This is the art of slapping together a solution to a problem at the last minute, with no advanced planning, and no resources. It's the coat hanger you use to fish your car keys out of the toilet, the emergency mustache you hastily construct out of pubic hair.
What's interesting about desenrascano (literally "to disentangle" yourself out of a bad situation), the Portuguese word for these last-minute solutions, is what is says about their culture.
Where most of us were taught the Boy Scout slogan "be prepared," and are constantly hassled if we don't plan every little thing ahead, the Portuguese value just the opposite.
Coming up with frantic, last-minute improvisations that somehow work is considered one of the most valued skills there; they even teach it in universities, and in the armed forces. They believe this ability to slap together haphazard solutions has been key to their survival over the centuries.
Don't laugh. At one time they managed to build an empire stretching from Brazil to the Philippines this way.
Speaking of which, why is it some people just seem to have no idea what's going on in a social situation? They tell six jokes in a row without noticing no one is laughing, they smoke in a house that has clearly never been smoked in, they managed to always bring up the one subject you're sensitive about ("Hey, you know what's funny? The Holocaust!")
The Koreans would say they lack nunchi, the innate ability that lets you sense what would be the wrong thing to say in a situation (and presumably the ability to then not say it).
This (allegedly) infamously demanded phrase by John Malcolm Fraser (Australia's Prime Minister from 1975 to 1983) was uttered on October 14, 1986, when he lost his trousers, and a lot more, at the Admiral Benbow Inn in Memphis in circumstances which were widely reported yet never explained. It has been suggested he was slipped a Mickey Finn by the escort girl Rolex gang, whoever they were!
Suffice to say, whenever one is confused, a where's my pants comment cannot be far behind.
(n.) A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected causing one to reframe or reinterpret the first part.
An especially clever paraprosdokian not only changes the meaning of an early phrase, but also plays on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a syllepsis.
(etymology) from Greek "πα�?α-", meaning "beyond" and "π�?οσδοκία", meaning "expectation"
(examples)
"I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat." — Will Rogers
"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it." — Groucho Marx
"I want to die like my father, quietly, in his sleep—not screaming and terrified like his passengers." — Bob Monkhouse
"I like going to the park and watching the children run and jump around, because you see, they don't know I'm using blanks." — Emo Philips
(n) A majordomo is the highest (major) person of a household (domo) staff, one who acts on behalf of the (often absent) owner of a typically large household; A butler.
Made famous by "Acropolis Now" TV series and the "Wog Boy" movie, this is the "politically correct" version of "wog house".
It indicates the large, Mediterranean influenced "style" that are added to homes. Such as highly decorated concrete driveways, sporting columns, lions, tall brick wall fence lines (with decorations) or other such fanciful decorations.
(n) an interesting psychological phenomenon which strikes people in certain environments making them more susceptible to making impulse buys or purchases,
(*) etymology - named for austrian architect victor gruen (who disavowed such manipulative techniques).
Usually refers to the collection of information of, or the study of gastronomy. e.g. The famous "Larousse Gastronomique" is a gastronomic encyclopedia of food and food based culture.
The most popular eponym for the phrase would seem to be William Buckley (1780–1856), the British convict transported to Australia. He escaped from custody in 1803 and lived with the Wathawurung people near Geelong for thirty-two years, becoming so much a member of the tribe that when he was found by John Batman in 1835 he could no longer speak a word of English. He was known popularly as ‘the wild white man’: and this popular perception is caught in an engraving which depicts him as heavily bearded, with hair long and unkempt, dressed in skins, and carrying a club and spears. He received a pardon on condition that he acted as a liaison between settlers and local Aboriginal groups.The phrase Buckley’s chance is also used in New Zealand and is first recorded in 1906. A correspondent to a New Zealand newspaper in 1934 makes the point: ‘A correspondent ... writes that Buckley was one of the earliest convicts ... to escape from Botany Bay and take to the bush. It was then thought impossible to do this and live. ... Any other convict who talked of escaping was invariably told that he would have “Buckley’s chance�?—hence the saying’ (Press (Christchurch), 27 Jan. 1934, p. 15).
Australian colloquialism. Root being slang for fornication. Is also be referred to as a cock blocker in some parts of Australia.
An object, action, location or third party that acts as a barrier to the hooking up with or consummation of a couple - specifically from engaging in sexual activity.
Comments by xntrek
xntrek commented on the word post-occucoital
The state a person is in just after being screwed over at work
- with thanks and kudos to @sicsicsic
June 9, 2009
xntrek commented on the word desenrascanco
To pull a MacGyver.
This is the art of slapping together a solution to a problem at the last minute, with no advanced planning, and no resources. It's the coat hanger you use to fish your car keys out of the toilet, the emergency mustache you hastily construct out of pubic hair.
What's interesting about desenrascano (literally "to disentangle" yourself out of a bad situation), the Portuguese word for these last-minute solutions, is what is says about their culture.
Where most of us were taught the Boy Scout slogan "be prepared," and are constantly hassled if we don't plan every little thing ahead, the Portuguese value just the opposite.
Coming up with frantic, last-minute improvisations that somehow work is considered one of the most valued skills there; they even teach it in universities, and in the armed forces. They believe this ability to slap together haphazard solutions has been key to their survival over the centuries.
Don't laugh. At one time they managed to build an empire stretching from Brazil to the Philippines this way.
Fuck preparation. They have desenrascano.
(from http://www.cracked.com/article_17251_p2.html)
June 4, 2009
xntrek commented on the word nunchi
From http://www.cracked.com/article_17251_10-coolest-foreign-words-english-language-needs.html
The art of not becoming a Backpfeifengesicht.
Speaking of which, why is it some people just seem to have no idea what's going on in a social situation? They tell six jokes in a row without noticing no one is laughing, they smoke in a house that has clearly never been smoked in, they managed to always bring up the one subject you're sensitive about ("Hey, you know what's funny? The Holocaust!")
The Koreans would say they lack nunchi, the innate ability that lets you sense what would be the wrong thing to say in a situation (and presumably the ability to then not say it).
June 4, 2009
xntrek commented on the word backpfeifengesicht
In german, it is "A face badly in need of a fist"
June 4, 2009
xntrek commented on the word selathirupavar
a Tamil word used to define a certain type of absence without official leave in face of duty
June 4, 2009
xntrek commented on the word where's my pants
This (allegedly) infamously demanded phrase by John Malcolm Fraser (Australia's Prime Minister from 1975 to 1983) was uttered on October 14, 1986, when he lost his trousers, and a lot more, at the Admiral Benbow Inn in Memphis in circumstances which were widely reported yet never explained. It has been suggested he was slipped a Mickey Finn by the escort girl Rolex gang, whoever they were!
Suffice to say, whenever one is confused, a where's my pants comment cannot be far behind.
June 4, 2009
xntrek commented on the word funemployed
see also funemployment
Someone who is in a period of joblessness that they actually enjoy.
June 4, 2009
xntrek commented on the word funemployment
see also funemployed
June 4, 2009
xntrek commented on the word paraprosdokian
(n.) A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected causing one to reframe or reinterpret the first part.
An especially clever paraprosdokian not only changes the meaning of an early phrase, but also plays on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a syllepsis.
(etymology) from Greek "πα�?α-", meaning "beyond" and "π�?οσδοκία", meaning "expectation"
(examples)
"I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat." — Will Rogers
"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it." — Groucho Marx
"I want to die like my father, quietly, in his sleep—not screaming and terrified like his passengers." — Bob Monkhouse
"I like going to the park and watching the children run and jump around, because you see, they don't know I'm using blanks." — Emo Philips
May 21, 2009
xntrek commented on the word majordomo
(n) A majordomo is the highest (major) person of a household (domo) staff, one who acts on behalf of the (often absent) owner of a typically large household; A butler.
May 13, 2009
xntrek commented on the word blanch
To place food (usually fruit & vegetables) into boiling water for a short time, then immediately into iced water to stop them cooking.
May 11, 2009
xntrek commented on the word ethnic villa
Made famous by "Acropolis Now" TV series and the "Wog Boy" movie, this is the "politically correct" version of "wog house".
It indicates the large, Mediterranean influenced "style" that are added to homes. Such as highly decorated concrete driveways, sporting columns, lions, tall brick wall fence lines (with decorations) or other such fanciful decorations.
May 11, 2009
xntrek commented on the word piker
Someone who fails to meet the expectations they themselves set (e.g. go out, drink, party).
Is especially relevant whereby they fail to inform anyone of the failure to go/meet/etc or do so at the very last minute.
see also piking
May 10, 2009
xntrek commented on the word piking
Promising to turn up at an event, but deciding not to at the last minute.
see also piker
May 10, 2009
xntrek commented on the word synapse epilepsy
A means of explaining a random collection of eclectic, random, or simply unorganised thoughts
see staccato brain farting
May 9, 2009
xntrek commented on the word staccato brain farting
A means of explaining a random collection of eclectic, random, or simply unstructured or ill organised thoughts.
For example:
see also synapse epilepsy, senior moment,
May 9, 2009
xntrek commented on the word gastronome
(n) a lover of good food; a connoisseur or gourmet,
(n) a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment (especially good food and drink),
(n) a person who studies gastronomy (which in itself is the study of the relationship between culture and food).
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word neurodivergent
(n) one whose neurological development and state are atypical - usually viewed as abnormal or extreme.
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word retrospective falsification
(n) the unconscious distortion of past experience to conform to present psychological needs.
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word cognitive dissonance
(n) individual awareness of inconsistencies in thoughts feelings and opinions.,
(n) an uncomfortable feeling or stress caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously.,
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word gruen transfer
(n) an interesting psychological phenomenon which strikes people in certain environments making them more susceptible to making impulse buys or purchases,
(*) etymology - named for austrian architect victor gruen (who disavowed such manipulative techniques).
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word nuff nuff
An (oft) playfully derogatory term to call someone who has done or said something silly or brainless.
Example: No we can't go there. That club has been closed for years, you nuff nuff.
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word defenestrated
to not be fenestrated?
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word gastronomique
French.
Usually refers to the collection of information of, or the study of gastronomy. e.g. The famous "Larousse Gastronomique" is a gastronomic encyclopedia of food and food based culture.
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word imbroglio
(*) etymology: italian - from imbrogliare to entangle; from middle french - embrouiller,
(*) would assume most english speakers would utilise embroil
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word eudaemonism
(n) : a philosophical notion or system of ethics which measures happiness in relation to morality
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word thrisis
(n) a thirty-something crisis or meltdown,
(n) a mid-life crisis for thirty-somethings.
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word fenestrated
(*) fenestration,
(n) having designed and placed openings,
(*) etymology - latin - fenestra = a window
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word buckley's chance
The most popular eponym for the phrase would seem to be William Buckley (1780–1856), the British convict transported to Australia. He escaped from custody in 1803 and lived with the Wathawurung people near Geelong for thirty-two years, becoming so much a member of the tribe that when he was found by John Batman in 1835 he could no longer speak a word of English. He was known popularly as ‘the wild white man’: and this popular perception is caught in an engraving which depicts him as heavily bearded, with hair long and unkempt, dressed in skins, and carrying a club and spears. He received a pardon on condition that he acted as a liaison between settlers and local Aboriginal groups.The phrase Buckley’s chance is also used in New Zealand and is first recorded in 1906. A correspondent to a New Zealand newspaper in 1934 makes the point: ‘A correspondent ... writes that Buckley was one of the earliest convicts ... to escape from Botany Bay and take to the bush. It was then thought impossible to do this and live. ... Any other convict who talked of escaping was invariably told that he would have “Buckley’s chance�?—hence the saying’ (Press (Christchurch), 27 Jan. 1934, p. 15).
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word root barrier
Australian colloquialism. Root being slang for fornication. Is also be referred to as a cock blocker in some parts of Australia.
An object, action, location or third party that acts as a barrier to the hooking up with or consummation of a couple - specifically from engaging in sexual activity.
May 8, 2009
xntrek commented on the word ce soir
French. Tonight/this evening.
Has a great sensually velvety feeling/sound rolling off the tongue.
May 4, 2009
xntrek commented on the word vous allez
French.
I love the phonetics of this more than anything the "voo-za-lay" ... almost as sensual as ce soir
May 4, 2009