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#106729 06/30/03 09:45 PM
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wwh Offline OP
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Those Scripps-Howard people have some funny ideas about “Words Appearing Infrequently” look how this page starts: riflery, rightful,rightless,rigid,rigidty, rigidly, Then they go way out in left field with a catcher’s glove”
rimur
III: BRAGIR
Rimur metres consist of four, three or two trochaic lines connected with alliterations and rhymes. The length of the foot is fixed; therefore a metrical syllable may occasionally be split into two text syllables without affecting the length of the line. The four-line metres are a combination of two couplets with four stressed syllables in the first line of each, and two such syllables (first and third, second and third, or third and fourth) alliterate with the first stressed syllable of the second line. The following couplet can serve as an illustration:
Hlægi snauir t ára t afli
t eflist fléttist gróurinn.

I can’t even tell what language that is.
Then Dutch - rijstafel

Then Italian: rinforzando

Then, by God, Flemish
rippling - having fretted or highl;y ruffled surface
risible,risque,,ritardando,ritual, rivalrous,riverfront,riviera,rivulaose (some damned sugar)roadrunner (beep,beep)
roadworth, robber, robbery, robin (now there’s an infrequently used word!)

Hang out the flag! a genuinely infrequently used word, worth knowing, if I knew how to tell one when I see it.
roble e pronounced like long “a”
n.
5AmSp < Sp, oak < L robur, hard variety of oak: see ROBUST6 any of several oak trees of the SW U.S.; esp., a tall, white oak (Quercus lobata) of California

robot,rocky,roe,

Roentgenology - science of X-rays, and eponymic

roey - a family name

rogation
n.
5ME rogacioun < L rogatio, question, in LL(Ec), prayer, entreaty < rogare, to ask, orig., to stretch out the hand; akin to regere: see RIGHT6
1 Eccles. solemn ceremonial petitioning, specif. on the Rogation Days: usually used in pl.
2 in ancient Rome, a) a consul‘s or tribune‘s proposal of a law to be passed or rejected by the people b) such a proposed law

roguishness, rollicksome, roman, romanticism, romeo,

rondo aka rondeau
n.,
pl. 3dos# 5It < Fr rondeau: see RONDEAU6 Music a composition or movement, often the last movement of a sonata, having its principal theme stated three or more times in the same key, interposed with subordinate themes

rongeur - Ever have a root canal?

And just when you think they couldn’t get stupider……..
Roodle
Oh, fol-de-rol-de-roodle, Oh, roi-de-roi-de-too; I bid you howdy doodle, And howdy doodle-doo; And if you doubt my honor, Nor think am speaking true, I'll cry ...

skip a couple
roseola the “e” is long
n.
5ModL, dim. < L roseus, rosy6 any rose-colored rash; esp., rubella: also called rose rash

Discovery of the virus solved a longstanding mystery - primary infection in childhood causes "roseola infantum" a.k.a. "sixth disease", a common childhood rash whose cause was previously unknown. Ab titres are highest in children and decline with age. Consequences of childhood infection appear to be mild. Primary infections of adults are rare but have more severe consequences - mononucleosis/hepatitis. HHV-6 infection is a problem in immunocompromised patients, although the importance of HHV-6 infection in AIDS patients is not clear.




#106730 07/01/03 02:46 AM
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rijstafel is a traditional indoneasian type meal in the netherlands. there are many restauarants there that specialize in serving it. it is something similar to a smorgesbord... a selection of dishes, some sweet, some savory, some mild some spicy, many vegetarian, some meat or sea food...and you sample all the dishes..

it means ricetable.. (but even that is an idiom for and would be something closer to ricebuffet.. its a wonderful way to sample and taste indonesian foods...
so what else do you expect from me, except to know exotic names of food dishes. (and to have eaten them!)

My dear Mr Bingley, are rijstafels a dutch invention? many of the individual dishes seem to be indonesian,but i don't know enough about indoneasian foods (i know some dishes, but not the culture of food.

i know that tempura is not japanese, but what the japanese thought was dutch cooking!


#106731 07/01/03 03:01 AM
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I think they are more of a Dutch thing -- perhaps a Dutch adaptation of nasi padang = Padang rice, Padang being the capital of W. Sumatra. The Minangkabau people from that region dominate the restaurant business in Indonesia.

If you go to a Padang restaurant, the waiter will bring you a whole selection of dishes to your table and you take what you want. When you've finished your meal he'll just glance at the serving plates and know exactly what you've had, and then tots up the bill. Padang waiters have competitions to see how many serving plates of food they can carry at one time. I have an idea the current record is 40.

The waiter in the picture at the bottom of this page isn't even trying. http://home.wanadoo.nl/zoontjes/en/sumb/sumb_padang.htm

Bingley


Bingley
#106732 07/01/03 09:43 AM
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In reply to:

Hang out the flag! a genuinely infrequently used word, worth knowing, if I knew how to tell one when I see it.
roble e pronounced like long “a”
n.
5AmSp < Sp, oak < L robur, hard variety of oak: see ROBUST6 any of several oak trees of the SW U.S.; esp., a tall, white oak (Quercus lobata) of California


Come again? What is the word, wwh? The name for this Quercus lobata? Obviously we wouldn't have this particular species of white oak in VA, but what is the name here? Oh!!! I see!! It's simply: roble but pronounced RO-blay. The RO-blay oak.

Never heard of it. Must google it.


#106733 07/01/03 10:26 AM
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I don't know, WW, Oaks have so many varieties! the oaks of the west coat are very different than the oaks of the northeast..

my house had 2 white oaks in the back yard, (each was about 90 feet tall, they were huge!) and didn't have any low branches left (the first branch started about level with the roof line of the 2 story house) but california oaks are tend to, not grow as tall, but to be more massive in their branches.. both trees are beautiful, but very diffent looking..(my comparisions were made with trees that had trunks about the same size... not a scientific study, but just my impressions!)


#106734 07/01/03 12:37 PM
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In reply to:

I don't know, WW, Oaks have so many varieties! the oaks of the west coat are very different than the oaks of the northeast..


What in Sam's Hill were you questioning, of troy? I did not begin to suggest in any way that there were not 'many varieties' of oaks. In fact, oaks are probably the one type of tree that I readily and easily can identify many species.

Quercus is the genus that covers what dendrologists generally divide into two huge groups: the white and black oaks. The whites (and that is not Quercus alba here, although included in the big subdivision) generally have smoothly lobed leaves and the blacks (and that is not Quercus velutina exclusively, but also included in the other big subdivision) generally have prickle-like leaf endings, such as on pin, black, Northern red and willow oaks.

The only thing I missed in wwh's writing was the specific common name to which he was referring and then in rereading I spotted the term and became interested in that specific species since I had not come across it--no surprise there either since it's on the west coast and the oak species I am familiar with are eastern species. I would be surprised to find a specifically named west coast species in VA. At a botanical garden here? Well, that's altogether different. But not growing wild. I believe I can identify just about every species of Quercus here in my neck of the woods--but am always delighted to find still another that escaped my attention.

What were you arguing with? I certainly indicated that the California oak was one with which I was unfamiliar and I certainly was not arguing that there was only one species of white oak. Please let me understand your argument better.

And your white oaks: I take it they were Quercus alba--but they could easily have been in that broad group not delineated by species that dendrologists refer to as the white oak (i.e., not specifically Quercus alba) group--such as, for example, the post oaks that are also in that subdivision. Quercus alba, the specific 'white oaks' are huge in height and can live as long as 500 years under ideal circumstances. From your description, I would guess you had Quercus alba in your yard.




#106735 07/01/03 02:49 PM
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I have read that acorns were prinipal food source of Indians in what is now southern California. They triturated them with mortar a hollow in a big stone, pestle a suitably shaped stone. Then the pulverized acorns had to be placed in a wicker basket, and water added slowly to leach out the
bitter substances name of which I forget.



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