Register Log In Wordsmith Talk Forums (Old) Weekly themes. (have been consolidated into a single forum above) Animal Safari byssoid Search Advanced Forum Search Forums Calendar Active Threads

Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread byssoid #88832 12/06/2002 11:13 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 A spelling bee word with quite a few cognates. Byssoid means filamentous. A byssus was originally the word for a ship's anchor rope. A place too deep for an anchor rope was an abyss. Ropes are (sometimes)made out of cotton, and workers making it inhale a lot of cotton dust and develop byssinosis, a lung disease called brown lung disease. Workers in sugar manufacture inhale dust of sugar cane fibers and get another brown lung disease called bagassosis.But byssus is used now mostly to describe the foot by which mussels attach to rocks. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: caciquism #88833 12/06/2002 11:44 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 For at least a century, caciquism was the form through which democracy would reign in Mexico. In a land of both Spanish and Indian descent and traditions--a land of illiteracy--elective democracy was not possible. These caciques were the revolutionaries who fought against the Creole caudillos of the regular army. Thus, the birth of the conflicts between liberalism and conservatism and federalism and centralism was confirmed. The caciques and their followers supported a liberal system that gave local autonomy modeled on the federalism of the United States. They hoped to legalize their powers. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary

Default Style BlackNTan Drab eBay GooG v2 infopop new dark new light original dark original stock rounded corners Slate snow sunny dropshadow theblues Touch Of Grey UBB.threads UBB.threads - Dark UBB.threads - Light UBBCentral UBBCentral - Crimson UBBCentral - Lime UBBCentral - Marshmallow UBBCentral - Mocha UBBCentral - Zen UBBT77 UBBT77 - Dark ubbthreads ubbthreads-dark Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith Talk