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APPLE KNOCKER

PRONUNCIATION: (AP-uhl nok-uhr)

MEANING: noun: 1. An ignorant or unsophisticated person.
2. A baseball player, especially a batter.
3. A fruit picker, farmer, or seller.

ETYMOLOGY: 1. From the stereotypical view of those working in the field as boorish or naive.
2. From the jocular reference to a baseball as an apple.
3. From the image of someone picking apples by knocking them down with a stick.
Earliest documented use: 1902.

NOTES: In the term apple knocker, a baseball has been compared to an apple. In the past, those balls were even made in red color. And a ballpark is also called an apple orchard probably because that’s where the game was often played. So it figures that a batter is an apple knocker. Baseball players will continue knocking the apple with a bat, but fruit picking is going high-tech. Here in Washington state, we grow apples and many other fruits and a robotics arm race is going on to develop automated fruit pickers. In the future, we may need to amend the definition of the term apple knocker. Instead, an apple knocker may be someone working with drones and robots.
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APPLY KNOCKER - this is the way to announce yourself if you want the position

A POLE KNOCKER - Przybylsky here, let me in!

APPLE KNACKER - person who disposes of dead horses

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BANANA OIL

PRONUNCIATION: (buh-NAN-uh oyl)

MEANING: noun:
1. Nonsense.
2. Insincere talk or flattery.

ETYMOLOGY: It’s not known why the banana oil earned this sense, although “to go bananas” means to be crazy or wildly enthusiastic. Perhaps the sense arose because the liquid known as banana oil does not involve bananas at all. Instead, it’s a mixture of amyl acetate and cellulose that has a banana-like odor and is used as food flavoring and a solvent. Earliest documented use: 1927.
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BANANA TOIL - what Harry Belafonte was singing about in 1956

MAÑANA OIL - makes it easier to put things off until tomorrow

BAN A NAIL - permit the use only of wooden pegs

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RAZZ

PRONUNCIATION: (raz)

MEANING: noun: A sound, similar to breaking wind, made by pushing the tongue between the lips and blowing air through the mouth.
verb intr.: To make such a sound.
verb tr.: To tease or heckle.

ETYMOLOGY: From the shortening and alteration of raspberry, from the rhyming slang raspberry tart ⇨ fart. Earliest documented use: 1917.
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BAZZ - uttered by sheep who have lost their way

RA ZZ - sound produced by a sleeping Resident Assistant

GRAZZ - shorthand for "Thanks!" in Italy

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SOUR GRAPES

PRONUNCIATION: (SOU-uhr graypz)

MEANING: noun: Finding fault with or expressing disdain for something one cannot have.

ETYMOLOGY: From the Aesop’s fable The Fox and the Grapes, in which a hungry fox tries to reach grapes hanging on a high vine and when unsuccessful, declares that the grapes are probably sour. Earliest documented use: 1760.
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POUR GRAPES - another euphemism for "wine"

SOU GRAPES - used to be used to make a very cheap French wine

SOUR GRIPES - the Song of the Disgruntled

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PEACHY

PRONUNCIATION: (PEE-chee)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Resembling a peach.
2. Excellent; highly desirable.

ETYMOLOGY: From peach, from Latin persicum malum (Persian apple). Earliest documented use: 1599.
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BEACHY - sunny, warm, and sandy

PET ACHY - I knew I shouldn't have taken my new dog for a three-mile run

PERCHY - my parrot loves to sit

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SKEWGEE

PRONUNCIATION: (SKYOO-jee)

MEANING: adjective: Askew; mixed-up; confused.

ETYMOLOGY: From skew, from Old Northern French eskiuwer, Old French eschiver (to escape or avoid) + agee/ajee (awry). Earliest documented use: 1890.
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SLEWGEE - the force that pulls you outward as you corner too fast

'S'KEWPEE - it's a carnival doll prize

SKEW GRE - the Graduate Record Exams are biased

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BANJAX

PRONUNCIATION: (BAN-jaks)

MEANING: verb tr.: To destroy, damage, defeat, injure, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: Irish slang, of unknown origin. Earliest documented use: 1939.
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BAR-JAX - a drinking game involving picking up small objects and then catching a ball before it bounces a second time

BAN TAX - to prohibit government-imposed surcharges

BINJ AX - with which you abruptly cut short a drinking spree

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SURQUIDRY or SURQUEDRY

PRONUNCIATION: (SUHR-kwid-ree)

MEANING: noun: Overbearing pride.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French surcuiderie, from Latin supercogitare, from super- (over, above) + cogitare (to think), from agitare (to agitate), from agere (to drive). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ag- (to drive, draw), which also gave us act, agent, agitate, litigate, synagogue, ambassador, incogitant, actuate, ambage, and exigency. Earliest documented use: 1250.
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SURQUITRY - the electrical wiring and electronics of a device

SUR-SQUIDRY - everything higher than a cephalopod on the phylogenetic tree

AURQUIDRY - all plants of the family Orchidaceae

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ZOOPHOBIA

PRONUNCIATION: (zo-uh-FOH-bee-uh)

MEANING: noun:
1. An unusual fear of animals.
2. A dislike of keeping animals in captivity.

ETYMOLOGY: from Greek zoo- (animal) + -phobia (fear). Earliest documented use: 1888. Some related words are zoonosis (a disease transmitted from animals to humans) and zoophyte (an animal resembling a plant).
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AZOOPHOBIA - fear of nitrogen

BOOPHOBIA - terror at being startled

ZOOPHONIA - animal noises (see "Gerald McBoing-Boing")

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MUNDIFICATIVE

PRONUNCIATION: (muhn-DIF-i-ki-tiv)

MEANING: adjective: Having the power to cleanse.
noun: A cleansing medicine or preparation.

ETYMOLOGY: From Middle French mondificatif, from Latin mundificare (to cleanse), from mundus (clean). Earliest documented use: 1440.
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MUNIFICATIVE - rendering generous (such as happened to Scrooge or to the Lorax)

MUNDIFICTIVE - writing stories about Mondays

MUNDIFRICATIVE - Fs and Vs and THs, as pronounced woldwide

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