Again, some definitions were contributed by more than one person, so I have amalgamated them:
a. (n.) A functionary of lower rank than a chamberlain, but discharging some of his duties. Attendant at the king’s bedchamber; responsible for domestic security, organizing ceremonies (including religious ones), processionals and local travel. Called also sogennant-at-arms; an attendant of the serjeant-at-arms.
b. [Penn. Dutch] ironic
c. Characterized by a gloomy, oppressive atmosphere.
d. having the characteristics of a sponge
e. mosslike
f. of solo quality or effect, yet produced by an ensemble
g. of, relating to, or arising from one's mental or spiritual being, visceral, intuitive
h. so called
i. stagnant [mainly Scottish]
j. unflappable, stoic
Definitions supplied by:
Annastrophic, Bingley, consuelo, dxb, faldage, fiberbabe, jheem, musick, sjmaxq, tsuwm, Whitman O’Neill, wordwind
You have a sennight to place your bets.
Bingley
Dammit - too late to put in the correct solution - but it is there anyway, as item F
Ya gots ta git up perty early in the afternoon, Rhuby, ol chap.
Well, lets C. It would certainly B ironic. And, A! I love the spelling of serjeant. It's so boring, but what the H!
I'm with Rhuby, what the F...
This is an odd hogwash - I have no idea what my score is likely to be. It has left me Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.
Or
bullshit, of course ...
Just for fun (and to play the odds) I'll vote for "G" because these four *synonyms seem to cover almost everything.
mental - spiritual - visceral - intuitive
Well, I was gonna wait till Max voted before posting mine, but that ploy was to no avail. Although I'm fairly certain the right answer is H, I'm going to have to agree with Max, and vote for the clever definition. To B or not to B. I'll B.
I suppose I'll have to pull myself out of this round since I came across 'sogennant' in an article I read this weekend--and it was very evident what it meant by context.
So, Hogmaster-for-This-Round Bingley, I won't cast a vote.
You DID? Wow, I'd never even heard of the word before!
This brings in a whole nother element to Hogwash voting! What's WW been reading about? Shakespeare. Comedies, tragedies, and histories! Ergo, it must be c. [/spurious logic that may prove to be worth a try!]
Nawwww....my bet is that WW's been reading up on the wetlands again, she loves that stuff. Soooo...
D....as the detritus pretty much sucks it up!
Well, the meaning that I am familiar with is H.
That's it--I'm going with jheem. (And Bub, if you have deliberately misled me by voting for your own incorrect def., then I shall want a word in private.) H
I think everyone who entered has voted now but for connie -- I hope this doesn't help her too much.
a) entirely too many words here; must be an amalgam
b) it isn't ironic
c) ?
d) sounds like soggy
e) did grapho enter?? ;)
f) is there actually such a muscial concept that needs a word?
g) ? (musick's got this one covered)
h) thinking of soi-dissant, jheem?
i) sogennant <> stagnant? naah
j) ? (no votes, too passionless?)
so I'm left with c/g/j
f'babe spuriously agreed with TEd on c? this may have been a stroke of genius. I shall plonk for c and commence a jeremiad if it turns up 'j'.
Connie's incomputerada for another 10 days...
thinking of soi-dissant, jheem?
Yes, soi-dissant is the French for the German sogenannt which is englished as so-called.
Is *that what soi-dissant means. And I thought it was 'far away'.
Actually, it means "dissing an edamame."
dissing an edamame
Now *that makes sense.
With honey on it.
"'Tis ten-to-three!" - the Church clock's claim:
Is there yet for tea an edamame?
hrm, hrm tis actually "soi-disant"
hrm, hrm tis actually "soi-disant"Thanks, belMarduk. It's tough enough for me to spell in English, let alone French.
Don't let the Académie know. Prithee!
Oh I'm so glad you aren't angry. I was a little embarrassed to bring it up but I figured I should in case anybody wanted to use it again.
Not a problem. You did it so charmingly. How does one pronounce "hrm"?
I could hear it though.
>How does one pronounce "hrm"?
Ask Fangorn, it sounds like something he might say.
>HrmWell, it's always hard to write out a sound, especially that of clearing one's throat unobtrusively. I'm glad you could hear it,
so I'm thinking it was kinda close.
Funny though, that thing about sounds. They don't always translate the same in different languages. Like dog barking...in French readers they write Woof-woof, but in English readers they write bow-wow)
Ooops, does everybody call those learning-to-read books in kindergarten and Grade 1 "readers"?
Grade 1 "readers"?
Primers and readers? I used a McGuffey's Reader in 3rd grade. A bit retro, even then.
I used a McGuffey's Reader Ooh, you must be really old! <EG>
Ooh, you must be really old! It was a reprint, but yes, thanks for asking ... MR made me think I was learning English as a foreign language. But the moral uplift, oh my!
Dick, Jane and Spot, for me, one.
Indulging in a little gadzookery, are we, jheem?
She said this would happen and expressed a desire that it not delay anything.
http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=126676
Indulging in a little gadzookery?Fiath, yes, AnnaStrophic, but just to give you a flavor of language control by committee. I believe I used it correctly: as in "I hope you won't let the boys at the Académie know about my mistake." Come on! I use "yup" and "ain't", too, for false folksiism.
Shoot, Jim-Bob, I was making what I considered to be a felicitous reference to today's W.A.D. (pardon my French).
Sorry about that. I hadn't seen the WAD yet. Shucks, I'm just plumb ashamed. Mea culpa.
folksiism I thought you said you couldn't spell...
reference to today's W.A.D Thanks, Anna--you made me go look:
"She (Georgette Heyer) wanted to write more serious historical novels.
Unfortunately the books she wrote outside her period have a tendency
towards the gadzookery of Baroness Orczy."
The Romantic Novels of Georgette Heyer; BBC (London, UK); May 17, 2002.
And here I'd assumed she knew what she was talking about. (Actually, in all two books of hers that I've read, she may have; they certainly were not serious novels, just what the library happened to have on the shelf. I was just surprised to see a ref. to her use of obscure words, other than my own.)
soi-disant
Actually, isn't "soi-disant" more like "self-styled" (said-of-itself) rather than "so-called"?
Yes, and sogenannt means something more like 'thus-named'.
Umm… we gonna have to do some massive cleanup if we wanna keep this thread pure for connie to have a chance when she comes back.
someone could PM her not to read past the first screenful until she's replied..
Yeahbut®. She might could get in to the thread before reading PMs.
Well, I don't know when you use it in English wof but in French it can mean both - everything depends on how it is said.
I do know though, that sometimes French words used in English can sometimes vary in definition slightly.
French words used in English can sometimes vary in definition slightly
Like cul de sac?
Dunno, un cul de sac is a dead-end road (well apart from the bottom end of a bag.) Isn't it that in English?
Umm. Well, yes, that's it in English, but it isn't precisely that in French; we've lost the literal meaning in translation. Cul is a medical term, also part of a ribald exercise for French pronunciation*. Tain't a fit word for a G-rated Board like this one. ;-)
*("Tu pus du cul nu," if you must know. I'm not sure it's used that much any more.)
I think it may just be street slang. There was a tale in Reader's Digest's Life in These United States of a young couple who had met in Viet Nam while he was over there in the not so recent unpleasantries. Everyone in the suburban neighborhood thought it was so cute when she said how nice it was to live in a 'cuddle sack'. My suspicion was that the French that was used in Viet Nam included the not so nice version of cul-de-sac and she couldn't imagine all these innocent Americans saying they lived in an asshole, so she must be mishearing it.
someone could PM her not to read past the first screenful until she's replied..
Being her personal chauffeur through the big, big city upon her return, I'll inform her of where not to go...
A cul is not precisely an asshole. It means buttocks but said a bit crudely than the regular term, "le fessier." Les fesses being the butt-cheeks.
A cul is not precisely an asshole
What about the sac part?
Sac is just a bag. The cul de sac is the butt end of a bag.
I guess they call a dead-end that because the U created by houses on both sides and at end make it look like the bottom of a bag.
"Cul-de-sac - a blind pouch or tubular cavity closed at one end"
Quite appropriate for describing a short dead-end street with houses along the length and around the circular end.
Anatomically, if a baby is born with an interrupting membrane in the colon a short distance above the anus ("cul"), as does occur once in a while, then there is a "blind pouch or tubular cavity closed at one end," and the poor little tyke has a "cul-de-sac."
Forty years ago this was presented as the origin of the term "cul-de-sac." Of course not everything we've been taught is necessarily true...but this one does make perfect sense.
Maybe this should have all been below the line, in "Words from Medicine"...
Finally, the deeply tanned, peeling, hammocking one casts her vote.
EDITThanks to my personal chaufer in the big, big city, I knew not to read past the definitions before casting my vote, which should be obvious from the vote I cast