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.
A character in The Clangers - a cheery, soup-making dragon (is there any other kind?). She made her soup from the volcanic wells at the heart of the Clangers’ world. Soup is the main part of the Clangers' diet, supplemented by blue string pudding.
BBCtv animation show ostensibly aimed at children. But since it was broadcast around 6pm on Sundays, it became quite a family favourite. Broadcast between 69/11 and 72/11.
They communicated using sounds "quite similar to" a Swannee whistle.
The Clangers are small, pink mouselike persons who live under their planet's surface in caves protected by saucepan lids. The noise of the lids being closed (to protect their home from falling space debris) gave the Clangers their name. The series told of their encounters with iron chickens, seeds, and sentient musical instruments.
They lived on a small, hollow planet far far away, nourished by Blue String Pudding, and Green Soup harvested from the planet's volcanic soup wells by the Soup Dragon.
A suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed pegged trousers and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. This style of clothing was popularized by Hispanics, Italian Americans, African Americans, and Filipino Americans during the late 1930s and 1940s.
Glam rock (also known as glitter rock), is a rock music style that developed in the UK in the post-hippie early 1970s which was "performed by singers and musicians wearing outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots."
The part of the top of the track formation from the toe of the ballast to the edge of the formation; less commonly, the space between an outer rail and the edge of the track-bed or permanent way structure.
In the tales of Archy & Mehitabel (Don Marquis, 1916 onwards) the watchword of Mehitabel the cat was "toujours gay archy, toujours gay." Archy was a cockroach who couldn't hack the shift key on the typewriter, so always wrote in lower case.
Also a chain for a fob watch - wiktionary: "A chain used to anchor a pocket watch or other fob to a waistcoat. With the passing of their use as a functional item, Albert Chains are still used as jewelry, worn in any number of manners."
Wikipedia: "The Prince Albert piercing (PA) is one of the common forms of male genital piercing. The PA pierces the penis from the outside of the frenulum and into the urethra."
Cockney rhyming slang (usually truncated to Tom) = jewellery (or jewelry if you're unfortunate enough to be American)(except then it doesn't actually rhyme).
Means wishing things had turned out differently. Jane Austen uses it a lot.
“Oh! that my dear mother had more command over herself; she can have no idea of the pain she gives me by her continual reflections on him. But I will not repine. It cannot last long. He will be forgot, and we shall all be as we were before.�?
Hardly a sacrifice not to eat meat for 40 days, particularly for those who couldn't afford it anyway! But this was more of a saying goodbye to the good times. After Lent, when the hens started laying again, was the time of Easter Eggs, well before Easter was hijacked by the Church.
Chinese do this a lot, because they can't handle character strings. Maybe others do too. I'm reminded of a protest march Gibraltar once, where a banner read "British we are and British we estay".
There is a famous street in London - where Harrods is - called Knightsbridge. Maybe it doesn't have such a high ratio, but it does have a string of six consonants.
Comments by johnmperry
Show previous 200 comments...
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
johnmperry commented on the word soup dragon
A character in The Clangers - a cheery, soup-making dragon (is there any other kind?). She made her soup from the volcanic wells at the heart of the Clangers’ world. Soup is the main part of the Clangers' diet, supplemented by blue string pudding.
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word clangers
BBCtv animation show ostensibly aimed at children. But since it was broadcast around 6pm on Sundays, it became quite a family favourite. Broadcast between 69/11 and 72/11.
They communicated using sounds "quite similar to" a Swannee whistle.
The Clangers are small, pink mouselike persons who live under their planet's surface in caves protected by saucepan lids. The noise of the lids being closed (to protect their home from falling space debris) gave the Clangers their name. The series told of their encounters with iron chickens, seeds, and sentient musical instruments.
They lived on a small, hollow planet far far away, nourished by Blue String Pudding, and Green Soup harvested from the planet's volcanic soup wells by the Soup Dragon.
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word clanger
You drop a clanger rather than make one.
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word glam rock
Grocer's apostrophe!
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word grocer's apostrophe
unnecessary, misplaced or omitted apostrophe.
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word sockdolager
cf doxology
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word zoot
a clothing style - zoot suit. also see zut!
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word zut
French imprecation/eclamation. Or so we are led to believe.
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word zoot suit
A suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed pegged trousers and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. This style of clothing was popularized by Hispanics, Italian Americans, African Americans, and Filipino Americans during the late 1930s and 1940s.
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word glam
short for glamorous
also see glam rock
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word glam rock
Glam rock (also known as glitter rock), is a rock music style that developed in the UK in the post-hippie early 1970s which was "performed by singers and musicians wearing outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots."
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word minge
its adjective probably isn't mingy
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word enophile
oenophile
June 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word nates
pronounced /'neiti:z/
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gonads
in other words - testicles
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word morosoph
cf sophomore?
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word big up
v. to exaggerate; to hype
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word visage
re the definition - has anyone actually heard the word phiz used since Dickens? (short for physiognomy)
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word cess path
a path that runs along or near a railway line to provide access for railway workers.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word cess
Scottish for land tax, Irish for luck.
Railway jargon:
The part of the top of the track formation from the toe of the ballast to the edge of the formation; less commonly, the space between an outer rail and the edge of the track-bed or permanent way structure.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word dukes
hands or fists: "put up your dukes" = put up your fists and prepare to fight.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word duke
variety of cherry
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word cherry
also virginity
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word napoleon
a variety of cherry
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gay
"bonnie and blythe
and good and gay"
- check bonnie
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bonnie
Early Scottish usage was today's gay. So Bonnie Prince Charlie wasn't what you thought.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gay
In the tales of Archy & Mehitabel (Don Marquis, 1916 onwards) the watchword of Mehitabel the cat was "toujours gay archy, toujours gay." Archy was a cockroach who couldn't hack the shift key on the typewriter, so always wrote in lower case.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gong gong
Chinese for public bus is gong gong qi che
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word mimer
Also another name of the Norse god Mimir.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word eroteme
So what is a ¿ as used in Spanish (to introduce a question)
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word roro
Roll-on, roll-off. As in ferry. I.e. drive-through.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bleachers
Your hair gets lighter
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word shaddenfreud
usually schadenfreude
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tart
A tart doesn't have a pastry top - that's a pie.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word electric sheep
"Do androids dream of electric sheep?" was filmed as Blade Runner
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word albert
Also a chain for a fob watch - wiktionary: "A chain used to anchor a pocket watch or other fob to a waistcoat. With the passing of their use as a functional item, Albert Chains are still used as jewelry, worn in any number of manners."
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word inn
It's more like a public house (UK = "pub"; other folk = bar) that offers accommodation of some sort. Not as upmarket as a hotel.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word pub
Contraction of "public house".
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word nonce
British prison slang. Paedophile or any sex offender.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word maticulate
meticulate seems to be a nonce-word. (Not a word used by nonces.)
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word prince albert
Wikipedia: "The Prince Albert piercing (PA) is one of the common forms of male genital piercing. The PA pierces the penis from the outside of the frenulum and into the urethra."
So now we know!
Different from ordinary albert.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word pinyin
official Chinese way of transcribing Chinese words to Roman alphabet.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word putonghua
Chinese name for Mandarin language = "ordinary language" - 普通�?
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word 雨女
What language is that? In putonghua the pinyin is yu nü. NB each character is a monosyllable.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ferver
fervour?
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word maticulate
what did you mean? - machicolate?
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word clippy
old UK vernacular for a bus conductress, i.e. female who sold and clipped the tickets on a bus
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ftse
Financial Times Stock Exchange Index
pronounced footsie
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word footsie
Preliminary foreplay
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word cockney
in cockney rhyming slang, usually only the first word of the rhyme-pair is used, leading to mystification of non-cockney listeners.
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word tomfoolery
Cockney rhyming slang (usually truncated to Tom) = jewellery (or jewelry if you're unfortunate enough to be American)(except then it doesn't actually rhyme).
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word deep-six
to bury (six feet under) << to kill
June 18, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word cop out
1 A failure to fulfill a commitment or responsibility or to face a difficulty squarely.
2 A person who fails to fulfill a commitment or responsibility.
3 An excuse for inaction or evasion.
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word shrinkage
Usually (?) means the amount by which stock depletes that cannot be accounted for. I.e. it's not broken, but stolen, often by the staff!
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word altitonant
Thunderous voice
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word alaudine
pertaining to skylarks
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list words-often-used-by-stupid-people-to-cover-for-the-inability-to-articulate-a-full-idea
My most unfavourite word: fantastic - seems to mean "desperately ordinary".
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word determiner
Group of words such as definite and indefinite article, any, some etc.
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word fantastic
Used more and more as some sort of feeble
intensifier.
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word skewbald
like piebald, but white and any colour except black
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list rare-letter-combos-double-vowel-aa-ii-uu
that's a wrong link, gangerh. That links to word respelt, not your list which is here respelt
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word repine
Means wishing things had turned out differently. Jane Austen uses it a lot.
“Oh! that my dear mother had more command over herself; she can have no idea of the pain she gives me by her continual reflections on him. But I will not repine. It cannot last long. He will be forgot, and we shall all be as we were before.�?
Pride & Prejudice, Volume II chapter 1
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word emend
Amend just means to change (for better, for worse). Emend means to put right.
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word claque
also colloquial for the tongue
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word callipygous
also callipygean
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word liquifaction
liquefaction?
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word imodium
anti-diarrhoea medicine (proprietary).
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word mcdonald
A hamburger (proprietary).
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word andrew
also sailors' slang for the Royal Navy
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ganglia
plural of ganglion?
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word panacaea
more usually panacea
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word chine
Also a valley-like geological formation
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gala
Hardly a sacrifice not to eat meat for 40 days, particularly for those who couldn't afford it anyway! But this was more of a saying goodbye to the good times. After Lent, when the hens started laying again, was the time of Easter Eggs, well before Easter was hijacked by the Church.
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word swive
to have sexual intercourse with somebody
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word coot
Usually have few feathers on their heads - "as bald as a coot".
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gala
Where's the gruesomeness in carnival? That is from "carne vale" - goodbye to meat, at the start of Lent.
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word titilate
probably should be titillate
June 17, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word eth
The name of the Old English/Icelandic letter �? ð
June 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word bogof
Exactly so. It is pronounced bog off rather than bog of. Echoes in fact of **** off, i.e. just about anything.
June 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word anaptyxis
Chinese do this a lot, because they can't handle character strings. Maybe others do too. I'm reminded of a protest march Gibraltar once, where a banner read "British we are and British we estay".
June 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word twofer
I heard it in New York - two for the price of one (theatre tickets).
In UK we say Bogof (buy one, get one free)
June 16, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list common-english-words-that-are-also-first-names
... and roger
June 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list common-english-words-that-are-also-first-names
skipvia you forgot pat
June 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word zapristi!
Don't really know if this is a word, or whether it's French. It was used a lot by Count Moriarty in the Goon Show.
June 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word kushti
Romany for something good.
"Kushti divvis" = good day.
"Kushti scran" = good food.
I've just come out of that café. I put some kushti scran in my goshkin (stomach).
June 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word chai
Chai must be an American thing. In UK we say char. As in "cuppa char please".
It's also a Romany word for girl.
June 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word chiv
It's a knife, razor, etc. Also shiv
June 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list the-braggadocio-recipe
coca and cola are both words, so I added them back in - this is a twofer day!
OK, so now substantiate hi-fi. What word is that? Or thesauri - a Latin plural of a Greek singular. And if you're including Latin plurals ...
Basically, if a word is in the dictionary, it's a word.
June 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word brangelina
If Tuesday Weld had been Fredric March's third wife, she'd have Tuesday, March the Third
June 14, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list double-double-2
I agree. Hear hear.
June 14, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word ski
Also refers to middle-age sports car owners: "Spending the Kids' Inheritance"
June 13, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word quine
Is it not also a noun, something which refers to itself?
Here's a longer explanation quine
June 13, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list the-macabre-dough
... and the 'o' sound in gateaux is a diphthong.
June 12, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list the-macabre-dough
Actually, I pronounce the 'r' in macabre
June 12, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list rare-letter-combos-double-vowel-aa-ii-uu
an African village could be a kraal
a sea-mist is a haar
there is a gateway to a Japanese temple called a torii
there's that xbox/gameboy (or whatever) thing called a wii
in winter people go skiing
June 11, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list more-than-8-letters-no-repeated-letters
There is a town in Lincolnshire, UK called Horncastle.
June 11, 2008
johnmperry commented on the list consonant-vowel-ratio-high
There is a famous street in London - where Harrods is - called Knightsbridge. Maybe it doesn't have such a high ratio, but it does have a string of six consonants.
June 11, 2008
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