MEANING: noun: A feeling of malaise accompanied by lack of motivation, dissatisfaction, feelings of guilt, especially among wealthy young people.
ETYMOLOGY: A blend of affluence + influenza. Both words are from Latin fluere (to flow). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhleu- (to swell or overflow), from which flow words such as influence, fluctuate, fluent, fluid, fluoride, flush, flux, reflux, superfluous, fluvial, and profluent. Earliest documented use: 1973.
USAGE: “When Ethan Couch was 16, he was spared prison after killing four people in a drink-driving accident because a judge found that he suffered from affluenza ... “Couch’s blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit and there were traces of Valium and marijuana in his system when he took seven friends for a high-speed ride in his pick-up truck on June 15, 2013. He ploughed into a broken-down car at over 70 mph, killing four people who were working on it. Two of his friends were critically injured and one was left paralysed. ... “Couch’s defence hinged on a psychologist’s evidence that the boy could not understand the consequences of his actions because he had been raised by ‘profoundly dysfunctional’ millionaire parents who encouraged his bad behaviour. ‘Instead of the golden rule, which was -- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you -- he was taught ‘We have the gold, we make the rules,’ Dick Miller [a psychologist hired by the defense] testified.” Ben Hoyle; Boy Who was Too Rich for Jail Goes on the Run; The Times (London, UK); Dec 18, 2015.
_____________________________________
ARFLUENZA - my dog is sick, I can tell just from hearing him bark
WAFFLUENZA - a pathological inability to make up one's mind
Onedrous- David Bowie, "a divinely inspired and purposefully lived life"
Rolling Stone's contemporary review of Hunky Dory considered that "Changes" could be "construed as a young man's attempt to reckon how he'll react when it's his time to be on the maligned side of the generation schism".[8] -Wikipedia
MEANING: noun: A state marked by apathy, lethargy, and inactivity.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin torpere (to be stiff or numb). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ster- (stiff), which also gave us starch, stare, stork, starve, cholesterol, torpedo, and torpid. Earliest documented use: 1607. ___________________________________
TORMOR - rent into smaller pieces
TORPORK - spareribs, eaten without benefit of cutlery
TORROR - mortal fear of getting a run in one's stockings
MEANING: noun: 1. A confused mass; a jumble. 2. A state of upheaval. verb intr.: 1. To roll, writhe, or toss. 2. To lie soaked in something, such as blood.
ETYMOLOGY: From Middle Dutch welteren or Middle Low German weltern (to roll). Ultimately from the Indo-European root wel- (to turn or roll), which also gave us waltz, revolve, valley, walk, vault, volume, wallet, helix, devolve, and voluble. Earliest documented use: 1400.
____________________________________
BELTER - 1. an inhabitant of Ceres (or any other asteroid) 2. Ethel Merman
BWELTER - someone trying to portray a loud, evil laugh (BWA-ha-ha-ha...)
WEBTER - the best dictionary to use if you have a speech impediment
MEANING: noun: An insulting or abusive criticism or expression.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin invehi (to attack with words), from invehere (to carry in). Ultimately from the Indo-European root wegh- (to go or to transport in a vehicle), which also gave us deviate, way, weight, wagon, vogue, vehicle, vector, envoy, trivial, and inveigh. Earliest documented use: 1430.
_________________________________
INVESTIVE - 1. pertaining to the ascension to a new position of power, reponsibility, and respect 2. placing assets where they will grow
INSECTIVE - encouraging the spread of arthropods
SINVECTIVE - dramatic exhortation against evil and transgression
MEANING: - noun: A reluctance to express one’s thoughts and feelings.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin reticere (to be silent), from re- (again, back), from tacere (to be silent). Earliest documented use: 1603. _____________________________
RELICENCE - obtain a new permit
RETICENSE - make a new macrame holder for the aroma-spreader in church
ARETICENCE - awareness of the purity and the virtue and the goodness of the ideal world
Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray; Along the cool sequester'd vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
Apparently he was a chess player. I have no idea, in answer to your question. I don't play, nor do I follow chess. I just combined The Reti Opening with Gabriel Oaks poor luck at the beginning of Far From The Madding Crowd. Coincidence I watched the movie on Thursday or Friday (HBO) and thought it went well with the quote by Sir Alan Bates.
Fact checking, I just now noticed that he, too, died of cancer at age 69. Strange enough for this week.
MEANING: noun: 1. A coarse cloth of jute, flax, etc., used for making sacks. 2. A garment made of this cloth, worn to express remorse, humility, grief, etc. 3. An expression of penitence, mourning, humility, etc.
ETYMOLOGY: From the Bible in which wearing of sackcloth and sprinkling of ashes is indicated as a sign of repentance, mourning, humility, etc. Earliest documented use: before 1400.
_______________________________________
Is "epithet" when one word is almost always associated with another, like "rosy-fingered / dawn" in Homer? I've never heard of "Sackcloth" when it wasn't followed by "and ashes"... _______________________________________
SACKCLOTH - 1. Hoity-toity name for sheeets
and in the same vein (so to speak) SACKCLOTS - pulmonary thromboemboli from too much bed rest and SACKSLOTH - major-league couch potato
BACKCLOTH - what the shirt is made of that I'd give you off mine
MEANING: adjective: Excessively strict, rigid, old-fashioned, or prudish.
ETYMOLOGY: From Middle English streit (narrow), from Old French estreit, from Latin strictus, past particle of stringere (to bind, draw tight) + laqueus (noose). Earliest documented use: 1630. __________________________________
MEANING: noun: 1. An extreme radical republican during the French Revolution. 2. A radical or revolutionary.
ETYMOLOGY: From French, literally, without knee breeches. In the French Revolution, this was the aristocrats’ term of contempt for the ill-clad volunteers of the Revolutionary army who rejected knee breeches as a symbol of the upper class and adopted pantaloons. As often happens with such epithets, the revolutionaries themselves adopted it as a term of pride. Earliest documented use: 1790. ___________________________________
SASS-CULOTTE - hot pants
SAN OSCULOTTE - Valentine, the Kissing Saint
SANS-CURLOTTE - just donated all her ringlets to Locks of Love
MEANING: verb tr., intr.: To make, sell, or transport something illegally. noun: Something illegally made, sold, or distributed. adjective: Made, sold, or distributed illegally.
ETYMOLOGY: From the practice of concealing a liquor flask in the leg of a boot. Earliest documented use: 1889. ____________________________________
BOOTLUG - the nut used to keep the trunk of a British vehicle locked
BOATLEG - one part of a sailing race
BOOTLOG - the daily entries of a German U-boat commander
MEANING: adjective: Characterized by thievery or trickery.
ETYMOLOGY: From Autolycus, the son of Hermes and Chione in Greek mythology, who was skilled in theft and trickery. He was able to make himself (or things he touched) invisible, which greatly helped him in his trade. Shakespeare named a con artist after Autolycus in A Winter’s Tale. Earliest documented use: 1890. __________________________________
AUTOGLYCAN - a long chain-like molecule that forms out of a soup of small sugar molecules without need of a catalyst
MEANING: adjective: 1. Requiring extraordinary strength or effort. 2. Having great strength or size.
ETYMOLOGY: From Hercules, the son of Zeus and Alcmene in Greek mythology. Hercules performed many feats requiring extraordinary strength and effort, such as cleaning the Augean stables. Earliest documented use: 1594. _____________________________
FERCULEAN - made of iron and copper
HERCLEAN - Mr Clean's wife
HERCULEXAN - an extremely strong clear plastic to form into storm windows and doors (see also "Gorilla Glass")
MEANING: noun: A person, organization, or thing of great strength, size, or achievement.
ETYMOLOGY: From Titan, any of a family of giant gods in Greek mythology who were overthrown by Zeus and company. Atlas was a titan. Earliest documented use: 1412. ________________________________
TIXAN - along with chiggers, what you get camping out if you aren't careful
MITAN - 1. what the three little kitans lost; 2. a graduate of an engineering school in Cambridge, MA
MEANING: noun: An enticing appeal that ultimately leads to disaster.
ETYMOLOGY: From Siren, one of a group of sea nymphs, whose enchanting singing lured sailors to shipwreck on the rocks around their island. Also see femme fatale. Earliest documented use: 1568. ____________________________
STIREN' SONG - a real tear-jerker
SIRE NO SONG - words from the Jester with laryngitis
SIREN BONG - too many smokers at once really make it wail
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.
