I'm sure Vermonters will be interested to learn that their entire state is an historic district!
Those of us in the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation only wish it was. Tradition dies hard up here in the hills, though, and many people continue to paint their old barns red (if they paint them at all). Red was, indeed, a cheap color (made from earth pigments). An interesting sidebar on barn painting -- Ever see big white diamonds painted on barn doors? That's so Farmer John can see where the door is in driving snow or dark of night. Anyway, most new barns I see do tend to be other colors, particularly white.
Michigan still has red barns, but you also see white ones, plus farm buildings not constructed in the traditional gambrel-roof style. (And, this being Spartan country, I suppose we have our share of GREEN ones )
the most obscure word i've ever seen is "lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphioparaome- litokatakaechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalli- okigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon", which Aristophanes used in Ecclesiazusae to mean some sort of strange hash comprised of two-week old leftovers. fuzzy meatloaf, anyone?? somehow i suspect this is a YART.
New England does not have many farms left but here and there red barns are seen. Mostly though, the barns are left to "weather" producing a lovely soft grey color in many cases .... then when barn falls or ceases its farm use the farmers can sell the "barn boards" to all the yuppies and tincs. Canny, these Yankees. wow tincs = plural of "two incomes no children"
It used to be possible, sometimes, to do a barn-raizing and get a lot of very sturdy timber and rare wide boards on the cheap. Does KMart mean "death" in some proto-European language?
Gambler is an anagram from gambrel, but not necessarily a crook. My impression of gamblers is the old one about horses being smarter than the gamblers. You will never see a horse bet on a human.
wwh, the annagramatic part was just a bonus I noticed before buttoning the post - the authorized gambrel/crook connection was the angle of the horses leg/crook. I figure a gambrel roof's a gambrel roof by virtue of a similar likeness.
and all the rest - apologies for the many many separately posted tom swifties. They were meant as silly presents, individually wrapped. I bugged on the bandwidth differerntial. (I promised someone I'd stay off for the evening in penance, but I find the punishment too harsh) [blush and kisses] [sad]
My apologies Insel. I didn`t mean to make you feel bad. Ten lashes with a wet noodle for me.
There have been several posts in the past by some of our folks who have slower computers who don`t get to enjoy some threads because they are toooo long. No way I wanted you off for the evening. I love seeing so many different people on Board. That's what makes it interesting - all those different opinions and styles.
I don't know what you're talking about, bel! Forget it! Delete the post! I ain't in the leastwise hurt an 'precieate yo kandly lookin' out for 'tothers!
Sorry - don't know how to edit yet, or if its possible. Higgledy-piggledy is used (generally) about numbers of small objects as in "The books were not stacked, they just lay about higgledy-piggledly".
I wasn't not sure whether to go here or to a thread which deals with odd stuff you hear on the radio, but probably this is a good venue.
Yesterday, on NPR, there was a rather pompous commentator giving out a rant on the word "lucubrate", which he says is somehow becoming popular. What he objects to is that it is misused, not only as to its meaning, by making it mean more than it's supposed to, but also by making it a transitive verb. All well and good, but then he mentioned other words which he would like to see used more, such as "etiolated" and "inchoate". What made this entertaining was that the fool twice pronounced "etiolated" as uh-TIE-o-lated. (At least he didn't render "inchoate" as in-chote.)
Dear BobY So glad you mentioned those words ... I've always had trouble with the pronunciations...the OED pronuniation is no help can't understand it (thick as a brick -e) Help me with easily used pronouce guide PLEASE?
etiolate Bill, you're skipping around the edges of a logical fallacy, but not quite falling in. I didn't say it was Latin; but on the other hand, a word derived from French is generally from Latin in turn, unless it's from a Celtic Gallic word or some other peculiarity. As to why a Latin-influenced pronunciation if it's not Latin, don't ask.
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