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PACTOLIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (pak-TOH-lee-uhn)

MEANING: adjective: Golden; lavish.

ETYMOLOGY: After Pactolus (now called Sart Çayı), a river in ancient Lydia (in modern Turkey), known for its golden sands. Earliest documented use: 1586.

NOTES: According to the legend, King Midas bathed in the river Pactolus to get rid of his golden touch, really a golden curse. Midas’s story has given us such terms as Midas touch and Midas-eared. It was this golden sand that supposedly made Croesus rich.
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PECTOLIAN - pertaining to sternal alcohol

PACTOLICAN - a pelican with an overstuffed pouch

CACTOLIAN - derived from cactus oil

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JEDBURGH JUSTICE

PRONUNCIATION: (JED-buh-ruh juhs-tis)

MEANING: noun: Punishment before trial.

ETYMOLOGY: After Jedburgh, a town in Scotland, where in the 17th century people were summarily executed. The town lies on the Jed Water river. Earliest documented use: 1698.

NOTES: Jedburgh justice, also known as Jedwood justice or Jeddart justice, is, in essence: Hang now, ask questions later. The term is coined after Jedburgh, a town near Edinburgh, where under the orders of King James VI and I, people were executed without trial. See also: lynch.
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JEDI BURGH JUSTICE - performs marriages and such in Yoda's home town

JED B: URGE JUSTICE - Attention, Sheriff B: [Black Life du jour]Matters!

JEDBURGH, JUSTINE - Durrell's anti-heroine after marrying a rich magnate

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DERWENTER

PRONUNCIATION: (DUHR-wuhnt-uhr)

MEANING: noun: An ex-convict.

ETYMOLOGY: After Derwent, a river in Tasmania. There used to be a convict settlement on its banks. Earliest documented use: 1853.

PRONUNCIATION: (DUHR-wuhnt-uhr)

MEANING: noun: An ex-convict.

ETYMOLOGY: After Derwent, a river in Tasmania. There used to be a convict settlement on its banks. Earliest documented use: 1853.
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DER RENTER - the Berliner who takes an apartment

DER WENTER - the one who departed without notice (or payment)

DE-RENTER - the landlord who wants to convert the property to condominiums

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PALOUSER


PRONUNCIATION: (puh-LOO-zuhr)

MEANING: noun:
1. Strong, dangerous winds.
2. An improvised lantern.
3. A country bumpkin.

ETYMOLOGY: After the Palouse region in northern Idaho and eastern Washington, named after the Palouse river. Earliest documented use: 1903.
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PA, LOUDER! - Speak up, Dad, I can't hear you

PALE USER - drug addicts often don't get much sun

PAL OUSTER - they just deposed my buddy

PALO USHER - shows Stanford football patrons to their seats

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SCAMANDER

PRONUNCIATION: (skuh-MAN-duhr)

MEANING: verb intr.: To take a winding course.

ETYMOLOGY: After Scamander (modern name: Karamenderes), a river in Turkey. The river was named after a river god in Greek mythology. Earliest documented use: 1864. Also see meander.
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S. CA. MEANDER - southern California doesn't come to an end, it just wanders about near the Mexico border

SHAMAN, DER - the German word for "indigenous magical practitioner" is masculine

SCAM ENDER - a combined FBI/FCC/telecommunication-industry megaproject project

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UNICORN

PRONUNCIATION: (YOO-nih-korn)

MEANING: noun:
1. A mythical horse-like creature with a horn on the forehead.
2. Something or someone rare or unusual: highly desirable but hard or impossible to find.
3. A startup valued at one billion dollars or more.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin unicornis, from uni- (single) + cornu (horn), ultimately from the Indo-European root ker- (horn, head), which also gave us cornucopia, carrot, cranium, cornea, cervix, and cancer. Earliest documented use: 1225.
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UNICON - there's never been a scam like this before

U NICE, RN - Glad to have met you, Nurse

UNiCoRb - a semi-crystalline mixture of Uranium, Nickel, Cobalt, and Rubidium used to make superconducting magnets

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BUNYIP

PRONUNCIATION: (BUHN-yip)

MEANING: noun: An impostor.
adjective: Counterfeit; phony.

ETYMOLOGY: After bunyip, a large mythical creature of Australian Aboriginal legend, who lives in swamps, riverbeds, etc. The word is from Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia language of the Aboriginal people in Victoria. Earliest documented use: 1848.

NOTES: The most popular usage of the word is in the term “bunyip aristocracy” to refer to people pretending to be socially superior. It was first used by the journalist and politician Daniel Deniehy satirizing an attempt to establish a hereditary peerage in Australia. The label “bunyip aristocracy” stuck and the proposal was dropped
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BUNYIN - either a folklore logger or a painful big toe, take your pick

B. UNZIP - second line in the directions for putting on your new pants

CUNY IP - City University of New York has implemented its own Internet protocol

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GREMLIN

PRONUNCIATION: (GREM-lin)

MEANING: noun: A source of trouble, especially problems of technical nature.

ETYMOLOGY: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps from an alteration of the word goblin or from Irish gruaimin (a gloomy person). Earliest documented use: 1929.

NOTES: Originally, the word gremlin was Royal Air Force slang for a low-level employee. From there it evolved to refer to a mythical creature responsible for problems in aircraft. The word was popularized by the novelist Roald Dahl, a former fighter pilot with the RAF, when he published his children’s book The Gremlins in 1943. It’s not certain how the term was coined.
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GRIM LIN - that guy who wrote Hamilton looks concerned

G: REM-LINE - the seventh trace on the EEG; reflects dream activity

GREMLING - a young grem

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SNARK

PRONUNCIATION: (snahrk)

MEANING: noun: 1. A mysterious, imaginary animal.
2. Something or someone hard to track down.
3. A snide remark.
verb intr.: To make a snide remark.

ETYMOLOGY: For noun 1, 2: Coined by Lewis Carroll in the poem The Hunting of the Snark in 1876. Earliest documented use (outside the poem): 1879.
For noun 3, verb: Of imitative origin, formerly used in the sense to snore or snort. Earliest documented use: 1866.
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U.S.N. ARK - a US navy vessel for sheltering couples

SIN-ARK - an trigonometry inverse function

SNARY - trappily frightful

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BIGFOOT

PRONUNCIATION: (BIG-foot)

MEANING: noun: A prominent person in a commanding position, especially a journalist.
verb tr.: To dominate or to take control of a situation from someone.
verb intr.: To behave in an authoritative, domineering manner.

ETYMOLOGY: Bigfoot is a nickname for a Sasquatch, a large, ape-like mythical creature who lives in a remote wilderness, especially the Pacific Northwest region of the US and the adjacent part of Canada. Earliest documented use: 1833.
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GIGFOOT - one billion feet, or just over one light-second (1.06 light-seconds, to be precise)

BIGFONT - what you use for newspaper headlines

BIGFOOL - who tells you to press on when you're Waist Deep in the Big Muddy

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