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#25293
04/05/2001 3:37 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
how fragile our categories really are, and how meaningless the words we use can sometimes be."Category error! Category error!"  Seriously, this I think is close to what inselpeter was saying in his empathy thread.
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#25294
04/05/2001 6:53 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
since fungi use asexual reproduction pretty frequently.
As do words. To prove a point, what's asexual reproduction got to do with a word of the day? [truly emoticon]
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#25295
04/05/2001 7:26 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
"Pongito ergo sum"
I looked to see if there were any English words derived from RodWard's "pongito" and was surprised to find the word "pong"
pong (rhymes with song)
vi., n.
prob. < Romany pan, to stink [Brit., etc. (exc. Cdn.) Colloq.] STINK
By "Romany" I suppose "gypsy" is meant. No Latin equivalent given.
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#25296
04/06/2001 8:00 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
since fungi use asexual reproduction pretty frequently.--shanks As do words. To prove a point, what's asexual reproduction got to do with a word of the day?--IP's response The Michigan fungus in question is a fairy circle, a ring of mushrooms--the reproductive structures of a single, or "clonal" [nod to shanks emoticon] fungus. As the fungus exhausts trace elements in its substrate, it renders the substrate unsuitable to its growth. The fungus dies in the depleted substrate, but continues to grow outward in an ever-widening ring. The Michigan fairy circle is at least 100 miles in diameter and may be larger. The segue was from Tuesday's word of the day, "pixilated" -from pixie, a mischievous fairylike creature.
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#25297
04/06/2001 9:49 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Okay, I just got this eerie picture [somebody please rub away my goosebumps emoticon] :
As the fungus exhausts trace elements in its substrate, it renders the substrate unsuitable to its growth. The fungus dies in the depleted substrate, but continues to grow outward in an ever-widening ring.
transformed itself in my head to :
As the board exhausts trace elements in its substrate, it renders the substrate unsuitable to its growth. The board dies in the depleted substrate, but continues to grow outward in an ever-widening ring.
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#25298
04/06/2001 9:54 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
since fungi use asexual reproduction pretty frequently.
As do words. To prove a point, what's asexual reproduction got to do with a word of the day? [truly emoticon]
Neither have a wad to shoot? [leave me in the gutter emoticon]
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#25299
04/06/2001 4:07 PM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
addict
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addict
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609 |
pongito ergo sum = I stink therefore I am. Apologies: I hadn't thought to check that "pong" wasn't a common US word. Which leads me again to a new thread I've been mulling over on "Usage/Ukage/Ausage etc" (Sorry CK, I couldn't quite see how to fit Zild into the pattern). This board throws up examples all the time of words in local use, but I was wondering about words and phrases which have opposite meanings, or meanings so different as to cause embarrassment (and therefore amusing to the onlooker  ). I know of a few, but would like to hear of more. Rod
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#25300
05/19/2001 3:35 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I recently found the German equivalent of l'esprit de l'escalier.I didn't show up on search so it is entered below.
Treppenwitz.
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