25, 2010

  • "reckful" LOL

    September 25, 2010

  • That joke made okra nifty.

    August 12, 2010

  • Yay - one of my favorite productions of all time.

    August 12, 2010

  • I do get tired of hearing the many varieties of "Gay men are bad".

    July 29, 2010

  • I wanna get rich using Bilby power? Where do I sign up?

    July 19, 2010

  • Nice list, I mean it rocks.

    June 4, 2010

  • How about a list of things you LOVE about yourself?

    June 4, 2010

  • I think that is exactly what is happening. The chemicals are in the brains of the marketers/content providers for the movie, and also in the drug dealers who run McDonald's.

    Hey kids! First ingest some toxic pop culture garbage, then go to McD's and directly consume more garbage. And then get a free marketing promotional tool to remind you to repeat the cycle.

    June 4, 2010

  • "You don't say" - funny name for the list!

    June 2, 2010

  • Who is this who knows of Cuthbert Girdlestone? You must be a musicologist?

    June 2, 2010

  • This actually reads like a transcript of any one of my public speaking engagements. Oddly, demand for them has dropped off somewhat.

    May 28, 2010

  • Thanks Frog - that was a great interview (I got to hear the first few minutes before my boss scowled at me. Love that theme song too - that is exactly the kind of fiddle I aspire to play.

    I like your comic style too - very eccentric and literate. Are you doing that full-time?

    May 28, 2010

  • These are quite nice!

    May 26, 2010

  • LOL

    May 26, 2010

  • When I was a kid there was a very tough boy in the neighborhood with the last name Dudgeon. Adds credence to the idea that once's name can influence one's behavior.

    May 25, 2010

  • So are these nouns? Their subject or object is really not defined, kind of a quantum mechanical entity, a probability.

    May 25, 2010

  • Good word. Lie down.

    May 24, 2010

  • At least you don't have ants - they might get trodden upon. Which could hurt. Because of what is in many people's pants.

    May 21, 2010

  • One small step for pan, one giant leap for all fried eggs.

    May 21, 2010

  • Wow - there is a comic called Frog applause! And it looks w-e-i-r-d! Excellent

    May 20, 2010

  • Well! *blushing*

    May 20, 2010

  • For me it's easy. There are three things I like about the computer: Tom The Dancing Bug, Crayola Art Studio, and Wordnik. All other activities require sweet sweet loudness in order for them to be tolerable.

    May 20, 2010

  • Also as in "Yassir's rebab"

    May 19, 2010

  • do you ever look at the Twitter feeds? This one was in with defuse: "Ok now I'm not saying I'm excited for MacGruber but I just tried to defuse a bomb with pantyhose, a lighter and some cat hair. Didn't work "

    Other people lead such interesting lives.

    May 19, 2010

  • That makes sense.

    May 19, 2010

  • * drools over antique banjos *

    May 19, 2010

  • Good question. I think the difference is whether the tension is going to explode, in which case it is defused (bomb-like). But a less tangible tension would be diffused.

    May 19, 2010

  • Anyone want frogapplause to provide more info on the anal thermometer? I for one do not.

    May 19, 2010

  • H - I am increasingly intrigued - can you describe your guitars and banjos? I have a gold tone 5-string banjo, which is kind of halfway betwixt bluegrass and old-timey, which is approximately what I do on the banjo. And I think you also have a tin whistle? does this imply a Celtic music interest?

    May 19, 2010

  • What things do you play, chained?

    May 19, 2010

  • Question - how do you focus on your work at the computer with all that fun within fifteen feet away? I usually keep mine in a locked shed and throw the key into a large pile of hay so I don't get distracted.

    Actually, not true; I usually just get distracted.

    May 19, 2010

  • Me too - mostly strings. But I am learning the piano a bit. I play guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, hammered dulcimer, bass, cello, ukulele, and a bit of piano. Nothing windy.

    May 18, 2010

  • Nice collection - you play them all?

    May 18, 2010

  • A musician? Excellent.

    May 18, 2010

  • Just know that forming alloys used in bearing surfaces in machinery bearings can be babbitt forming.

    May 18, 2010

  • "“It appears to be a fashion frump-off. Who can have the highest neckline?” –Rusty"

    -Comment by a reader to this comic strip:

    http://joshreads.com/images/10/05/i100510a3g.jpg

    May 18, 2010

  • All makes sense until Donald Trump rubs your doorkey.

    Ina ll seriousness though, this is a really cool list.

    May 18, 2010

  • OK, what now?

    May 18, 2010

  • Are you commenting about commenting? That's a meta-comment. There's nothing the meta with that.

    May 18, 2010

  • Nice!

    May 17, 2010

  • I had always thought it was about waltzing with a woman named Matilda?!

    May 7, 2010

  • There's a squeeze-resistant cover?! That changes the whole juice-box equation.

    May 6, 2010

  • Forfend - interesting word, but I would not call it common. The four examples in Wordnik have it part of the "Heaven Forfend" expression or a variant thereof.

    May 6, 2010

  • To save time cb you should try new "Strained Lit'l Smokies" - they are packaged like a juice box, each with its own straw.

    May 6, 2010

  • I was thinking about this word today - to me it is pretty interesting because in its atomic form it only exists in common usage as part of two idiomatic expressions ("Fend for yourself", "Fend off an attack"). Can anyone think of any more? It also lives as the core of the words "offend" and "defend", and the only other one I can think of is "fender". It sounds like it has a relationship with "fence".

    May 6, 2010

  • I feel really good knowing there is actually a National Hot Dog and Sausage council. Safer, somehow.

    May 6, 2010

  • CB, according to the timestamps, you have been gnoshing on Lit'l Smokies for almost two hours. How many packages do you have? Don't forget to drink some water too.

    May 5, 2010

  • According to http://www.parlipro.org/table.htm, one could interpret it both ways. To place a question on the table means to introduce it for debate, but not necessarily immediately. However when it is on the table it must be debated at some point during the session.

    May 5, 2010

  • Stonewall is certainly a fit, but in what sense do you verb "gaslight"?

    May 5, 2010

  • I suggest we table this question. That way, those who interpret it to mean putting it aside can refrain from further comment for now, while those who see it the other way can continue the debate.

    May 4, 2010

  • But what is meant by "GCI"?

    April 30, 2010

  • I had thought this meant to "put the question aside for now"? Not really sure though.

    April 30, 2010

  • Stays crunchy. Even in milk.

    April 30, 2010

  • I agree with chained bear. It is easy because water does not absorb into a duck's feathers - thus they dry, even in milk!

    April 30, 2010

  • Now that Sarah Palin has used this phrase, please join me in hating it. Of course, I hated it before.

    April 30, 2010

  • "extra lemurs" - big funny

    April 29, 2010

  • This is one wondertabulous list!

    April 29, 2010

  • Cool - I love old-time style. I learned three-finger quasi-BG (using picks) a long time ago and have stubbornly refused to either become a bona-fide bluegrass player (I agree with you, the style is way too modern, too polished) or a bona-fide old-time player. I play a Gold Tone MM-150, which can swing to the old-time sound nicely by removing the resonator.

    April 24, 2010

  • Hey! - on behalf of banjo players everywhere I am umbraged!

    April 23, 2010

  • Great list!

    April 22, 2010

  • I keep my "Dumbisms" list myself. What I need though is one-click access to put words there.

    April 22, 2010

  • No offendment is intended. I have found however that it is perhaps more fun to hate words and phrases than it is to like them. It's that smug feeling you get, that lasts long after your shower.

    I might add that Wordnik has the 'Add to favorites' feature but should also have 'Add to despised'. feature.

    April 21, 2010

  • No problem. I'll just write my own survey and take it.

    April 21, 2010

  • Just don't say it three times while looking into a mirror.

    April 21, 2010

  • Aye em spatial

    April 21, 2010

  • How do you get to the survey?

    April 21, 2010

  • Cyan?

    April 21, 2010

  • I wanna take the survey too *sniff* - where is it *snuffle*? C'mon guys tell me!

    April 21, 2010

  • How so?

    April 21, 2010

  • I appreciate this - can't tell you how many times I have had to search high and low for "bizarre confectionery dispenser dioramas" and its many variants.

    April 21, 2010

  • I get it emailed to me.

    April 20, 2010

  • This is a fine list of hate-able words. You and me clearly share some values. Maybe we're soul mates? Oh, there goes another one!

    April 20, 2010

  • Ooh, I hate this one too.

    April 20, 2010

  • Ick. Yuck. Go away, bad word.

    April 20, 2010

  • Just read this in the Wordie blog! I hate it! H. A. T. E. I. T.

    April 20, 2010

  • That is a classic! Thank you! Additional praise!

    April 20, 2010

  • I'd just like to repeat, having seen this word in a news headline, that it is a Dumb word!

    April 20, 2010

  • I'd just like to repeat, having seen this word in a news headline, that it is a Dumb word!

    April 20, 2010

  • Need info - does anybody know what is meant by this phrase? What is the significance of the garland? Is it a grave decoration or something?

    April 6, 2010

  • What about the poor folks in Asstown?

    April 6, 2010

  • Back in school they used to say "A-E-I-O-U-and sometimes Y". Who am I to argue with school?

    April 6, 2010

  • Nice - scrolling through them several tunes jump out at me - it's like rolling a radio dial.

    April 6, 2010

  • I suppose for this one instead of "etymologies" we need a link for "Entomologies".

    Ha.

    Ha ha.

    April 6, 2010

  • There is something about this that I really like. It has a noble kind of sound. A noble, and true bug.

    April 2, 2010

  • Icky words!

    April 1, 2010

  • Needs to be a TLA* to be effective.

    *acronym of "Three Letter Acronym"

    April 1, 2010

  • Any connection for this word, in the distant past, with "red"? I know that the word "evil" is related to "village" and carries some kind of prejudice against those people who live outside of our zone, somewhere else. So is "rude" referring to some kind of "red" people?

    March 25, 2010

  • Cuthbert Girdlestone

    March 25, 2010

  • Narcissus

    March 25, 2010

  • "Fly, lesbian seagull..."

    March 24, 2010

  • This is a very cute-sounding word!

    March 16, 2010

  • Now take "The Godfather", or "Apocalypse Now" - there's a good cupola movies.

    March 9, 2010

  • Tremendits - I am a fan of surrealism, and you prob'ly are too?

    February 24, 2010

  • Thet's purty, azure as ah'm settin' hayr.

    February 11, 2010

  • Be sure to check out fruitful ambiguity - an excellent larf!

    February 9, 2010

  • This is fabulous!

    February 9, 2010

  • OMG, this is the easiest list to add to. It's fun - try it!

    February 9, 2010

  • Your name is really "A mandolin"? Musi-cool.

    January 30, 2010

  • Be sure to visit the museum: http://www.moist-towelette.com/

    January 30, 2010

  • Thanks for being a B Kliban fan.

    January 30, 2010

  • Love this word!

    January 29, 2010

  • Hey, my name is Townsend.

    January 29, 2010

  • with special thanks to gangerh

    January 29, 2010

  • chained_bear, you are totally A-list at my grammys.

    January 29, 2010

  • chained_bear, you are the wind beneath my wings.

    January 29, 2010

  • Ptotally, dude

    January 29, 2010

  • There was an early silent comedian called Monty Banks.

    January 29, 2010

  • these are way cool

    January 15, 2010

  • There is a restaurant in my town called Runcible Spoon.

    January 15, 2010

  • I am talking about the stringed instrument harp. I love stringed instruments and the harp has got the most strings so it pleases me much of a muchness.

    PossibleUnderscore, you said "if there were two 'other' instruments" - so what is the other other instrument? And what instrument/s do you already know?

    January 14, 2010

  • This word belongs in sionacch's (sp -1) That's Just Beastly! list.

    January 14, 2010

  • ow!

    January 14, 2010

  • So far I have read several different explanations on this phrase, including yarb and reesetee's (below). Another theory is that "goat" is here a corruption of "goad". More theories at http://www.zyra.org.uk/getgoat.htm. This could be a thesis in the making.

    January 12, 2010

  • What in the world does this mean? My guess is something along the lines of a wolf in sheep's clothing? Or perhaps the original moniker of my favorite British heavy metal band?

    January 8, 2010

  • Nice list - why "word bunnies"?

    January 8, 2010

  • Does anyone know about the origin of this phrase? It is one of my favorites.

    January 8, 2010

  • People use this expression in daily parlance and it is just totally without merit as far as I can tell. Example: "You just turn the knob to where the light is on." I suppose it is an abbreviation of "to the point at which". But it is dumb and I unlike it.

    January 6, 2010

  • Usually necessity is the mother of invention, so who decided that this was something to make?

    December 18, 2009

  • What's the connection to the game (43-man Squamish)?

    December 18, 2009

  • Why isn't the correct form of this "All tolled" if the meaning is "all counted"?

    December 18, 2009

  • I keep saying "Awesome!" I wish I could stop.

    December 17, 2009

  • Darn - I need a 24cm X 41cm piece of glass.

    December 16, 2009

  • Frequently heard on Battlestar Galactica?

    December 16, 2009

  • Can anyone find a definition for this? I read it as "more than (passing) strange", which is to me a nice turn of phrase.

    December 15, 2009

  • Thanks pterodactyl - it is passing absurd how many of these there are. I hope it does not imply that we as a culture lack the imagination to come up with new morphemes. I suppose one could look at it as a very long-running joke that was kind of funny at first and gets a little less funny each time it is used.

    December 15, 2009

  • Good Golly Gracious. (see the list referenced below) Why is it so enduringly popular?

    December 15, 2009

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Comments for thtownse

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  • I just saw "Them!" - talk about creepy bugs!

    October 20, 2010

  • I too think bugs are creepy, and creeps really bug me.

    October 19, 2010

  • Thanks Frog - that was a great interview (I got to hear the first few minutes before my boss scowled at me. Love that theme song too - that is exactly the kind of fiddle I aspire to play.

    I like your comic style too - very eccentric and literate. Are you doing that full-time?

    May 28, 2010

  • TT: I know you're a fan. Have you heard this interview?

    May 27, 2010

  • Glad you liked meatloaf.

    January 30, 2010

  • Instruments I already know: piano, recorder and organ.

    Other two: harp and harmonica

    (and then follow all the other instruments like violins, pan flutes and drums etc... which I want to play.)

    January 15, 2010

  • I am talking about the stringed instrument harp. I love stringed instruments and the harp has got the most strings so it pleases me much of a muchness.

    PossibleUnderscore, you said "if there were two 'other' instruments" - so what is the other other instrument? And what instrument/s do you already know?

    January 14, 2010

  • Before you decide, maybe you should consult the pan flute flow chart. It was around here somewhere....

    January 14, 2010

  • Good idea, maybe it will be!

    Actually, I was thinking harmonica.

    January 14, 2010

  • Well, what would be the other??? No, no... let me guess: the pan flute?

    January 14, 2010

  • Do you really have a harp??

    That's fantastic! If there were two other instruments I could learn, one would be the harp. : )

    January 14, 2010

  • I'll never think about passwords the same way again. Thanks. ;)

    edit: I had to take the apostrophe out of "passwords". Just couldn't take it!

    June 26, 2008

  • And what do you have against ticky boxes? Ticky boxes make the world go 'round. Does this mean I have to hand in my writer card?

    February 17, 2008

  • And not a bad list yourself. I'm guilty of using the evil marketing words at work. I can't help it! The suits make me do it!

    February 11, 2008

  • I am leaving a comment about myself!

    October 23, 2007