(ironically enough, wikipedia was blocked in China for a long time. flickr is half-blocked following distribution of photos from a protest in Xiamen - the new server farms are not included.)
This mark has several common names: 'hash', 'hatch', 'pound sign', and 'octothorp' among them. The name "pound sign" is an Americanism that causes some confusion in countries that use the pound for currency.
It was also noted that the # is a medieval abbreviation for Latin "numerus" - it is a cursive 'n' with a horizontal slash through it, much modified and abstracted.
One possible derivation of the name "octothorp" was provided by Charles Bigelow:
... old English "thorp" meant 'hamlet' or 'village' (I'm not sure of the difference, except maybe hamlet is smaller, as its apparent diminutive suffix would suggest), and is derived from a much older Indo-European word *treb- for 'dwelling', which turns out to mean 'beam' or 'timber' in Latin "trabs", winding up as "trave" in Anglo-Latin, like "architrave" - the beam resting on a column, or "trab-" as in "trabecula" - a small supporting beam or bar. As Voltaire said, etymology is a science in which the vowels count for nothing and the consonants for very little.
So, maybe "octothorp" means "8-beams", which makes a kind of sense if we take the 8 projections to be the thorps, or trabs or traves. Though it's only a "quadrathorp" if we think that the beams connect.
Another explanation has it that the octothorp is a "thorp"' surrounded by eight cultivated fields.
a language created by Dr Marc Okrand, a professional linguist, for use by the alien Klingons in some of the Star Trek movies. To make Klingon sound truly alien, Okrand used combinations of sounds which do not exist in any natural language. It is a complete language, with its own vocabulary, grammar, usage and an enthusiastic community of speakers.
A stick or thin pole about a metre in length (three feet) with a ball-shape pad at one end, used as an aid in painting, particularly in oil painting. A mahl stick is useful when painting detail or when painting in a large area where the paint is still wet and you want to avoid touching the surface accidentally.
Shoulderless, sleeveless tube-like upper garment which wraps the torso (not reaching higher than the armpits). Normally strapless, so tight over the breasts in order to prevent the garment from falling. Usually this is prevented with elastic or jersey-knit.
Also: abbreviation for brothers. So UK popular culture gives us Moss Bros, a chain of tailor's shops famous for hiring out morning suits for weddings and race days.
My best friends parents told me that when they were courting (in wartime), one time he arrived with a steak-and-kidney pudding sandwich.
Me, I like avocado and bacon, or just avocado on its own; cheese is magical though - not usually available in China though, so when I'm back in UK for the summer, I usually od on cheese. Also bread in all its forms. And chocolate!
"Teasers are usually rich kids with nothing to do. They cruise around looking for planets that haven't made interstellar contact yet and buzz them (ie: they find some isolated spot with very few people around, then land right by some poor unsuspecting soul whom no one's ever going to believe and then strut up and down in front of him wearing silly antennas on their head and making "beep beep" noises) Rather childish, really."
The Younger Futhark, also called the Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE.
A matryoshka doll or a Russian nested doll, also called a stacking doll or Babooshka doll, is a set of dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside the other. "Matryoshka" is a derivative of the Russian female first name "Matryona", which is traditionally associated with a fat, robust Russian woman.
I can remember listening to a cricket commentary on the radio. Clive Rice (South African) was bowling and there was someone with an Irish name batting. The commentator, John Arlott, said "Rice bowls and Paddy fields."
The reason why biblical names were chosen for these larger sizes is unknown. The term Jeroboam appears to have been used in Bordeaux from around 1725. Adopted in Champagne, the other bottles were probably named simply by analogy with the first in the series. Jeroboam was the founder and first king of the kingdom of Israel at the beginning of the first millennium before Christ. It is curious to note that Eustache Deschamps lists Jeroboam, Roboan (Roboam or Rehoboam) and Balthazar in his Balade MCCXLIX. As for the explanation of why Jeroboam was chosen by the wine-makers of Bordeaux, perhaps the answer lies in the Bible, in which Jeroboam is described as a man of great value; a jeroboam of Château Latour is undoubtedly a bottle of great value!- UNION of CHAMPAGNE HOUSES
Biblical champagne bottle sizes:
Jeroboam (Founder and first king of Israel, 931-910 BC)
Rehoboam, son of Solomon (King of Judah, 922-908 BC)
Methuselah (Biblical patriarch who lived to the age of 969)
There's a whole mountain of non-tosh books out there I haven't read yet. And that's just the ones I might be inclined to read. There's an Andean range of those I'm not going to waste any time on.
coitus interruptus: And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
I repeat that this is a completely invented condition. Or if it is a real condition, it is rare but being mis-applied in order to qualify for state help.
Seasonal Affective Disorder. An acronym which started life as a joke but now is being taken seriously. Seriously that is only by pseudo-scientists, quacks and other charlatans.
Bovril might be similar looking but it isn't a substitute. Marmite and its imitators are strictly vegetable based, whereas Bovril is beef. In addition Marmite is spread on bread, toast, etc. whereas Bovril is usually made into a drink
As far as I can tell, approximately half the population, i.e. all males, display symptoms of this. In other words, a meaningless condition invented by pseuds to justify their salary.
Branston Pickle is made from a variety of diced vegetables, including swede (rutabaga), onions, cauliflower and gherkins pickled in a sauce made from vinegar, tomato, apple and dates with spices such as mustard, coriander, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cayenne pepper.
Branston Pickle is sweet and spicy with a chutney-like consistency, containing small chunks of vegetables in a thick brown sticky sauce. It is commonly served as part of a ploughman's lunch, a once common menu item in British pubs. It is also frequently combined with cheddar cheese in sandwiches, and most sandwich shops in the UK offer "cheese and pickle" as an option.
That's what I figured. I think it's used by some shopkeepers to put the price tags on items without the customers knowing what the price is. I also think a similar mechanism is used by Microsoft to generate its code numbers for software.
You still need to get rid of bridgework and goldfinger though.
And this list has a chunk of (unbounded) html at the top.
Widow Twankey first occurs in 1861, the character runs a Chinese laundry in Peking, China and is a pantomime dame; that is always played by a man. One of her sons, Aladdin, is the hero of the pantomime, while her other son, often named Wishy Washy (or Wishee Washee)(or Wishy-washy), just helps in the laundry. She is not pivotal in the plot (such as it is), but more a source of interaction with the audience through jokes and innuendo — mostly centred on items of underwear on the washing line.
a crystalline form of aluminium oxide and one of the rock-forming minerals. It is naturally clear, but can have different colors when impurities are present.
The material was manufactured by Edward Goodrich Acheson around 1893, and he not only developed the electric batch furnace by which SiC is still made today but also formed The Carborundum Company to manufacture it in bulk, initially for use as an abrasive.
Carborundum is not a Latin word. The ending -undum suggests either a Latin gerund or gerundive form—and the idea of obligation ("Don't let ...") is more suggestive of the gerundive—but the word is actually a portmanteau of "carbon" (from Latin), and "corundum".
The last farthings were minted in Britain in 1957 and ceased to be legal tender in 1960. In fact their buying power was limited well before, and few were in general circulation.
A Victorian bicycle, named after its appearance: one very large leading wheel (like a pre-decimal penny), and a very small trailing wheel (like a farthing). Pedals were attached directly to the leading wheel. It was large because bicycle gears had not yet been invented.
...and then there was the knocker-ups. Well we had a bloke in our street, he lived at the bottom end of the street, now he was the knocker-up. You know what a knocker-up is? Well he had a big long pole and he had wires fastened to it at the top and he used to go round to these houses and he used to rattle on the window with these wires, you know, until he got an answer and then he used to go and do that. Well he'd only get about tuppence or threepence a week for doing that, you know.
In the Devan�?garī script, the danda (दंड daṃ�?a, lit. stick) is a punctuation character. The glyph consists of a single vertical stroke (।). The character can be found at code point U+0964 (।) in Unicode and at 0xEA in ISCII.
In Devan�?garī the danda marks the end of a sentence or period, a function which it shares with the full stop (period) in many written languages based on the Latin, Cyrillic, or Greek alphabets.
The word danda is also a colloquialism for penis (c.f. lingam).
The yoni (Sanskrit योिन yoni) is the Sanskrit word for "divine passage", "place of birth", "womb" (more as nature as a womb and cradle of all creations) or "sacred temple" (cf. lila).
Also has a wider meaning in both profane and spiritual contexts, covering a range of meanings of "place of birth, source, origin, spring, fountain, place of rest, repository, receptacle, seat, abode, home, lair, nest, stable" (Monier-Williams).
The yoni is also considered to be symbolic of Shakti or other goddesses of a similar nature.
In classical texts such as Kama Sutra, yoni refers to vagina.
The Lingam (also, Linga, Shiva linga Sanskrit लिङ�?गं liṅgaṃ, meaning "mark," or "sign,") is a symbol for the worship of the Hindu god Shiva. While its origins are debated, the use of this symbol for worship is an ancient tradition in India extending back at least to the early Indus Valley civilization.
How can "fraught with danger" not mean "filled with danger".
"Common and standard" doesn't mean "correct". But where/when does incorrect become correct? I often hear people on tv saying "between you and I" but that can't ever be correct, however common it is.
frequently misused, because it sounds like 'taut'. Actually means "full". If adjectives could be classified as transitive and intransitive, then this would be intransitive, in that it needs to be followed by a preposition (with).
Middle English, past participle of obsolete verb fraughten, to load. Cf freight
John Collis Browne, famous for his chlorodyne, now sold as "mixture", because legislation has removed some of its original ingredients (such as cannabis).
adj. Belonging to or written in an uncialcursive alphabet attributed to Saint Cyril, formerly used in the writing of various Slavic languages but now limited to the Catholic liturgical books used by some communities along the Dalmatian coast; in other words, Old Cyrillic.
... whatever .. I just like the sound this word makes
Gordon Bennett also instituted a series of sporting events to promote his newspapers. In particular a series of balloon races. The race of 1923 ended in disaster, with 5 of 17 competitors dead from wind, rain or high-altitude snow.
Actually "lingerie" is rhymed with "holiday" only by those who don't know how to pronounce it. And "feng shui" isn't English as such, it's pinyin, hence the pronunciation - "fong shway". So it is correct to rhyme it with "cachet". Or "holiday", if we want an English word.
Arsole, rarely called arsenole, is a chemical compound of the formula C4H5As. The structure is isoelectronic to that of pyrrole except that an arsenic atom is substituted for the nitrogen atom and that arsole is only mildly aromatic. Arsole itself does exist but is rarely found in its pure form. Several substituted analogs called arsoles also exist.
When arsole is fused to a benzene ring, this molecule is called benzarsole.
- as opposed to Ben's ... (which may be more than mildly aromatic!)
A story from the late Humphrey Lyttelton, himself a bird-watcher: he gave a lift in his car once to a man who called himself an "orthinologist". He just wished he'd had the wit at the time to call him a word-botcher.
Quoted from Manly P. Hall's "Secret Teachings of all Ages" p.307-8
"The right Tablet of the law (Moses' Decalogue) further signifies Jachin-the white pillar of light; the left Tablet, Boaz-the shadowy pillar of darkness. These were the names of the two pillars cast from brass set up on the porch of King Solomon's Temple...On top of each pillar was a large bowl-now erroneously called a ball or globe-one of the bowls probably containing fire and the other water. The celestial globe (originally the bowl of fire), surmounting the right-hand column (Jachin), symbolized the divine man; the terrestrial globe (the bowl of water), surmounting the left-hand column (Boaz), signified the earthly man. These two pillars respectively connote also the active and the passive expressions of Divine Energy, the Sun and the Moon, sulphur and salt, good and bad, light and darkness. Between them is the Sanctuary they are a reminder that Jehovah is both an androgynous and an anthropomorphic deity. As two parallel columns they denote the zodiacal signs of Cancer and Capricorn, which were formerly placed in the chamber of initiation to represent birth and death-the extremes of physical life. They accordingly signify the summer and winter solstices, now known to Freemasons under the comparatively modern appellation of the "two St. Johns...In the mysterious Sephirothic Tree of the Jews, these two pillars symbolize Mercy (Jachin) and Serverity (Boaz). Standing before the gate of King Solomon's Temple, these columns had the same symbolic import as the obelisks before the sanctuaries of Egypt. When interpreted Qabbalistically, the names of the two pillars mean 'In strength shall My House be established.'"
Dramatis personae of War & Peace, indeed any Russian novel, such as Dr Zhivago. I had to mentally substitute Bert, Fred atc. in order to get to end of the book.
Dramatis personæ is a Latin phrase (literally 'the masks of the drama') used to refer collectively to the characters in a dramatic work—-commonly employed in various forms of theatre, and also on screen.
The koteka, horim, or penis sheath is a phallocrypt or phallocarp traditionally worn by native male inhabitants of some (mainly highland) ethnic groups in western New Guinea to cover their genitals.
Derived from the days when women were allowed to live in naval ships. The ‘son-of-a-gun’ was one born in a ship, often in the greater space near the midship gun, behind a canvas screen. If paternity was uncertain, the child was entered in the ship’s log as a “Son-of-a-gun.�?
Naval slang for a midshipman, allegedly from the habit of wiping their noses on their sleeves - it is said that the three brass buttons on their jackets are there to prevent them doing this.
The saying, "Will it play in Peoria?" is traditionally used to ask whether a given product, person, promotional theme or event will appeal to mainstream (also called "Main Street") America, or across a broad range of demographic/psychographic groups. The phrase originated during the vaudeville era and was popularized in movies by Groucho Marx. The belief was that if a new show was successful in Peoria, a main Midwestern stop for vaudeville acts, it would be successful anywhere. The phrase subsequently was adopted by politicians, pollsters and promoters to question the potential mainstream acceptance of anything new.
In the United States, Peoria, Illinois, has legendary status as a test market. Peoria has long been seen as a representation of the average American city, because of its demographics and its perceived mainstream Midwestern culture. In the 1960s and 1970s, Peoria was deemed an ideal test market by various consumer-focused companies, entertainment enterprises (films and concert tours), even politicians, to gauge opinion, interest and receptivity to new products, services and campaigns.
man on the Clapham omnibus is a descriptive formulation of a reasonably educated and intelligent but non-specialist person — a reasonable man, a hypothetical person against whom a defendant's conduct might be judged in an English law civil action for negligence. This standard of care comparable to that which might be exercised by "the man on the Clapham omnibus" was first mentioned by Greer LJ in Hall v. Brooklands Auto-Racing Club (1933) 1 KB 205.
The first reported legal quotation of the phrase is in the case of McQuire v. Western Morning News [›1903 2 KB 100 (CA) at 109 per Collins MR, a libel case, in which Sir Richard Henn Collins MR attributes it to Lord Bowen, who had died nine years earlier
I used to have a newspaper cutting, but I've lost it now. It told of two guys in hospital with broken necks or somesuch. They had both fallen out of the upper window of a bar. Witnesses said they were trying to see who could lean out the farthest. They were said to be laughing as they fell...
More likely to be a real hair I'd have thought. The gate is (part of) the mechanism for moving the film strip on. More likely to be the shutter than the aperture.
Let your mind be as a floating cloud. Let your stillness be as the wooded glen. And sit up straight. You'll never meet the Buddha with posture like that.
There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that?
Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.
To practice Zen and the art of Jewish motorcycle maintenance, do the following: get rid of the motorcycle. What were you thinking?
Be aware of your body. Be aware of your perceptions. Keep in mind that not every physical sensation is a symptom of a terminal illness.
If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems.
The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others. The Tao does not speak. The Tao does not blame. The Tao does not take sides. The Tao is not Jewish.
Drink tea and nourish life. With the first sip, joy. With the second, satisfaction. With the third, Danish.
The Buddha taught that one should practice loving kindness to all sentient beings. Still, would it kill you to find a nice sentient being who happens to be Jewish?
Be patient and achieve all things. Be impatient and achieve all things faster.
To Find the Buddha, look within. Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers. Each flower blossoms ten thousand times. Each blossom has ten thousand petals. You might want to see a specialist.
Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?
Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkes.
gnomic = characterized by the expression of popular wisdom in the condensed form of proverbs or aphorisms, also known as gnomes. The term was first used of the ‘Gnomic Poets’ of 6th�?century Greece, although there are older traditions of gnomic writing in Chinese, Egyptian, and other cultures; the Hebrew book of Proverbs is a well�?known collection. The term is often extended to later writings in which moral truths are presented in maxims or aphorisms.
A grammatically independent and phonologically dependent word. It is pronounced like an affix, but works at the phrase level. For example, the English possessive -'s is a clitic; in the phrase the girl next door’s cat, -’s is phonologically attached to the preceding word door while grammatically combined with the phrase the girl next door, the possessor.
"D'oh!" is a catch phrase used by the fictional character Homer Simpson, from the long-running animated series The Simpsons (1989–). Homer's ubiquitous catch phrase was famously added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2001, without the apostrophe. The spoken word "D'oh" is a trademark of 20th Century Fox.
A variant of wit is wot, which is almost unknown outside of its negative: wotless, "unknowing, ignorant" (pretty much synonymous with witless) and the phrase God wot, meaning "God knows".
"its sic where you smash somebody in the leg really hard and there sic leg goes like numb, and they have trouble moving it because you just smashed it." - urbandictionary.com
"its where you smash somebody in the leg really hard and there leg goes like numb, and they have trouble moving it because you just smashed it." - urbandictionary.com
A device intended to stop a machine in case the human operator becomes incapacitated, commonly used in locomotives and dangerous machinery.
Typically, the controller handle is a horizontal bar, rotated to apply the required power. Attached to the bottom of the handle is a rod which, when pushed down, contacts a solenoid or switch inside the control housing. The handle springs up if pressure is removed, releasing the rod's contact with the internal switch, instantly cutting power and applying the brakes.
The dead man's hand is a two-pair poker hand, namely "aces and eights." The hand gets its name from the legend of it having been the five-card-draw hand held by Wild Bill Hickok at the time of his murder (August 2, 1876). It is accepted that the hand included the aces and eights of both of the black suits and either the jack or queen of diamonds. The term, before the murder of Hickok, referred to a variety of hands.
High-waisted skiing pants: a garment worn by skiers, comprising a pair of usually padded, water-resistant pants that reach up to the chest with straps passing over the shoulders.
The term generally relates to items of furniture that have been specially designed to be taken away from stores, their component parts packed flat to minimize size, and assembled by consumers in their homes. This aspect of self-assembly has been simplified as far as possible and requires only very basic tools such as a screwdriver and a minimal level of skill.
The Foucault pendulum , or Foucault's pendulum, named after the French physicist Léon Foucault, was conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth.
A slide whistle (variously known as a swannee whistle, piston flute or less commonly jazz flute) is a wind instrument consisting of a fipple like a recorder's and a tube with a piston in it. It thus has an air reed like some woodwinds, but varies the pitch with a slide. Because the air column is cylindrical and open at one end and closed at the other, it overblows the third harmonic.
To fans of 1970s BBC children's television, the instrument will always be associated with the voices of the Clangers. The instrument also features prominently in the game of "Swannee-Kazoo" in the long-running British radio panel game, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Comments by johnmperry
Show previous 200 comments...
johnmperry commented on the word ailurophobic
also aleurophobic, aelurophobic
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word mingy
mean, miserly
unconnected with minge
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word twat
Personally I find this word just as offensive as cunt. But for some reason it is almost freely allowed on BBC television.
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tart
person (male or female) of low morals
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word slag
a loose woman
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word slapper
a female of easy virtue, a tart
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word slaphead
a bald man
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word coitus a tergo
coitus from behind
cf doggy position
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word retrocopulant
coitus a tergo
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word password fatigue
One way round this is to have the same password for every service.
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word great firewall of china
Internet censorship in China
(ironically enough, wikipedia was blocked in China for a long time. flickr is half-blocked following distribution of photos from a protest in Xiamen - the new server farms are not included.)
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word maltesers
A kind of sweet (US candy) in the form of a sphere of confectioners' honeycomb coated in chocolate
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bitter
Usual kind of beer drunk in UK.
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the user mialuthien
I use IE and I get delete option after I have edited a comment.
btw check the difference between alternate and alternative
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word octothorpe
This mark has several common names: 'hash', 'hatch', 'pound sign', and 'octothorp' among them. The name "pound sign" is an Americanism that causes some confusion in countries that use the pound for currency.
It was also noted that the # is a medieval abbreviation for Latin "numerus" - it is a cursive 'n' with a horizontal slash through it, much modified and abstracted.
One possible derivation of the name "octothorp" was provided by Charles Bigelow:
... old English "thorp" meant 'hamlet' or 'village' (I'm not sure of the difference, except maybe hamlet is smaller, as its apparent diminutive suffix would suggest), and is derived from a much older Indo-European word *treb- for 'dwelling', which turns out to mean 'beam' or 'timber' in Latin "trabs", winding up as "trave" in Anglo-Latin, like "architrave" - the beam resting on a column, or "trab-" as in "trabecula" - a small supporting beam or bar. As Voltaire said, etymology is a science in which the vowels count for nothing and the consonants for very little.
So, maybe "octothorp" means "8-beams", which makes a kind of sense if we take the 8 projections to be the thorps, or trabs or traves. Though it's only a "quadrathorp" if we think that the beams connect.
Another explanation has it that the octothorp is a "thorp"' surrounded by eight cultivated fields.
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word hash
UK: the symbol #
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word octothorpe
see hash
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word mle
cf estuarine English
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word estuarine english
Dialect of eastern London and Essex
July 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word klingon
a language created by Dr Marc Okrand, a professional linguist, for use by the alien Klingons in some of the Star Trek movies. To make Klingon sound truly alien, Okrand used combinations of sounds which do not exist in any natural language. It is a complete language, with its own vocabulary, grammar, usage and an enthusiastic community of speakers.
Klingon alphabet:
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word klingon
A native of the planet Qo'noS
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word qo'nos
Klingon homeworld, pronounced Kronos.
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ily
it's an orthographic change, when forming an adverb from an adjective ending in -y (usually):
dainty -> daintily
gay -> gaily
doesn't always work - silly
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dildo
Whereas Intercourse, Pa welcomes tourists. I picked up a copy of Intercourse News, and a fridge magnet that says "I ♥ Intercourse"
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word piss
cf micturition
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dop
Type of wax that holds a stone onto a dop stick.
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word mahl stick
A stick or thin pole about a metre in length (three feet) with a ball-shape pad at one end, used as an aid in painting, particularly in oil painting. A mahl stick is useful when painting detail or when painting in a large area where the paint is still wet and you want to avoid touching the surface accidentally.
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dop stick
where a jeweller holds a stone to cut it
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word largess
cf largesse
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word foxy
also: Sensually attractive; sexy.
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word mezzanine
cf entresol
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tree-hugger
An environmental actvist
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word if
UK response to statement starting If..
"If my uncle had tits he'd be my auntie."
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word spunk
also see moxie
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word barfly
Someone who drinks a lot.
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word piss artist
UK vernacular. Someone who drinks a lot, a barfly
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word piss off
(1) Go away!
(2) (vt) to annoy
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word pissed off
UK = angry
see also piss off
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word pissed
US = angry
UK = drunk
see also pissed off, piss artist
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word carfax
Latin for crossroads
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word one-trick pony
Someone with a very limited repertoire
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word poisson d'avril
April fool
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fool
"There's no fool like an old fool."
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word guanxi
(pronounced /gwænʃi:/) Chinese 关系 = connections, relationships
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word schmooze
It also means to network = to make connections. In Chinese called guanxi
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tube top
Shoulderless, sleeveless tube-like upper garment which wraps the torso (not reaching higher than the armpits). Normally strapless, so tight over the breasts in order to prevent the garment from falling. Usually this is prevented with elastic or jersey-knit.
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word boob tube
US & Canadian vernacular = television.
UK vernacular = tube top
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word yggdrasil
Mimir's tree
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word le chemin saint jacques
Usually refers to Camino Santiago or Way of St James. This has been a major pilgrimage route for many centuries.
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word moss bros
(pron. /mɔs brɔs/) UK tailoring chain. Particularly well known for hiring out formal suits, e.g. morning suits for weddings and race days.
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bros
Also: abbreviation for brothers. So UK popular culture gives us Moss Bros, a chain of tailor's shops famous for hiring out morning suits for weddings and race days.
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word od
Also: (vi) overdose
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word marmite
Well if we're talking weird sandwich fillings:
My best friends parents told me that when they were courting (in wartime), one time he arrived with a steak-and-kidney pudding sandwich.
Me, I like avocado and bacon, or just avocado on its own; cheese is magical though - not usually available in China though, so when I'm back in UK for the summer, I usually od on cheese. Also bread in all its forms. And chocolate!
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word oxo
A beef stock cube
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word chalkboard
"Can those at the back hear me?"
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word boob
UK vernacular: (1) a mistake; (2) bosom
I find it unsatisfactory to describe breasts as a mistake!
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word boob job
UK vernacular: plastic surgery on the breasts (boobs)
July 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ebagum
"Ee bah gum" is something they say in Yorkshire.
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word piffle
cf tosh
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word teaser
"Teasers are usually rich kids with nothing to do. They cruise around looking for planets that haven't made interstellar contact yet and buzz them (ie: they find some isolated spot with very few people around, then land right by some poor unsuspecting soul whom no one's ever going to believe and then strut up and down in front of him wearing silly antennas on their head and making "beep beep" noises) Rather childish, really."
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word lgm
= Little Green Men. One theory of Earth's formation.
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word punctuation
The original joke was "Eats, roots, shoots, and leaves."
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word halcyon
Means anti-cyclone, so good weather in summer.
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word punctuation
From my schooldays:
King Charles I walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off.
->
King Charles I walked and talked. Half an hour after his head was cut off.
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word pique
see pique-a-boo
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word pique-a-boo
What a fed up Jack-in-a-box says
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fed up
disgruntled
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word jack-in-a-box
A child's toy, where a figure springs out of a box when the lid is unfastened.
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word elder futhark
The Elder Futhark (or Elder Fuþark, Older Futhark, Old Futhark) is the oldest form of the runic alphabet
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word rune
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word futhark
also see younger futhark
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fuþark
see futhark
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word futhark
also fuþark
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word younger futhark
The Younger Futhark, also called the Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE.
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ogham
Celtic tree alphabet:
vowels
consonants
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word treen
objects made of wood
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tits up
"It's gone tits up" implies "it's dead". cf belly up
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tango uniform
UK vernacular: "it's gone tits up"
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word babushka
not to be confused with babouche, which is the other end of the body!
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word babouche
traditional Turkish heeled slipper of fabric or leather richly decorated with beads, threads and spangles and with a turned up, pointed toe.
a French version of the Arabic babuj, which in turn derives from the Persian papus, meaning foot covering
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ily
How does one come across orphaned non-words? Presumably Mia typoed a word search.
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word wobbly
International Workers of the World, or IWW, was also referred to as "I Won't Work
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word matryoshka
A matryoshka doll or a Russian nested doll, also called a stacking doll or Babooshka doll, is a set of dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside the other. "Matryoshka" is a derivative of the Russian female first name "Matryona", which is traditionally associated with a fat, robust Russian woman.
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word babushka
also, sometimes babooshka
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word babushka
Those nesting wooden dolls one sees are often called babushka dolls. Wikipedia calls them Matryoshka dolls.
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word swimbo
cf wag
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word wag
UK vernacular = wives and girlfriends
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word strathspey
traditional Scottish dance
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word hackle
get one's hackles up = anger, esp. when aroused in a challenging or challenged manner
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word paddy field
I can remember listening to a cricket commentary on the radio. Clive Rice (South African) was bowling and there was someone with an Irish name batting. The commentator, John Arlott, said "Rice bowls and Paddy fields."
PS usually padi field. (Usual in my house).
July 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word primat
Large champagne bottle (36 standard bottles)
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word melchizedek
Large champagne bottle (40 standard bottles)
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word melchior
Large champagne bottle (24 standard bottles)
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word salmanazar
Large champagne bottle (12 standard bottles)
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word methuselah
Large champagne bottle (8 standard bottles)
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word rehoboam
Large champagne bottle (6 standard bottles)
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word jeroboam
The reason why biblical names were chosen for these larger sizes is unknown. The term Jeroboam appears to have been used in Bordeaux from around 1725. Adopted in Champagne, the other bottles were probably named simply by analogy with the first in the series. Jeroboam was the founder and first king of the kingdom of Israel at the beginning of the first millennium before Christ. It is curious to note that Eustache Deschamps lists Jeroboam, Roboan (Roboam or Rehoboam) and Balthazar in his Balade MCCXLIX. As for the explanation of why Jeroboam was chosen by the wine-makers of Bordeaux, perhaps the answer lies in the Bible, in which Jeroboam is described as a man of great value; a jeroboam of Château Latour is undoubtedly a bottle of great value!- UNION of CHAMPAGNE HOUSES
Biblical champagne bottle sizes:
Jeroboam (Founder and first king of Israel, 931-910 BC)
Rehoboam, son of Solomon (King of Judah, 922-908 BC)
Methuselah (Biblical patriarch who lived to the age of 969)
Salmanazar (King of Assyria, 859-824 BC)
Balthazar (Regent of Babylon, son of Nabonide, 539BC)
Nebuchadnezzar (King of Babylon, 605-562 BC).
Other sizes:
Melchior
Solomon
Primat
Melchizedek
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word sobriquet
It's usually soubriquet in my house!
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word callipygian
more usually callipygean, sometimes callipygous.
= beautifully buttocked
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word sobriquet
usually soubriquet
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word onanism
Yes. Sorry, I try not to waste my enire life here. So I put in my two penn'orth then go away and do something else. Then come back to see wassup.
As plethora correctly interpreted, you had written a statement of the form 'a was worse than b', implying that b was bad. I asked how b was bad.
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word penn'orth
= penny worth, worth one penny
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word satay
Indonesian kebab, i.e. chunks of food cooked on a stick
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word marmite
peanut butter + anything = barf! Peanut butter itself is pretty barf too, except as a base for making satay sauce.
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word asperger's syndrome
There's a whole mountain of non-tosh books out there I haven't read yet. And that's just the ones I might be inclined to read. There's an Andean range of those I'm not going to waste any time on.
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word jeroboam
A large champagne bottle, 4 - 6 regular bottles or 3 - 4½ litres (140 - 210 oz = 7 - 10½ imperial pints, 8¾ - 13-and-a-bit US pints)
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word onanism
Why is coitus interruptus bad that something can be worse than it?
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word marmite
Marmite on toast is delicious, elthough it does have to be spread very thinly. Babies love it on toast fingers and they go num-num. UK babies that is.
But peanut butter and jelly? Yuk! Who could think of such an abomination?
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word schwa
In the IPA it's the symbol �?
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word voici
French, means 'look here', i.e. 'here it is' (or 'here they are')
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the user mialuthien
To delete a comment:
First of all edit it, to reduce it to e.g. one letter.
Then after you press the edit button, you are offered a chance to delete. When you select that, you are asked to confirm.
Et voilà
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word voilà
means 'look there', i.e. 'there it is' or 'there they are'. Cf voici
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word voila
Should be voilà
Pronounced vwa-la. Means 'Look there' cf voici
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word oxymoron
Here's one I saw the other day: gourmet burger
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word double entendre
Something seemingly innocently spoken, but with a second (rude) meaning.
A woman went into a bar and asked for a double entendre, so the barman gave her one.
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word zeugma
cf litotes
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word onanism
coitus interruptus: And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word compeer
first definition is exactly the same as for peer
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word asperger's syndrome
≡ factoid
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bisto
(Proprietary) name of powdered gravy
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gravy browning
a stock for making gravy
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word l'esprit de l'escalier
Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who was not there.
He was not there again today.
Oh how I wish he'd go away.
William Hughes Mearns, better known as Hughes Mearns (1875-1965)
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word phlogiston
Its major property was that it had negative mass.
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word asperger's syndrome
Takes one to know one, yarb
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word naked dancing llama
Here
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ebaywatch
electronic auction for silicon implants
July 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word asperger's syndrome
I repeat that this is a completely invented condition. Or if it is a real condition, it is rare but being mis-applied in order to qualify for state help.
Cf SAD
I am in classrooms every school day.
I neither know nor care who Augusten Burroughs is. How does his brother have a different surname?
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word sad
Seasonal Affective Disorder. An acronym which started life as a joke but now is being taken seriously. Seriously that is only by pseudo-scientists, quacks and other charlatans.
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word promite
Bovril might be similar looking but it isn't a substitute. Marmite and its imitators are strictly vegetable based, whereas Bovril is beef. In addition Marmite is spread on bread, toast, etc. whereas Bovril is usually made into a drink
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word marmite
Excellent on hot buttered crumpets, as is honey. But not in combination!
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word asperger's syndrome
As far as I can tell, approximately half the population, i.e. all males, display symptoms of this. In other words, a meaningless condition invented by pseuds to justify their salary.
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word sez you
= I hear what you said but ...
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word branston pickle
Branston Pickle is made from a variety of diced vegetables, including swede (rutabaga), onions, cauliflower and gherkins pickled in a sauce made from vinegar, tomato, apple and dates with spices such as mustard, coriander, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cayenne pepper.
Branston Pickle is sweet and spicy with a chutney-like consistency, containing small chunks of vegetables in a thick brown sticky sauce. It is commonly served as part of a ploughman's lunch, a once common menu item in British pubs. It is also frequently combined with cheddar cheese in sandwiches, and most sandwich shops in the UK offer "cheese and pickle" as an option.
'nuff said?
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word marmite
Just had my lunch - cheese & marmite sandwiches, also corned beef and branston pickle
Delicious. Can't get that in China! In fact can hardly even get bread.
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gravadlax
see gravlax
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gravelax
see gravlax
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gravlax
Mid-20th century. (Swedish or Norwegian gravlaks) "buried salmon", because originally cured in a hole in the ground.
In UK/US usually means thin slices of dried salmon marinated in sugar, salt, pepper, and herbs, especially dill.
Also gravelax, gravadlax
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list fun-with-apocopes
sod = sodomite
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list the-macabre-dough
I guess most words ending -gh fill the bill
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word according to brewer
Brewer's Dictionary of phrase and fable, giving the derivation, source, or origin of common phrases, allusions, and words that have a tale to tell.
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word brewer
also E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898 et seq.
Thus: according to Brewer
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word queen anne's dead
The reply made to the teller of stale news.
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word plow
UK = plough
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list lions-and-i-tigers-i-andawell-just-lions-truthfully
How many words? Zillions and squillions.
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word squillion
somewhat like zillion
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list fun-with-apocopes
telly - UK vernacular for television
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bang bang
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word clerihew
Here the TV says Reeko or Rick-o:
Riccardo Ricco
was fingered by a medico
turned out he was dealing
while most of his team were only wheeling
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word lard ass
a fat person
July 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the user oroboros
IE7
bridgework may be a good word but it's not 10 different letters
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word features
Will this help meanwhile?
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list keeping-secrets
Re: your comment to me
That's what I figured. I think it's used by some shopkeepers to put the price tags on items without the customers knowing what the price is. I also think a similar mechanism is used by Microsoft to generate its code numbers for software.
You still need to get rid of bridgework and goldfinger though.
And this list has a chunk of (unbounded) html at the top.
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word principal boy
Yes, except Peter Pan isn't strictly speaking a pantomime, having been written in the early 1900s.
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word marmite
Marmite is delicious. Babies love it. Love it? Hate It?
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bluebottle
one of the major characters in The Goon Show
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word goon show
Radio comedy programme, first broadcast by BBC from 1951 to 1960. Can still be heard today on BBC7
Principal characters included:- Neddie Seagoon, played by Harry Secombe
- Eccles, Minnie Bannister & Count Jim Moriarty, played by Spike Milligan
- Major Bloodnok, Hercules Grytpype-Thynne, Bluebottle & Henry Crun, played by Peter Sellers
Michael Bentine also appeared in early showsJuly 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word polymnia
cf Polyhymnia
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word terpsichorean
One of the nine muses
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word muse
The nine muses are:
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word principal boy
In pantomime, a principal boy role is the young male protagonist of the play, traditionally played by a young actress in boy's clothes.
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word aladdin
In the pantomime tradition, Aladdin is played by a girl (principal boy).
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word widow twankey
Widow Twankey first occurs in 1861, the character runs a Chinese laundry in Peking, China and is a pantomime dame; that is always played by a man. One of her sons, Aladdin, is the hero of the pantomime, while her other son, often named Wishy Washy (or Wishee Washee)(or Wishy-washy), just helps in the laundry. She is not pivotal in the plot (such as it is), but more a source of interaction with the audience through jokes and innuendo — mostly centred on items of underwear on the washing line.
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word widow
also
In typesetting, a widow is the last line of a paragraph printed by itself at the top of a page.
cf orphan
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word widow's peak
A widow's peak (widow's brow) is a descending ∨-shaped point in the middle of the hairline (above the forehead).
Men can get it too, although this is more a later life thing, more likely due to receding temples.
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word widowmaker
Plenty of other uses, mostly contemporary. Synonymous with "fatally dangerous".
wikipedia includes:
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word arcana
The Major Arcana are the trumps of Tarot cards;
the Minor Arcana are the numbered pip Tarot cards
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word nil carborundum
different case endings for illegitimi are used.
The basic saying "nil carborundum" is thought to have originated during WW2. Obviously it can't predate the first synthesis of carborundum.
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word corundum
a crystalline form of aluminium oxide and one of the rock-forming minerals. It is naturally clear, but can have different colors when impurities are present.
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word carborundum
The material was manufactured by Edward Goodrich Acheson around 1893, and he not only developed the electric batch furnace by which SiC is still made today but also formed The Carborundum Company to manufacture it in bulk, initially for use as an abrasive.
Carborundum is not a Latin word. The ending -undum suggests either a Latin gerund or gerundive form—and the idea of obligation ("Don't let ...") is more suggestive of the gerundive—but the word is actually a portmanteau of "carbon" (from Latin), and "corundum".
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word nil carborundum
Mock-Latin: nil carborundum illegitimorum = don't let the bastards grind you down
July 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word farthing
The last farthings were minted in Britain in 1957 and ceased to be legal tender in 1960. In fact their buying power was limited well before, and few were in general circulation.
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word shilling
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word penny
Before decimalisation in UK (15-2-1971) currency used was pounds, shillings and pence.
Abbreviation: d
12d = 1 shilling; 20 shillings = £1
240d = £1
Penny is also US vernacular for one-cent coin
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word penny-farthing
A Victorian bicycle, named after its appearance: one very large leading wheel (like a pre-decimal penny), and a very small trailing wheel (like a farthing). Pedals were attached directly to the leading wheel. It was large because bicycle gears had not yet been invented.
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ha'pence
= ½ pence
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word pence
= pennies (plural of penny)
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tuppence
= two pence
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bloke
UK vernacular
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word knocker-up
The Knocker-Up
A pal of mine once said to me,
Will you knock me up at half-past three?"
And so promptly at half-past one,
I knocked him up and said, "O John,
I've just come round to tell ya
I've just come round to tell ya,
I've just come round to tell ya,
You've got two more hours to sleep!"
- to the tune of "So Early in the Morning". In the days before alarm clocks, working people often had someone with
a long pole come and knock on their window to wake them up
for (shift) work. This person was called a "knocker up."
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word knocker-up
...and then there was the knocker-ups. Well we had a bloke in our street, he lived at the bottom end of the street, now he was the knocker-up. You know what a knocker-up is? Well he had a big long pole and he had wires fastened to it at the top and he used to go round to these houses and he used to rattle on the window with these wires, you know, until he got an answer and then he used to go and do that. Well he'd only get about tuppence or threepence a week for doing that, you know.
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word knock up
also (v) to wake someone up (early). See knocker-up
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word knock up
also (v.t.) to impregnate (7th definition, = to make pregnant)
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word macrochip
It's at the speed of light even if it's through copper wire, isn't it? 1 metre ≅ 1 nanosecond
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word marmite
It's French for stockpot.
- look at the picture on the label
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fess up
(v) to acknowledge, admit, concede, confess, own up
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word big white telephone
What an Aussie chunders into. Or cries "Ruth".
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word yonic
cf yoni
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word lingam
cf danda
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word danda
In the Devan�?garī script, the danda (दंड daṃ�?a, lit. stick) is a punctuation character. The glyph consists of a single vertical stroke (।). The character can be found at code point U+0964 (।) in Unicode and at 0xEA in ISCII.
In Devan�?garī the danda marks the end of a sentence or period, a function which it shares with the full stop (period) in many written languages based on the Latin, Cyrillic, or Greek alphabets.
The word danda is also a colloquialism for penis (c.f. lingam).
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word yoni
... When the yoni is pressed by the lingam for a long time, it is called 'pressing' ...
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word yoni
The yoni (Sanskrit योिन yoni) is the Sanskrit word for "divine passage", "place of birth", "womb" (more as nature as a womb and cradle of all creations) or "sacred temple" (cf. lila).
Also has a wider meaning in both profane and spiritual contexts, covering a range of meanings of "place of birth, source, origin, spring, fountain, place of rest, repository, receptacle, seat, abode, home, lair, nest, stable" (Monier-Williams).
The yoni is also considered to be symbolic of Shakti or other goddesses of a similar nature.
In classical texts such as Kama Sutra, yoni refers to vagina.
...
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word lingam
... When the yoni is pressed by the lingam for a long time, it is called 'pressing' ...
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word lingam
The Lingam (also, Linga, Shiva linga Sanskrit लिङ�?गं liṅgaṃ, meaning "mark," or "sign,") is a symbol for the worship of the Hindu god Shiva. While its origins are debated, the use of this symbol for worship is an ancient tradition in India extending back at least to the early Indus Valley civilization.
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word crumpet
also
(n) UK vernacular for good-looking female
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fraught
(I think that quote readsa whole lot better if you insert a mental comma after Thither full
July 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fraught
And the citation:1671: And Waggons fraught with Utensils of War. to me has a strictly literal meaning - loaded with.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word he
Another bizarre definition. Isn't something missing? viz. third person singular nominative pronoun.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fraught
I wonder what a "full-fraught pincushion" is. How it's both full and fraught, and with what?
"Fraughted" is interesting, because it seems like it should have been fraughtened.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word lamington
"Epigram--Divine Service In The Kirk Of Lamington" -
Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, 1791
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fraught
Etymology suggest two different sources:
Middle English 'fraughten'
Middle Dutch 'vrachten'
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fraught
How can "fraught with danger" not mean "filled with danger".
"Common and standard" doesn't mean "correct". But where/when does incorrect become correct? I often hear people on tv saying "between you and I" but that can't ever be correct, however common it is.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word deadhead
v. remove dead blooms from flowers
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word oblomov
Oblomov (Russian: Обломов) is the best known novel by Russian writer Ivan Goncharov, first published in 1859.
"Son of Oblomov" was a 1964 stage play by and with Spike Milligan
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fraught
frequently misused, because it sounds like 'taut'. Actually means "full". If adjectives could be classified as transitive and intransitive, then this would be intransitive, in that it needs to be followed by a preposition (with).
Middle English, past participle of obsolete verb fraughten, to load. Cf freight
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ammonia
Very bizarre definitions here: only one is an actual definition, the other three describe its properties.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fishnet stockings
Isn't that what the Boss Button is for?
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word suave serpens
Yeah. The first time I saw Bride and Prejudice I was very anti. But once I'd thought about it some more, I thought it was great, in its own way.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word jailbait
Jailbait is a slang term for a sexually desirable person who has not yet reached the age of consent.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fishnet stockings
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word vaginervose
a. Having the nerves, or veins, placed in apparent disorder.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word vagient
a. Crying like a child.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word chlorodyne
Famous UK patent medicine
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word j. collis browne
John Collis Browne, famous for his chlorodyne, now sold as "mixture", because legislation has removed some of its original ingredients (such as cannabis).
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word nowheresville
There used to be (? still is) a computer manufacturer called Nixdorf.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tesol
Teaching English as a Second or Other Language.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tefl
Teaching efl
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word efl
English as a Foreign Language
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word realia
Term from teaching (EFL for instance), meaning actual real-world material brought into the classroom.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word oz
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word lamington
A kind of cake. I don't like coconut, or it doesn't like me.
Seems to be an Oz thing.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word glagolytic
Lots of words which might have "usual" spelling to you rolig are "unusual" to me.
July 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word sweet potato
also a name for ocarina
July 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word eelpout
different from trout pout
July 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word trout pout
In fact a disaster, from over-injecting whatever it is. Silicon? Collagen?
Most famous case is that of British TV actress Lesley Ash
July 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word liu shi jiu
Chinese pinyin for 69 - all meanings
July 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gastrolith
n.
July 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word glagolytic
adj. Belonging to or written in an uncial cursive alphabet attributed to Saint Cyril, formerly used in the writing of various Slavic languages but now limited to the Catholic liturgical books used by some communities along the Dalmatian coast; in other words, Old Cyrillic.
... whatever .. I just like the sound this word makes
July 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word suave serpens
Not only have I not read any Harry Potter - they're for kids - I haven't read any Lord of the Rings either. Whoever they're for, it's not me.
Nor seen any of the films either
July 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list quiz-time-6
"I shifted the letters halfway in the alphabet, with wrap-around" = ROT13
July 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gordon bennett
Gordon Bennett also instituted a series of sporting events to promote his newspapers. In particular a series of balloon races. The race of 1923 ended in disaster, with 5 of 17 competitors dead from wind, rain or high-altitude snow.
http://www.vectorsite.net/avbloon_2.html
July 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word spunk
In UK it's another vernacular name for semen.
July 14, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word butle
v. what butlers do. Probably a back-formation.
July 14, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word feng shui
Chinese = wind & water
pronounced "fong shway"
A superstitious practice of ensuring good fortune to a house by placing the furniture and fittings at appropriate positions.
July 14, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list the-braggadocio-recipe
Actually "lingerie" is rhymed with "holiday" only by those who don't know how to pronounce it. And "feng shui" isn't English as such, it's pinyin, hence the pronunciation - "fong shway". So it is correct to rhyme it with "cachet". Or "holiday", if we want an English word.
July 14, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word in loco parentis
My Dad is a train driver
July 14, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word suicide bomber
A bomber who knowingly includes himself in the target, better to maximise carnage
July 14, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word asymmetric warfare
No, it's more to do with using a conventional army to tackle suicide bombers etc.
July 14, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word longan
= "dragon eyes" in Chinese
July 14, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word arsole
Arsole, rarely called arsenole, is a chemical compound of the formula C4H5As. The structure is isoelectronic to that of pyrrole except that an arsenic atom is substituted for the nitrogen atom and that arsole is only mildly aromatic. Arsole itself does exist but is rarely found in its pure form. Several substituted analogs called arsoles also exist.
When arsole is fused to a benzene ring, this molecule is called benzarsole.
- as opposed to Ben's ... (which may be more than mildly aromatic!)
July 13, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word siderology
"Siderology: The Science of Iron; the Constitution of Iron Alloys and Slags" by Hanns von Jüptner (1902)
July 13, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gauffering iron
an iron used to press pleats and ridges
July 13, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word twitcher
ornithologist or bird-watcher
A story from the late Humphrey Lyttelton, himself a bird-watcher: he gave a lift in his car once to a man who called himself an "orthinologist". He just wished he'd had the wit at the time to call him a word-botcher.
July 13, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word o. winston link
Museum
July 11, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word french letter
= condom
July 11, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word physalis
Cape Gooseberry
July 11, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list pogonology
imperial
sideboards
June 30, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word sideboards
same as sideburns
June 30, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list how-do-you-like-kipling
ding-a-ling
althing
June 30, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word knightsbridge
Street in Kensington, London. Home of Harrods. Name distinguished by having six consecutive consonants.
June 30, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word horncastle
Town in Lincolnshire, UK which has a name comprising ten different non-repeated letters
June 30, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word asbo
Anti-
Social
Behaviour
Order
June 30, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word pretentious
Can't be that incomparable, I can't even remember it! I remember most of them, but that one not.
June 26, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word pretentious
Pretentious? Moi?
- great line from Eddie Murphy
June 26, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tiramisù
Italian = pick yourself up
June 26, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word deformed man lavatory
Plenty more Chinglish signs in China.
June 26, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word deformed man lavatory
Been there, seen it, done it.
June 26, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word sephiroth
Sephirot or "enumerations", Sephiroth, Sefiroth (סְפִירוֹת), singular: Sephirah, also Sefirah (סְפִירָה "enumeration" in Hebrew), in the qabbalah of Judaism, are the ten attributes that God (who is referred to as �?ור �?ין סוף Aur Ain Soph, "Limitless Light, Light Without End") created through which he can manifest not only in the physical but the metaphysical universe.
June 24, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word qabbalah
also kabbalah
June 24, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word kitschery
Kitsch in every dimension.
June 24, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word eurovision song contest
An annual song conest organised by Eurovision. Watched by millions, derided by even more millions (many of whom also watch for the sheer kitschery).
June 24, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word eurovision
European television union. A fairly loose definition of Europe which includes Israel, Turkey and Russia.
June 24, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word boaz
Also the name of the group representing Israel at Eurovision Song Contest 2008
June 24, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word jachin
for explanation, see Boaz
June 24, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word boaz
Part of the ritual of freemasomry.
Quoted from Manly P. Hall's "Secret Teachings of all Ages" p.307-8
"The right Tablet of the law (Moses' Decalogue) further signifies Jachin-the white pillar of light; the left Tablet, Boaz-the shadowy pillar of darkness. These were the names of the two pillars cast from brass set up on the porch of King Solomon's Temple...On top of each pillar was a large bowl-now erroneously called a ball or globe-one of the bowls probably containing fire and the other water. The celestial globe (originally the bowl of fire), surmounting the right-hand column (Jachin), symbolized the divine man; the terrestrial globe (the bowl of water), surmounting the left-hand column (Boaz), signified the earthly man. These two pillars respectively connote also the active and the passive expressions of Divine Energy, the Sun and the Moon, sulphur and salt, good and bad, light and darkness. Between them is the Sanctuary they are a reminder that Jehovah is both an androgynous and an anthropomorphic deity. As two parallel columns they denote the zodiacal signs of Cancer and Capricorn, which were formerly placed in the chamber of initiation to represent birth and death-the extremes of physical life. They accordingly signify the summer and winter solstices, now known to Freemasons under the comparatively modern appellation of the "two St. Johns...In the mysterious Sephirothic Tree of the Jews, these two pillars symbolize Mercy (Jachin) and Serverity (Boaz). Standing before the gate of King Solomon's Temple, these columns had the same symbolic import as the obelisks before the sanctuaries of Egypt. When interpreted Qabbalistically, the names of the two pillars mean 'In strength shall My House be established.'"
June 24, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list elephants-amid-my-pages
Dramatis personae of War & Peace, indeed any Russian novel, such as Dr Zhivago. I had to mentally substitute Bert, Fred atc. in order to get to end of the book.
June 24, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dramatis personae
Dramatis personæ is a Latin phrase (literally 'the masks of the drama') used to refer collectively to the characters in a dramatic work—-commonly employed in various forms of theatre, and also on screen.
June 24, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word koteka
The koteka, horim, or penis sheath is a phallocrypt or phallocarp traditionally worn by native male inhabitants of some (mainly highland) ethnic groups in western New Guinea to cover their genitals.
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list word-synopsys
is that the same as synopsis? and what is fablious?
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word take the piss
= make fun of
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word kist
Well initially I thought maybe an obsolete past participle of kiss, (cf burn-burned/burnt).
Then I thought it might be a chest, of the blanket storage variety.
The citation didn't help me, and I don't see it in any online dictionary. So maybe it's a nonce-word.
Either way, I think the citation should enlighten rather than obscure.
Who is this Peter Reading anyway?
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word critical mass
Critical mass
is clearly unable
to save As
ativum
from the Tower of Babel
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word critical mass
the minimum amount needed to sustain a process
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word trencher
a big dinner plate. Hence trencherman
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word trenchant
means cutting - able to scythe through
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word mordant
means biting
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word acerbic
similar to mordant
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word orlando
the eponymous hero of a series of 19 children's illustrated books written by Kathleen Hale between 1938 and 1972.
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word epcot
A Disney amusement park, part of Disneyworld in Orlando,Fl.
Experimental
Prototype
City
Of
Tomorrow
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word kissimmee
Here is Disneyworld
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word kist
Citations are all very well, but what does it mean?
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word kibbled
Kibbled means like broken biscuits. Difficult to do with swedes.
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word kibble
The famous Kibble Palace in the Botanic Gardens is probably one of Glasgow's best-loved buildings.
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word schnorkel
interesting how definition of snorkel differs
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word anodise
technique in electroplating. I don't know about an oxide coat, It's usually a molecular layer of pure metal.
June 23, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word the person on the clapham omnibus
I don't think we should rewrite the entire dictionary of human activity just to satisfy some sodding pc dworkin-clone
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word diminuitive
diminutive?
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word soccer
Association football
...soc...
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word son of a gun
Derived from the days when women were allowed to live in naval ships. The ‘son-of-a-gun’ was one born in a ship, often in the greater space near the midship gun, behind a canvas screen. If paternity was uncertain, the child was entered in the ship’s log as a “Son-of-a-gun.�?
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word snotty
Naval slang for a midshipman, allegedly from the habit of wiping their noses on their sleeves - it is said that the three brass buttons on their jackets are there to prevent them doing this.
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tow
(n) Coarse broken flax or hemp fiber prepared for spinning.
Hence tow rag
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tow rag
A wastrel; someone beneath contempt.(Incorrectly spelled ‘toe-rag’ in modern English). A tow-rag was a rag made of ‘tow’, or hemp, used to
staunch wounds by naval surgeons and then thrown away.
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fuscous
cf subfusc
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word peoria
Not to be confused with Peoria, Az
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word peoria
Lifebelts here, Lifeboats there,
Hear the shrieks and moans
The captain calls all hands on deck and says in trembling tones
Oh, how I wish't I was in Peoria,
Peoria tonight.
Oh, how I wish't I was in Peoria,
Peoria tonight.
Oh, you can pick a morning gloria
Right off the sidewalk in Peoria.
Oh, how I wish't I was in Peoria,
Peoria tonight.
Why did I ever go with sailor boys?
I should have stayed back home in Illinoys.
Oh, how I wish't I was in Peoria,
Peoria tonight.
Music: Harry Woods
Lyrics: Billy Rose and Mort Dixon
Publisher: Leo Fiest
Melody here
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word iceberg profiling kit
Here are some good ones to choose from.
Somebody sent me this link the other day. Or one like it.
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word will it play in peoria
The saying, "Will it play in Peoria?" is traditionally used to ask whether a given product, person, promotional theme or event will appeal to mainstream (also called "Main Street") America, or across a broad range of demographic/psychographic groups. The phrase originated during the vaudeville era and was popularized in movies by Groucho Marx. The belief was that if a new show was successful in Peoria, a main Midwestern stop for vaudeville acts, it would be successful anywhere. The phrase subsequently was adopted by politicians, pollsters and promoters to question the potential mainstream acceptance of anything new.
-
cf the man on the Clapham omnibus
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word peoria
In the United States, Peoria, Illinois, has legendary status as a test market. Peoria has long been seen as a representation of the average American city, because of its demographics and its perceived mainstream Midwestern culture. In the 1960s and 1970s, Peoria was deemed an ideal test market by various consumer-focused companies, entertainment enterprises (films and concert tours), even politicians, to gauge opinion, interest and receptivity to new products, services and campaigns.
- wikipedia
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word the man on the clapham omnibus
an ordinary person = Joe Q Public
man on the Clapham omnibus is a descriptive formulation of a reasonably educated and intelligent but non-specialist person — a reasonable man, a hypothetical person against whom a defendant's conduct might be judged in an English law civil action for negligence. This standard of care comparable to that which might be exercised by "the man on the Clapham omnibus" was first mentioned by Greer LJ in Hall v. Brooklands Auto-Racing Club (1933) 1 KB 205.
The first reported legal quotation of the phrase is in the case of McQuire v. Western Morning News [›1903 2 KB 100 (CA) at 109 per Collins MR, a libel case, in which Sir Richard Henn Collins MR attributes it to Lord Bowen, who had died nine years earlier
- wikipedia
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word clapham
London district on the south bank of the Thames
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word oubliette
-ette suggests this is a small one. A full-sized one ought to be an oublie?
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ichor
4077 MASH was a unit within the purview of I Corps
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word mash
Mobile Army Surgical Hospital
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word symbiosis
No, I think it's the opposite. Symbiosis is the case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list double-trouble
rara skirt
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word rara skirt
a short full skirt usually layered or with rows of frills, popular in the 1980s
Because in a style originally worn by cheerleaders
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bathetic
adj. of bathos
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bathetically
full of bathos
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bathos
from the sublime to the ridiculous
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word brummie
a native of brummagem really.
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word brum
dialect and accent of a brummie
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word symbiosis
Why is the head definition for this word the opposite of the head definition for its adjective, symbiotic?
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word defenestration
In my mind defenestration is inexorably linked with Prague like boiled bacon and pease pudding
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word perihelion
opposite = aphelion
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word zenith
The highest point of its orbit
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word arsed
can't be arsed = can't be bothered
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word pease
The man in the moon
Came tumbling down
And asked the way to Norwich.
They told him south,
He burnt his mouth,
Eating cold pease porridge
Pease pudding is the ideal accompaniment to boiled bacon, and can be bought in cans if you don't know (or can't be arsed) to make it.
June 22, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word defenestration
I used to have a newspaper cutting, but I've lost it now. It told of two guys in hospital with broken necks or somesuch. They had both fallen out of the upper window of a bar. Witnesses said they were trying to see who could lean out the farthest. They were said to be laughing as they fell...
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word hair in the gate
More likely to be a real hair I'd have thought. The gate is (part of) the mechanism for moving the film strip on. More likely to be the shutter than the aperture.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word twilight
astronomical twilight, civil twilight, naval twilight.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word scintilla
I always envisage a scintilla as being hard and sharp, like a glass splinter, whereas a soupcon sounds much more liquid somehow.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word scintilla
Probably bigger than a soupcon
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word soupcon
French = suspicion (should be soupçon)
an eentsy-weentsy amount, but bigger than a nuage
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word nuage
French = cloud
a very small amount - just pass the cork over the mixing bowl
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word eentsy-weentsy
Very small.
"Eentsy-weentsy spider
went up the spout.
Down came the rain and
washed the spider out."
- Children's song
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gnomic
Somebody sent me this yesterday:
Thoughts of a Jewish Buddhist
Let your mind be as a floating cloud. Let your stillness be as the wooded glen. And sit up straight. You'll never meet the Buddha with posture like that.
There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that?
Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.
To practice Zen and the art of Jewish motorcycle maintenance, do the following: get rid of the motorcycle. What were you thinking?
Be aware of your body. Be aware of your perceptions. Keep in mind that not every physical sensation is a symptom of a terminal illness.
If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems.
The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others. The Tao does not speak. The Tao does not blame. The Tao does not take sides. The Tao is not Jewish.
Drink tea and nourish life. With the first sip, joy. With the second, satisfaction. With the third, Danish.
The Buddha taught that one should practice loving kindness to all sentient beings. Still, would it kill you to find a nice sentient being who happens to be Jewish?
Be patient and achieve all things. Be impatient and achieve all things faster.
To Find the Buddha, look within. Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers. Each flower blossoms ten thousand times. Each blossom has ten thousand petals. You might want to see a specialist.
Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?
Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkes.
Zen Judaism: For You, A Little Enlightenment
by David M. Bader
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word pease
Why does it need reviving? Is it dying?
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gnomic
Not the little old guys with pointy hats:
gnomic = characterized by the expression of popular wisdom in the condensed form of proverbs or aphorisms, also known as gnomes. The term was first used of the ‘Gnomic Poets’ of 6th�?century Greece, although there are older traditions of gnomic writing in Chinese, Egyptian, and other cultures; the Hebrew book of Proverbs is a well�?known collection. The term is often extended to later writings in which moral truths are presented in maxims or aphorisms.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word cradle cap
Name given to the yellowish, greasy scaly patches appearing on the scalp of young babies.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word url
= uniform resource locator
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word nine "midsomer murders" episodes on dvd
Those quotation marks sure cock up the url. That and the length of the "word". Get to it here
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word spoonerism
a cunning stunt
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word point-virgule
French for semicolon ;
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word oasthouse
There are (or were) a lot in the southeast corner of England (Kent), where hops are grown.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word theine
Caffeine found in tea.
pronunced as tea-een
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word soho
In Manhattan, it's South of Houston Street. Definitely borrowed from London
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word clitic
A grammatically independent and phonologically dependent word. It is pronounced like an affix, but works at the phrase level. For example, the English possessive -'s is a clitic; in the phrase the girl next door’s cat, -’s is phonologically attached to the preceding word door while grammatically combined with the phrase the girl next door, the possessor.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word enclitic
A clitic that follows its host
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word d'oh
"D'oh!" is a catch phrase used by the fictional character Homer Simpson, from the long-running animated series The Simpsons (1989–). Homer's ubiquitous catch phrase was famously added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2001, without the apostrophe. The spoken word "D'oh" is a trademark of 20th Century Fox.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word yes we have no bananas
Shouldn't that be banana's - grocer's apostrophe?
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word paralleliped
D'oh!
OK, can I claim a new record for the highest number of years having the wrong word in my head? Must be nearly 50.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word little man in rowboat wind-up toy
The little man in boat makes me smile too.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word little man in boat
another euphemism for clitoris.
Because the head of the clitoris with surrounding tissue looks like a man in a boat.
If you want your woman to be happy, you have to talk to the man in the boat.
www.urbandictionary.com
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word wot
A variant of wit is wot, which is almost unknown outside of its negative: wotless, "unknowing, ignorant" (pretty much synonymous with witless) and the phrase God wot, meaning "God knows".
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word wotless
= witless
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word god wot
Thomas Edward Brown. 1830–1897
My Garden
A GARDEN is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Rose plot,
Fringed pool,
Fern'd grot—
The veriest school
Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not—
Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool?
Nay, but I have a sign;
'Tis very sure God walks in mine.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word a 2006 calendar
They should be exactly reusable every 28 years.
June 21, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word wilmot
A kind of dingleberry. But no matter how hard you tug it, it wilmot come off!
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dritsak
Norwegian for shitbag
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list •open-list-what-s-on-em-your-em-work-desk
Obviously he runs a bakery
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word stir
Slang for prison, hence stir crazy
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word stir crazy
Mad from being locked up in prison
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list chinese-olympic-cuisine
Thought you might like to know that wahaha is a Chinese drinks company
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list •open-list-what-s-on-em-your-em-work-desk
OK then: competition time
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word chicken without sexual life
Full menu
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word chicken without sexual life
Here are some examples from the Christmas menu I enjoyed in Nanning (Guangxi) last December:
The Dutch cowboys dig up spell roast the turkey (Black pepper juice)
Cream tricky grass milk-fish platoon
Annoys the taste turkey to approve Sa
Halogen intestines salad
I think a platoon must be a big plate
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word scrump
v. to steal apples from a tree
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word paralleliped
A solid figure with six faces and right vertices. Like a brick.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word brummagem
Imitative of local dialect for Birmingham
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ravish
"Her looks were ravishing, but when it came to ravishing, looks weren't enough."
- my best friend used to say that, I wonder where he got it from!
Maybe I'll just say
- Louis Zukofsky and leave it at that. He seems to have supplied quite a lot of shite here.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gamin
feminine is gamine.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word hieratic
cf demotic
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list there-is-no-x-in-espresso-words-butchered-by-americans
How about 'buoy'? We Brits rhyme it with boy, whereas Americans rhyme with phooey.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tickety-boo
"Two thumbs-up" (as they say on pirate dvd covers round here).
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word widdershins
The opposite of clockwise
name of a book by Oliver Onions
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word aka
also known as = pseudonym
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word preparation h test
Does it solve a problem, or merely disguise it?
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word haemorrhoids
aka piles
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word preparation h
A proprietary ointment claimed to relieve the symptoms of haemorrhoids/hemorrhoids/piles
NB only relieves the symptoms, does nothing for the underlying cause.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ankh
An Egyptian religious device, rather like a cross, but with a loop top. Unicode character U2625 doesn't render on my browser.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word finger of disapproval
Body language-ists say it is imitative of hitting them (the disapprovees) with a stick.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list the-armourer
gallowglass
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word deadleg
"its sic where you smash somebody in the leg really hard and there sic leg goes like numb, and they have trouble moving it because you just smashed it." - urbandictionary.com
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dead leg
"its where you smash somebody in the leg really hard and there leg goes like numb, and they have trouble moving it because you just smashed it." - urbandictionary.com
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dead men
Empty bottles - because they have lost their spirit.
"Down among the dead men let me lie" = let me get so drunk I fall off my chair.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dead man's handle
A device intended to stop a machine in case the human operator becomes incapacitated, commonly used in locomotives and dangerous machinery.
Typically, the controller handle is a horizontal bar, rotated to apply the required power. Attached to the bottom of the handle is a rod which, when pushed down, contacts a solenoid or switch inside the control housing. The handle springs up if pressure is removed, releasing the rod's contact with the internal switch, instantly cutting power and applying the brakes.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word deadhead
A fan of the Grateful Dead
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dead people
dead man's hand
dead man's handle
deadhead
deadleg
dead men
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dead man's hand
The dead man's hand is a two-pair poker hand, namely "aces and eights." The hand gets its name from the legend of it having been the five-card-draw hand held by Wild Bill Hickok at the time of his murder (August 2, 1876). It is accepted that the hand included the aces and eights of both of the black suits and either the jack or queen of diamonds. The term, before the murder of Hickok, referred to a variety of hands.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list found-in-pairs
salopettes
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word salopettes
High-waisted skiing pants: a garment worn by skiers, comprising a pair of usually padded, water-resistant pants that reach up to the chest with straps passing over the shoulders.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word peregrination
a pilgrimage
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word guttering
1) half-round (usually) drainage channel that runs round the edge of a roof etc.
2) action of a candle, like flickering
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word diarrhesis
Luckily this is a word, but not the one I was thinking of. Where's the delete button?
This means "to flow through". I meant diaeresis.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word cavil
nitpick
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word nitpick
to look for nits
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word zaftig
one person's "zaftig" is another's "fat"
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word six pack
impressively developed abdomenal musculature, if that's what impresses you
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list johnmperry-s-list
Never heard of her!
All free association is my own.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word epicurian
epicurean
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word boj
It's a range of furniture in Ikea. I pronounce it like bodge, which is how a lot of people perform with a flatpack.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word flatpack
The term generally relates to items of furniture that have been specially designed to be taken away from stores, their component parts packed flat to minimize size, and assembled by consumers in their homes. This aspect of self-assembly has been simplified as far as possible and requires only very basic tools such as a screwdriver and a minimal level of skill.
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dinge
I saw this in Ikea last week - it's a reading lamp!
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word diphthong
... phthisis ... treatable with a phthalein
June 20, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word full monty
The real thing, not reduced in any way. cf "the whole nine yards".
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word foucault's pendulum
The Foucault pendulum , or Foucault's pendulum, named after the French physicist Léon Foucault, was conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth.
Get the full monty from wikipedia here. . . . it's heavy.
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word litotes
different from zeugma, apparently. Or do I mean ellipsis?
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word apeshit
hyper-annoyed: to go apeshit
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word foo-foo
make-up and good clothes: "put on one's foo-foo"
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word kazoo
When I was a boy, we made do with a comb and some toilet paper. Not that soft toilet paper we get nowadays, but hard medicated stuff.
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word swannee whistle
A slide whistle (variously known as a swannee whistle, piston flute or less commonly jazz flute) is a wind instrument consisting of a fipple like a recorder's and a tube with a piston in it. It thus has an air reed like some woodwinds, but varies the pitch with a slide. Because the air column is cylindrical and open at one end and closed at the other, it overblows the third harmonic.
To fans of 1970s BBC children's television, the instrument will always be associated with the voices of the Clangers. The instrument also features prominently in the game of "Swannee-Kazoo" in the long-running British radio panel game, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
June 19, 2008
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