From a Van Gogh letter: "Weemoed Melancholy may be a good experience, provided we write it as two words: wee woe, which is in every man, each of us having reason enough, but it must be allied to moed courage, and the more the better, for it is good to be someone who never despairs." http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/6/121.htm
For more on alphasyllabary: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/syllabic.htm or Wikipedia has this under Abugida: An abugida (pronounced /ˌɑːbuːˈɡiːdə/, from Ge‘ez ’äbugida), also called an alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system which is based on consonants, and in which vowel notation is obligatory but secondary. This contrasts with an alphabet proper, in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an abjad, in which vowel marking is absent or optional. (In less formal treatments, all three are commonly called alphabets.) About half the writing systems in the world are abugidas,citation needed including the extensive Brahmic family of scripts used in South and Southeast Asia.
The OED lists this word with besague which it defines as "a double-edged axe." But isn't a besagew a round piece of armor worn to protect the armpit between the spaulders and the cuirass? It is sometimes also called a roundel. I stumbled on this trying to find how to pronounce besagew.
Is cluck the best word for the sound made when you move your tongue suddenly from the roof of your mouth to the floor of your mouth? The sound kids use to imitate horses. Seems like there's another word for that but my brain is stuck on cluck!
From Merrill Gilfillan's "Rivers and Birds" published in 2003:
"So, shortly into Oklahoma, I reached for a tape, 'Enuff Said,' by a native southern plains group, Sizzortail, and that was just right: many-voiced, nonperfectionist, hymnic without enclosure. Its simple harmony, even when off a degree or two, is its declaration."
The suprasternal notch which Ondaatje called a vascular sizood in The English Patient:
In Michael Ondaatje's novel The English Patient, a geographer mapping the Sahara Desert wonders if there is a name for the hollow of a woman's neck just above the breastbone. When he finally gets his answer, he is told it is the "vascular sizood," although there is no such thing. "I'd given it the wrong name," Ondaatje recalled last week in an interview with Maclean's. "I'd been planning to fix it later on and give it the proper name, but I'd forgotten." -- Source
OED mentions John Barth's recent use of the word: 1994 J. BARTH Once upon Time 393 And exactly what were you doing, prithee, in that make-pretend down-county marsh at the make-pretend Place Where Three Ways Meet?
Somehow this is one of the most annoying words. Why is that? Brings to mind kegger and daddy long legger. Pregnant, gravid, and expectant are not the loveliest of words either. Interesting.
The FCC wants to change it to chestmouse. One species is known as tufted titmouse. I like that name but there's also thrummy titmouse which has its own appeal.
Matriot (ma’ - tri – at) noun 1. One who loves his or her country. 2. One who loves and protects the people of his or her country. 3. One who perceives national defense as health, education, and shelter of all people in his or her country. (Orig. Frances Payne Adler, 1991)
Thought I'd finally invented a word. Darn. Ms. Adler got there way ahead of me.
Twilight, dusk; dim or poor light. Usually this is owl-light. OED has one reference to it without the hyphen: "1776 M. DELANY in Autobiogr. & Corr. (1862) 2nd Ser. II. 213, I must finish to-morrow, for I have written thus far by owllight."
Comments by tusseymountain
tusseymountain commented on the word gatling
a group of woodpeckers
March 1, 2015
tusseymountain commented on the word recellet
Another name for cedar waxwing.
August 22, 2014
tusseymountain commented on the word groupidity
Megan McArdle: "doing something stupid because other people around you seem to think it's safe"
April 11, 2014
tusseymountain commented on the word weemoed
From a Van Gogh letter: "Weemoed Melancholy may be a good experience, provided we write it as two words: wee woe, which is in every man, each of us having reason enough, but it must be allied to moed courage, and the more the better, for it is good to be someone who never despairs." http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/6/121.htm
June 22, 2013
tusseymountain commented on the word stard
Lewis and Clark shortened "starboard" to "Stard."
May 17, 2013
tusseymountain commented on the word timpula
wild prairie turnip, secret ingredient of great fry bread
May 10, 2013
tusseymountain commented on the word unoutgrown
Melville uses the word in Moby Dick.
December 28, 2012
tusseymountain commented on the word comb bird
One reference to this from Barbara Kingsolver's "Prodigal Summer" http://books.google.com/books?id=06IwGgtV5HMC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=veery+is+comb+bird&source=bl&ots=uBzstXiMKE&sig=Xl9BOE6zJ5vwU5LAvWEY5emIZy0&hl=en#v=onepage&q=veery%20is%20comb%20bird&f=false
December 17, 2012
tusseymountain commented on the word aperçu
For an example, see the last paragraph in this review: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/books/review/magic-hours-essays-by-tom-bissell.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=bookreviews
May 14, 2012
tusseymountain commented on the list listless--2
Thanks.
March 13, 2012
tusseymountain commented on the word snorifice
What a great word.
March 30, 2010
tusseymountain commented on the word amaryllises
What is the plural of amaryllis? From what I see it's the same for both plural and singular.
March 13, 2010
tusseymountain commented on the list writing-words--2
For more on alphasyllabary: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/syllabic.htm or Wikipedia has this under Abugida: An abugida (pronounced /ˌɑːbuːˈɡiːdə/, from Ge‘ez ’äbugida), also called an alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system which is based on consonants, and in which vowel notation is obligatory but secondary. This contrasts with an alphabet proper, in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an abjad, in which vowel marking is absent or optional. (In less formal treatments, all three are commonly called alphabets.) About half the writing systems in the world are abugidas,citation needed including the extensive Brahmic family of scripts used in South and Southeast Asia.
March 7, 2010
tusseymountain commented on the word Canadiana
It seems to me someone somewhere was savoring the moment Al Michaels or Bob Costas or whoever it was would have to say "giant inflatable beavers."
March 2, 2010
tusseymountain commented on the word besagew
Thanks for that mollusque!
February 28, 2010
tusseymountain commented on the word besagew
The OED lists this word with besague which it defines as "a double-edged axe." But isn't a besagew a round piece of armor worn to protect the armpit between the spaulders and the cuirass? It is sometimes also called a roundel. I stumbled on this trying to find how to pronounce besagew.
February 28, 2010
tusseymountain commented on the word cluck
Is cluck the best word for the sound made when you move your tongue suddenly from the roof of your mouth to the floor of your mouth? The sound kids use to imitate horses. Seems like there's another word for that but my brain is stuck on cluck!
February 24, 2010
tusseymountain commented on the list origin-unknown
Dog: from Old English, docga, which is of unknown origin.
February 6, 2010
tusseymountain commented on the list native-tongue
Oops. Yes, that comment is in reference to kagakshi.
June 28, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word mskoda
Potawatomi for prairie: http://www.kansasheritage.org/pbp/books/dicto/dicto_nf.html
June 24, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word pespeyason
Potawatomi for light rain or drizzle: http://www.kansasheritage.org/pbp/books/dicto/dicto_nf.html
June 24, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word kagakshi
Potawatomi for crow according to: http://www.kansasheritage.org/pbp/books/dicto/dicto_nf.html
June 24, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the list native-tongue
Potawatomi for crow according to: http://www.kansasheritage.org/pbp/books/dicto/dicto_nf.html
June 24, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word hymnic
From Merrill Gilfillan's "Rivers and Birds" published in 2003:
"So, shortly into Oklahoma, I reached for a tape, 'Enuff Said,' by a native southern plains group, Sizzortail, and that was just right: many-voiced, nonperfectionist, hymnic without enclosure. Its simple harmony, even when off a degree or two, is its declaration."
June 24, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word vascular sizood
The suprasternal notch which Ondaatje called a vascular sizood in The English Patient:
In Michael Ondaatje's novel The English Patient, a geographer mapping the Sahara Desert wonders if there is a name for the hollow of a woman's neck just above the breastbone. When he finally gets his answer, he is told it is the "vascular sizood," although there is no such thing. "I'd given it the wrong name," Ondaatje recalled last week in an interview with Maclean's. "I'd been planning to fix it later on and give it the proper name, but I'd forgotten." -- Source
June 20, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word preggers
You phrased it just right: "cloying perkiness." Thank you JFK!
June 18, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word prithee
OED mentions John Barth's recent use of the word: 1994 J. BARTH Once upon Time 393 And exactly what were you doing, prithee, in that make-pretend down-county marsh at the make-pretend Place Where Three Ways Meet?
June 18, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word preggers
Somehow this is one of the most annoying words. Why is that? Brings to mind kegger and daddy long legger. Pregnant, gravid, and expectant are not the loveliest of words either. Interesting.
June 18, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word titmouse
Definitely tongue-in-cheek.
June 11, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word titmouse
The FCC wants to change it to chestmouse. One species is known as tufted titmouse. I like that name but there's also thrummy titmouse which has its own appeal.
June 8, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word matriot
Matriot (ma’ - tri – at) noun 1. One who loves his or her country. 2. One who loves and protects the people of his or her country. 3. One who perceives national defense as health, education, and shelter of all people in his or her country. (Orig. Frances Payne Adler, 1991)
Thought I'd finally invented a word. Darn. Ms. Adler got there way ahead of me.
June 6, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the list shameless-euphemisms
A great idea for a list. Sometimes it's pre-owned and sometimes it's the more elegant previously owned. A couple more possibilities: rightsize, encore performance when it's actually just a rerun, and regift. Sooner rather than later strikes me as edging toward the smarmy end of the spectrum, but at the end of the day as long as we're moving forward together... that's what I'm talking about.
June 5, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word watteau brown
"...yielded on the crests of the relief to touches of Watteau brown."
-from John Updike's short story "Who Made Yellow Roses Yellow?"
June 4, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word tillyvally
OED: An exclamation of impatience: Nonsense! fiddlesticks!
May 20, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word tulgey
Usually in reference to woods: thick, dense, and dark. Introduced by Lewis Carroll.
May 15, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word owllight
Twilight, dusk; dim or poor light. Usually this is owl-light. OED has one reference to it without the hyphen: "1776 M. DELANY in Autobiogr. & Corr. (1862) 2nd Ser. II. 213, I must finish to-morrow, for I have written thus far by owllight."
May 15, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word panettone
The word features prominently in the movie Priceless.
May 15, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word remiges
OED: (Ornithology) - One of the principal feathers of a bird's wing, by which it is sustained and carried forward in flight; a wing-quill.
May 15, 2009
tusseymountain commented on the word weemoed
Dutch from wee (woe) and moed (courage).
May 15, 2009