Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 5 of 25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 24 25
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Originally Posted By: Tromboniator
PERUSS (peh-RUSH): to read with great care in Cyrillic, and rather quickly.

Not to be confused with its near-homonym PERUSH, (pee-rush), meaning "Ooh! Ooh! Teacher! I really have to go to the bathroom!"

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Originally Posted By: wofahulicodoc
Originally Posted By: LukeJavan8
I hope these infections stay in your office
and that you are in
oculated.

You want me to get an infection in my eye?



Sorry Doc, I don't speak MDese. I hope you have had what
ever shot you need so you don't get the disease you mentioned.


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
PEBRUSH

Toilet bowl cleaner.


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
veteran
veteran
Offline
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
r > n

penuse - the projected life of a Bic ballpoint pen less fifty percent.

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
"Ocular" means related to the eye, as in oculist who makes lenses, and binoculars (two lenses, one for each eye - and they also make monocles for one eye.)

Actually, "inoculate" really does mean "stick it in your eye." That's the way the first smallpox immunizations were administered. Serum was made from victims of vaccinia (a related viral disease, cowpox. As one might suspect, since ''vaca" is cow. Smallpox is "variola.") and it was instilled into the eye of the protectee after the doctor pulled the lower lid down to make a sac to drip a drop or two into. So it was literally an "in-ocul-ation," and then the word got generalized to mean any immunization against you-name-it disease, no matter where it was given.

And "pertussis" is whooping cough. ("Tussive" is coughing. RobiTussin is A H Robins' brand of cough syrup. Tussionex is somebody else's.) Pertussis is the P of the DPT shot your kids got when they were infants: Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus. Never heard of 'em? It's because the shots became almost universal, and the diseases almost unheard of. Except that whooping cough is coming back, because...but that's another story.


(Apologies for droning on. Occasionally this does somehow turn into a word Board, all our intentions to the contrary notwithstanding...)

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

TACTYLOGRAPHY - handwriting in Braille

Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
veteran
veteran
Offline
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg
second-guess

PRONUNCIATION:(SEK-uhnd GES)
MEANING: verb tr.:
1. To criticize an event with the benefit of hindsight.
2. To guess or predict.
ETYMOLOGY:
Probably a back-formation from second-guesser (in baseball, one who criticizes a play after the fact). Earliest documented use: 1941.
_________________________________________________
S to R
recond-guess- a recond-ed guess. As in...
Do you recond? Well, shoot, I recond.


Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
I thought I was using 'inoculation' correctly, but only in
the sense you mention, generalization for any immunization
and I appreciate the comments. I had enough Latin to know
'oculis' is eye, but I was hoping you were protected from
all the other diseases you were specifying - and since
JJ is back I appreciate your taking up her mantle for the
time being.


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

SECOND-GUEST - v.i. - to wait in the car until you see someone else ring the doorbell ahead of you

Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
veteran
veteran
Offline
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
A.Thursday.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
discursive

PRONUNCIATION:(dis-KUHR-siv)
MEANING: adjective:
1. Jumping from topic to topic; rambling.
2. Proceeding logically, using reason or argument rather than emotion.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin discurrere (to run about), from dis- (apart) + currere (to run). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kers- (to run), which is also the source of car, career, carpenter, occur, discharge, succor, and caricature. Earliest documented use: 1599.
_____________________________________
add T

discursitive- a meaning that can mean either extreme of diametrical opposite meanings. EX: discursive.


Last edited by jenny jenny; 03/21/2013 5:22 PM. Reason: spelling error
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
wishcursive when a teacher wishes handwriting were still
taught to today's button-pushing students.


miscursive what we will have when no one will be able
to sign their own names any longer: and then will have to
have barcodes on their wrists for identification purposes.


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

DISBURSITIVE - pertaining to the duties of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. (Sounds like a word Pooh-Bah would have used, if it existed, dunnit?)

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

or

DISCUSSIVE -- the language of most rappers

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
pisscupsive
when you get shy bladder and the nurse/probation officer is
waiting.


----please, draw me a sheep----
LukeJavan8 #210086 03/22/2013 3:30 PM
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
veteran
veteran
Offline
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
impregnable

PRONUNCIATION:(im-PREG-nuh-buhl)
MEANING:adjective:
1. Incapable of being taken by force; strong enough to withstand attack.
2. Capable of being impregnated.
ETYMOLOGY:
For 1: From Old French imprenable, from in- (not) + prenable (vulnerable to capture), from prendre (to take, seize). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghend-/ghed- (to seize, take), which is also the source of pry, prey, spree, reprise, surprise, pregnant, osprey, prison, and get. Earliest documented use: 1430.
For 2: From Latin impraegnaere (to fertilize, impregnate). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gen- (to give birth), which also gave birth to words such as generate, engine, indigenous, and germ.
________________________________

impegnable - to be capable of being pegged or not.

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Impregnot - false positive


----please, draw me a sheep----
LukeJavan8 #210111 03/25/2013 6:13 PM
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
veteran
veteran
Offline
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
psychological moment
PRONUNCIATION:(sy-kuh-LOJ-i-kuhl MOH-muhnt)
MEANING:
noun: The most appropriate time for achieving a desired result; the critical moment.
ETYMOLOGY:
Loan translation of French moment psychologique (psychological moment), which itself is a mistaken loan translation of German das psychologische Moment (psychological element or factor) taken as der psychologische Moment (the psychological moment of time). The word came to French during the German Siege of Paris in 1870. Earliest documented use: 1871.
___________________________________________________
O > E

psychological mement- a pop culture fad word that goes viral. EX: viral

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

psychological moment - an example of psychobabble: meaingless, overblown, self-consciously pompous and needlessly complex, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. Don't like the phrase to begin with. So there.

psychological foment - stir up trouble by pushing people's buttons...

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Psychological cement

clueless


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
veteran
veteran
Offline
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

running dog

PRONUNCIATION: (RUN-ing dog)

MEANING:noun: A servile follower; lackey.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Chinese zougou, from zou (running) + gou (dog), apparently as an allusion to a dog running to follow his or her master's commands. This term was employed in Chinese Communist terminology to refer to someone who was considered subservient to counter-revolutionary interest. Earliest documented use: 1925.
_____________________________________
D > J
RUNNING JOG- a slow run, a fast jog.

jenny jenny #210122 03/26/2013 10:28 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

RUINING DOG -- an evil dyslexic deity

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963
old hand
old hand
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963
running tog: half a tracksuit.

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Running Agog

Not know where you are going.


----please, draw me a sheep----
LukeJavan8 #210131 03/27/2013 2:14 PM
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
veteran
veteran
Offline
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
potpourri
PRONUNCIATION: (poh-poo-REE, POH-poo-ree)
MEANING: noun
1. A mixture of dried flower petals, spices, herbs, etc., kept for fragrance.
2. A musical medley.
3. A mixture of incongruous things.

ETYMOLOGY:
From French pot pourri, literally rotten pot (loan translation of Spanish olla podrida), from pot (pot) + pourri (rotten), from pourrir (to rot). English has borrowed not only the loan translated term potpourri from French, but also the original Spanish olla podrida. It has borrowed from other languages a whole bunch of terms to describe hodgepodge or miscellany, such as, from Swedish smorgasbord, from French salmagundi, and from Hungarian goulash. Earliest documented use: 1611.
__________________________________________
P > R
ROTPOURRI - really rotten potpourri

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
totpourri preschool


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
veteran
veteran
Offline
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
blue blood PRONUNCIATION: (BLOO bluhd)
MEANING: noun:
1. An aristocratic or socially prominent lineage.
2. A member of such a family.
ETYMOLOGY:
Loan translation of Spanish sangre azul (blue blood). The term arose from the visible veins of light-skinned royalty. Earliest documented use: 1835.
__________________________________________
minus D
BLUE BLOO - the actual spelling and phonetic pronunciation of blue. As in Baby Boo Boo. frown

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
glue blood
- -one of those acquaintances you wish to rid yourself of, but
cant'


blue rued
- -down in the mouth,sad,discouraged


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963
old hand
old hand
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963
blur blood: mongrel.

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Most excellent.


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

POTPOURROI -- a feast fit for a King
(or, maybe, a sachet fit for a King)

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

blue brood - Smurfs

Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
veteran
veteran
Offline
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
Word.A.Day with Anu and you
deus ex machina

PRONUNCIATION: (DAY-uhs eks MAH-kuh-nuh, -nah, MAK-uh-nuh)
MEANING:
noun: An unexpected or improbable person or event that saves a seemingly hopeless situation.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin deus ex machina, deus (god) + ex (from) + machina (machine), loan translation of Greek theos apo mekhanes. Earliest documented use: 1697.
______________________________________________
add S

deus'sex machina - you wish smile

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3

deus sex matchina

holy dating service


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963
old hand
old hand
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963
debs ex machina: Stepford Wives

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

Dems ex machina - any two Tammany politicians
(or Deux ex machina - Richard Daley and Richard Daley Jr, if you prefer Chicago politics)

Deus en machina - the cult of Jobs

Deus ex Bachina - the B-minor Mass, or any of several other out-of-this-world masterpieces

Deus ex mochina - choco-latte (Heavenly-flavored, of course)

Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,075
old hand
old hand
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,075
Pay-us ex machina - an ATM

Say-us ex machina - a "speak-your-weight" machine

Lay-us ex machina - let's not go there! wink

Ray-us ex machina - a sun bed

Way-us ex machina - a Sat-Nav

X-Ray-us ex machina - as used in Hospitals an Dental surgeries *at vast expense!)




Last edited by Rhubarb Commando; 03/31/2013 2:50 PM.

I'm immortal until proven otherwise
Rhubarb Commando #210190 03/31/2013 4:46 PM
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
play-us ex machina slot machine


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
veteran
veteran
Offline
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
magnanimous

PRONUNCIATION: (mag-NAN-i-muhs)

MEANING: adjective: Generous or forgiving, especially towards a weak rival.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin magnanimus (great-souled), from magnus (great) + animus (soul, mind). Ultimately from the Indo-European root meg- (great), which also gave us magnificent, maharaja, master, mayor, maestro, magnate, magistrate, maximum, magnify, mahatma, magisterial, mickle, and hermetic. Earliest documented use: 1547.
__________________________________________

add e

MAGNANIMOUSE- a mouse who forgives the cat's bad manners

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

MAÑANIMOUS - Inclined not to do today what can be put off to tomorrow...

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3

Manama-ese
people who live in Bahrain's capital


----please, draw me a sheep----
Page 5 of 25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 24 25

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2025 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 8.0.0