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SCANDENT

PRONUNCIATION: (SKAN-duhnt)

MEANING: adjective: Climbing or ascending.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin scandere (to climb). Ultimately from the Indo-European root skand- (to leap or climb), which also gave us ascend, descend, condescend, transcend, echelon, and scale. Earliest documented use: 1682.

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SCARDENT - poignant reminder of a long-ago duel between two men who loved the same fair maid

SANDENT - what you do before you patch it

SCANDONT - Regulations pertaining to Protected Health Information preclude our copying the Outside Hospital report into your Electronic Medical Record here

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ZYMOLOGY

PRONUNCIATION: (zy-MOL-uh-jee)

MEANING: noun: The science of fermentation.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek zym- (ferment) + -logy (science, study). Earliest documented use: 1753.

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AZYMOLOGY - the study of the works of Isaac Asimov, who in 1953 described in The Caves of Steel feeding the burgeoning world population with a yeast-based food he called "zymoveal"


ZYMOOGY - a fermented beverage made from cows' milk

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ZYMOOLOGY-akin to zymoogy, the science of milking cows before
fermenting it.


----please, draw me a sheep----
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ZYGOLOGY – the study of the mind and behavior of a newly-fertilized egg.

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DOG'S CHANCE

PRONUNCIATION: (DOGZ chans)

MEANING: noun: A poor chance.

ETYMOLOGY: In modern times dogs may be pampered, but historically a dog's life wasn't much to bark about. Hence a dog's chance is a small chance. Earliest documented use: 1890.

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DOG'S CHANCRE - the French Poodle has a venereal disease (though in Paris they would say the English Bulldog has a venereal disease)

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GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT

PRONUNCIATION: (JEN-tl-manz uh-GREE-muhnt)

MEANING: noun: An agreement that's based on honor and not legally binding.

ETYMOLOGY: From the idea that a gentleman (a civilized man of good standing) will honor an agreement he has entered. Earliest documented use: 1821.

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De-emphasized by Anu is that the agreement often involved the unspoken understanding that you would not sell your house, or admit into your club, or whatever other activity you wanted to keep exclusive, any Jew, or Negro, or Catholic, or whatever other group you preferred not to associate with. The theme was explored at some length in the 1947 novel and movie by that name. See here.

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GENTLEMEN'S ARGUMENT

PRONUNCIATION: (JEN-tl-manz uh-GREE-muhnt)

MEANING: noun: A disagreement that's based on honor and not legally binding.

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CAT'S CRADLE

PRONUNCIATION: (kats kraydl)

MEANING: noun:
1. A children's game in which a string is wrapped around one player's hands in complex symmetrical patterns and transferred to another player's hands to form a different pattern. (video)
2. Something elaborate or intricate, especially when without an apparent purpose.

ETYMOLOGY: Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1768.

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CAST'S CRADLE - where the actors take their power nap


wofahulicodoc #219559 12/18/14 12:18 PM
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CAW'S CRADLE - crow's nest.

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WHO'S WHO

PRONUNCIATION: (hooz hoo)

MEANING: noun
1. A reference work containing concise biographical sketches of well-known people.
2. Well-known people in a particular profession, region, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: The first Who's Who was published in the UK in 1849. Now the term is in wider use and there are thousands of specialized Who's Whos publications, for high school students, for Nebraskans, and for the dead (Who Was Who). There's even a Who's Who in Hell. Earliest documented use of the generic use of the term is from 1917.
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WHO'S WHOM - a compendium of pseudo-intellectuals, like the lady in Sinclair Lewis' Main Street who referred to the common folk as "wa pollwa" because she had once read the term "hoi polloi" and thought it was French

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WHO'S WHOA - The question that gives rise to the answer, "Whoa is me!"

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