I actually heard this for the first time on an episode of Dr. Who, "The Caves of Androzani" (With Peter Davison as the 5th doctor, for you fans). I only knew its spelling because I had subtitles turned on.
Centaurs with the bodies of goats instead of horses. AEgipan was a woodland god similar to Pan (though with four legs), the son of Zeus who aided the gods in the battle of the Titans.
I encountered this in a current article in The London Review of Books (about Weimar Germany):
"What, looking back, was so characteristic about the culture of a shortlived German republic that nobody had really wanted and most Germans accepted as faute de mieux at best?"
I think I read (a long, long time ago) in The Elements of Style that "flammable" was a word created for the safety of idiots and small children. His words, not mine.
I found this word in Anne Fadiman's essay, "The P.M.'s Empire of Books" in Ex Libris. It was used by Gladstone to describe the shape of his ideal bookcase.
I encountered this in my OED on the way to looking up something else. It means "the feeling that one may have read the present passage before." So, it's like deja vu, but in reading. Awesome word.
I, too, learned this word in relation to Prague. I first encountered it a travel guide (The Rough Guide series, I'm sure). It talked about if you stood at a certain spot in the Castle you could "contemplate the trajectory" of the advisors when they were defenestrated.
Comments by laiane
laiane commented on the list speak-memory-2
This is one of my favorties books. What a wonderful list you've made!
March 24, 2012
laiane commented on the list words-i-wish-would-come-back-into-fashion
Thanks, marky! I love these words. I'm especially fond of "insouciant."
March 14, 2012
laiane commented on the word fescennine
I actually heard this for the first time on an episode of Dr. Who, "The Caves of Androzani" (With Peter Davison as the 5th doctor, for you fans). I only knew its spelling because I had subtitles turned on.
March 11, 2012
laiane commented on the word scyptic
Found in a passage in H.P. Lovecraft's The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath
Blogged here:
http://blogicaster.blogspot.com/2009/08/mysterious-words.html
February 22, 2010
laiane commented on the word aegipans
Centaurs with the bodies of goats instead of horses. AEgipan was a woodland god similar to Pan (though with four legs), the son of Zeus who aided the gods in the battle of the Titans.
January 30, 2010
laiane commented on the word gräfinnen
(German) Countesses
November 7, 2009
laiane commented on the word spoony
(adj.) unduly sentimental, silly, foolish
November 7, 2009
laiane commented on the word dentelles
(n) an ornamental tooling like lace
November 7, 2009
laiane commented on the word mauvaise honte
Bashfulness; from the French - "bad shame"
Encountered in an English gothic novel, The Monk, by Matthew Gregory Lewis.
October 25, 2009
laiane commented on the word frighted
Archaic version of "frightened." I found it in Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year.
August 18, 2009
laiane commented on the word bastion of asshattery
This reminds me of the collective noun my husband and I use -- haberdashery of asshats.
July 30, 2009
laiane commented on the word clyster
Encountered this word in Dan Simmons' novel Drood
June 27, 2009
laiane commented on the word faute de mieux
From the French, "for lack of something better."
I encountered this in a current article in The London Review of Books (about Weimar Germany):
"What, looking back, was so characteristic about the culture of a shortlived German republic that nobody had really wanted and most Germans accepted as faute de mieux at best?"
January 24, 2008
laiane commented on the word tripthong
Thank you for the "choke on my coffee" moment this morning, bilby. Much appreciated (and I missed the keyboard).
December 2, 2007
laiane commented on the word inflammable
I think I read (a long, long time ago) in The Elements of Style that "flammable" was a word created for the safety of idiots and small children. His words, not mine.
December 1, 2007
laiane commented on the word fud
This is how I imagine my cats would spell "food." I confess to an overexposure to lolcats.
December 1, 2007
laiane commented on the word parallelopiped
I found this word in Anne Fadiman's essay, "The P.M.'s Empire of Books" in Ex Libris. It was used by Gladstone to describe the shape of his ideal bookcase.
December 1, 2007
laiane commented on the word for all intensive purposes
This mispronunciation drives me batty, too.
November 30, 2007
laiane commented on the word deja loo
Most excellent, bilby.
November 30, 2007
laiane commented on the word deja lu
I encountered this in my OED on the way to looking up something else. It means "the feeling that one may have read the present passage before." So, it's like deja vu, but in reading. Awesome word.
November 30, 2007
laiane commented on the word defenestrate
I, too, learned this word in relation to Prague. I first encountered it a travel guide (The Rough Guide series, I'm sure). It talked about if you stood at a certain spot in the Castle you could "contemplate the trajectory" of the advisors when they were defenestrated.
November 30, 2007
laiane commented on the word pique
I've never seen this "woven fabric" definition. I've always used this as in brtom's comment.
November 30, 2007
laiane commented on the word signify
I love this word as Jane Austen uses it -- that a thing has no importance or is not significant, e.g. "It will not much signify what one wears."
November 30, 2007