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Han Solo would be pleased, I'm sure.
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May 6, 2013
This week's theme
Terms that appear offensive but aren't
This week's words: queer street
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A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
Language is meant to communicate and offending someone is also a way to communicate, though not a very nice one. There are plenty of offensive words in a language, any language, and this week's words may appear offensive, but aren't.
They may sound, look, or feel like they have something to do with well-known distasteful words, but they don't. This similarity may cause some to take offense if the words are used in conversation. So should they be?
A dictionary meaning of a word tells only so much. A word in a dictionary is inert. It comes alive only when we use it and give it real meaning. A word can take multiple meanings depending on the speaker, listener, tone, and the context.
Take an everyday word like boy, for example. An adult man wouldn't think twice about his mother calling him a boy. But chances are he'd resent a store clerk or his boss, even an older boss, calling him thus. And that may also explain to folks who wonder, for example, why blacks use the N-word amongst themselves, yet are offended if people outside their community say it.
One might say: Words don't offend people, people offend people.
So should you use this week's terms? Technically, these are perfectly agreeable words, but technically is not how life works. It all depends on the context. For example, I'd avoid using the term queer street if I knew the person I was speaking to was gay.
What do you think? I invite you to discuss this in our online forum Wordsmith Talk.
Even though words featured this week are not offensive, email filters are not smart enough to understand that. It's possible that the filter at your organization tries to protect you from looking at this week's emails. If you find any missing emails, you can view them online.
queer street
PRONUNCIATION:(kweer street)
MEANING:noun: A state of hardship, especially financial hardship.
ETYMOLOGY:
The origin of the term is not clear. Carey Street, site of the bankruptcy court in London, has been proposed, but the court came decades after the term. It's also been suggested that traders put a query mark against customers suspected of having financial difficulties. Earliest documented use: 1811.
USAGE:
"Mike Bessey said: You can't really make a case that UK farmers are on queer street as a whole -- on average they are surviving and starting modest investment."
Caroline Stocks; £25m Aid Won't Help Struggling UK Dairy Farmers; Farmers Weekly (UK); Jan 22, 2010.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness.
______________________________________Leo Tolstoy
_______________________________________________________
minus S
QUEER TREET (alt. sp.) queer treat, ex: bacon flavored ice cream
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QUEEN TREAT Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee
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QUEER STREPT - This bug I isolated from my sore throat patient defies classification!
QUEEG STREET - runs off Caine Street, branches into Ball Street and Strawberry Ice Cream Lane. Noted for the homes of Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson, and Fred MacMurray, among others.
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Two great ones, wolf. But not me, brother. I don't want to go down Queeg Street 'cause there ain't no comming back. Damn drunk lawyer. . . 
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niggler
PRONUNCIATION:
(NIG-luhr)
MEANING:
noun:
1. A person who pays excessive attention to petty details.
2. A person who criticizes constantly or repeatedly.
ETYMOLOGY:
Origin unknown, perhaps of Scandinavian origin. Earliest documented use: 1781.
__________________________________
n --> w
WIGGLER - a corrupt political upon whom blame no one can pin.
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NOGGLER - a person who overdoes the Christmas quaffing
HIGGLER - one who proclaims the Coming of the God particle
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tar baby
PRONUNCIATION: (TAHR bay-bee)
MEANING: noun: Something to be avoided: a sticky situation or problem from which it's almost impossible to get out.
ETYMOLOGY: After "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby",
How 'bout I do a different algorithm this time. Say, Spoonerize it:
BAR TABBY - keeps the mice out of the saloon
(Y'all all go right ahead and use the standard add-subtract-change routine if you like. Don't let me stop you.)
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Ok wolf, you got me. I left Slasher's Bar last night without paying the tabby but you doesn't have to post it here for the whole world to see. add S minus B STAR ABY - the price one must pay for being a rich and famous and beautiful person.
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CAR GABBY - back seat driver
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Good one, Luke.
cockshy
PRONUNCIATION: KOK-shy)
MEANING: noun:
1. The game of throwing missiles at a target; such a throw.
2. An object of criticism or ridicule.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Old English cocc (rooster) + shy (to throw), of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1836.
______________________________________________________
Y --> E
COCKSHE - a freemartin
i.e. a non-fertile female calf (heifer) born as a twin with a male (bull} but with a bull's manner and mindset.
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BOCKSHY - an edible Chinese cabbage
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Thanks JJ.
SOCK TIE a gimmick I discovered in college, in the
Laundry, after forever losing one sock.
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niggard
PRONUNCIATION: (NIG-hurd)
MEANING: noun: A mean, stingy person.
adjective: Stingy.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Middle English nigard, of Scandinavian origin. Earliest documented use: 1384.
______________________________________________________
N --> B
BIGGARD:
1. a kind, generous person
2. a bigot
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PIGGARD - Captain of the Starship Penterprise
NITGARD - a sorry excuse for a bug repellant, offers lousy protection
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RITGARD--competing, poor excuse for deodorant
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...in a sconce, of course.
ENSCONCE
PRONUNCIATION:
(en-SKONS)
MEANING:
verb tr.:
1. To settle firmly and comfortably.
2. To hide securely.
ENSCONE - to wrap a filing in a small sourdough wafer for serving at tea-time; cf. cannoli
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ENSCONCE
add D
ENDSCONCE - to come out from hiding in a...
add P
DENSCONCE - a small hiding sconce
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equivocate
PRONUNCIATION:
(i-KWIV-uh-kayt)
MEANING:
verb intr.: To be vague or ambiguous, especially in order to mislead.
EQUUVOCATE - script for Mr Ed's next speech
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eguivocate
C to G
EQUIVOGATE- to mumble lies to blame other people for your own wrongdoings, such as, beating down a Bush.
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A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
petrify
PRONUNCIATION:(PE-tri-fy)
MEANING:
verb tr.:
1. To turn into stone.
2. To harden or deaden.
3. To stun or paralyze with fear.
verb intr.:
To become stony or callous.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin petra (rock), from Greek petra (cliff, rock). Ultimately from the Indo-European root per- (to lead, pass over), which also gave us support, comport, petroleum, sport, passport, petrichor (the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain), colporteur (a peddler of religious books), Swedish fartlek (a training technique), Norwegian fjord (bay), and Sanskrit parvat (mountain). Earliest documented use: 1425.
____________________________________________________
add I
petri-FYI (see ETYMOLOGY above)
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EQUUROCATE Running a horse in a circular pen for hours
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PESTRIFY - to bring ants and termites, rats and mice, and other annoyances, into a hitherto pristine neighborhood. Cf. "gentrify"
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pectrify - lots of upper body work
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impute
PRONUNCIATION:(im-PYOOT)
MEANING:
verb tr.: To attribute, ascribe, or credit, often unfairly.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Old French imputer, from Latin imputare, from in- (in) + putare (to assess, reckon). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pau- (to cut, stroke, or stamp), which is also the source of amputate, compute, dispute, count, pavid, puerile, and catchpole. Earliest documented use: 1480.
________________________________________
add R
IMPUTER - a smartass computer that thinks that it invented itself.
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IMCUTE - a cheap imitation fuzzy Nerml doll (see Garfield comic strip)
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old hand
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impate: to do or to get a hair transplant.
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drop e
IMPUT - see imput.
see largely as an imp, nee Obama
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Are you going to make sense one of these days, Jenny Jenny?
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IMPUTER - a smartass computer that thinks that it invented itself.JJ quote
Like Al Gore? Didn't he invent the Internet?
JIMPUTER - if Capt. Kirk could run the thing without Spock.
Last edited by LukeJavan8; 05/17/2013 4:10 PM.
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drop e
IMPUT - see imput.
see largely as an imp, nee Obama Hee,hee,hee
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exscind
PRONUNCIATION: (ek-SIND)
MEANING:
verb tr.: To cut out or off.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin exscindere, from ex- (out) + scindere (to cut). Ultimately from the Indo-European root skei- (to cut or split), which also gave us excise, schism, ski, shin, scienter, and adscititious. Earliest documented use: 1662.
____________________________________________
i --> e
EXSCEND - a volcanic upsurge solidified after cooling.
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TEXSEND-- a "bon voyage" of ginormous, humongous proportion
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EXSPEND - all you can do after a really painful divorce decree
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vesuvian
PRONUNCIATION:(vi-SOO-vee-uhn)
MEANING: adjective: Marked by sudden explosive outbursts.
ETYMOLOGY: After Mount Vesuvius, a volcano that buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum when it erupted in 79 CE. Earliest documented use: 1673.
________________________________________
V ---> X
EXSUVIAN - what SUV owners became after gas went up to four bucks a gallon.
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VEAUVIAN' - veal chops, served in a French restaurant after a bit too much vin
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PARNASSIAN
PRONUNCIATION: (pahr-NAS-ee-uhn)
MEANING: adjective: Of or relating to poetry.
ETYMOLOGY: After Mount Parnassus, a mountain in Greece, considered sacred to Apollo, the Greek god of music and poetry, and the Muses. Earliest documented use: 1565.
PORNASSIAN -- Not a leg man, or even a breast man
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CORNASSIAN Cousins to the Kardassians, these live
in Iowa, the Corn State.
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JARNASSIAN - an ode to a jar
I placed a jar in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill.
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.
The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.
The jar was round upon the ground
And tall and of a port in air.
It took dominion everywhere.
The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennessee.
________________________________ Wallace Stevens
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newbie
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Chuckle- chortle - guffaw. This made me laugh!
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