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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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isis (i-ziz) noun, (not to be confused with Isis) thought to derive from presidential testimony, although this is unclear = 1) Logical arcanery; 2) an arcane logical construction hidden in a text, a kind of riddle, e.g. (to paraphrase), 'The Cheshire Cat disappeared very slowly until nothing was left but its grin."
The isis here is that, since cats don't have grins, this statement can only mean that the Cheshire Cat disappeared slowly until nothing was left of it at all (the "Carroll text"). It has been pointed out, however, that the Cheshire Cat was an invention of Carroll's, and, furthermore, that the Alice specimen was the only Cheshire Cat known with certainty to have existed. Because of this, the cat could, indeed, have had a grin and the meaning could, therefor, be the plain meaning of the text. But this argument has been convincingly refuted. Since we cannot know, with any degree of certainty, whether the Cheshire Cat did or did not, in fact, grin, the question of the extent of its grin's disappearance remains logically ambiguous and factually uncertain (the "isisic conundrum"); most experts are satisfied that this does not prevent us classifying the Carroll text as an isis. M Hare, however, proposes a different theory. On the basis of the isisic conundrum, Hare posits the existence of a hyper-isis existing between the plain of the text and the plane of the isisic conundrum, itself. Hare thus extrapolates from the Insel hypothesis according to which the deep grammar of the juxtaposition of the plain meaning with the plane meaning of the isis is equivalent to that of the encapsulated juxtaposition of "to decimate" as posited by IP. (see, also: hyper-isis)
vocuscious vo-kyoo-shus adj. from L. flatus vocus = said of windbags.
humptydumteenth hum-tee-dump-teenth adj from English nursery rhyme = used to describe the last of a long succession of computer failures, esp. of PCs, as in "My f'ing computer crashed for the humptydumpteenth time today."
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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humptydumpteenth This "is" a word I like, irregardless of the definition of "is." Thanks.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It has been argued, however, that the Cheshire Cat was an invention of Carroll's, and, furthermore, that the Alice specimen was the only Cheshire Cat known certainly ever to have existed. Because of this, the cat could, indeed, have had a grin and the meaning could, therefor, be the plain meaning of the text. insel, you're weird! I love it! Oh, convolutions within convolutions! And guess what, tsuwm? Here is empirical evidence of the first known "nonce cat"!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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Dear Max Quordlepleen: I had expected from you some bits of erudition about Lewis Carroll's choice of name for the Cheshire Cat. I tried the internet, and only got ads for a dozen restaurants and bed and breakfasts. I had thought that perhaps it was a genuine breed of cat.
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addict
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addict
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609 |
Not original but worth a mention? DISCONFECT (dis kon fekt') v. To sterilize the piece of candy you dropped on the floor by blowing on it, assuming this will somehow 'remove' all the germs. ELBONICS (el bon' iks) n. The actions of two people maneuvering for one armrest in a movie theater. PEPPIER (pehp ee ay') n. The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want ground pepper.
Ro* Ward
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Feb 2001
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Cheshire Cat info...from Excite Search...Source: Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. "The phrase has never been satisfactorily explained, but it has been said that Cheshire cheese was once sold moulded like a cat that appeared to be grinning. The waggish explanation is that the cats know that Cheshire is a county palatine (properly the dominion of an earl palatine over which he had quasi-royal jurisdiction) and find the idea a source of amusement".
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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DISCONFECT (dis kon fekt') v. To sterilize the piece of candy you dropped on the floor by blowing on it, assuming this will somehow 'remove' all the germs.My dictionary defines disconfect this way: "To remove a sweet from infectious material it has contaminated." More new words: Serengyrate - to dance spontaneously at unexpected moments of joy. Serengyre - the serengyrate dance of such moments. Tralalate - to extol flowers for their power to intoxicate, but only while so intoxicated. Archanery - To tease the poorly educated through the use of archane knowledge. Archumvirate - The sum of a triumvirate, a despot, a leader once deathly feared by a cabinet no longer living.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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I thought that the Chesire cat was a real cat. The truth simply never occured to me.
jimthedog
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Serengyrate - to dance spontaneously at unexpected moments of joy. Serengyre - the serengyrate dance of such moments.Keep 'em comin' IP!
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