Welcome, slumry

slumry commented on the word malternatives

Looks like it should refer to two or more bad options: the devil or the deep blue sea

February 19, 2019

slumry commented on the word celebritude

Ouch, I say. "...That extreme celebritude aside..." Kurt Andersen in a NYT review of Thomas Mallon's novel about GW Bush, today.

February 11, 2019

slumry commented on the word feel facts

Feel facts: They are not technically true, but you just feel they are.

December 14, 2018

slumry commented on the word fobi

fear of being irrelevant; comes wit]h advancing years cf superannuated

December 8, 2018

slumry commented on the word butt-weld

Also happens when you sit too long on a vinyl chair while wearing a bathing suit.

December 7, 2018

slumry commented on the word shitstorm

And it sounds like a German word to boot...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/world/europe/merkel-storm-translation-germany.html

December 6, 2018

slumry commented on the word feels

Glad you mentioned this because I've been wondering exactly what that construction is supposed to convey. "Got me right in the feels" makes more intuitive sense than the first sentence--does it mean something like "A breakup story...will touch you emotionally?"

October 12, 2015

slumry commented on the list but-is-it-edible

banana slug

October 7, 2015

slumry commented on the word distantiation

Also distanciation; see distantiate

October 5, 2015

slumry commented on the word Napoleon

Not to mention the Napoleonic Wars

October 3, 2015

slumry commented on the word combox

A comment box, apparently. A portmanteau word.

September 30, 2015

slumry commented on the word pigwiggin

from Pigwiggen?

September 26, 2015

slumry commented on the word gliff

Well, I tried...I think I will just go on not pronouncing it at all.

September 26, 2015

slumry commented on the word flamboy

Many years ago I took my young husband a cup of hot coffee before he was fully awake in the morning. He roused himself a bit and said something like "Oh that's so hot...careful or you will have Stephen flamboy."

September 26, 2015

slumry commented on the word false friend

short for false friend of a translator

September 24, 2015

slumry commented on the word phool

New usage: a person gulled by phishing; from Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception, by George Akerlof and Robert Shiller.

September 20, 2015

slumry commented on the word quirking

see quirk

September 18, 2015

slumry commented on the word just sayin'

bless their hearts

September 18, 2015

slumry commented on the word undictionarized

Said of a word (slang, usually) that is not included in any dictionary.

From The Language Wars by Henry Hitchings:

"Slang is a kind of sport; Otto Jespersen remarked that like all other sports it essentially belongs to the young. Slang is playful. . . Words undictionarized are considered smart and snappy; they have yet to be tamed."

September 18, 2015

slumry commented on the word dame school

An early form of private elementary school, usually taught by women in their own homes.

September 15, 2015

slumry commented on the list the-end--1

Sothe, nithe, lathe, withe, rithe, and tithe are also nouns

September 13, 2015

slumry commented on the word Minnesota Vikings

Viqueens!

September 9, 2015

slumry commented on the word microchimera

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/babys-cells-can-manipulate-moms-body-decades-180956493/#AvAHCTQjAmEHOzA1.01

September 7, 2015

slumry commented on the list rubber-phrases

rubber bridge

September 6, 2015

slumry commented on the list chocolate-phrases

hm...chocolate covered bilby is not listed either. What kinda dictionary is this?

September 6, 2015

slumry commented on the list chocolate-phrases

chocolate bilby...surely it has been said before...

September 6, 2015

slumry commented on the word talesman

That's for damn tootin'!

September 6, 2015

slumry commented on the word bedizen

according to etymonline, bedizen dates to the 1660s and is derived from be + dizen, "to dress"

September 6, 2015

slumry commented on the list cvc3s

driven to alternative spelling: portentus (corrupt)

September 6, 2015

slumry commented on the word Cymopterus douglassi

Douglass's spring-parsley. Found only in Idaho mountains.

September 6, 2015

slumry commented on the list canadianisms

riding?

September 5, 2015

slumry commented on the word male

NPR just told me male is a taboo word. So hard to keep up. . .

September 4, 2015

slumry commented on the list are-we-not-men

Nope, not all of us...

September 4, 2015

slumry commented on the word prodical

Not in the bic pigture.

September 4, 2015

slumry commented on the word prodical

Evidently a lot of people think prodigal is spelled with a c.

September 4, 2015

slumry commented on the word see something say something

Chuck Close displayed a banana and the entire audience said banana.

September 3, 2015

slumry commented on the word Hogwartian

I keep thinking Hogwashian

September 2, 2015

slumry commented on the list have-phrases

have at it

September 2, 2015

slumry commented on the list have-phrases

have (something) will travel

September 2, 2015

slumry commented on the word doab

Mesopotamia is etymologically, as well as physically, a land between rivers.

September 1, 2015

slumry commented on the word awesome sauce

New in OED, I hear.

August 29, 2015

slumry commented on the word Wallabies

the farm team for the Wallabies are the wannabies

August 26, 2015

slumry commented on the word deltoid pumpkin seed

The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed is a book by John McPheee. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEREON_26 for more.

August 26, 2015

slumry commented on the word socionym

This is a good one--it strikes a nerve with me. I need a good socionym for someone who habitually uses socionyms, many of which are unfamiliar to me. It is usually not denigrating, but I find it tiresome.

August 24, 2015

slumry commented on the word put your leg in the fire

I am glad you enjoyed the list, qms. I often wish I had saved some amazing figures of speech I have come across when doing editing.

August 24, 2015

slumry commented on the list idioms-to-try-out

How 'bout I stick my hat out and throw my neck in the ring? I could put my nose to the grindstone and keep my ear to the ground until something better comes along.

August 24, 2015

slumry commented on the word put your leg in the fire

I decided to try this, but it has me stumped... Really, I can't quite make sense of this one. Irons in the fire? Break a leg? Put some skin in the game? In the course of my "research," I did come across this list, which has me doubling over in stitches http://tigger.uic.edu/~rramakri/Readings/Fun/Mixed-Metaphors.htm

August 24, 2015

slumry commented on the word excrementitious

Oh, the excrementitious ramblings of spammers.

August 24, 2015

slumry commented on the list dmh

Erin, that makes me so happy. I am working on the list in memory of a TA in a taxonomy class I took many, many years ago. Also am trying to recall what I once knew!

August 23, 2015

slumry commented on the word AFTOL

Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life Project

August 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word superciliousness

No, nor with superseriousness

August 18, 2015

slumry commented on the word interland

oops...perhaps you mean interlard

August 18, 2015

slumry commented on the word disspelling

see also eye dialect

August 18, 2015

slumry commented on the word uparching

the bending of rocks into an anticline or dome, according to Merriam-Webster

August 18, 2015

slumry commented on the word pumpkinberry

Geocaulon lividum (aka Comandra lividum; Bastard Toadflax) Fruit is "edible but not palatable"

August 18, 2015

slumry commented on the word special snowflake

This site, http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/special-snowflake, traces the use of the term to the 1999 movie Flight Club.

August 16, 2015

slumry commented on the word shackles

As always, a pleasure.

August 15, 2015

slumry commented on the word maidenhair

The generic name, Adiantum, Greek for “unwetted,” refers to the fronds’ water repellency. The specific name, pedatum, is Latin for “like a (bird’s) foot” and refers to the splayed pinnae. The common name, maidenhair fern, appears to be an inexact translation of capillus-veneris, (literally, “Venus’s hair”), the epithet of a different species found in subtropical regions of both the Old and New Worlds. (Venus’s hair is a good choice for gardeners whose climate is too warm to grow A. pedatum.)

http://www.motherearthliving.com/plant-profile/an-herb-to-know-46.aspx

The etymology appears to be a little more circuitous than Wiktionary would have it.

August 15, 2015

slumry commented on the word shackles

According to OED, soup, stew or broth. http://findwords.info/term/shackles

August 15, 2015

slumry commented on the word wavewing

*tries again*

wavewing is the common name of several plants in the carrot family (Apiaceae) The name refers to the undulating wings of the plant's seed pods.

August 14, 2015

slumry commented on the list shapes--3

I like this list!

August 13, 2015

slumry commented on the word chuzzle

From an 1891 book called Slang and its Analogues Past and Present, v2, compiled by J.S. Farmer: "chisel, chizzle, or chuzzle verb (common): To cheat... Current during the first half of thee present century, it seems to have appeared in literature about 1840."

If Dickens intended this slang sense of chisel/chizzle/chuzzle, that would make the character a cheatwit. Is it an active or passive sense of cheat? More research required.

August 13, 2015

slumry commented on the word Snark of the Universe

head of the Hoo-Hoos

August 12, 2015

slumry commented on the word loophole

from http://www.takeourword.com/TOW120/page2.html comes this discussion of loophole:

The narrow, slit-like windows often found in Medieval castles were called loopholes. Loop is a now obsolete word for "window", so a loophole was a "window hole". These narrow windows were used for defense of the castle - it was easy to launch arrows and other projectiles out of the castle through such slits, but awfully difficult to get them in. So it would make sense that this word might come to mean "some means of escape" and then "some technicality that allows one to evade some consequence of a contract".

However, that's not where today's loophole comes from! Well, at least not directly. Instead, it has been suggested that it comes from Dutch loopgat, the loop part of which comes from loopen "to run" (related to English lope and leap). It was probably influenced by the similar word loophole "window slit", perhaps even by folk etymology of the type we tried to fool you with above.

Loophole in the "technicality that allows evasion" sense was first used by the poet Andrew Marvell in 1663.

August 11, 2015

slumry commented on the list there-is-no-place-like-nebraska

My pleasure!

August 11, 2015

slumry commented on the list there-is-no-place-like-nebraska

fond memories of a picnic lunch in the Nebraska National Forest

August 11, 2015

slumry commented on the list not-quite-the-real-thang

pyrite

August 11, 2015

slumry commented on the list not-quite-the-real-thang

factoid

August 11, 2015

slumry commented on the word declopation

I like it. Sounds like syncopation with a little clop thrown in.

August 10, 2015

slumry commented on the word vehement

I have occasionally heard someone use violent this way, but in a self-aware and humorous manner.

August 7, 2015

slumry commented on the word diabolocentric

Having hell as the center of the cosmos.

August 6, 2015

slumry commented on the word pomicide

Apple killers! What, you say a pear of them?

August 6, 2015

slumry commented on the list chelonians

The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks. . .

August 3, 2015

slumry commented on the list erythronium

Kew has published a monograph on the genus Erythronium I want it.

August 3, 2015

slumry commented on the word cantalever

See cantilever for a more complete definition. Also cantaliver. Vowel play.

August 3, 2015

slumry commented on the word Walla Walla

Way too many wineries to count now.

August 1, 2015

slumry commented on the word down cellar

Don't forget the wine cellar, she shouted from Walla Walla.

August 1, 2015

slumry commented on the word glass cannon

Thanks, TH for commenting on the word. I like it. No, I love it. And thanks, Zu for having the list.

July 31, 2015

slumry commented on the word sarvis

My grandfather allowed how sarvis tastes like a fool, but with some lemon juice the berries make pretty good jelly.

July 31, 2015

slumry commented on the word suller

Reminds me of sarvis, aka serviceberry

July 31, 2015

slumry commented on the list agentive-exocentric--v-n-n-compounds

I guess it would be stop-loss rather than stoploss, if at all.

July 31, 2015

slumry commented on the list agentive-exocentric--v-n-n-compounds

What do you think about quitclaim, stoploss and maybe loosestrife?

July 31, 2015

slumry commented on the list the-masses--the-common-or-ordinary-people

the 99%

July 30, 2015

slumry commented on the list the-masses--the-common-or-ordinary-people

the great unwashed

July 30, 2015

slumry commented on the list jaw--1

Thanks TH and zu! Keep 'em coming!

July 30, 2015

slumry commented on the list tubs

three men

July 30, 2015

slumry commented on the word red-armed

VM, I think this is just a description of her appearance, painting a picture of a hard-working woman whose arms are likely weather-worn by wind or sun or cold or all three. Orwell describes this scene:

"a monstrous woman, solid as a Norman pillar, with brawny red forearms and a sacking apron strapped about her middle, was stumping to and fro between a washtub and a clothes line pegging out a series of square white things which Winston recognized as babies' diapers."

July 29, 2015

slumry commented on the word jaws of greed

Tongs used by people as they share a pot of shabu-shabu.

July 29, 2015

slumry commented on the word totally tubular

Stored in the same part of my brain as Qiana.

July 29, 2015

slumry commented on the word tubular

In the sense of awesome, said to date from the advent of vacuum tubes.

July 29, 2015

slumry commented on the word slutter-tub

Borrowed from this https://www.wordnik.com/lists/hazel intriguing list.

July 29, 2015

slumry commented on the list tubs

The laundry setup I first remember: A wringer washer, two galvanized tubs for rinsing, and clotheslines. Pray for a rainless afternoon.

July 29, 2015

slumry commented on the word barrad

Or here: https://www.wordnik.com/lists/hats-off. Let's find all hatlists.

July 29, 2015

slumry commented on the word barrad

Could go here: https://www.wordnik.com/lists/names-of-hats, thus revivifying the list.

July 29, 2015

slumry commented on the list overlapping-open-compounds

Dare I suggest also https://www.wordnik.com/lists/sweet-tooth-fairy? Well, evidently I durst.

July 28, 2015

slumry commented on the word following sea

In boating, a wave direction that matches the heading of the boat.

July 27, 2015

slumry commented on the word train wrecker

Neolentinus lepideus

"Another strong mushroom which does not decay easily; recycles wood, including railroad ties."

Mushrooms of Northwest North America

Helene M.E. Schalkwijk-Barendsen

July 27, 2015

slumry commented on the word rag

highlighting this Century definition:

n. In Oxford University, a noisy, disorderly outbreak, in violation of established regulations: originally peculiar to English university life.

July 27, 2015

slumry commented on the list angle-of-repose

I love that book!

July 27, 2015

slumry commented on the word tear-pump

Or, as some would say, turn on the waterworks

July 24, 2015

slumry commented on the list fusion

Adhesion?

July 24, 2015

slumry commented on the word it could be worse

They told me, "cheer up, it could be worse," so I cheered up and sure enough, it got worse.

July 24, 2015

slumry commented on the word wandering Jew

Ha, VM, thanks for the laugh. I tried to edit a typo in my comment probably as you were making yours. Somehow I got the dread page-not-found and therefore deleted my comment. But, as I was saying, the next step is the self-declared weed. My name is Himalaya Blackberry and I am a weed. A very bad weed indeed

July 24, 2015

slumry commented on the word pyriform

wonderful...I just wish we could see the cut of the egg under plover

July 24, 2015

slumry commented on the word Capercaillie

The wood grouse, largest of the grouse family, renowned for its mating display. aka Cock of the woods or cock-o-the-woods Also the name of a Scottish band.

July 23, 2015

slumry commented on the word Benelux

As for the word Benelux, I keep thinking it should be the name of either a watch or a mattress. Good quality and luxurious.

July 23, 2015

slumry commented on the word Benelux

Makes me think of some of the proposed reconfigurations of various states in the western US: Cascadia, Jefferson, State of Kootenai and Lincoln. I think Lincoln has been proposed for a couple of different locations.

July 23, 2015

slumry commented on the word unsanitary

Like a taboo. For example, "I resent that they make it unsanitary to even discuss that subject."

July 23, 2015

slumry commented on the word suffering succotash

Yes, I am also inclined to believe this is folk etymology, mainly because I can find no citations. Furthermore, I haven't found any evidence of "suffering savior" used as an oath. So I guess we will never know whether succotash suffers or is merely to be suffered.

July 23, 2015

slumry commented on the word up and doing

Definition: busy; active

Indeed, Calvinists were constantly up and doing , searching for signs that they had received God's gift of grace.

Divine, Robert A. (editor) & Breen, T. H & Frederickson, George M & Williams, R. Hal AMERICA PAST AND PRESENT (1995)

Definition and citation from Collins Dictionary

July 23, 2015

slumry commented on the word proustite

a proustite called ruby silver

July 23, 2015

slumry commented on the list corny

What about come non-corn corns--cornucopia, cornflower, Cornus

July 23, 2015

slumry commented on the word a resounding silence

went over like a lead balloon

July 22, 2015

slumry commented on the list the-verbing-nouns

Hm..swimming rama...chicken swimming in peanut sauce?

July 22, 2015

slumry commented on the list wedge-schwa

Not sure about this. Unbuckle?

July 22, 2015

slumry commented on the word buckskin snag

A standing dead tree without bark. Evidently the barklessness can allow the wood to remain sound (and salable) for many years.

July 22, 2015

slumry commented on the word suffering succotash

According to the blog idiomation, the phrase suffering succotash originated as a bowdlerization of Suffering Savior

July 22, 2015

slumry commented on the word bounding main

People speculate about different explanations for bounding in this term. World Wide Words concludes that ". . .the bounding main is the open ocean with its waves that surge, billow and break."

July 22, 2015

slumry commented on the word clinging vine

a person who is overly dependent

July 22, 2015

slumry commented on the word Galloping Gertie

A bridge over the Tacoma Narrows which from the time that it was constructed moved vertically in the wind. It collapsed in 1940.

July 22, 2015

slumry commented on the word too many irons in the fire

From the world of blacksmithing

July 22, 2015

slumry commented on the list the-verbing-nouns

Oh, I would like to add screaming meemies, but I am afraid that it is not the meemies who actually do the screaming. . .what is a meemie anyway?

July 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word unsanitary

Someone I know uses unsanitary to mean something roughly synonymous with politically incorrect. I am wondering how widespread this usage is.

July 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word ironing basket

Ha! No pretense in this definition that an ironing basket is a repository for things that will be ironed.

July 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word seersucker

Like crepe, if you iron it with a too-hot iron, you will sear the sucker right out of it. Or so my mother told me. As one friend told me, the ironing basket is where she puts clothes she will never wear again.

July 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word sadden

Just make sure you don't over-sad-iron the crape, or you will iron the crepe right out of it.

July 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word bluing

At one time white-haired ladies used a little bit of bluing to counteract the yellow tinge in their hair; a bit too much and the hair was blue; hence, bluehairs.

July 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word memaloose

Chinook Jargon: dead, to die, etc. mamook memaloose is to kill, to murder, to execute

July 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word rediviva

restored to life

July 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word Lewisia rediviva

Common name, Bitterroot

"Meriwether Lewis first collected it in 1806 in Montana When his pressed, dried specimen was examined months later, it still showed signs of life and when planted, it promptly grew so it was called rediviva, meaning 'restored to life.'"

from "Plants of Southern Interior British Columbia and the Inland Northwest" by Parish, Coupe, and Lloyd

July 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word redivivus

see Lewisia rediviva

July 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word bank of elegance

Counterfeit:

"As in most civilized countries rejoicing in that paper medium which Cobbett tersely denounced as 'rags,' the imitation of bank notes is prohibited and severely punished, however innocent may be the intent. Just as in the last century debtors in the Fleet Prison printed notes on the 'Bank of Fleet,' and later jokers got up drafts on the 'Bank of Elegance,' both of which were employed, particularly when intermixed with genuine notes, to deceive the public, so is there a class still ignorant enough to be fleeced by gross deceptions."

From Tales of the Bank of England, published in 1882

July 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word marooned

It's what happened when the red ship and the blue ship collided.

July 19, 2015

slumry commented on the word what the deuce

An expression of surprise. I used to hear this regularly, but have not heard it for years.

July 19, 2015

slumry commented on the list perty

Thanks for the link, TH. That was fun.

July 17, 2015

slumry commented on the list the-verbing-nouns

ticking timebomb?

July 17, 2015

slumry commented on the word dirty shame-on-it

For example, "What dirty shame-on-it used up the toilet paper and did not put up a new roll?"

July 17, 2015

slumry commented on the word planet

Really? A botanist called a peanut a drupe? All the botanists I know say a peanut is a legume. A drupe is a stone fruit with a fleshy covering over the seed, including peaches, plums and many others.

July 16, 2015

slumry commented on the word Pertinax

A Roman emporer, briefly; apparently also the species name of a particular hoverfly.

July 16, 2015

slumry commented on the word rat-tailed maggot

If I knew of a most-disgusting-names list, this would surely go on that list. The name refers to a juvenile hoverfly.

July 16, 2015

slumry commented on the list perty

Wondering if I really want to list pertussis. The thought of it makes me cough.

July 16, 2015

slumry commented on the list perty

Thanks for the list. You are most pertinent!

July 16, 2015

slumry commented on the word paughty

I knew a malapert; he was paughty and paunchy, and barely eighteen.

July 16, 2015

slumry commented on the word malapert

a quick search of some -pert words suggests that there is no list.

July 16, 2015

slumry commented on the word pertinacious

one for the list

July 16, 2015

slumry commented on the word susurration

Outside my window, the sweet susurration of two squirrels scampering on the dry bark of a plane tree.

July 16, 2015

slumry commented on the word edumacate

a disspelling?

July 15, 2015

slumry commented on the word plutography

Sometimes they live in McMansions.

July 15, 2015

slumry commented on the word plutography

Ha! Now, July 15, 2015, this word can be redefined as photographing Pluto.

July 15, 2015

slumry commented on the word Nootka rose

Beloved wildflower, followed by great hips.

July 15, 2015

slumry commented on the list one-thing-leads-to-another

To answer your question, this list is about the discursiveness of Wordnikking on one particular day. The process is necessarily idiosyncratic.Nootka is used in a variety of names--Nootka rose, Nootka Sound, Nootka cedar and, I learned, Nootkatone for example.

mamuk is commonly rendered mamook in the Chinook Jargon. A typo in one web reference used mamuk instead of mamluk; mamluke is another transliteration of mamluk. There are several others.

Whew, was that as painful for you as it was for me?

July 15, 2015

slumry commented on the list one-thing-leads-to-another

VM, thanks--your question prompted me to notice an omission in my comment on Nootkatone. I edited the comment to mention grapefruit.

July 15, 2015

slumry commented on the word Nootkatone

An organic compound typically extracted from grapefruit, but also found in Chamaecyparis nootkatensis, hence the name Nootkatone.

July 15, 2015

slumry commented on the word I think I broke Wordnik

Do you earn a badge for that?

July 15, 2015

slumry commented on the list room-at-the-inn-2

Gideon Bible?

July 14, 2015

slumry commented on the list banes

doronicum--leopard's bane

July 14, 2015

slumry commented on the word lacamas

Camassia quamash, also known as camas. Chinook jargon: the camas.

July 14, 2015

slumry commented on the word Chamaecyparis nootkatensis

Variously known as Alaska yellow cedar, yellow cedar, Nootka cypress, or Alaska cypress

July 14, 2015

slumry commented on the word cross as two sticks

ill tempered

July 14, 2015

slumry commented on the word Boulder

Boulder! A coy oath. Hoover Dam was originally called Boulder Dam. At the time of its construction, it was the biggest dam in the world.

July 13, 2015

slumry commented on the word hotter than lection

hotter than an election

July 13, 2015

slumry commented on the word hotter than lection

It was hotter than lection in western Washington this past June.

July 13, 2015

slumry commented on the word yard

Thanks, VM. When I was growing up the logger-talk was tedious and incomprehensible to me. Nevertheless some of the words stuck and now I enjoy learning about how that work was/is done.

July 13, 2015

slumry commented on the list no--nay--never

Oh, and never in a month of Sundays

July 13, 2015

slumry commented on the list no--nay--never

never in my born days; never in my wildest imagination

July 13, 2015

slumry commented on the word spar-tree

Spar-tree—A tall tree that is trimmed of all branches, topped, then rigged with guy lines and blocks, and used as a derrick to yard logs, moving them from where they were felled to a landing where they can be loaded for shipment to the mill.

From the website of the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest

July 13, 2015

slumry commented on the word yard

Well, now I am curious about the verb to yard. I grew up around a lot of logger talk, and there were frequent references to yarding logs. I called my brother the logger-cum-school administrator for a definition. After a short pause, he said that the pedantic answer would be that to yard is to draw in. I had the misapprehension that one yarded logs out. Very, very wrong. One yards logs in to a spar-tree. The area where they lay around the spar tree is called the cold deck.

July 13, 2015

slumry commented on the list door--1

Door to Hell, doormat. The Doors of Perception, door gunner, doorchimes

July 8, 2015

slumry commented on the word Door to Hell

the Darvaza Crater

July 8, 2015

slumry commented on the list cycling-loanwords

pannier?

July 6, 2015

slumry commented on the word lestage

Duties paid for unlading goods in port.

July 6, 2015

slumry commented on the word bailiwick

Often misspelled.

July 4, 2015

slumry commented on the list fest-words

scarecrowfest?

July 4, 2015

slumry commented on the word metalepsis

also known as transumption

July 4, 2015

slumry commented on the word anautogenous

Females of anautogenous insect species require a meal of blood in order to reproduce effectively. Most species of horse flies are anautogenous.

July 4, 2015

slumry commented on the list provide--1

outfit?

July 2, 2015

slumry commented on the word whistle punk

"A person who actuated the whistle on an old-time steam yarder by pulling on a long wire." from Glossary of Logging Terms at Pacific Forestry Foundation website.

June 30, 2015

slumry commented on the list sounds-of-silence

cone of silence? Wordnik mining.

June 28, 2015

slumry commented on the word only ever

I went on the interwebs looking for an account of the expression only ever, and what did I find but an account of the pocket shark which has only ever been seen twice.

June 26, 2015

slumry commented on the list sounds-of-silence

an anechoic chamber, maybe?

June 25, 2015

slumry commented on the list sounds-of-silence

Deafening silence?

June 25, 2015

slumry commented on the list sounds-of-silence

You could hear a pin drop.

June 25, 2015

slumry commented on the word qualia

more, perhaps, than you want to know about qualia at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia/

June 25, 2015

slumry commented on the list buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo--etc

Don't let anyone buffalo you!

June 23, 2015

slumry commented on the word cucurbit

a unit of measure equal to the length of a cucumber, measured in dog years

June 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word more honored in the breach than the observance

Often misconstrued to mean a good custom that is much flouted, rather than the original meaning of a bad custom that one would do well to dishonor.

From Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, scene 4: "But to my mind, though I am native here / And to the manner born, it is a custom / More honour'd in the breach than the observance." (Wiktionary)

June 21, 2015

slumry commented on the list show-me-the-moolah

two bits

June 21, 2015

slumry commented on the word swelt

hence, swelter

June 20, 2015

slumry commented on the word pseudophonia

to avoid opprobrium?

June 20, 2015

slumry commented on the word custock

Thinking of a Cossack wearing a cassock and wielding a custock.