Yay! My rude jabbing and stabbing has prodded a response from Sassmews. Mission accomplished! Hopefully s/he will now realize we're mostly harmless, if sometimes rude and too boisterous, and join in the fun.
Seriously Sass, my apologies if I poked too hard. I just tend to assume that the prolific word-listers and the prolific commenters are the same. I was pleasantly surprised to see otherwise, and wanted to draw you into the fold.
Above all, please don't be scared off, and do what you want with Wordie. It's like that. (And it likes that, too.)
Then again, plenty of people with mousy brown hair that's vaguely chestnut in direct light describe themselves as strawberry blonde. Seems like blonde inflation to me.
I did, yes. But I trust it was artistic license on the folk that wrote this song. If not, I would like to vigorously disclaim all responsibility. I blame Capsicum frutescens entirely.
And good to know what I said. I love the phrase. I may have to use it sometime. I assume it's pronounced more or less like Italian? And while I'm at it, where is your region?
Yes, well, clearly he's one of these types who want the world to use the nice, simple one- or two-syllable words he's comfortable with -- in other words, the meaner* sort of copy editor.
(Note I don't refer, naturally, to the words with which he's comfortable, because that presumably qualifies as a pompous-ass sentence structure, also known as goodgrammar).
Add: I can't but notice that he lurves the word epigones.
* Not cruel. I'm using this in its pompous-ass sense. Look it up, you fly-bittenvarlet.
Yes, bilby, there is a Smackover, Ark. It's in the greater El Dorado non-metropolitan area (and that's pronounced "el dor-ay-do," for your information).
The story goes that the French called it sumac couvert -- or whatever the French for "covered in sumac" or "under cover of sumac" might be. Presumably the Yanks showed up and did their best to drive the locals buggy.
Nonstandard tags might be more useful. Or just befuddling ones.
Or you could have a list of words that make up the pages, and a link in the word's comments to the tag page. But that's work. And besides, the link is likely to get lost in Wordie nostrums.
I'll second Pro (as long as no duels are involved).
Much neater than the solution I had been mulling, which was listing comments by time, so I could remember that I'd been gone a couple days and find my place.
Wait, our kind host on this page says: "I'm talking about adding letters that aren't even in the word or skipping ones that aren't silent (syncope and apocope). I mean, c'mon."
But if you skip saying letters that aren't silent -- is this a koan?
Too true, kewpid. I accidentally bought some all-sweet kumquats the other month, and they weren't worth eating. (I didn't read the label.) But I suspect all-sour kumquats would lack something too.
Thanks rolig! My new favorite backformation. And clearly porridge hasn't been getting its due of late, at least this side of the Atlantic. Why ever did it fall out of favor?
I'm all for live and let live. Don't squash bugs, or especially spiders, etc. But roaches in the house, poison ivy and fire ants in the yard -- these deserve no mercy.
A farmer was perplexed because birds kept building a nest in his horse's mane. The vet told him to sprinkle yeast in the horse's mane every morning for three days. It worked.
Surprised, the farmer asked the vet why. He answered that even a schoolchild should have been able to figure it out. "Everyone knows yeast is yeast, and nest is nest, and never the mane shall tweet."
And I thought "Three Happiness" was vaguely creepy.
I believe a WSJ or NYT article earlier this year included some other glorious mistranslations, whether culinary or otherwise. Surfing Wordie on my phone though, so can't look it up just now.
Great adds, all. Thanks! And skipvia, vicious works for me. I was going to stick to -vish endings, but then thought of vitiate and couldn't resist. As so often happens on Wordie.
Odd how unusual the "vish" sound seems in English, and yet it appears in such a lovely variety of words...
I think the meaning widdershins uses refers to the idea that the Byzantine court, its politics, and/or the empire's bureaucracy were so, well, byzantine.
I read Name of the Rose first, and loved it. I liked Foucault's Pendulum at least as much, maybe more. Baudolino was excellent. I never could get into Island of the Day Before.
But The Mysterious flame of Queen Loana was curious: I was captivated by it as I read it, and even stayed up too late a couple nights. But it was slow going, and for some reason, after I had to set it aside very briefly, I didn't return to it. Is there a word for that? Something that's fully engrossing until one is distracted from it, at which point one doesn't return to it?
(I also heartily recommend a book of Eco's essays called How to Travel With a Salmon. Several are truly hilarious.
"'... as for making you my wife -- that I will not. How would it go with me? Your lovers have found you like a brazier which smoulders in the cold, a backdoor which keeps out neither squall of wind nor storm, a castle which crushes the garrison, pitch that blackens the bearer, a water-skin that chafes the carrier, a stone which falls from the parapet, a battering-ram turned back from the enemy, a sandal that trips the wearer. Which of your lovers did you ever love for ever? ... '"
-- Gilgamesh to Ishtar, from The Epic of Gilgamesh
"When Gilgamesh had put on the crown, glorious Ishtar lifted her eyes, seeing the beauty of Gilgamesh. She said, 'Come to me Gilgamesh, and be my bridegroom; ... Kings, rulers, and princes will bow down before you; they shall bring you tribute from the mountains and the plain. Your ewes shall drop twins and your goats triplets; your pack-ass shall outrun mules; your oxen shall have no rivals, and your chariot horses shall be famous far-off for their swiftness.'"
"Again to Gilgamesh they said, 'May Shamash give you your heart's desire, may he let you see with your eyes the thing accomplished for which your lips have spoken; may he open a path for you where it is blocked, and a road for your feet to tread. May he open the mountains for your crossing, and may the night-time bring you the blessings of night, and Lugulbanda, your guardian god, stand beside you for victory. ... Offer cold water to Shamash and do not forget Lugulbanda.'"
"Then Gilgamesh opened his mouth again and said to Enkidu, 'My friend, let us go to the Great Palace, to Egalmah, and stand before Ninsun the great queen."
"They cast for Gilgamesh the axe 'Might of Heroes' and the bow of Anshan; and Gilgamesh was armed and Enkidu; and the weight of the arms they carried was thirty score pounds."
"'... Because of the evil that is in the land, we will go to the forest and destroy the evil; for in the forest lives Humbaba whose name is "Hugeness", a ferocious giant.'"
"Then Enkidu, the faithful companion, pleaded, answering him, 'O my lord, you do not know this monster and that is the reason you are not afraid. I who know him, I am terrified. His teeth are dragon's fangs, his countenance is like a lion, his charge is the rushing of the flood, with his look he crushes alike the trees of the forest and the reeds in the swamp. ...'"
"When Enkidu was thrown, he said to Gilgamesh, 'There is not another like you in the world. Ninsun, who is as strong as a wild ox in the byre, she was the mother who bore you, and now you are raised above all me, and Enlil has given you the kingship, for your strength surpasses the strength of men.'"
-- The Coming of Enkidu, from The Epic of Gilgamesh
"The gods heard their lament, the gods of heaven cried to the Lord of Uruk, to Anu the god of Uruk: 'A goddess made him, strong as a savage bull, none can withstand his arms. No son is left with his father, for Gilgamesh takes them all; and this is the king, the shepherd of his people?"
-- The Coming of Enkidu, from The Epic of Gilgamesh
"'Go to Uruk, find Gilgamesh, extol the strength of this wild man. Ask him to give you a harlot, a wanton from the temple of love; return with her, and let her woman's power overpower this man...'" -- The Coming of Enkidu, from The Epic of Gilgamesh
Just for the record, I do know a Chad who's a perfectly nice guy. But I notice everyone seems to use his last name when referring to him. Maybe it's to avoid confusion -- you know, with Chad
A straight line through the middle of everything, going nowhere. From the middle of the alphabet. May in fact be spelled kelemenopy, but I prefer the faux Greek form. Coined by John Ciardi, always referred to as "the (late) American poet," but we know him for what he was: a true Wordie.
Not quite on point, but ostensibly there is no equivalent to the word cuckold to describe a woman whose husband has been unfaithful. (Unless, I suppose, you count wife.)
Uh-oh. I think Wordie is going all sentient on us and spontaneously generating ominous entries. Surely the next step is commandeering all our words for use against us.
In newspaperish, also very small type, such as is used for sports-page box scores and the like.
(Can I just remark upon how much I like the phrase "such as is"? Very satisfying to say. One of the few uses of "such as" that doesn't make my skincrawl.)
Also an extensive tract of level open land set in an extensive tract of level open land set in an extensive tract of mostly level, mostly open land known as Illinois.
Ooh. Haven't been here in a bit. My thoughts, for what they're worth*:
Friends: No, no, no. Please? No? We have oodles of other social networking sites for friends (or "friends"). Wordie is for words, and words about words, and wordiness. (Or is that Wordieness?) I don't need friends. I need words. Words are my friends.
Forum: I love that Wordie is so aggressively linear about its nonlinearity. Forums are too easy. This way, it's like a big conversation. Or really, a bunch of them, at a very strange garden party. Only you can rewind and revisit conversations, if you can find them again in the crowd, behind the topiary where you left them. Or something.
Bulk add: Let's just keep bickering about it for a while.
* About $0.63 Canadian, but that's for the lot of them.
But see Thomas Jefferson on the relative merits of newspapers and government. (Before he ran the government and tried to censor newspapers, of course.)
I use it more as a synonym for accessory or accompaniment, but not exclusively in a sartorial sense. So a turkey dinner's accoutrements might include cranberry sauce and stuffing.
Also the name of a Juneau, Alaska, social-service organization (homeless shelter? Soup kitchen? I forget). Tourists like posing for pictures in front of its sign. In fact, it's named for a vast mining pit carved out of a mountain near town.
In mathematics, I believe a hypercube is a four-dimensional surface; in one sense it is to an ordinary cube what a cube is to a two-dimensionsal square. Like other 4D objects, when rotated in 3-space, it appears to change shape, but I'm pretty sure that's the only way time is involved. You can perhaps imagine your way to the time-altering speculation from here.
I believe the term comes from beer of low alcoholic strength, rather than low volume. If I remember right, it's made by sparging used malted barley with hot water and fermenting the resulting (very thin) wort, or by re-mashing spent grains or somesuch -- akin to a second pressing for wine or olive oil. But I could be wrong; I don't have my brewing references handy.
See also my list Wort to the Wise for more beer and brewing terms. There are some other good lists out there as well.
Ah, but as John Chiardi once reminded NPR listeners some years ago, in Aesop the lion demanded a third for himself, a third for his lioness and cubs, and said the others could have the final third if they could take it from him. (Or something like that. My math may be off.)
Other versions I've read have the lion slaughtering companions that protest such a division and adding their carcasses to the pile -- his pile, the lion's share. That is to say, all of it.
Not that anyone would understand you if you used it to mean "everything" anymore, sadly.
I'm told that in German, one sneeze brings a "Gesundheit" (good health), a second "langes Leben" (long life) and a third "viele Kinder" -- many children!
Casserole, found in the upper Midwest of the U.S. Quoth Wikipedia: "It consists of a starch and a protein (meat and/or a vegetable) mixed together with a binding ingredient (most often canned soup or a sauce) and a topping."
Isn't there some suggestion that the word uncle was once nuncle, and eventually transformed in the same way a napple became an apple? Or have I been had by spurious etymologistifiers again?
Aha! No doubt sweetmeat will prove to have started life as a playful alternative to helpmeet, and from there it's just a hop, skip and jump to sweetbreads. Told you so.
Helpmate sounds like helpmeet, which sounds like sweetmeat, which always makes me think of sweetbreads. Blech. I mean, sweetbreads are tasty, cooked right, but not very husbandly. To me.
Truly an inspired list. Now I wontvbe able to get any work done thinking about silent Vs... You could always make like a Roman and declare U and V identical.
Gangerh, I'm sure I'm all too unsilent for most, but thanks for the vote!
jennaren, consumption of asparagus lends a distinct (and strong, as dontcry points out) odor to the eater's urine. But it turns out that only a sizable minority of human beans can smell it...
"Asparagus is a useful companion plant for tomatoes," Wikipedia opines. "The tomato plant repels the asparagus beetle, as do several other common companion plants of tomatoes, meanwhile asparagus may repel some harmful root nematodes that affect tomato plants."
This makes a curious, if utterly unscientific, sort of sense: red/green, long/round, vegetable/fruit...
S2(CH2)2CHCO2H "may be the metabolic precursor to other odorous thiol compounds," Wikipedia tells us.
Elsewhere, she informs us that only about two in five of us can sense the odoriferous effects of consuming the phalliform shoot. If you can't, it's not your fault; it's genetic.
Little known fact: This is actually one of those words the French don't like to admit they borrowed from another language, in this case English. It comes from "pie (of) the territory," a Welsh delicacy much like an empanada: minced meat, onion and herbs in a sort of starchy pouch, originally made for shepherds to take with them.
Anyway, these were a hit with the French for a while in the 18th century, though they they mangled the transliteration (and pronunciation). They functioned as a sort of early take-out food, favored in particular by wealthy merchants and the like visiting Paris. They would take a pied-à-terre back to their apartments, and eventually the term came to refer to the apartments themselves.
Naturally, the French came up with a dubious back-formation to disguise the foreign derivation. See the work of Prof. Da Nes for more detail.
Shan't miss oddocomplete myself; tripped me up too often. If it returns, perhaps it can be something each Wordie can turn on/off. (Hey John, I avoided user!)
Bulk add would be cool, OP. But maybe tough to protect it from spambots?
Pan-pipes always remind me of Lovecraft, though I think he may have just said pipes most of the time.
"There in the moonlight that flooded the spacious plain was a spectacle which no mortal, having seen it, could ever forget. To the sound of reedy pipes that echoed over the bog there glided silently and eerily a mixed throng of swaying figures, reeling through such a revel as the Sicilians may have danced to Demeter in the old days under the harvest moon beside the Cyane."
Young, sionnach? For some reason I always envisioned him as ancient, quite bald, bent double by his hours over a hot keyboard, shuffling to the train muttering extracts from New York Times articles under his breath.
Oh, and blind. I'm quite sure he's blind. All the truly great seers and prophets are blind, aren't they?
You can see it lurking at the top of pulchritude, contributed by logophile, and not far from its tentative definition: a word that sounds unlike its meaning. There's even a reference to skipvia's list on the subject.
Vegetarian is one of those confusing food words. I was once offered some organic lamb at dinner, and was very surprised to think that some lamb might be synthetic.
I keep seeing this word on the comments list and thinking it's something like mulctintet, aka The Five Frauds. (Or maybe that's mulctinet, a rigidly disciplined fraud.)
Then this time I thought it said malquintet. It's like one of those optical illusions: My brain just can't quite see it right.
My favorite usage of this is one I first encountered in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, meaning roughly "these days." As in: "Anymore, I don't go there," or: "Anymore, you don't hardly have to know someone to get in there."
Grew up in Illinois, and "quarter of" was not only understood by one and all, but standard usage, probably on par in frequency with "quarter to" and "quarter til".
Hm. I think I could argue that cheese, milk and even cows are, in fact, made from vegetables. After all, cows are indisputably vegetarians (except perhaps in modern factory farms). In some sense, milk is essentially processed grass.
That said, I'm happy to let others avoid what they want (or, rather, don't want), as long as they don't make me eat cheese.
But wait. I understand what a zucchina is. But what's a broccola? The veggie seems singularly fractal to me, tough to make singular.
Broccoli always reminds me of the absurdly funny sketch on Saturday Night Live about an over-the-hill rocker singing "chopping broccoli" over and over again.
Have you ever suddenly considered the literal meaning of a common phrase? For me, it seems to happen most dramatically with scatological references like this one...
Gangerh, as a stopgap, you could just post an empty list (presumably with a clever title) and solicit descriptions in the comments; once a word is settled on, it can be added to the list. Just a thought.
"Indricotherium is a genus of extinct mammals that lived in Asia during the late Oligocene and early Miocene epoch of the Tertiary Period (37-32 million years ago). ... The correct Latin names for fossils in this group (the indricotheres) are a matter of uncertainty. It is also widely known as "Baluchitherium" ("beast of Baluchistan"), as it was first discovered in Baluchistan, western Province of Pakistan."
In several Southern states, it's mandatory. And some folks are looking to make it easier all the time! (I think the bill was defeated in the end -- for now.)
The problem is that the maps just count responses. So a ton of respondents, it appears, come from the Northeast; ergo, every pronunciation appears concentrated in the Northeast.
What they ought to map, by color, is the relative proportion of responses received so far from a given region (state, city, whatnot).
So: Points for neat research idea, marked down for information-poor illustration of results.
Well, a resident of Virginia is a native or inhabitant of the United States, right?
For that matter, a native or inhabitant of the United States is a native or inhabitant of a predominantly English-speaking country (for now, anyway). So Bilby, I'd guess that makes you a Virginian too!
This could really solve a lot of problems, you know?
Recent evidence suggests it actually traces back to medieval English, and a common hunting prank among the noble set.
Tethered young goats were used as bait to attract bears, wolves and other predators. The hunter or gamekeeper would often nap within earshot of the kid while waiting for the beast to show up, at which point the kid would make a ruckus, waking the napper and bringing the bear (or whatnot) to its speedy demise. Of course, it was the work of a moment for a neighboring squire to instead make off with the kid -- thus, kidnap. Also the origin of the phrase, to get your goat.
The chromosomal alteration bit I've heard before -- a sport can be a mutant, essentially. I would assume that's the derivation for the word's use for a person who's a little off.
A piece of string walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Hey buddy! Can't you read the sign? We don't serve string in here." And tosses him out onto the curb. (Repeat ad nauseum.)
Finally, the string thinks a little, musses up his hair, contorts himself into a hopeless tangle and goes back in. The bartender looks at him suspiciously and says, "Say, aren't you that piece of string I just threw out of here?" To which the string replies, "I'm a frayedknot."
Erm, yes, and it's not particularly kind. I'll let Answers.com describe it succinctly, and you can infer the rest:
In the grim slang of the British army during World War I, it referred to a quadruple amputee. This is one of several expressions that first became popular in World War I, or that entered American army slang from British English at that time.
Not to bump one of the most disturbing words in the English language back to the top, but I've been finding more rhetorical uses for this word every day. Along with copremetic, which I assume would be the adjectival form or whatnot.
Wow. Without context, this could mean so many things: Mugging someone named Jesus, who's using a pogo stick. Mugging Jesus while one is on a pogo stick oneself. Christ on a pogo stick, jumping... I gape in awe the versatility of this phrase.
I imagine it has something to do with hot in the sense of live, like an electric circuit can be hot. In other words, click it and something happens, you're linked to other information. By contrast, in the cold, dead world of print, a "link" (or citation) does nothing; you have to do the work.
Then again, it could be that someone realized something like 99% of all Web traffic would shortly be porn, and so they thought it would improve their search-engine scores to use "hot". Then the opposite would presumably be homelylinks
Spencer Honey was a state official in Arkansas. Very tall, solidly built man. Always felt odd asking for him on the phone. Oh, and I was once in a school where there were two students, both girls, named Unique.
Others I've met: Shannon Doah, Obadiah Butterworth, Dixie Land and Abby Rhodes.
The zoo-keeper, having prepared a shipment to another zoo, was stymied when drafting the cover letter. "Enclosed are the two mongeese..." He scratched it out and wrote: "Enclosed are the two mongooses..." He scratched that out too.
Finally, he wrote: "Enclosed is the mongoose you requested. Also enclosed is the other mongoose you requested."
Thanks! Always wondered about that. (See mongoose.)
Not sure I'd get too jocular with octopuses, or octopi for that matter, given then Mr. Potatohead story; they don't seem to have much of a sense of humor.
I vaguely remember having the opportunity to compare the ingredients of Nutella bought in Europe and a jar of the stuff bought in the U.S., and was surprised by some difference. Now I can't remember if one lacked chocolate, or used peanuts where the other used hazelnuts...
Mmm. My list would include, in rough chronological order, french vanilla, pink bubblegum, and finally pralines and cream, all B&R flavors. Alas, these days my favorites would make an even shorter list.
What fascinates me: the words you're listing or citing. It's fun trying to figure out how you go from one to the next, the common threads; it makes me think I'm getting a picture of your knowledge and/or interests. True all over Wordie, of course, but usually in slower motion.
Also a P.G. Wodehouse character: Bingo Little, went to school with Bertie Wooster (and is fond of reminding him of such). Loves not wisely, nor terribly well for the most part. Participant in The Great Sermon Handicap.
Having never gotten my skirt caught in my pantyhose (another good reason to avoid both, imo), I can't say I know how you feel. But don't worry about it -- I never bother to click on those buttons, for the most part. For me, some enterprising Treeseed doesn't provide a definition, it's WeirdNet or nothin'. Well, or I go all DIY on Wordie.
Is there any truth to the story that they're called "life savers" both because of their resemblance to a flotation ring like those found on ships, and because the hole in the middle would keep a child from choking on one?
Do not try to bite off the head of the wrong kind of a cinnamon bear. Also, be warned that cinnamon bears do not, in fact, taste like cinnamon bears; nor do they smell like them.
I dunno about rout, unless there's a meaning I'm unfamiliar with. They aren't usually planned, and a good proportion of the people there didn't actually plan to attend, at least not quite like that.
Are there other citations for hooley? I'd like to stick to words in reasonably common use. Admittedly, I've only done a very cursory search.
Oh, man, kumquats are great. Tart, sweet; pop 'em in your mouth and eat 'em whole... And don't forget the limequat, lemonquat and the rest of their -quat ilk. Dade City, Fla., has an annual kumquat festival.
Yikes. Great link, reesetee. Poor thing is probably just lonely. But why doesn't it reassure me that the cama project is headed by a Dr. "Lulu" Skidmore?
A cross between a llama and a camel. No, really. So sayeth Wikipedia: "bred by scientists who wanted to see how closely related the parent species were. The dromedary is six times the weight of a llama, hence artificial insemination was required to impregnate the llama female." We also learn that the poor beast "apparently inherited the poor temperament of both parents." Thus proving the heritability of irritability, at least among Camelidae.
Apparently, despite the name, the ones plucked, shrink-wrapped and frozen at the local Piggly-Wiggly may actually be male. Which makes them Cornish -- never mind.
You know, that's what I always thought too. Then I realized that for pinning to a bulletin board, you don't need the anvil at all -- you just open the stapler wide and whack it.
Come to Wordie to discuss exciting word-like topics, including different kinds of specific excrement and how to use a stapler!
Hm. I may need to think about this too much. Hen and stag parties I'll take: I've heard them used generically as gatherings of women and men, respectively (if not necessarily respectfully).
Spelling bee, bachelor party and sleepover strike me as too specific: They're not so much shindigs as particular kinds of shindigs: you do something so specific.
Hm. If context is what things are taken out of, and wazoo what things come out of, does this mean that the next time someone asks for some context, I should tell them to go look up their wazoo?
Not to be confused with Yazoo City, Miss., out of which little more than Amtrak, the River of Death, a few odd movie references, and a lot of kudzu seems to come.
I like barn-raising, and thanks for party too -- I was remiss in not listing it sooner. I'm going for events that are planned or for which people gather. Is gabfest too spontaneous/general?
Got 'em at a convenience store in New Orleans. Eventually a more adventuresome coworker tried 'em. Chewy, he said.
Mine were in a single-serving pack, but you can get your own 14 oz. jar online. Or learn more about the whole dazzling array of pickled pork bits at this blog.
Don't despair; it doesn't take long to get the hang of it, mostly because there isn't really much hang to get. Read comments from the bottom. Follow links. List words. Ask questions. Most of all: Have fun.
A Catholic priest and a Protestant minister were in a heated theological argument. After a lull, one (take your pick) said, "Well, we must remember that we worship the same God."
"Yes," said the other. "You in your way, I in His."
Ah, but it only takes a little history to make the connection clear! Mother Adélie Hubbard was the mother superior of a small convent of Spheniscidan nuns in pre-Reformation London. Toward the end of her life, the nuns were called to feed a nearby community of Dominican friars decimated by a famine. The nuns themselves were on the verge of starvation but nonetheless were inspired by Mother Hubbard to heed the call.
The first verse of the popular children's nursery rhyme is a reference to this event: Old Mother Hubbard is of course the mother superior herself; the cupboard represents the convent's food stores; the Dominicans were known as the "dogs of God" (a Latin pun: Domini canes); a bone makes a poor meal, symbolizing the fact that the nuns had little to spare; and of course, the cupboard was bare -- starvation ultimately wiped out both communities. (Subsequent verses are later additions, and probably just pleasant nonsense.)
The dress, as you can see, got its name from its loose fit -- as on an emaciated nun -- and its lack of a belt. Spheniscidines wear no adornment of any kind, including belts.
More on this etymology from cultural linguist and medieval English scholar Gentoo Humboldt at the Royal Fiordland University in Oslo.
May I recommend Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable? The 1898 version is available online, but half the fun is leafing through the actual book and following cross-references endlessly. I believe the most recent is the sixteenth edition
I love how the two lists complement each other: Reesetee's of dragons and other beasties, Narniabound's of named worms. Another testament to the infinite possibilities of language, and therefore of Wordie!
Hm. That's a good list. But I imagine just names and appellations for the God of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition would make a pretty interesting list.
Maybe I'll tackle it after checking the lightning rod on my roof.
I think this is my new favorite word. Just think, next time you're mad at a legislator, you can accuse him/her of being inquorate. Unless their legislative body has convened, I suppose.
I've never heard the song (for which I gather I should thank my stars), but from the comments it sounds more insulting than complimentary. Perhaps it's milder as a ringtone?
Well said, yarb. Until Walt and other bowlderizers got hold of them, the fairy-tale and nursery-rhyme canon was a pretty fearsome thing. But that's what made them good lessons, cautionary tales if you will, with plenty of text and subtext for kiddie and adult alike.
This is a remarkable book. And some of the words are truly disturbing. I remember one referred to a particularly gruesome effect of extreme constipation that still makes me queasy. (I seem to have blocked the word itself, thankfully.)
Oh, man, you haven't lived* until you've had really good fried dill pickles. Think about it: salty, sour, crisp, crunchy, tangy, even a little sweet! And it supplies all the major snack groups, too: fat, salt, sugar, zip... Now where can I get some...
* OK, maybe you've lived, but you haven't really, truly enjoyed everything there is to enjoy about it, in particular fried dill pickles.
Whilst trying to refresh my memory about some of the characters, I discovered that the full text is online.
I love how Lewis plays with language throughout his books, right under your nose. And he came up with some of the most wonderfully apt names for characters.
Perhaps this is a rare variant meaning "to censor by placing a bowl over the offending material and carefully excising it in a neatly circular way." (Not to be confused with boulderize, to censor by dropping large boulders on the offending material until it can no longer be seen or read.)
Quite unrelated, also the name of "the Reverend Paul Peter Prang, of Persepolis, Indiana, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church ... His weekly radio address, at 2 P.M. every Saturday, was to millions the very oracle of God. So supernatural was this voice from the air that for it men delayed their golf, and women even postponed their Saturday afternoon contract bridge." -- It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis
Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip is the fascist president of It Can't Happen Here, a cautionary novel by Sinclair Lewis. One verse of a campaign song written on his behalf:
Does that mean soaking them in citrus juice, or lime water, the solution uncommonly known as Ca(OH)2? Or calcium oxide? Help! Is there a pickler in the house? Where's Peter Piper when you need him?
Hey, thanks! Really, I didn't mean to offend. And I really wasn't trying to make a crack about snacking on vegans; I meant pickled in the sense of polluted, or even lightly tipsy. Forgot about the yeasties, for which I have a certain fondness as well...
No, pickled punks need not apply. Besides, some of the punks I have known have been belligerent whilst pickled.
Reesetee, I do believe that may be it. I think I'll have a luncheon meat sandwich with plenty of pickles. Or maybe I'll have a sub. Or a grinder. Or a po' boy. Or ...
A Polish pickle, Wikipedia tells us: "they are prepared using the traditional process of natural fermentation in a salty brine which makes them grow sour." And Wikipedia is never wrong, right?
Oh, I don't mean to be insensitive. Just trying to have fun with words.
But I wasn't joking about my fondness for vegans; they, like so many others with restrictive diets, have ushered all sorts of tasty alternative foods (if also perhaps a few food alternatives) into our lives.
As for pickling, I've found it does a lot of people good. And I love the word: pickle, pickled, pickler, pickling, picklesque.
In fact, I think it's time for a list of pickles...
Last I checked I was still a member of Animalia, which pretty much rules me out as a vegetable. But I have a certain fondness for vegans. They're good pickled.
So when the mugger says: "Your money or your life!" that's marketing? I mean, he's giving a set of instructions for creating an offering that has value for his, well, customer... What's wrong with the traditional definition: Stuff you say to get people to buy (into) things.
I remember reading somewhere that the word primarily, or perhaps only, had meaning no. 1. Then Dashiell Hammett slipped it into one of his stories, knowing full well what it meant, but counting on readers (and editors/censors) to misinterpret as something along the lines of no. 2.
Comments by asativum
Show previous 200 comments...
asativum commented on the word dionysiac
Great word! Rolls off the tongue. Too bad the early computer-makers stopped at Eniac and Illiac.
July 1, 2008
asativum commented on the word territory day
Shouldn't that be self-government day or independence day? I mean, it was already a territory, no?
July 1, 2008
asativum commented on the word lurk
Yay! My rude jabbing and stabbing has prodded a response from Sassmews. Mission accomplished! Hopefully s/he will now realize we're mostly harmless, if sometimes rude and too boisterous, and join in the fun.
Seriously Sass, my apologies if I poked too hard. I just tend to assume that the prolific word-listers and the prolific commenters are the same. I was pleasantly surprised to see otherwise, and wanted to draw you into the fold.
Above all, please don't be scared off, and do what you want with Wordie. It's like that. (And it likes that, too.)
July 1, 2008
asativum commented on the list git
Shweet! Thanks all!
July 1, 2008
asativum commented on the word eggplant
reesetee, this isn't Dialectie, you know.
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the word strawberry
Then again, plenty of people with mousy brown hair that's vaguely chestnut in direct light describe themselves as strawberry blonde. Seems like blonde inflation to me.
Do post a link, billy.
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the word walled up nuns and nuns walled in
Remember the Wordie rules proposal/list? Such a noble endeavor, but doomed from the start.
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the word sayanpeau
Language?
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the word fudgsicle
What, you mean Alaskans don't really refer to the Lower 48 as "Outside," like Alaska magazine does?
I did hear "down south" a lot when I was there, usually meaning Seattle.
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the list things-i-do-not-wear-when-i-sleep
Bilby, I can see how that would be wearing.
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the list contact
Aha -- thanks. Like Boticelli, only with improper nouns instead of names.
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the word saint-louis-du-ha! ha!
Lovely. Thanks!
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the word fejst
Fascinating. But is the "G." in your etymologies for German or Germanic, or something else?
If the former, I'm surprised there's so much German influence in Slovene slang.
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the word thew
Nobody is listing Nicknames you shouldn't give to an axe-wielding, loincloth-wearing barbarian warrior with bulging thews. Why don't you?
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the user she
More shenanigans!
But you know, she's been active in the last day or so. I wonder if she's notices.
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the list contact
How do you play this game?
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the word eggplant
I did, yes. But I trust it was artistic license on the folk that wrote this song. If not, I would like to vigorously disclaim all responsibility. I blame Capsicum frutescens entirely.
And good to know what I said. I love the phrase. I may have to use it sometime. I assume it's pronounced more or less like Italian? And while I'm at it, where is your region?
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the list me
Ain't it a hoot that we're related?
June 30, 2008
asativum commented on the word eggplant
Fora di gabbu!!!
OK, I have no idea what that means, but it's on the video comments and sounded cool.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word lurk
Has anyone else noticed that there are some people on Wordie who just, you know, list words? Instead of plastering the site with inane comments.
Three of the wordiest Wordies at the moment seem to have said nary a peep (or just one peep among them, really): myriasofo, mouserie and Sassmews.
Weird. Neat words though.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word insomnia
What did Ray ever do to you?
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word lolita
WierdNet is mischievous that way.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the user she
sheesh.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word eggplant
My goodness. I never even knew a song about eggplants existed, much less a rowdy one.
I may have to reevaluate Solanum melongena.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the list headlinese
Interesting, if short, discussion of some of these on this copy-editor's forum
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word goth
Tell me how you really feel, WeirdNet.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word brush
Brush is bushes, and bushes are brush.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word paper tiger
The best kind to encounter in the jungle, though prone to burn bright.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word archer's paradox
It's technical, but apparently something archers get bent out of shape about.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word dollars to aubergines
A good bet, depending on the exchange rate.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word muffintop
Good thought, but you did it for me. It's there for posterity now!
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word go postal
To mail oneself.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word avoir un chat dans le gorge
True. But probably not for long.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word insomnia
I think it's just you and me, Pro.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the list git
Inspired by Mercy's lovely, but more inclusive, list. I'm really looking for exclamations or whatever they're called.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word muffintop
Betcha dollars to aubergines that there's a site out there for devotees of muffin-tops.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word onanym
Onanym -- I love it. So to speak.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word eggplant
God can do anything.
Ergo, She can be stir-fried.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word 33 celsius in my room
I think this conversation has a pun trifecta in it. Or more than one.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word multifurcation
I don't know about you, but I don't take enough furcations most years.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word horrifying website
Yes, well, clearly he's one of these types who want the world to use the nice, simple one- or two-syllable words he's comfortable with -- in other words, the meaner* sort of copy editor.
(Note I don't refer, naturally, to the words with which he's comfortable, because that presumably qualifies as a pompous-ass sentence structure, also known as good grammar).
Add: I can't but notice that he lurves the word epigones.
* Not cruel. I'm using this in its pompous-ass sense. Look it up, you fly-bitten varlet.
June 29, 2008
asativum commented on the word 33 celsius in my room
And for crying out loud, once you have AC, plug a fan into it!
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the list things-i-do-not-wear-when-i-sleep
I don't wear fedoras. But really, that's about it.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word avoir un chat dans le gorge
I do not believe that a frog is a cat.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word eggplant
God or eggplants, kewpid?
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word fancy
Fancy that.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word insomnia
OK, I think you beat me again, Pro. I'm going to sleep. (Not that it should be a competition!)
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word insomnia
Considering that they killed people, I'd suspect unjust insomniacs.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word eggplant
My Latin is rusty. Is that "Out of eggplants, God"? Or just "God jumped out of an eggplant"?
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the list still-oners-so-far
Bwahahahahah!
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word wordie's lament
Thanks Pro!
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word tommyrot
Balderdash, nonsense, piffle, bunk, bunco, rubbish, tomfoolery, rigmarole, hooey, tripe, bull, bullshit, twaddle, bilge, tosh, malarkey, drivel, blather, junk, claptrap, fiddle-faddle, hokum, codswallop, hogwash, horse-puckey, prattle, manure, horsefeathers, rhubarb, bollocks, BS, eyewash, blatherskite, folderol, bilge, garbage, and/or gibberish.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word incognito ergo sum
Motto of the inconspicuous.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word cogito ergo sum
Not to be confused with incognito ergo sum.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word ergotism
Also an annoying tendency to bandy about ones own deductions.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the list still-oners-so-far
I'm tempted... Oh, so tempted.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word jerry-built
Wikipedia, citing a couple of sources, says its origin are different than jury-rigged, which it says the OED traces to 1788.
The alt.usage.english FAQ has an interesting, if ultimately ambiguous, discussion of the two phrases.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word heptarchy
Rule by seven cool cats.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word smackover
Yes, bilby, there is a Smackover, Ark. It's in the greater El Dorado non-metropolitan area (and that's pronounced "el dor-ay-do," for your information).
The story goes that the French called it sumac couvert -- or whatever the French for "covered in sumac" or "under cover of sumac" might be. Presumably the Yanks showed up and did their best to drive the locals buggy.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the list funny-place-names-in-the-garden-state
Jenny Jump State Forest!
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word watchung
"Mountains" in New Jersey.
They're very liberal with the word in those parts, I've noticed.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word wordie's lament
I am so far behind on comments, I will never catch up, even with Prolagian insomnia.
This is a very sad day.
(Perhaps someone could summarize?)
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word orville redenbacher
Very corny, pops.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word have kittens
A friend of mine has kittens. They're very cute and cuddly. Not angry or disapproving in the least.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word xantippe
Soon to be an anti-anti-anxiety drug from Merpfvartyeth.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word vexillologist
How vexing.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word henohenomoheji
Yes. But this isn't it. Sorry.
June 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word wordie treatment
See waldo's list.
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word rendez vous
Maybe this word and overthetop could get together.
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word overthetop
Helpneedspacesbad
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the list waldo-s-list
Nonstandard tags might be more useful. Or just befuddling ones.
Or you could have a list of words that make up the pages, and a link in the word's comments to the tag page. But that's work. And besides, the link is likely to get lost in Wordie nostrums.
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the list hyphenated-words-from-beowulf
Very nice. I believe most of these are examples of kenning.
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word beau
Held in regard by many Sons of the Confederacy.
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word estivating
With a lot of howling?
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word estivating
With a lot of howling?
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word sod
Sionnach, I think you mispronounced that.
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word had had
Ok. I had had it with had had, but my cad dad, Haddad, had had "had had" bad, lad.
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word dogs of war
You laugh. But it's well established that Aries had two pugs and a Pomeranian.
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word boob
Boob
June 27, 2008
asativum commented on the list funny-fun-to-say
Phooey. Enough of this fol-de-rol; just a bunch of balderdash to my reckoning. I'm going to skedaddle.
Foo.
June 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word cha
No way!
June 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word mong
Hey, I think that's heroic verse, that is, yarb.
June 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word salinity
What a salient citation.
June 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word beta
The British pronunciation always makes me chuckle. Horribly provincial of me, I know.
June 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word features
I'll second Pro (as long as no duels are involved).
Much neater than the solution I had been mulling, which was listing comments by time, so I could remember that I'd been gone a couple days and find my place.
June 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word double double
The photo of animal style fries reminds me of some traumatic moments in elementary school. It's like poutine's evil twin.
June 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word guy with a huge desk
That's a biggish desk.
June 25, 2008
asativum commented on the list there-is-no-x-in-espresso-words-butchered-by-americans
Wait, our kind host on this page says: "I'm talking about adding letters that aren't even in the word or skipping ones that aren't silent (syncope and apocope). I mean, c'mon."
But if you skip saying letters that aren't silent -- is this a koan?
June 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word insomnia
dontcry, what better place for sleep nostrums than this page? Do share!
Though I worry for Wordie if we manage to cure insomnia.
June 25, 2008
asativum commented on the list so-busy-i-don-t-have-time-to-scratch-myself
As long as your scratch yourself on the behinder, at least not in public.
June 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word aeaeae
This word is crying out for a ligature. Or three.
June 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word tow rag
Unless you happen to be in the company of a tow rag. All is clear. Thanks dontcry!
June 24, 2008
asativum commented on the list funny-fun-to-say
Oh, pshaw. You're just a stick-in-the-mud party-pooper.
June 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word kumquat
Too true, kewpid. I accidentally bought some all-sweet kumquats the other month, and they weren't worth eating. (I didn't read the label.) But I suspect all-sour kumquats would lack something too.
June 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word motorcycle
"... a pickle.
Just want to ride on my motorsickle..."
(See pickle for link to the full lyrics, more or less.)
June 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word tow rag
Is this, or a toe-rag, related to a do-rag? (Or is it dew-rag?)
June 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word the man on the clapham omnibus
But not little man in boat, or the conversation goes elsewhere fast.
June 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word diminuitive
Is it one? For what, I wonder.
June 24, 2008
asativum commented on the list what-the-h
Ooh, ooh! Gherkin!
I love gherkins: the word, the thing. I'm even bemused by the building in London...
*smiles happily*
June 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word pease
I believe frying your pease porridge would help minimize the mushiness, no?
dontcry: I think your exhortation to jennaren qualifies as some kind of Wordie trifecta. Beautifully done.
June 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word pease
Thanks rolig! My new favorite backformation. And clearly porridge hasn't been getting its due of late, at least this side of the Atlantic. Why ever did it fall out of favor?
June 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word orthomentor
I'm all for live and let live. Don't squash bugs, or especially spiders, etc. But roaches in the house, poison ivy and fire ants in the yard -- these deserve no mercy.
June 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word critical mass
I think Wordie may have reached some sort of critical mass on Friday, June 20, 2008. Now I really can't keep up with the comments!
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word proctopsychology
Quite a common affliction in my line of work just now, not entirely without reason.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word orthomentor
Good grief. And here I thought it was a senior exterminator at The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Shows what I know.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word pease
Is whirled pease any different than whirled peas?
(And of what is pea a back-formation?)
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word scintilla
You know, I'd think a scintilla is smaller than a soupçon, just from the phrase"not a scintilla of evidence.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word pease
It's a Christmasy way to ask politely.
(No L.)
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word he
He who?
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word itptheirsd
Ah, but now there's another he in there. I think itpourd is called for.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word a 2006 calendar
Plus, there's the 2006es all over the place. Kind of hard to miss those.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word yeast
A farmer was perplexed because birds kept building a nest in his horse's mane. The vet told him to sprinkle yeast in the horse's mane every morning for three days. It worked.
Surprised, the farmer asked the vet why. He answered that even a schoolchild should have been able to figure it out. "Everyone knows yeast is yeast, and nest is nest, and never the mane shall tweet."
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word stir
In stir it is, sir.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word defiance
Q: What's the difference between a lawyer and a rooster?
A: Every morning the rooster wakes up and clucks defiance.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word 7457
More evidence that aliens are responsible for all world cultures.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word spoonerism
I heard these attributed to the Rev. Spooner himself:
"The Lord is a shoving leopard to his flock."
and something about the pleasures of riding a well-boiled icicle.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word point-virgule
Oh, this belongs on someone's naughty list.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word dewed
v., to divorce.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word guy with a huge desk
Relative to what? I mean, a big desk for a little guy might not be so big for a big guy.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word wot
Coulda sworn PG Wodehouse had an exchange involving the phrase "wot's wot, what?"
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word a 2006 calendar
I don't believe that the calendar in 2017 will be the same as 2006. No way.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word stir
But wait -- being in the stir is to be in prison, no?
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word itpherd
It did, did it?
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word whippersnapper
Not to snipe or be snippy, but snappywhippers whip snaps; whippersnappers snap whips. But which whips do whippersnappers snap?
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the list •open-list-what-s-on-em-your-em-work-desk
That does it. I'm going to get a photo of Uranus and post it on my desk. Just so people ask me what it is.
I'm not above doing it, you know.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word iceberg profiling kit
bilby, if no one's having Titantric sex, and I can have Titantric sex, then I suppose we pretty much know what it involves.
I've yet to encounter an ordinary day on Wordie.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word iceberg profiling kit
I think I'm late to the party. I came for the Titantric typos, but I must have misread something.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word chicken without sexual life
And I thought "Three Happiness" was vaguely creepy.
I believe a WSJ or NYT article earlier this year included some other glorious mistranslations, whether culinary or otherwise. Surfing Wordie on my phone though, so can't look it up just now.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word 7457
I suspect it's a pictogram of the numerals 7, 4, 5, and 7. But I could be wrong.
June 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word snop
Language?
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word stragedy
Is this the result of strategery?
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word paralleliped
And yet so much more sesquipedalian than simply saying brick.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word crepitate
This belongs on someone's not-what-you-think list.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word tickety-boo
Nice. Surprised it's not been listed before.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word whippersnapper
Never before. I shudder to think of meeting an old whippersnapper.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the list something-vishy
Great adds, all. Thanks! And skipvia, vicious works for me. I was going to stick to -vish endings, but then thought of vitiate and couldn't resist. As so often happens on Wordie.
Odd how unusual the "vish" sound seems in English, and yet it appears in such a lovely variety of words...
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the list what-the-h
Awesome listh.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word spray-on condom
Oh, good. Because aerosol cans are so much more convenient to carry in one's wallet.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word schadenfreude
You got it, Pro. I was going to say "x as in expresso", but I knew I'd never forgive myself for actually typing ...
Sigh.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the list names-that-sound-beautiful-2
Shanshu is actually a pretty nice name, don't you think?
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the list something-vishy
So where does the -vish ending come from, anyway?
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word raphth
Good thinking, Pro. Some bits of the Bible might be a little more accessible that way.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word diarrhesis
There is no delete in Wordie. See pimiento load.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word six pack
Is that what you call them? Over here we just call them "aluminum cans," and think they're kind of ordinary.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word dinge
Er. Anyone know the Swedish for politically incorrect? Oh, wait -- Google knows: politiskt inkorrekt
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word schadenfreude
burntsox, quixotic is only horrid if you say it the way Americans seem to, pronouncing the x as in espresso.
A nice faux-Spanish pronunciation, with the x like an English h, is positively poetic.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word alpaca
Reesetee, why can't you say you're an alpaca farmer whenever you want? You might get some funny looks from the alpacas, I suppose.
(Wood has lice?)
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word byzantine
I think the meaning widdershins uses refers to the idea that the Byzantine court, its politics, and/or the empire's bureaucracy were so, well, byzantine.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word foucault's pendulum
I read Name of the Rose first, and loved it. I liked Foucault's Pendulum at least as much, maybe more. Baudolino was excellent. I never could get into Island of the Day Before.
But The Mysterious flame of Queen Loana was curious: I was captivated by it as I read it, and even stayed up too late a couple nights. But it was slow going, and for some reason, after I had to set it aside very briefly, I didn't return to it. Is there a word for that? Something that's fully engrossing until one is distracted from it, at which point one doesn't return to it?
(I also heartily recommend a book of Eco's essays called How to Travel With a Salmon. Several are truly hilarious.
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word wii'd
Having used a Wii.
June 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word peed
I'm not ashamed to admit it: I have peed. I also have Wii'd.
June 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word i feel my nerve
I'm acutely aware of my own audacity.
June 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word fidgets
A damn shame only one Wordie lists fidgets. It's a fine, fine word and deserves better.
June 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word enophile
Wouldn't it be one of Mr. Eno's lovers?
June 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word bodegeschmack
Down to earth, taste of the land... In the U.S. I've mostly heard this called "kind of gritty".
June 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word adobo
Not to be confused with adobe, a principle ingredient if which is dung.
But should we trust a recipe from someone named Salmonella? (No offense, Salmy.)
June 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word merde
French for "break a leg."
June 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word trident
Pepsodent was already taken?
June 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word batsmsan
Polite form of address when referring to Mr. Batsm in Japan. Or batsman misspelled.
June 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word kelemenope
If you can get a copy, the sequel to his Browser's Dictionary is pretty good too, if not quite as good as the original.
June 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word ravish
Nor peevish.
June 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word bleachers
Oof.
But clothing does...
June 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word blent
Nice one, bilby! And nice word, yarb.
June 18, 2008
asativum commented on the list common-english-words-that-are-also-first-names
Bilby, glad you put Peter out there.
But isn't the name Derek? Or is it the sound that matters?
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word brazier
"'... as for making you my wife -- that I will not. How would it go with me? Your lovers have found you like a brazier which smoulders in the cold, a backdoor which keeps out neither squall of wind nor storm, a castle which crushes the garrison, pitch that blackens the bearer, a water-skin that chafes the carrier, a stone which falls from the parapet, a battering-ram turned back from the enemy, a sandal that trips the wearer. Which of your lovers did you ever love for ever? ... '"
-- Gilgamesh to Ishtar, from The Epic of Gilgamesh
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word triplets
"When Gilgamesh had put on the crown, glorious Ishtar lifted her eyes, seeing the beauty of Gilgamesh. She said, 'Come to me Gilgamesh, and be my bridegroom; ... Kings, rulers, and princes will bow down before you; they shall bring you tribute from the mountains and the plain. Your ewes shall drop twins and your goats triplets; your pack-ass shall outrun mules; your oxen shall have no rivals, and your chariot horses shall be famous far-off for their swiftness.'"
-- from The Epic of Gilgamesh
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word namtar
"The evil fate that knows no distinction between men" -- from The Epic of Gilgamesh.
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word lugulbanda
Guardian god of Gilgamesh.
"Again to Gilgamesh they said, 'May Shamash give you your heart's desire, may he let you see with your eyes the thing accomplished for which your lips have spoken; may he open a path for you where it is blocked, and a road for your feet to tread. May he open the mountains for your crossing, and may the night-time bring you the blessings of night, and Lugulbanda, your guardian god, stand beside you for victory. ... Offer cold water to Shamash and do not forget Lugulbanda.'"
-- The Forest Journey, in The Epic of Gilgamesh
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word aya
The dawn, bride of Shamash, in The Epic of Gilgamesh.
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word egalmah
"Then Gilgamesh opened his mouth again and said to Enkidu, 'My friend, let us go to the Great Palace, to Egalmah, and stand before Ninsun the great queen."
-- The Forest Journey, in The Epic of Gilgamesh
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word anshan
"They cast for Gilgamesh the axe 'Might of Heroes' and the bow of Anshan; and Gilgamesh was armed and Enkidu; and the weight of the arms they carried was thirty score pounds."
-- The Forest Journey, in The Epic of Gilgamesh
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word humbaba
"'... Because of the evil that is in the land, we will go to the forest and destroy the evil; for in the forest lives Humbaba whose name is "Hugeness", a ferocious giant.'"
"Then Enkidu, the faithful companion, pleaded, answering him, 'O my lord, you do not know this monster and that is the reason you are not afraid. I who know him, I am terrified. His teeth are dragon's fangs, his countenance is like a lion, his charge is the rushing of the flood, with his look he crushes alike the trees of the forest and the reeds in the swamp. ...'"
-- The Forest Journey, in The Epic of Gilgamesh
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word enlil
"Enlil of the mountain, the father of the gods, had decreed the destiny of Gilgamesh."
-- The Forest Journey, from The Epic of Gilgamesh
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word byre
"When Enkidu was thrown, he said to Gilgamesh, 'There is not another like you in the world. Ninsun, who is as strong as a wild ox in the byre, she was the mother who bore you, and now you are raised above all me, and Enlil has given you the kingship, for your strength surpasses the strength of men.'"
-- The Coming of Enkidu, from The Epic of Gilgamesh
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word anu
"The gods heard their lament, the gods of heaven cried to the Lord of Uruk, to Anu the god of Uruk: 'A goddess made him, strong as a savage bull, none can withstand his arms. No son is left with his father, for Gilgamesh takes them all; and this is the king, the shepherd of his people?"
-- The Coming of Enkidu, from The Epic of Gilgamesh
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word shamash
"Shamash the glorious sun" from The Epic of Gilgamesh.
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word harlot
"'Go to Uruk, find Gilgamesh, extol the strength of this wild man. Ask him to give you a harlot, a wanton from the temple of love; return with her, and let her woman's power overpower this man...'" -- The Coming of Enkidu, from The Epic of Gilgamesh
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word ninurta
The god of war in The Epic of Gilgamesh.
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word nisaba
The goddess of corn in The Epic of Gilgamesh.
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word samuqan
The god of cattle in The Epic of Gilgamesh.
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word chad
Just for the record, I do know a Chad who's a perfectly nice guy. But I notice everyone seems to use his last name when referring to him. Maybe it's to avoid confusion -- you know, with Chad
June 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word fellatious
It would be pretty hard to confuse them, don't you think?
June 16, 2008
asativum commented on the word chad
Yep. That's him. But wait -- how can he live next door to you, too? Or are we neighors?
June 16, 2008
asativum commented on the word kelemenope
A straight line through the middle of everything, going nowhere. From the middle of the alphabet. May in fact be spelled kelemenopy, but I prefer the faux Greek form. Coined by John Ciardi, always referred to as "the (late) American poet," but we know him for what he was: a true Wordie.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word cuckold
Isn't there a word for applying the name of a larger classification to a part, or does it only go the other way around?
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word hors de combat
This comment intentionally blank.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word hors de combat
Not to be confused with horse uh combat, or the one you rode in on.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the list double-double-2
Har har
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word rule
Words like rule rule. Or do words like like rule?
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word chad
Oh, here and there. Chad has made me think of the country since Grade 7. Just trying to stir things up (and keep them in perspective, perhaps).
I did see most of Recount recently, though. Certainly brought back memories, of a kind.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word toejam
Yarb has feets of clay.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word poo shooter
Funny that he's best known for that evolution thingy when he had something like this to his name.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word evil robot uses
Nooooooo!
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word limestone
You know, that's a good point. Or maybe the rest of the marine animal remains decomposed, leaving the calcium deposits?
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word schnafte
I'll have a large schnafte, please. With a side of
Knoblauchknödel and a Coke.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word rule
Heh. The URL for this page is http://wordie.org/words/rule
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word ochlocracy
This sounds like rule by punctuality.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word someone
An awfully busy human being, apparently. Up to a lot of no good.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word wifey
Just thought someone should list it, since we already had hubby. Back to your usual words, then.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word cuckold
Er. Wierdnet's no. 2 definition might worry some otherwise complacent men out there.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word sesquipedalian
If the platypuses were streaming, wouldn't you have seen them? And if not, how did you know they were platypus streams?
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word saxify
To add a reed instrument to a band.
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the list latreace-s-list
Sense, dudes -- sense. Make sense, sense things, get insensed, dollars and sense, sixth sense, senseimilla.
What's not to like?
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word chad
I take it the civil war there is still going?
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the list lost-in-transgenderation
Not quite on point, but ostensibly there is no equivalent to the word cuckold to describe a woman whose husband has been unfaithful. (Unless, I suppose, you count wife.)
June 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word limestone
Not to be taken for granite.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the word evil robot uses
Uh-oh. I think Wordie is going all sentient on us and spontaneously generating ominous entries. Surely the next step is commandeering all our words for use against us.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the word agate
In newspaperish, also very small type, such as is used for sports-page box scores and the like.
(Can I just remark upon how much I like the phrase "such as is"? Very satisfying to say. One of the few uses of "such as" that doesn't make my skin crawl.)
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the list any-words-list-its-open
I'd've never guessed that boxed rocks cared much about eyeshadow and mascara, but there you have it.
Oh. Sorry. You said cosmology. Never mind.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the word 7457
yarb, I think it's LShL. Turn your monitor upside down and you'll see what I mean.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the word Яandom
Яetro. I like.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the word champaign
Also an extensive tract of level open land set in an extensive tract of level open land set in an extensive tract of mostly level, mostly open land known as Illinois.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the list any-words-list-its-open
Palooka, have you ever tried to argue metaphysics with a box of rocks? Not as dumb as they look.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the user Prolagus
I think you're right, Pro. Only... Only, it looks like some of the big kids on the list figured out the Wordie Paradox before I did. Oh well.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the word bannanas
I'm with you, Pro. All my spam seems to be about remembering something I can't enlarge, too.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the word features
Ooh. Haven't been here in a bit. My thoughts, for what they're worth*:
Friends: No, no, no. Please? No? We have oodles of other social networking sites for friends (or "friends"). Wordie is for words, and words about words, and wordiness. (Or is that Wordieness?) I don't need friends. I need words. Words are my friends.
Forum: I love that Wordie is so aggressively linear about its nonlinearity. Forums are too easy. This way, it's like a big conversation. Or really, a bunch of them, at a very strange garden party. Only you can rewind and revisit conversations, if you can find them again in the crowd, behind the topiary where you left them. Or something.
Bulk add: Let's just keep bickering about it for a while.
* About $0.63 Canadian, but that's for the lot of them.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the word add
Something it's very difficult to do with the word add in Wordie. See Mentions.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the word mentions
Yay! I got here. But I'm deeply disappointed to see all y'all got here almost a year ago...
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the list wordie-paradox
Nifty. Thanks all. Sorry about not making the list open; I meant to, but failed.
Add takes me to words I've added, which is a cool feature.
And kewpid, thanks for the secret to seeing those comments. Kewl.
June 13, 2008
asativum commented on the list wordie-paradox
Go on. Just try to read those 12 comments.
June 12, 2008
asativum commented on the word extrapolation
More polation than one needs at a given moment.
June 12, 2008
asativum commented on the word skullduggery
The latter is underhanded behavior. The former is underhanded behavior using defunct crania.
June 5, 2008
asativum commented on the word journalist
But see Thomas Jefferson on the relative merits of newspapers and government. (Before he ran the government and tried to censor newspapers, of course.)
June 3, 2008
asativum commented on the word ohne
Mein' Grossmutter faehrt Motorrad,
Ohne Bremsen, ohne Licht,
Und der Schuppo an die Ecke
Sieht die alte Hexe nicht.
(Do correct my grammar, please.)
Rough translation:
My grandmother drives a motorbike,
without brakes, without lights,
and the copper on the corner
doesn't see the old witch.
Perhaps it loses some of its charm in translation. Or in the grammar of an addlepated three-year-old.
June 3, 2008
asativum commented on the list things-my-roommate-forgot
Looks like you've got an interesting salad there, mate.
June 1, 2008
asativum commented on the list hold-my-place
Er. What about whatsit and stuff? Or whatever.
May 31, 2008
asativum commented on the word the hum
I believe the Hums got as far as the gates of Vienna, didn't they?
May 31, 2008
asativum commented on the word josh
i'd rather be silly than josh.
May 31, 2008
asativum commented on the word josh
i'd rather be silly than josh.
May 31, 2008
asativum commented on the list triads
don'tcry, is that some kind of Reagan-era tax protest chant?
May 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word accoutrement
I use it more as a synonym for accessory or accompaniment, but not exclusively in a sartorial sense. So a turkey dinner's accoutrements might include cranberry sauce and stuffing.
May 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word glory hole
Also the name of a Juneau, Alaska, social-service organization (homeless shelter? Soup kitchen? I forget). Tourists like posing for pictures in front of its sign. In fact, it's named for a vast mining pit carved out of a mountain near town.
May 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word cthulhu
Hongry has now been used at least twice on Wordie. Is it therefore a word?
May 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word hypercube
In mathematics, I believe a hypercube is a four-dimensional surface; in one sense it is to an ordinary cube what a cube is to a two-dimensionsal square. Like other 4D objects, when rotated in 3-space, it appears to change shape, but I'm pretty sure that's the only way time is involved. You can perhaps imagine your way to the time-altering speculation from here.
May 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word small beer
I believe the term comes from beer of low alcoholic strength, rather than low volume. If I remember right, it's made by sparging used malted barley with hot water and fermenting the resulting (very thin) wort, or by re-mashing spent grains or somesuch -- akin to a second pressing for wine or olive oil. But I could be wrong; I don't have my brewing references handy.
See also my list Wort to the Wise for more beer and brewing terms. There are some other good lists out there as well.
May 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word lion's share
Ah, but as John Chiardi once reminded NPR listeners some years ago, in Aesop the lion demanded a third for himself, a third for his lioness and cubs, and said the others could have the final third if they could take it from him. (Or something like that. My math may be off.)
Other versions I've read have the lion slaughtering companions that protest such a division and adding their carcasses to the pile -- his pile, the lion's share. That is to say, all of it.
Not that anyone would understand you if you used it to mean "everything" anymore, sadly.
May 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word shrdlu
Precisely! Thanks much sarra.
May 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word hush puppy
Yes indeedy, a hoo-hah it was meant to be.
May 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word whiffletree
Other than as a rack for storing whiffleball equipment?
May 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word xenoglossy
John's everywhere, isn't he?
May 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word hush puppy
Ostensibly named because cooks would throw lumps of fried batter to the hounds during hoo-has to quiet them.
By some tellings, dog salmon get their name similarly.
May 16, 2008
asativum commented on the word boobs
Boobs is for boobs. Too babytalk for me. Like pee and poop, always jarring when said by an adult and not addressed to a toddler. Gotta go bye-bye now.
May 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word hatsjoe
I'm told that in German, one sneeze brings a "Gesundheit" (good health), a second "langes Leben" (long life) and a third "viele Kinder" -- many children!
May 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word aichmophobia
Isn't this spelled ouchmophobia?
May 12, 2008
asativum commented on the word pataphysics
Excellent! Glad to hear it, and another fine case of Wordiesleuthing. (Oh, oh, oh, oh...)
May 12, 2008
asativum commented on the word shrdlu
A mrvlous word if never there was one.
And yet -- I actually feel like I've seen it before.
May 12, 2008
asativum commented on the list monosyllabic-words-i-can-t-find-rhymes-for
Doesn't Alp rhyme with scalp?
May 12, 2008
asativum commented on the word pataphysics
I'm pretty sure Joan studied pataphysical science in the home, oh, oh, oh.
May 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word pataphysics
What Joan studied in her home before an unfortunate encounter with Maxwell Edison.
May 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word nibling
sionnach & sarra: Many thanks! Were we in the same room, I'd stand and give you a novation.
May 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word hotdish
I'm hongry.
May 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word paronably
Misspelling of Peronably, adverb, done in the manner of Juan or Eva Perón.
May 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word erotic acid
Ouch.
May 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word hotdish
Casserole, found in the upper Midwest of the U.S. Quoth Wikipedia: "It consists of a starch and a protein (meat and/or a vegetable) mixed together with a binding ingredient (most often canned soup or a sauce) and a topping."
You betcha!
May 11, 2008
asativum commented on the list silence-is-golden
Hay, how about roman numerals? As in Henry XVIII? Or better yet, the number XXVI?
May 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word nibling
Isn't there some suggestion that the word uncle was once nuncle, and eventually transformed in the same way a napple became an apple? Or have I been had by spurious etymologistifiers again?
May 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word blacktop
Also known as asphalt in the U.S., though some asphalt is grayer than blacktop.
May 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word husband
Aha! No doubt sweetmeat will prove to have started life as a playful alternative to helpmeet, and from there it's just a hop, skip and jump to sweetbreads. Told you so.
Thanks, sionnach!
May 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word husband
Helpmate sounds like helpmeet, which sounds like sweetmeat, which always makes me think of sweetbreads. Blech. I mean, sweetbreads are tasty, cooked right, but not very husbandly. To me.
OK. Sorry. Back to your thread.
May 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word wisconsinite
The element known to bring down MinnesotaMan.
May 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word persimmon
Peruse Wordie and learn to preserue Pruines.
May 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word twit
Surely if silence can be pregnant, a goldfish can be too...
May 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word dabber
One who dabs, usually used of men of a certain age and bearing. "Now there's a dabber fellow."
May 6, 2008
asativum commented on the word wise man
Oxymoron.
May 6, 2008
asativum commented on the list silence-is-golden
Truly an inspired list. Now I wontvbe able to get any work done thinking about silent Vs... You could always make like a Roman and declare U and V identical.
Gangerh, I'm sure I'm all too unsilent for most, but thanks for the vote!
May 6, 2008
asativum commented on the word asparagusic acid
jennaren, consumption of asparagus lends a distinct (and strong, as dontcry points out) odor to the eater's urine. But it turns out that only a sizable minority of human beans can smell it...
May 5, 2008
asativum commented on the word prickly pears
Pass the hotdish please!
May 5, 2008
asativum commented on the user asativum
You got it, Pro. See more of me here.
May 2, 2008
asativum commented on the word erotimation
And that vanishing art form, erotopera.
May 2, 2008
asativum commented on the word prickly pears
Surely it's always roadrunner or coyote, never both?
May 2, 2008
asativum commented on the word truck nutz
Oh dear. Booby flaps, truck titz, Sparky the Corvette What haf I wrought?
May 2, 2008
asativum commented on the list officious-asaparagus
Nice additions. Thanks!
May 2, 2008
asativum commented on the word aspharagos
Greek root for asparagus.
April 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word asparagus beetle
"Asparagus is a useful companion plant for tomatoes," Wikipedia opines. "The tomato plant repels the asparagus beetle, as do several other common companion plants of tomatoes, meanwhile asparagus may repel some harmful root nematodes that affect tomato plants."
This makes a curious, if utterly unscientific, sort of sense: red/green, long/round, vegetable/fruit...
April 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word asparagine
Amino acid abundant in asparagus.
I should have known you'd beat me here, sionnach.
April 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word espargo hortense
Portuguese for asparagus. But who's Hortense?
April 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word asparagusic acid
S2(CH2)2CHCO2H "may be the metabolic precursor to other odorous thiol compounds," Wikipedia tells us.
Elsewhere, she informs us that only about two in five of us can sense the odoriferous effects of consuming the phalliform shoot. If you can't, it's not your fault; it's genetic.
April 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word truck nutz
Soon to be banned in Florida (perhaps), lampooned on NPR and sold by these folks. (And these, and these. Among others.)
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word pied-à-terre
Little known fact: This is actually one of those words the French don't like to admit they borrowed from another language, in this case English. It comes from "pie (of) the territory," a Welsh delicacy much like an empanada: minced meat, onion and herbs in a sort of starchy pouch, originally made for shepherds to take with them.
Anyway, these were a hit with the French for a while in the 18th century, though they they mangled the transliteration (and pronunciation). They functioned as a sort of early take-out food, favored in particular by wealthy merchants and the like visiting Paris. They would take a pied-à-terre back to their apartments, and eventually the term came to refer to the apartments themselves.
Naturally, the French came up with a dubious back-formation to disguise the foreign derivation. See the work of Prof. Da Nes for more detail.
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word incisive
Thus explaining the etymology of incisor, no doubt.
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word persona
As distinct from personb.
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word felicitate
Remind me to be selective which Nigerians I let congratulate me...
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word traumatophobia
Unrelated to tomatophobia.
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word logastellus
Great word. From Babylon:
"A person whose love of words is greater than their knowledge of words."
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word after taste
Disco.
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word antigone
Still here.
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word pome
Verse not written by pros.
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word prickly pears
Irritable pomes
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word molecular
Tyrannosaurus:
Bones unmask his true nature.
Here birdie, birdie.
Tests Confirm T. Rex Kinship With Birds, The New York Times, April 25, 2008
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word does mrs kennedy wear black
You know, this makes a lot more sense than I one I keep hearing about the Pope defecating in the woods.
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word camoufudge
List Search Results for “ExistentiaList�?
Search lists:
No matching lists.
Or is that the point?
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the list lessons-in-marxism
Tuscaloosa!
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word two-up
But what is two-up?
April 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word reproach
To proach again.
April 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word features
Shan't miss oddocomplete myself; tripped me up too often. If it returns, perhaps it can be something each Wordie can turn on/off. (Hey John, I avoided user!)
Bulk add would be cool, OP. But maybe tough to protect it from spambots?
April 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word panpipes
Pan-pipes always remind me of Lovecraft, though I think he may have just said pipes most of the time.
"There in the moonlight that flooded the spacious plain was a spectacle which no mortal, having seen it, could ever forget. To the sound of reedy pipes that echoed over the bog there glided silently and eerily a mixed throng of swaying figures, reeling through such a revel as the Sicilians may have danced to Demeter in the old days under the harvest moon beside the Cyane."
-- H.P. Lovecraft, The Moon-Bog
April 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word camoufudge
On the other hand, I'd advise against Camusfudge. It always leaves me faintly bewildered.
April 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word listeria
A synonym for Wordie-mania.
April 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word open lists
Young, sionnach? For some reason I always envisioned him as ancient, quite bald, bent double by his hours over a hot keyboard, shuffling to the train muttering extracts from New York Times articles under his breath.
Oh, and blind. I'm quite sure he's blind. All the truly great seers and prophets are blind, aren't they?
April 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word quorn
Not to get into details, but this explains a lot Pro...
April 22, 2008
asativum commented on the list lost-for-word
Here's one found in the wild: antiaurosemantonym
You can see it lurking at the top of pulchritude, contributed by logophile, and not far from its tentative definition: a word that sounds unlike its meaning. There's even a reference to skipvia's list on the subject.
April 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word pulchritude
Somehow I missed this. Antiaurosemantonym is luverly!
April 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word quorn
Vegetarian is one of those confusing food words. I was once offered some organic lamb at dinner, and was very surprised to think that some lamb might be synthetic.
April 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word malcuntent
I keep seeing this word on the comments list and thinking it's something like mulctintet, aka The Five Frauds. (Or maybe that's mulctinet, a rigidly disciplined fraud.)
Then this time I thought it said malquintet. It's like one of those optical illusions: My brain just can't quite see it right.
April 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word venti
Erm. That's an Apple ad, right?
April 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word ragnarok
Totally dissed in favor of BFF Armageddon.
April 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word apocalyptofreudendudgeon
Favorited.
But you know, once you pay for the CGI time to animate elaborate renditions of Ragnarok*, you pretty much have to get some use out of them.
*(Why should Armageddon get all the attention?)
April 22, 2008
asativum commented on the list at-least-two-apostrophes-or-your-money-back
I've never seen wha'd'ya know good written out, so the apostrophes could vary. Still, seems like a good candidate.
April 20, 2008
asativum commented on the list •public-list-delightful-ejaculations
Woo doggie might be appropriate.
April 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word woo doggie
Exclamation, typically of exhilaration or delight, with the first syllable drawn out to varying degrees: "Woo, doggie!"
Heard in Arkansas and Mississippi.
April 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word crawfish
Louisianans love inviting locals to pinch tail and suck head.
(The heads make neat finger-puppets, too!)
April 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word fraternity
This analysis
Brought to you by network news
(and the DoD).
Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand, The New York Times, April 20, 2008
April 20, 2008
asativum commented on the list lost-for-word
Hey, I like the simplicity of cereal pinball. But ricocereal has a great ring to it too -- maybe it's the technical term?
But what's the term for something serendipitous that I couldn't have done better if I had tried?
April 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word wha'd'ya know good
Approximation of an Arkansas idiomatic greeting. Roughly "what's up"?
April 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word anymore
My favorite usage of this is one I first encountered in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, meaning roughly "these days." As in: "Anymore, I don't go there," or: "Anymore, you don't hardly have to know someone to get in there."
April 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word might could
Grew up in Illinois, and "quarter of" was not only understood by one and all, but standard usage, probably on par in frequency with "quarter to" and "quarter til".
Anyhow, I got to say, y'all are mighty literal.
April 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word luncheon meat
There is indeed a Luncheon meats list, replete with baloney and silver star’s blue ribbon dutch loaf.
April 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word vegetarian
Hm. I think I could argue that cheese, milk and even cows are, in fact, made from vegetables. After all, cows are indisputably vegetarians (except perhaps in modern factory farms). In some sense, milk is essentially processed grass.
That said, I'm happy to let others avoid what they want (or, rather, don't want), as long as they don't make me eat cheese.
April 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word quorn
Erm. Never was good at grammar... Quorn's the vegetarian, or you?
April 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word blue whale
Come to think of it, blue whales do look a little mousy.
Mussels, not so much.
April 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphaloholism
See: synonym
April 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphaloörangiophobia
My new favorite word.
April 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalophilia
An unnatural attraction to contemplating one's navel. Alternatively, love of navels.
April 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalophobia
Irrational fear of contemplating one's navel. Also, fear of navels.
April 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word caltrops
Poisonous iron-age landmines for nutlets. No wonder I haven't seen many subshrubs around lately.
April 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalomania
Nice! Another form of omphalopathy.
April 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word broccoli
But wait. I understand what a zucchina is. But what's a broccola? The veggie seems singularly fractal to me, tough to make singular.
Broccoli always reminds me of the absurdly funny sketch on Saturday Night Live about an over-the-hill rocker singing "chopping broccoli" over and over again.
April 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word cumbent
Bravo! Thanks... If they refer to proneness, add 'em to the list!
April 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word winkee
c_b, presumably because calling them penises would be both confusing and more off-putting.
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word dipshit
Have you ever suddenly considered the literal meaning of a common phrase? For me, it seems to happen most dramatically with scatological references like this one...
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word hemispingus
Groan-ups.
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word decumbent
See cumbent.
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word cumbent
To be confused with recumbent, accumbent, decumbent and procumbent. Perhaps there are more?
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word accumbent
Really, just how many words do we need for being prone that end in -cumbent?
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word procumbent
The incumbent was found recumbent among the procumbent subshrubs.
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word caltrops
I've always wanted to see a tropical annual procumbent poisonous subshrub. Or any kind of subshrub, for that matter.
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word theocratic
Pertaining to Theocrates, or Theocritus, a poet of ancient Sicily.
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word eyeless
Also: without support, as during parliamentary debates.
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word features
Gangerh, as a stopgap, you could just post an empty list (presumably with a clever title) and solicit descriptions in the comments; once a word is settled on, it can be added to the list. Just a thought.
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalogous
Akin to contemplating one's navel.
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalologos
Words about contemplating your navel.
April 17, 2008
asativum commented on the word double
Dubbel is a style of Belgian beer, if that helps any.
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word the deuce
As distinct from il Duce.
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word chained bear banana banshee
I've got a recipe for banana wine around somewhere. Probably several. (Meantime, here's a banana wine recipe from the web. Never tried it.)
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word slumbumyumcrumbdudgeon
This really ought to be a word. Oh wait -- it is.
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word meuse
A specific egress!
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word agraffe
Sounds like ancient Velcro to me.
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word nazzle
Redundant, at least in certain families.
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word bitwixen
I think that's a Wordie koan, frangio.
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphaleriomagnetism
Shear brilliance.
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalocentrism
The refusal to contemplate any navel but one's own.
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalism
The belief that everything can be contemplated in one's navel.
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalistification
The act of making everything about the contemplation of one's navel.
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphaloholism
Addiction to contemplating one's navel.
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the list omphalology
Spooky...
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word arch-fiend
Hm. That comment was supposed to go on aright, which I got to from the random word list. Bug?
April 15, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalacious
Of or pertaining to the inaccurate contemplation of one's navel.
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word heteromphology
Contemplating the navels of others.
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphaloplexy
Seizure from over-contemplation of one's navel. Figuratively, any seemingly extreme agitated state brought on by contemplation of one's navel.
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalingering
Pretending to contemplate one's navel.
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalesy
False contemplation of one's navel.
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word trigulocity
Did you mean: travelocity
Wordie: Trigulocity
Wordie : trigulocity. Wordie is a social network for people who love words. List words, add comments and citations, and discuss.
wordie.org/words/trigulocity - 11k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word baluchitherium
"Indricotherium is a genus of extinct mammals that lived in Asia during the late Oligocene and early Miocene epoch of the Tertiary Period (37-32 million years ago). ... The correct Latin names for fossils in this group (the indricotheres) are a matter of uncertainty. It is also widely known as "Baluchitherium" ("beast of Baluchistan"), as it was first discovered in Baluchistan, western Province of Pakistan."
- Wikipedia
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word arch-fiend
Also, an interjection in the American South. As in, "Aright, let's git 'er done."
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the list omphalology
Inspired by the introspection at typology.
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalologist
An expert at studying one's navel. Also, a navel surgeon.
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word omphalosepsis
Feverish condition brought on by over-contemplation of one's navel.
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam!
In several Southern states, it's mandatory. And some folks are looking to make it easier all the time! (I think the bill was defeated in the end -- for now.)
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word dork out
Not to revive this thread, but sionnach, wouldn't it just be better to butter both sides of a single piece of bread? Simpler, and saves on Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys White Meat Chicken Tuscany in a Savory Sauce with Long Grain Rice and Garden Greens*, too.
* When did cats start eating better than I do?
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word typology
Better than omphalosepsis, I suspect. But yes, I aspire to be a leading omphalologist.
April 14, 2008
asativum commented on the word lactose-free cow
Are you one of those lactose intolerants?
(Shamelessly stolen from a brilliant Pearls Before Swine comic that I can never find online.)
April 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word syrup
The problem is that the maps just count responses. So a ton of respondents, it appears, come from the Northeast; ergo, every pronunciation appears concentrated in the Northeast.
What they ought to map, by color, is the relative proportion of responses received so far from a given region (state, city, whatnot).
So: Points for neat research idea, marked down for information-poor illustration of results.
April 11, 2008
asativum commented on the list sounds-often-heard-during-a-search-for-a-hard-to-find-word
Plethora, have you noticed that raising the volume makes it more likely the thing shows itself?
Its like the way things always show up in the last place you look. Spooky.
April 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word typology
Further broken down between useful listings or citations and mere sniping from the gallery.
Put me down for the sniping section.
April 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word learning curve
This just blew my mind. You're saying rocket science isn't rocket science, then?
April 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word unique selling proposition
Which had better not be too literally unique, or you won't make much money using it.
April 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word symphony product
Symphonies don't multiply?
April 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word aunt
Neat map, but too sparse representation in the Western states, it seems to me, to tell me much about some of these...
April 11, 2008
asativum commented on the word virginians
You can't fool me, seanahan. Washington was clearly from Washington. Why else would his parents have named him that?
April 10, 2008
asativum commented on the word nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam!
This one's going in the wallet; I'm sure it'll come in handy.
April 10, 2008
asativum commented on the word lairy
Does that make the place where they hold gatherings of dishonest flashy Australians the lair of the liar lair fair?
April 10, 2008
asativum commented on the word italian dressing
I thought it was made from Italians.
(But every American knows that Australians are just like Southerners, only with funnier accents and a penchant for large knives.)
April 10, 2008
asativum commented on the word how to rend a book
Clearly it should be shelvefulze, parallel to mongooze, which I believe was filed under mongoose somewhere around here.
April 10, 2008
asativum commented on the word virginians
Well, a resident of Virginia is a native or inhabitant of the United States, right?
For that matter, a native or inhabitant of the United States is a native or inhabitant of a predominantly English-speaking country (for now, anyway). So Bilby, I'd guess that makes you a Virginian too!
This could really solve a lot of problems, you know?
April 9, 2008
asativum commented on the list hickbonics
Don't forget bidness, which is what a bidnessman does if'n the gubmint doesn't get in his way.
April 9, 2008
asativum commented on the word gubmint
Or even gummint. Clearly hickbonics spelling needs to be reformed.
April 9, 2008
asativum commented on the word heidi
Hm. Always thought this was spelled heighdy. Seems more bumpkinish that way.
April 9, 2008
asativum commented on the list luncheon-meats
Looks like ham trumps prosciutto. See March 14 news story.
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word scarf
And here I always thought WeirdNet's proclivities amounted to a feature, not a bug.
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word kidnap
Recent evidence suggests it actually traces back to medieval English, and a common hunting prank among the noble set.
Tethered young goats were used as bait to attract bears, wolves and other predators. The hunter or gamekeeper would often nap within earshot of the kid while waiting for the beast to show up, at which point the kid would make a ruckus, waking the napper and bringing the bear (or whatnot) to its speedy demise. Of course, it was the work of a moment for a neighboring squire to instead make off with the kid -- thus, kidnap. Also the origin of the phrase, to get your goat.
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word sport
The chromosomal alteration bit I've heard before -- a sport can be a mutant, essentially. I would assume that's the derivation for the word's use for a person who's a little off.
Then there are sport peppers, which with a little celery salt makes a fine accompaniment to a Chicago hot dog.
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word ass shop
Certainly wouldn't want people to get the wrong impression!
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word grey nomad
That's a beaut!
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word muss
Goes well with fuss and bother.
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word piece of string
A piece of string walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Hey buddy! Can't you read the sign? We don't serve string in here." And tosses him out onto the curb. (Repeat ad nauseum.)
Finally, the string thinks a little, musses up his hair, contorts himself into a hopeless tangle and goes back in. The bartender looks at him suspiciously and says, "Say, aren't you that piece of string I just threw out of here?" To which the string replies, "I'm a frayed knot."
An oldie but... well, an oldie, anyway.
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the list the-sign-game
Wonderful additions -- thanks!
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word teamsters
Q: How many Teamsters does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Twelve. And it isn't funny, pal.
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word pickle
Then there's Arlo Guthrie's Motorcycle Song. I'm not sure what it's about, but it does establish that pickle and motorcycle can rhyme. Sort of.
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word spitting
Not to worry, Pro: I think we both understood your meaning. Misunderstanding is just more amusing.
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word torch
Cops on Rollerblades
Protect the Olympic flame.
Busing of the torch?
Olympic Torch Relay in Paris Halted as Protests Spread, The New York Times, April 8, 2008.
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word spitting
I've been to New York and no one spat relish at me. Am I missing something?
April 8, 2008
asativum commented on the word the valley
Suddenly Pslam 23 makes so much sense...
February 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word basket case
Erm, yes, and it's not particularly kind. I'll let Answers.com describe it succinctly, and you can infer the rest:
In the grim slang of the British army during World War I, it referred to a quadruple amputee. This is one of several expressions that first became popular in World War I, or that entered American army slang from British English at that time.
February 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word twist
Also once a slang term for a skirt or dame.
(My, what a lot of daffynitions WeirdNet has for twist!)
February 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word catspaw
Anyone know what this means in a rhetorical context? (Hey, I'm actually using Wordie to learn something specific!)
February 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word strike
Writers, producers
May be nearing a new pact.
This is a good thing?
-- Producers Say Writers Could Return on Monday, The New York Times, Feb. 9, 2008
February 9, 2008
asativum commented on the word lunch
Ooh! Just noticed the online article includes recipes as well...
February 7, 2008
asativum commented on the word lunch
Eat the cats and snakes
And the rodents multiply.
Dinner is served. (Rats!)
-- For Vietnamese, The Year of the Rat Starts With Lunch, The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 6, 2008 (or see the video).
February 7, 2008
asativum commented on the word demeter
De-preciate it, reesetee!
February 7, 2008
asativum commented on the word aerosolization
Numbness, pain, tingling.
Twelve pork-plant workers fall ill.
Answer: Don't blow brains.
-- A Medical Mystery Unfolds in Minnesota, The New York Times, Feb. 5, 2008
February 6, 2008
asativum commented on the word möbius strip tease
Now this I'd like to see: One dimensional, never reaches any kind of culmination...
Come to think of it, doesn't that pretty much describes most strip teases?
February 5, 2008
asativum commented on the word and
And?
February 5, 2008
asativum commented on the word copremesis
Not to bump one of the most disturbing words in the English language back to the top, but I've been finding more rhetorical uses for this word every day. Along with copremetic, which I assume would be the adjectival form or whatnot.
February 5, 2008
asativum commented on the word grime and punishment
Brilliant.
February 5, 2008
asativum commented on the word jumping jesus on a pogo-stick
Wow. Without context, this could mean so many things: Mugging someone named Jesus, who's using a pogo stick. Mugging Jesus while one is on a pogo stick oneself. Christ on a pogo stick, jumping... I gape in awe the versatility of this phrase.
February 5, 2008
asativum commented on the word demeter
As in: "I received define because I neglected to feed demeter."
February 5, 2008
asativum commented on the word sewage
Welcome to Marin:
Sail. Stay. Fish. Play. Swim. Surf. Dine.
(Don't touch the water.)
-- Continued recommendation to avoid water near Marin sewage spill, San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 2, 2008.
February 3, 2008
asativum commented on the word yodeling
Any truth to the idea that goiter is a necessary/helpful condition for yodelers?
February 3, 2008
asativum commented on the word undersea
How may I help you?
Whoops. There goes the Internet.
Try again next month.
Indian call centres for British firms 'badly hit' after two severed undersea cables knock out internet, (London) Daily Mail, Jan. 31, 2008.
February 1, 2008
asativum commented on the word hotlink
I imagine it has something to do with hot in the sense of live, like an electric circuit can be hot. In other words, click it and something happens, you're linked to other information. By contrast, in the cold, dead world of print, a "link" (or citation) does nothing; you have to do the work.
Then again, it could be that someone realized something like 99% of all Web traffic would shortly be porn, and so they thought it would improve their search-engine scores to use "hot". Then the opposite would presumably be homelylinks
February 1, 2008
asativum commented on the word how to win fiends and influence people
Dale Carnegie's other self-help book, in which he explains how to better persuade people by calling upon the forces of darkness.
January 31, 2008
asativum commented on the list real-names
Spencer Honey was a state official in Arkansas. Very tall, solidly built man. Always felt odd asking for him on the phone. Oh, and I was once in a school where there were two students, both girls, named Unique.
Others I've met: Shannon Doah, Obadiah Butterworth, Dixie Land and Abby Rhodes.
January 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word smarties
Heh. 'Cause here in the States, they're more or less little sugar tablets with generic ascorbic acid flavor.
January 28, 2008
asativum commented on the list pseudo-nyms
Hope, Faith, Charity, April, May, June, August, Moon Unit...
January 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word heisenberg's uncertainty principle
Well, that one's easy. I'll take the food and racks out, stuff you in, and close the door. Probably requires an American-size fridge, of course.
January 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word serval
Several servals
Spotted strolling Seattle,
Seeking savanna.
"Spotted in Seattle -- yet another wild cat," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 26,2008.
January 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word egg cuber
Why on earth would anyone want a cubic egg? And really, it doesn't cube them -- it more squares them. Or rectangularizes them. Or something.
January 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word shah
Said one scholar to the other: "One man's Mede is another man's Persian."
"Are you shah?" the other replied.
"Sultanly."
January 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word the bride of san luis rey
Brilliant.
January 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word finjan
Erm. Wouldn't this be a paper cup?
January 28, 2008
asativum commented on the word argh
201
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word plethora
It essentially comprises the epitome of words that a plethora of people get wrong...
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word notaulix
This is now one of my favorite words.
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word mongoose
The zoo-keeper, having prepared a shipment to another zoo, was stymied when drafting the cover letter. "Enclosed are the two mongeese..." He scratched it out and wrote: "Enclosed are the two mongooses..." He scratched that out too.
Finally, he wrote: "Enclosed is the mongoose you requested. Also enclosed is the other mongoose you requested."
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word octopus
Thanks! Always wondered about that. (See mongoose.)
Not sure I'd get too jocular with octopuses, or octopi for that matter, given then Mr. Potatohead story; they don't seem to have much of a sense of humor.
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word malarky
It's a variant spelling of malarkie, clearly, and refers to the characteristics of underhanded Arkansans. From mal + Arkie
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word horripilation
And yet, when you think of the bumps on the cold, plucked skin of a dressed goose, it's maybe a little less sweet.
Goose sure is tasty, though.
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word triskaidekaphobia
Fear of falling off a ship after slipping on a square, baked whole-wheat wafer?
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the list sweet-tooth-fairy
Neat list.
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word sunga
...
(This comment intentionally left blank.)
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word nutella
I vaguely remember having the opportunity to compare the ingredients of Nutella bought in Europe and a jar of the stuff bought in the U.S., and was surprised by some difference. Now I can't remember if one lacked chocolate, or used peanuts where the other used hazelnuts...
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word octopus
Oughtn't it be octopi?
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the list ice-creams-i-have-loved
Mmm. My list would include, in rough chronological order, french vanilla, pink bubblegum, and finally pralines and cream, all B&R flavors. Alas, these days my favorites would make an even shorter list.
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the list pigs-on-parade
Nice list. Why are things porcine usually so amusing?
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word the empress of blandings
Wonderful; I'd quite overlooked her.
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word covert
Yikes. Just don't Spoonerize it.
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word fun
I'm surprised no one has commented on just how odd this word is. Say it a few times: fun, fun, fun! Cheers one up and all, yes; fun, yes; but odd.
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the user treeseed
What fascinates me: the words you're listing or citing. It's fun trying to figure out how you go from one to the next, the common threads; it makes me think I'm getting a picture of your knowledge and/or interests. True all over Wordie, of course, but usually in slower motion.
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word work out
Surgery? Organ donation? Maybe not quite the effect you're looking for.
And for an ignorant American, what is two stone, anyway?
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word joke
What Treeseed said!
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word and
Hmph. Figures WeirdNet would be classist.
January 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word bingo
Also a P.G. Wodehouse character: Bingo Little, went to school with Bertie Wooster (and is fond of reminding him of such). Loves not wisely, nor terribly well for the most part. Participant in The Great Sermon Handicap.
January 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word joey
Having properties of coffee.
January 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word and
Wow. WeirdNet doesn't even try to touch and.
January 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word moisterizer
Moisturizer makes things moist. Clearly moisterizer makes them moister, Mister.
But shouldn't it really be called greasturizer or oilyizer? And whilst I'm at it, why do so many people hate the word moist?
January 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word citizen
Give us your tired,
your poor, your huddled masses?
Well, maybe next year.
"Longer waits to become citizens," The Boston Globe, Jan. 25, 2008
January 26, 2008
asativum commented on the user treeseed
Wow. Just noticed you have 1142 words posted, in just 7 days. That's remarkable.
January 26, 2008
asativum commented on the user treeseed
Having never gotten my skirt caught in my pantyhose (another good reason to avoid both, imo), I can't say I know how you feel. But don't worry about it -- I never bother to click on those buttons, for the most part. For me, some enterprising Treeseed doesn't provide a definition, it's WeirdNet or nothin'. Well, or I go all DIY on Wordie.
January 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word soliloquy
You don't say?
January 26, 2008
asativum commented on the word gorsedd
Not many around these days, so it's no horde. Just a bored bard board.
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the user asativum
Sigh. Not my day. Apologies all around, with two on Fridays.
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word ambidextrous
Doesn't it always?
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word features
I third sionnach and reesetee. In fact, maybe I'll start using lynx again, just for Wordie.
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the user asativum
Many sorries, resetee! I think I fixed it...
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the list what-is-a-reesetee-anyhow
And two syllables, too -- who knew?
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word palindrome
Didn't Bacon collaborate with the Earl of Sandwich too?
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word dime
Oops. My bad, reesetee.
I'll just stick to News Haikus.
Plus, I'm out of dimes.
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word stimulus
The markets tumble;
Housing, economy suck.
Here's 600 bucks.
-- "Congress, Bush Reach Deal on Stimulus Package," The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 24, 2008
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word pudding stone
When something is puddingstone, it is impossible or very difficult to change.
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the list shindigs
Hooley it is, then! Thanks.
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word palindrome
Wasn't Shakespeare the guy who wrote Colours of Good and Evil and the Meditationes Sacrae?
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word parson's nose
Also the nasal structure of some protestant ministers.
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word bell curve
Erm -- accident?
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word noxema
Or repurpose the word to some good use:
Noxema: like eczema, but worse.
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word dime
Well said, reesetee,
And you as well, uselessness.
S: please pass the bag.
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word sparrow
Ah, well, we don't really know that, do we yarb? Kind of Bede's point.
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word life savers
Is there any truth to the story that they're called "life savers" both because of their resemblance to a flotation ring like those found on ships, and because the hole in the middle would keep a child from choking on one?
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word cinnamon bear
Do not try to bite off the head of the wrong kind of a cinnamon bear. Also, be warned that cinnamon bears do not, in fact, taste like cinnamon bears; nor do they smell like them.
January 25, 2008
asativum commented on the word pilliwinks
Awww. How cute. Or not.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the list shindigs
I dunno about rout, unless there's a meaning I'm unfamiliar with. They aren't usually planned, and a good proportion of the people there didn't actually plan to attend, at least not quite like that.
Are there other citations for hooley? I'd like to stick to words in reasonably common use. Admittedly, I've only done a very cursory search.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word ill will
Rivals loathe Romney,
For pandering, deep pockets.
He says: Sour grapes.
-- "Romney Leads in Ill Will Among G.O.P. Candidates," New York Times, 24 Jan. 2008
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word fartlek
And a fun word to teach to seventh-graders.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word exeunt
You can stick to exit; I'm afraid we must use exeunt -- isn't it the plural?
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word kumquat
Oh, man, kumquats are great. Tart, sweet; pop 'em in your mouth and eat 'em whole... And don't forget the limequat, lemonquat and the rest of their -quat ilk. Dade City, Fla., has an annual kumquat festival.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the list shindigs
Got bash; what's a hooley?
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word dowsing rods
Yikes. Great link, reesetee. Poor thing is probably just lonely. But why doesn't it reassure me that the cama project is headed by a Dr. "Lulu" Skidmore?
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word cama
A cross between a llama and a camel. No, really. So sayeth Wikipedia: "bred by scientists who wanted to see how closely related the parent species were. The dromedary is six times the weight of a llama, hence artificial insemination was required to impregnate the llama female." We also learn that the poor beast "apparently inherited the poor temperament of both parents." Thus proving the heritability of irritability, at least among Camelidae.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word dowsing rods
Minature, um, camel fodder? What do ordinary camels eat for that matter? (And it turns out there really is something like a Shetland camel: see cama.)
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word shetland pony
What's the deal with these? Are Shetland people short too?
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word cornish hen
Apparently, despite the name, the ones plucked, shrink-wrapped and frozen at the local Piggly-Wiggly may actually be male. Which makes them Cornish -- never mind.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word copremesis
I've never seen it, and it's one of the (relatively) few nonviolent concepts that truly disturbs me.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the list it-s-a-small
What's with shrinking critters down so they fit in a pocketbook? Or a Foreman Grill, for that matter.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word dowsing rods
Shetland camels?
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the list what-is-a-reesetee-anyhow
Apparently greener, as seen at puke bowl.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word haiku
You might be surprised
How well life can be condensed
Into a haiku.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the list shindigs
Oh man, how could I have lived this long without benefit of the word callithump?!
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word dime
Nice of them to make
Their name five syllables, no?
(And thanks, uselessness.)
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word shredder lubricant
Likewise. But you know there's be a market.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word dime
Once cheap, copper soared,
Til a cent cost more to make.
Now it's just habit.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the list the-art-of-ejection
In the interest of completeness, if not taste, I will note that copremesis probably belongs here. Unfortunately.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word dowsing rods
Camels.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word dime
Just a copper shell;
Most of it seems to be zinc.
--Wikipedia
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word shredder lubricant
Y'know, someone could turn this into a brand name.
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word swingline
You know, that's what I always thought too. Then I realized that for pinning to a bulletin board, you don't need the anvil at all -- you just open the stapler wide and whack it.
Come to Wordie to discuss exciting word-like topics, including different kinds of specific excrement and how to use a stapler!
January 24, 2008
asativum commented on the list shindigs
Hm. I may need to think about this too much. Hen and stag parties I'll take: I've heard them used generically as gatherings of women and men, respectively (if not necessarily respectfully).
Spelling bee, bachelor party and sleepover strike me as too specific: They're not so much shindigs as particular kinds of shindigs: you do something so specific.
But I'll take bee, wake, reception, picnic, banquet, chautauqua and shower -- and, while I'm thinking of it, rendezvous, too.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word ceilidh
You say ceilidh,
I say ceilidh,
Let's call the whole thing off!
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word dime
Five haikus on change,
Didn't even cost a dime.
Ha! How cool is that?
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word wazoo
Hm. If context is what things are taken out of, and wazoo what things come out of, does this mean that the next time someone asks for some context, I should tell them to go look up their wazoo?
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word philosophical transactions of the royal society
That is ineffably cool.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word hippopotamus stomach
You never know when you need a hippo stomach, mollusque. Or pickled mammal parts. (See pickled pig lips.)
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word ceilidh
Oh dear. Can't a nation of 300-million mainly English-speakers* agree on how to stress the syllables of a Gaelic word?
(edit): * Erm -- and their lovely and decidedly independent neighbors to the north, of course... Sorry! Excusez-moi!
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word wazoo
Not to be confused with Yazoo City, Miss., out of which little more than Amtrak, the River of Death, a few odd movie references, and a lot of kudzu seems to come.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the list shindigs
I like barn-raising, and thanks for party too -- I was remiss in not listing it sooner. I'm going for events that are planned or for which people gather. Is gabfest too spontaneous/general?
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the list shindigs
Excellent. Thanks, reesetee! And to leave you a spare "c" or two, I used "k" for kaffee klatsch.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word bugs
Oddly, the random word feature now brings up different words -- but says none of them have been listed, even when they have...
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word ceilidh
Thanks!
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the list shindigs
Good one -- thanks!
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word ceilidh
Pronounced "hoo-ha," I hope. Because then I have a chance of saying it right.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word hootenanny
Wikipedia does say the word was used like thingamajig in the early 20th c. So could be.
And thanks for calling attention to it; I'm adding it to my Shindigs list.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word fajita burpito
From a suburban Taco Bell sign. I imagine the slogan would be: "The fajita that repeats on you!"
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word em assy suites
Seen near the airport in Tampa, Fla., I think.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word huddle ho
One of my favorite signs, from a roadside Huddle House, which is sort of like a Waffle House, only more so.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the list how-do-you-like-kipling
A guy I knew named Joe would say he didn't even know her whenever someone found him listening to Joe Cocker.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word kipling
Said he to she: "Do you like Kipling?"
Said she to he: "I don't know, you naughty boy -- I've never kippled."
D'oh. I just saw sionnach's list on this, um, sophisticated little gag. Oh well. Maybe someone will get here from somewhere else. Someday.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word water witching
I always thought this had something to do with the ordeal of water. But maybe that's witching water.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word 3 ft.-long hanging meat hooks
Julia, I think you misunderstood. The proprietors of the stamp shop aren't fond of fish. The heading clearly states:
"Veal, Lamb and Foul Stamps"
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word generic happy meal toy from the mid nineties
Or for why you stole it?
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the list nobody-expects-the-spanish-inquisition
Well, there's also the Hussites, led by Jan Hus. Some others: the Albigensianism (a form of Dualism), Docetism, Gnosticism.
But this could get dicey. I remember once asking an amateur Catholic historian about heresies, and he said: "Oh, like the Presbyterians?"
Maybe stick with pre-Reformation heresies, though even that might get sticky when you get to concepts like Nestorianism...
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word freest
Not to be confused with free est.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word pickled pig lips
Got 'em at a convenience store in New Orleans. Eventually a more adventuresome coworker tried 'em. Chewy, he said.
Mine were in a single-serving pack, but you can get your own 14 oz. jar online. Or learn more about the whole dazzling array of pickled pork bits at this blog.
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word redbrick
Oh dear. Is this the start of a Wikipedia-A.Word.A.Day smackdown? I'll get the popcorn!
January 23, 2008
asativum commented on the word dotted swiss
Arrr, beat me to it, sionnach! But much funnier than I would have done.
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word slicker
Also: more slick.
And an ostensibly sophisticated person, usually preceded by "city".
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word features
Not sure this belongs here, but after some discussion around the word confuzzle, including John's musings about a FAQ at brusselsprouts''s profile, I notice that FAQ remains unlisted and unclaimed.
Perhaps Wordies could give John a hand? Or is that only a recipe for more confuzzlement?
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word confuzzled
Don't despair; it doesn't take long to get the hang of it, mostly because there isn't really much hang to get. Read comments from the bottom. Follow links. List words. Ask questions. Most of all: Have fun.
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the list in-the-name-of-all-that-is-good-and-holy
Ooh! Maybe we'll get a theological debate going. Any Docetists out there? Ebionites? Apollonarians? Eutychians? Nestorians?
OK, maybe this isn't such a good idea...
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the list words-used-only-in-psychology-academic-papers
Urgh ... head ... about ... to ... explode ...
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word mother hubbard
Aw, shucks, sionnach...
I think that makes two of us, resetee. And maybe only two of us.
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word stop drop and roll
A close relative to duck and cover, the life-saving advice once billed for both nuclear annihilation and tornadoes. In my mind, anyway.
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the list in-the-name-of-all-that-is-good-and-holy
Excellent. Nicely done! I was gearing up to it, but was a little daunted by the prospect.
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word sambuca
So I could sip a sambuca whilst listening to a somnambulist in a sombrero playing a somber samba on a sambuca?
Cool.
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word ecumenical
This word always reminds me of an old joke:
A Catholic priest and a Protestant minister were in a heated theological argument. After a lull, one (take your pick) said, "Well, we must remember that we worship the same God."
"Yes," said the other. "You in your way, I in His."
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the word mother hubbard
Ah, but it only takes a little history to make the connection clear! Mother Adélie Hubbard was the mother superior of a small convent of Spheniscidan nuns in pre-Reformation London. Toward the end of her life, the nuns were called to feed a nearby community of Dominican friars decimated by a famine. The nuns themselves were on the verge of starvation but nonetheless were inspired by Mother Hubbard to heed the call.
The first verse of the popular children's nursery rhyme is a reference to this event: Old Mother Hubbard is of course the mother superior herself; the cupboard represents the convent's food stores; the Dominicans were known as the "dogs of God" (a Latin pun: Domini canes); a bone makes a poor meal, symbolizing the fact that the nuns had little to spare; and of course, the cupboard was bare -- starvation ultimately wiped out both communities. (Subsequent verses are later additions, and probably just pleasant nonsense.)
The dress, as you can see, got its name from its loose fit -- as on an emaciated nun -- and its lack of a belt. Spheniscidines wear no adornment of any kind, including belts.
More on this etymology from cultural linguist and medieval English scholar Gentoo Humboldt at the Royal Fiordland University in Oslo.
January 22, 2008
asativum commented on the list david-s-books-about-words-and-language
May I recommend Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable? The 1898 version is available online, but half the fun is leafing through the actual book and following cross-references endlessly. I believe the most recent is the sixteenth edition
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the list other-malapropisms
Thanks to arby, who suggested tenderhooks on my Malapropisms I've heard list a couple months ago. Better late than never!
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word road hard and put away wet
Sorry; forgot to note that my tongue was planted firmly in cheek. See my list Malapropisms I've heard (and, for fun, Other malapropisms
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word road hard and put away wet
Used for horses that have had a tough road to hoe, no doubt.
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the list here-there-be-dragons
I love how the two lists complement each other: Reesetee's of dragons and other beasties, Narniabound's of named worms. Another testament to the infinite possibilities of language, and therefore of Wordie!
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word ancient of days
Hm. That's a good list. But I imagine just names and appellations for the God of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition would make a pretty interesting list.
Maybe I'll tackle it after checking the lightning rod on my roof.
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word inquorate
I think this is my new favorite word. Just think, next time you're mad at a legislator, you can accuse him/her of being inquorate. Unless their legislative body has convened, I suppose.
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word ancient of days
Wow. Don't tell me no one has a names-of-God list. Would that turn Wordie into a Kabbalistic endeavor?
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word @
Fascinating; thanks!
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word depraved and insulting english (peter novobatzky)
Urgh. Yes, that's the one. So grateful...
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word grossularious
Because there are so many things that do?
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word poppet
Properly preceded by the word "my" when said, with a cackling laugh by crones of a certain age.
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word @
You're saying, then, that that @, from the Arab ar rub', is a quarter quintal?
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word me and you and a dog named boo
I've never heard the song (for which I gather I should thank my stars), but from the comments it sounds more insulting than complimentary. Perhaps it's milder as a ringtone?
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word word freak (stefan fatsis)
I'll second that: A great read for anyone who's played Scrabble. Or wondered about those of us who do. (And those aren't mutually exclusive groups.)
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word bunting
Well said, yarb. Until Walt and other bowlderizers got hold of them, the fairy-tale and nursery-rhyme canon was a pretty fearsome thing. But that's what made them good lessons, cautionary tales if you will, with plenty of text and subtext for kiddie and adult alike.
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word depraved and insulting english (peter novobatzky)
This is a remarkable book. And some of the words are truly disturbing. I remember one referred to a particularly gruesome effect of extreme constipation that still makes me queasy. (I seem to have blocked the word itself, thankfully.)
January 21, 2008
asativum commented on the word lime
Ceviche,si. British sailors, I'll take a pass on. (And what a difference a preposition could make, no?)
January 20, 2008
asativum commented on the list in-a-pickle
Oh, man, you haven't lived* until you've had really good fried dill pickles. Think about it: salty, sour, crisp, crunchy, tangy, even a little sweet! And it supplies all the major snack groups, too: fat, salt, sugar, zip... Now where can I get some...
* OK, maybe you've lived, but you haven't really, truly enjoyed everything there is to enjoy about it, in particular fried dill pickles.
January 20, 2008
asativum commented on the list mr-wrenn-i-presume
Thanks! He did. Any suggestions welcome. I seem to have misplaced much of my Lewis library...
January 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word lime
Thanks reesetee! That is odd. I assume they'd taste limey, but I haven't the faintest what that would mean.
January 20, 2008
asativum commented on the list house-officer-argot
Fabulous list! When you get a chance, it would be great to see what more of these mean...
January 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word windrip
Whilst trying to refresh my memory about some of the characters, I discovered that the full text is online.
I love how Lewis plays with language throughout his books, right under your nose. And he came up with some of the most wonderfully apt names for characters.
January 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word arabesque
This is a conventional pose? And what does it have to do with Arabs?
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word bowlderize
Perhaps this is a rare variant meaning "to censor by placing a bowl over the offending material and carefully excising it in a neatly circular way." (Not to be confused with boulderize, to censor by dropping large boulders on the offending material until it can no longer be seen or read.)
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word fuggles
An English hop dating to the 19th century.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word humulus lupulus
Scientific name for the hop plant.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word wheatsylvania
North Dakota town in which Dr. Martin Arrowsmith practices in the Sinclair Lewis novel Arrowsmith.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word gopher prairie
Fictional setting of Main Street, the Sinclair Lewis novel about small-town life.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word prang
Quite unrelated, also the name of "the Reverend Paul Peter Prang, of Persepolis, Indiana, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church ... His weekly radio address, at 2 P.M. every Saturday, was to millions the very oracle of God. So supernatural was this voice from the air that for it men delayed their golf, and women even postponed their Saturday afternoon contract bridge." -- It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word gimmitch
"Mrs. Adelaide Tarr Gimmitch, the celebrated author, lecturer, and composer," and character in Sinclair Lewis' novel It Can't Happen Here.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word berzelius
See also Windrip.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word windrip
Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip is the fascist president of It Can't Happen Here, a cautionary novel by Sinclair Lewis. One verse of a campaign song written on his behalf:
Buzz and buzz and keep it up,
Our cares and needs he’s toting,
You are a most ungrateful pup,
Unless for Buzz you’re voting!
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word gantry
Also the last name of Elmer Gantry, title character of the novel by Sinclair Lewis.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word zenith
Largest city in Winnemac, and a setting for several Sinclair Lewis novels.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word winnemac
Fictional state in several Sinclair Lewis novels, including Babbitt, Dodsworth, and Arrowsmith, among others.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word dodsworth
Samuel Dodsworth is the title character and hero of Dodsworth, published 1929.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word wrenn
Title character in Sinclair Lewis's first "serious" novel, Our Mr. Wrenn: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man, published in 1914.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word lime
Does that mean soaking them in citrus juice, or lime water, the solution uncommonly known as Ca(OH)2? Or calcium oxide? Help! Is there a pickler in the house? Where's Peter Piper when you need him?
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the list in-a-pickle
I can't believe I forgot fried pickles! Mmmm. Wish I could have some right now. Thanks reesetee!
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word ochive
Funny. When I searched without being logged in once, I was redirected, repeatedly, to word. Seemed appropriate somehow.
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the user asativum
Hey, thanks! Really, I didn't mean to offend. And I really wasn't trying to make a crack about snacking on vegans; I meant pickled in the sense of polluted, or even lightly tipsy. Forgot about the yeasties, for which I have a certain fondness as well...
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the list in-a-pickle
No, pickled punks need not apply. Besides, some of the punks I have known have been belligerent whilst pickled.
Reesetee, I do believe that may be it. I think I'll have a luncheon meat sandwich with plenty of pickles. Or maybe I'll have a sub. Or a grinder. Or a po' boy. Or ...
January 19, 2008
asativum commented on the word advertising
Amazing what you can buy on eBay these days. Plucked from the Wordie ad feed:
*
Dictionary words
Browse a huge selection now. Find exactly what you want today.
www.ebay.com
*
Market with Google
Do You Sell Products Online? Use Google to Boost Your Business!
www.google.com
*
*
Ads by Google
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word spelt
On the Veldt.
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word picklesque
Easier to say than pickle-like
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word ogórek kiszony
A Polish pickle, Wikipedia tells us: "they are prepared using the traditional process of natural fermentation in a salty brine which makes them grow sour." And Wikipedia is never wrong, right?
And please, hold your pickle polish jokes.
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the list in-a-pickle
They go so well with luncheon meats, don't you think? See also In a pickle for other luverly fermented foodstuffs.
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the list stuff-vegans-consume-instead-of-critters
Oh, I don't mean to be insensitive. Just trying to have fun with words.
But I wasn't joking about my fondness for vegans; they, like so many others with restrictive diets, have ushered all sorts of tasty alternative foods (if also perhaps a few food alternatives) into our lives.
As for pickling, I've found it does a lot of people good. And I love the word: pickle, pickled, pickler, pickling, picklesque.
In fact, I think it's time for a list of pickles...
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the list stuff-vegans-consume-instead-of-critters
Last I checked I was still a member of Animalia, which pretty much rules me out as a vegetable. But I have a certain fondness for vegans. They're good pickled.
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word tchoupitoulas
Pretty much: Chop(i)TOO-liss. I've heard the i pronounced to varying degrees. But I'm no local.
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word marketing
So when the mugger says: "Your money or your life!" that's marketing? I mean, he's giving a set of instructions for creating an offering that has value for his, well, customer... What's wrong with the traditional definition: Stuff you say to get people to buy (into) things.
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word arkansawyer
What did Idaho? I dunno; Alaska.
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word muskeg
A peat bog of northern climes, notably Southeast Alaska.
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word tchoupitoulas
A street in New Orleans, and a lot of fun to say.
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word sipapu
Hole in the floor of a kiva symbolizing the hole from which people entered this world from the previous. A sort of omphalos. (Also sípapu.)
January 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word gunsel
I remember reading somewhere that the word primarily, or perhaps only, had meaning no. 1. Then Dashiell Hammett slipped it into one of his stories, knowing full well what it meant, but counting on readers (and editors/censors) to misinterpret as something along the lines of no. 2.
January 18, 2008
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