Wordsmith.org
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Mensopause v - 06/11/19 02:43 PM

continued from here
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MIDAS TOUCH

PRONUNCIATION: (MY-duhs tuhch)

MEANING: noun: The ability to easily make anything profitable.

ETYMOLOGY: After the legendary King Midas who was given the power that anything he touched turned into gold. Earliest documented use: 1652.

NOTES: Be careful what you wish for. That’s the moral of the story of King Midas. He was given the power by Dionysus that anything he touched would turn into gold. His happiness was momentary. Soon he learned that he couldn’t eat anything because as soon as he touched food it would turn into gold and all that glitters is inedible. His father Gordias has an eponym coined after him too.
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AIDA'S TOUCH - what makes Verdi's opera a masterpiece

MIDAS TOUGH - one-time sales slogan for car mufflers

MID-EAST OUCH - the Gaza Strip
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PHILI-EPIC - Love Saga set in a Pennsylvania city - 06/12/19 05:50 PM

PHILIPPIC

PRONUNCIATION: (fi-LIP-ik)

MEANING: noun: A bitter condemnation, usually in a speech.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek philippikos, the name given to orator Demosthenes’s speeches urging Athenians to rise up against Philip II of Macedon. Earliest documented use: 1550.
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PHILIPP, INC - the makers of Milk of Magnesia have very quietly changed their name

PHILIP PICE - India has issued a new small coin bearing the image of the Duke of Edinburgh, now 98

PHILIP, PC - ...now that he has an official policy of never offending anyone any more
Posted By: wofahulicodoc KERM - short name for a green frog - 06/13/19 07:45 PM

HERM

PRONUNCIATION: (huhrm)
also herma (HUHR-muh), plural hermae (HUHR-mee) or hermai (HUHR-my) or herms

MEANING: noun: A square pillar topped with a bust.

ETYMOLOGY: After Hermes, the god of roads, boundaries, eloquence, commerce, invention, cunning, theft, and more, in Greek mythology. Earliest documented use: 1579.

NOTES: In ancient Greece, herm was a stone pillar with a square base. It had a bust of Hermes at the top and a phallus at the appropriate height. It was typically used as a boundary marker, milestone, or signpost.
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HERR M. - how Sir Miles Messervy is addressed in Berlin

HERA - the many wives of Zeus (each one being a Herum)

HER MD - the degree earned by the lady doctor

pH ER M - the acidity of the thirteenth Emergency Room
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PS - 06/13/19 07:51 PM
Quote
"also HERMA - (HUHR-muh), plural hermae (HUHR-mee) "

HERMAN - what Johnny was to Frankie ((but he done her wrong)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc it's my only weakness - 06/14/19 03:17 PM

ACHILLES' HEEL

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-KIL-eez heel)

MEANING: noun: A seemingly small but critical weakness in an otherwise strong position.

ETYMOLOGY: After Achilles, a hero in the Greek mythology. When Achilles was a baby, his mother Thetis dipped him into the magical river Styx to make him invincible. She held him by the heel which remained untouched by the water and became his weak point. He was killed when the Trojan prince Paris shot an arrow that pierced his one vulnerable spot: his heel. After him, the tendon in the lower back of the ankle is also known as the Achilles tendon. Earliest documented use: 1705.

NOTES: ...The actor Brad Pitt played Achilles in the 2004 film Troy and tore his left Achilles tendon during production. Talk about taking a role seriously!
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ACHILLES HEAL - sewing the tendon back together

ACHILLES' HELL - tearing the other one

A.C. HILLE STEEL - what the blast furnaces of industrial magnate Arthur Charles Hille produce
Posted By: wofahulicodoc How do you spell "disingenuous"? - 06/18/19 01:59 AM

SOCRATIC IRONY

PRONUNCIATION: (suh-KRAT-ik EYE-ruh-nee)

MEANING: noun: A profession of ignorance in a discussion in order to elicit clarity on a topic and expose misconception held by another.

ETYMOLOGY: After Greek philosopher Socrates (470?-399 BCE) who employed this method. Earliest documented use: 1721.
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SOCRATIC IRONS - what Socrates used to hit the ball off the grass

SOCRATIC CRONY - Xanthippe

SOURATIC IRONY - when the grape farmer says of the escaping crow, ""Well, he was too scrawny to make very good eating anyway..."
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MID-SEA RED - algae bloom in the Pacific - 06/18/19 02:54 PM

MIDAS-EARED

PRONUNCIATION: (MY-duhs eerd)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Having poor judgment.
2. Having inability to appreciate something.

ETYMOLOGY: After the legendary King Midas (of Midas touch fame) whose ears Apollo turned into a donkey’s ears for suggesting that Apollo’s musical rival Marsyas played better music. Earliest documented use: 1569.

NOTES: The god Apollo and the satyr Marsyas had a musical contest (in another version of the story it was the god Pan instead of Marsyas). The mountain-god Tmolus served as the judge and declared Apollo the winner. King Midas, in his kibitzing wisdom, favored Marsyas as the winner. This upset Apollo who said that Midas’s musical judgment implied that he had donkey’s ears and made his ears those of a donkey’s. (Not to be confused with donkey’s years.)

Then, Apollo had his musical opponent Marsyas skinned alive. (Not that serene, was he, as his reputation in the eponym Apollonian suggests?) Now you know why back then they didn’t have Greece’s Got Talent on Mount Olympus. Who would be foolish enough to sign up as a judge (Simon Cowell wasn’t born yet) and who would dare to be a contestant?
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MIDAS BARED - gold clothing is kinda stiff, after all

VIDA SEARED - pitcher Blue was really throwing heat today

MID-ASIA RED - a Chinese chicken
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PHILUPPIZE - no more room in the gas tank - 06/19/19 10:58 PM

PHILIPPIZE

PRONUNCIATION: (FIL-uh-pyz)

MEANING: verb tr.: To behave, especially to speak or write, as if corruptly influenced.

ETYMOLOGY: After Philip II of Macedon. It was believed that after Philip took control of the shrine at Delphi, the seat of high priestess Pythia, she began delivering oracles in his favor. Earliest documented use: 1597.
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PILIPPIZE - to cover with microscopic projections; to fimbriate

CHILIPPIZE - to lace with hot peppers

PHILIPPRIZE - an award given by an eastern Pennsylvania city
Posted By: wofahulicodoc paradoxically, not mercurial - 06/20/19 08:04 PM

HERMENEUTIC

PRONUNCIATION: (hur-muh-NOO/NYOO-tik)

MEANING: adjective: Interpretive or explanatory.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek hermeneutikos (of interpreting), from hermeneuein (to interpret), from hermeneus (interpreter). After Hermes in Greek mythology, who served as a messenger and herald for other gods, and who himself was the god of eloquence, commerce, invention, cunning, theft, and more. Earliest documented use: 1678..
Other words that Hermes has given us are hermaphrodite, hermetic, and herm.
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HEMENEUTIC - mansplaining

HERMENEUTIA - the tiny things she's always fussing over

HERMENAUTIC - yacht-racing
Posted By: wofahulicodoc A CHILL SIZE - How big a freezer do you want? - 06/21/19 07:04 PM

ACHILLIZE

PRONUNCIATION: (UH-ki-lyz)

MEANING: verb tr.: To harass or chase.

ETYMOLOGY: After Achilles, a hero in the Greek mythology. When his close friend Patroclus is killed by Hector, a vengeful Achilles chases Hector around the wall of Troy three times. Also, he causes great carnage among Trojans. Earliest documented use: 1672. Also see Achilles’ heel.

NOTES: Achilles is better known for his heel, but his anger is so prominent that it’s a popular subject in paintings. For example, The Wrath of Achilles (1630-1635) by Peter Paul Rubens, The Rage of Achilles (1757) by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and La Colère d’Achille (1847) by Léon Benouville.
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A.C. HILL ICE - we'll air-condition the entire mountain!

A CHILD LIZE - but then, all kids stretch the truth at times

A CHILLI ZED - the British alphabet ends coldly
(or hotly, from a culinary viewpoint)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SHIPPODROME - site of the National Boat Show - 06/24/19 08:05 PM

HIPPODROME

PRONUNCIATION: (HIP-uh-drohm)

MEANING: noun: A stadium for horse races, chariot races, horse shows, etc.
verb tr.: To manipulate or prearrange the outcome of a contest.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek hippos (horse) + dromos (running). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ekwo- (horse), which also gave us equestrian and equitant. Earliest documented use: 1549.

NOTES: Match fixing has been around for as long as humans have been having matches. Today’s word shows it going as far as ancient horse racing.
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WHIPPODROME - site of the National SadoMasochists Convention

HIP POD ROSE - where the attar is

HIPPO-DRONE - ...and you thought they couldn't even get off the ground!
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HORSE GRACE - chivalry - 06/25/19 03:02 PM

HORSE RACE

PRONUNCIATION: (HORS rays)

MEANING: noun:
1. The treating of a contest, especially an election, as if a sport, focusing on polls, perceptions, etc., instead of substantive issues, such as policies.
2. A close contest.

ETYMOLOGY: From horse, from Old English hors + race, from Old Norse (ras). Earliest documented use: 1586.
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MORSE RACE - contest to see who has the fastest "fist"

HOARSER ACE - the stunt pilot had a raspier voice after all that shouting (and smoking)

HER SERA, C.E. - she sells immunization supplies in the European Common Union
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CHIVASRY - an insistence on good Scotch - 06/27/19 01:24 AM

CHIVALRY

PRONUNCIATION: (SHIV-uhl-ree)

MEANING: noun:
1. The ideal qualifications of a knight: courtesy, honor, bravery, gallantry, etc.
2. The institution of knighthood, a group of knights, a gallant deed, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French chevalerie, from chevalier (knight), from Latin caballus (horse). Earliest documented use: 1297.

NOTES: Chivalry sounds nice, but it hides a dark side. While pretending to treat women with courtesy, we also treat them as if they are less capable, in leadership, in intelligence, and so on. It took as late as 1919 for women to get the right to vote in the US, for example. As late as 2016, some people voted for an incompetent over a highly accomplished woman, because, in their view, a “man can do a better job than a woman”
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[Also known as a "cavalier" attitude - and for good etymological reason...]
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SHIVALRY - Code of the Streets: gangs agree - no guns, only knives during rumbles

CO-HIVALRY - when two bee colonies work together for mutual advantage (usually occurs when the respective Queens are twins)

CHIRAL-RY - inability to superimpose on one's mirror image. Think gloves.
Posted By: wofahulicodoc WAR-HOUSE - Arsenal - 06/27/19 08:44 PM

WAR-HORSE

PRONUNCIATION: (WAR-hors)

MEANING: noun:
1. A horse used in war. Also known as a charger.
2. An experienced, dependable person, thing, etc., one who has gone through many contests, battles, struggles, etc.
3. Something, such as a play, a piece of music, etc., that has been performed often to become hackneyed.

ETYMOLOGY: From war, from Old English (werre) + horse, from hors. Earliest documented use: 1586.
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WAX HORSE - Cetohippus, statue by Madame Toussaud

WART-HORSE - a chimera of half horse, half toad

WAR-NORSE - Odin and his buddies
Posted By: wofahulicodoc P.R. ANGLER - a spin doctor - 06/28/19 03:31 PM

WRANGLER

PRONUNCIATION: (RANG-luhr)

MEANING: noun:
1. A cowboy who takes care of horses.
2. A person who engages in debates, quarrels, or disputes.
3. A person who handles animals, puppets, babies, unruly humans, etc., especially on a film set.

ETYMOLOGY: Probably partial translation of Mexican Spanish caballerango (groom or stable boy), from caballo (horse), from Latin caballus (horse). Ultimately from Indo-European root wer- (to turn or bend), which also gave us wring, weird, writhe, worth, revert, universe, conversazione, divers, malversation, prosaic, versal, verso, and wroth. Earliest documented use: 1518.
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P.R. ANGLER - a fisherman from San Juan

W RANGER - patrols the West

WRIANGLER - someone to whom everything looks somewhat askew
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HATS, PAJAMAS - what a haberdasher sells - 07/01/19 01:16 PM

CAT'S PAJAMAS

PRONUNCIATION: (CATS puh-JAH-muhz)

MEANING: noun: Something or someone truly excellent.

ETYMOLOGY: From cat + pajamas, from Hindi/Urdu pajama or payjama (loose-fitting trousers), from Persian pay (leg) + jama (garment). Earliest documented use: 1923.

NOTES: In the 1920s, in the US it was fashionable to coin terms on the pattern of x’s y (where x is an animal) to describe something cool or awesome. Some synonyms of today’s term are bee’s knees, dog’s bollocks, cat’s meow, and cat’s whiskers.
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CATS PA JAMES - "...and I think - I think I shall call him Jim / 'cause I am so fond of him!" - A A Milne

CATSPAW AMAS - he's a dummy, but you love him anyway

SCAT'S PAJAMAS - a love-hate relationship
Posted By: wofahulicodoc You're blue, Babe... - 07/02/19 11:32 PM

ZENO'S PARADOX

PRONUNCIATION: (ZEE-noz PAR-uh-doks)

MEANING: noun:
1. Any of various paradoxes proposed by Zeno, dealing with change and motion.
2. The appearance of getting closer and closer to a goal, but never reaching there.

ETYMOLOGY: After the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea (c. 490-430 BCE) who proposed a number of paradoxes as defense of the doctrine of his teacher Parmenides.

NOTES: The best-known among Zeno’s paradoxes is that of a race between Achilles and a tortoise. Achilles runs faster, but the tortoise has a headstart. By the time Achilles reaches the tortoise’s starting position, the tortoise has moved forward. By the time he reaches the tortoise’s new position, the tortoise has moved farther, even though the gap is now smaller.

According to the paradox, Achilles would never catch up with the tortoise because the tortoise would always be a little ahead, no matter how small the gap. Yet, we know Achilles does catch up with the tortoise (he is Achilles, not a hare). How does he do it? By not dozing off in his high school calculus and understanding the concept of limits: if you add up that infinite sequence of increasing smaller spans he traveled, you get a finite distance.
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ZEN'S PARADOX - What is the sound of one hand clapping?

ZERO'S PARADOX - division, in the field ℝ of real numbers

ZENO SPARED OX - The ox was to be slaughtered as a sacrifice to Zeus, but instead it was sent off into the wilderness carrying all our sins. There it met and was adopted by Paul Bunyan, and the rest is his story...
Posted By: wofahulicodoc GODWIN SLAW - what he has with his fish-and-chips - 07/03/19 09:48 PM

GODWIN'S LAW

PRONUNCIATION: (GOD-winz law)

MEANING: noun: The idea that as a debate progresses, it becomes inevitable that someone would compare another to Hitler or the Nazis.

ETYMOLOGY: Coined by Mike Godwin (b. 1956). Earliest documented use: 1991.

NOTES: Lawyers don’t make laws, but a lawyer once did make a “law”. Back when people lived in caves, they used something called the Usenet to engage in discussions with people around the world. These discussions involved passionate arguments and debates on humanity’s deep yearnings and moral dilemmas. Is it pronounced gif or jif? Is Mac better or PC? Does it take one space or two after a period? The Who vs. Led Zeppelin. vi vs. emacs?

A lawyer named Mike Godwin coined an adage that stated: “As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” Since then Godwin’s law has served as a useful reminder that whenever a comparison to Hitler or Nazis is made, the discussion is over and the one making such a comparison loses.

There is, however, an exception. When actual Nazis (or as our president calls them, “very fine people”) are involved in a discussion, invoking Godwin’s law doesn’t mean anything. Godwin himself has stated that many times.
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GOODWIN'S LAW - Discussion of business is not allowed at the dinner table! (or was that Nero Wolfe's Law?)

GODWIN'S LAWN - mixed fescues, no doubt

GOD, WINSLOW - That, Mr Homer, is what's missing from your paintings
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CHILD SPLAY - snow angels - 07/04/19 03:18 PM

CHILD'S PLAY

PRONUNCIATION: (CHYLDZ play)

MEANING: noun: Something trivial; a task easily accomplished.

ETYMOLOGY: From child, from Old English cild + play, from Old English plegan. Ultimately from the Indo-European root dlegh- (to engage oneself), which also gave us pledge, plight, and indulge. Earliest documented use: 1275.
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CHILD'S PLAN - When I grow up I'm gonna be a fireman...or a rocket pilot!

CHILE'S PLAY - original title for Evita; most memorable song was "Don't Cry for Me, Valparaiso"

CHILD'S PLAY - the 305 Ballads that minstrels have drawn on for 150 years
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PLUTO'S CAVE - where you pick up the Styx - 07/06/19 01:52 AM

PLATO'S CAVE

PRONUNCIATION: (PLAY-tohz kayv)

MEANING: noun: An illusory place or experience.

ETYMOLOGY: After the allegory of Plato’s cave in which people imprisoned there see shadows and assume that to be their reality. Earliest documented use: 1683.
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PLATO SCARE - We're having a big test on Ancient Greek tomorrow

PLATO'S CAVE - "Beware the Ides of March, Socrates!"

PLATH'S CAVE - where Sylvia went to hide from the world
Posted By: wofahulicodoc EXUDEMONIC - oozing evil from every pore - 07/09/19 12:09 AM

EUDEMONIC

PRONUNCIATION: (yoo-di-MON-ik)

MEANING: adjective: Relating to or conducive to happiness.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek eudaimonia (happiness), from eudaimon (having a good genius, happy), from eu- (good) + daimon (spirit, fate, fortune). Earliest documented use: 1832.

NOTES: This is a happy word; nothing demonic about it, except in the etymology.
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FEUDEMONC - a devilish argument

EUDEMANIC - status after the ups and downs of bipolar disorder have been exorcised

EUDAMONIC - like a true friend of Pythias
Posted By: wofahulicodoc TRADE RAFT: Huck Finn got an inner-tube floatie - 07/09/19 02:23 PM

TRADECRAFT

PRONUNCIATION: (TRAYD-kraft)

MEANING: noun: The techniques and methods of espionage and clandestine operations.

ETYMOLOGY: From trade, from Middle Dutch / Middle Low German trade (path, course) + craft, from Old English craeft (strength, power). Earliest documented use: 1812.

NOTES: The word tradecraft is not a synonym of Etsy. It has nothing to do with trading and nothing to do with needlework or pottery either. OK, in the beginning it did mean skill in a particular craft, but since the 1950s it’s mostly used to talk about spying skills. One example of tradecraft is steganography.
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TRADER AFT - there's a merchant at the rear of the boat

TIRADECRAFT - how to argue loudly and at great length

TRADE CROFT - tomb artifacts for sale by Lara
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ROAD STEED - horse bred for highway mileage - 07/10/19 03:37 PM

ROADSTEAD

PRONUNCIATION: (ROHD-sted)

MEANING: noun: A partly sheltered stretch of water near the shore where ships can anchor. Also called roads.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English rad (riding, journey on horseback) + Old English stede (place). Earliest documented use: 1351.
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ROAD STEAM - when a sunshower interrupts a hot summer day

ROADSTER AD - Get your Chevrolet today!

ROAD STRAD - the violin Josh Bell took to play on tour
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SPUDARIUM - potato museum - 07/11/19 08:34 PM

SUDARIUM

PRONUNCIATION: (soo-DAY-ree-uhm)

MEANING: noun: A handkerchief.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin sudare (to sweat). Earliest documented use: 1609.
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SUDASIUM - a hybrid flower produced by crossing a Daisy with a Black-Eyed Susan

SUDSARIUM - brewery showcase (see also BUDARIUM)

STUDARIUM - place where they showcase simple earrings
(Don't tell me you were expecting a display of Chippendales?)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc 'NOTHERGUESS - an additional one, after this one - 07/13/19 12:06 AM

OTHERGUESS

PRONUNCIATION: (UHTH-uhr-ges)

MEANING: adjective: Of another kind.

ETYMOLOGY: An alteration of othergates, from other + gate (path), from Old Norse gata. Earliest documented use: 1632.
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MOTHERGUESS - eyes in the back of her head

OCHERGUESS - just what kind of yellow is that?

OTHERGUESTS - title of the Infinite "Number of Hotel Rooms" paradox
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SUPERB UNARY - the Ideal One - 07/16/19 01:28 AM

SUPERLUNARY

PRONUNCIATION: (soo-puhr-LOON-uh-ree)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Situated beyond the moon.
2. Celestial; exalted.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin superlunaris, from super- (above) + luna (moon). Earliest documented use: 1614. The opposite is sublunary.
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SUPER LUNA RAY - the Moon Men have an unstoppable weapon

SUPER-FUNARY - a fantastically good time

CUPERTUNARY - where Apple designed their first all-in-one computers
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Qusestions, questions... - 07/16/19 01:38 PM

MENISCUS

PRONUNCIATION: (mi-NIS-kuhs)

MEANING: noun
1. The curved surface of a column of liquid.
2. Something having a crescent-shape.
3. A lens that is concave on one side and convex on the other.
4. A thin cartilage disk between bones in a joint, such as in a knee or wrist.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin, from Greek meniskos (crescent), diminutive of mene (moon). Earliest documented use: 1686.
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MENI’S CUB - What do you call the young son of Meni, the Lion King?

AMEN IS. 'CUS. - What's the last word of many hymns, and why?

ME? DISCUS - What's your event in the track meet?
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MOON'S TRACK - earth orbit - 07/17/19 05:25 PM

MOONSTRUCK

PRONUNCIATION: (MOON-struhk)

MEANING: adjective:
1. In a dreamy state.
2. Romantically dazed.
3. Mentally deranged.

ETYMOLOGY: From the belief that a person behaving erratically was under the influence of the moon. From moon + struck, past participle of strike, from Old English strican. Earliest documented use: 1674.

NOTES: The moon never made anyone loony, but it’s a popular excuse for erratic behavior. No one is turning into a werewolf, whether it’s a full-moon or new moon. See this article Lunacy and the Full Moon from the Scientific American.
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MORON'S TRUCK - You mean that idiot has a tractor-trailer rig?

MUON STRUCK - hit by a subatomic particle

MOON STRUNK - make a derisive gesture at the co-author of a prominent Style Handbook
Posted By: wofahulicodoc BLUE MOO - a sad cow - 07/19/19 01:44 AM

BLUE MOON

PRONUNCIATION: (BLOO moon)

MEANING: noun: A long time.

ETYMOLOGY From blue, from Old French bleu + moon, from Old English mona. Earliest documented use: 1702.

NOTES: The term typically appears in the phrase “once in the blue moon”, meaning rarely or not often. In reality, a blue moon occurs on average once every 2.7 years. So what is a blue moon? Well, in a year you see 12 full moons, but sometimes there’s a bonus full moon. This extra full moon is called a blue moon, though it’s not really blue.a cartoon that depicts prurient themesons. If there are four, the third full moon is called a blue moon.

Sometimes, the moon actually shows up in blue, but it has nothing to do with the above discussion -- nothing to do with a full moon. The color is due to the smoke or dust particles from forest fires, volcanic eruptions, etc.

So why is that extra moon called a blue moon? Nobody knows. Perhaps the literal blue moon got conflated with the extra full moon because both occurrences are unusual and don’t occur that often,
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BLUE TOON - a cartoon that depicts prurient themes

BLÉ MOON - the full moon that occurs during the wheat harvest, usually June or July for spring wheat

BLUE MORN - the sun rose revealing a cloudless sky
Posted By: wofahulicodoc LUN-YULE - Christmas on the Moon - 07/20/19 01:14 AM

LUNULE

PRONUNCIATION: (LOON-yool)

MEANING: noun:
1. The crescent-shaped whitish area at the base of the fingernail.
2. Any crescent-shaped mark, object, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From French lunule, From Latin lunula, diminutive of luna (moon). Earliest documented use: 1737. Also known as lunula.
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L'UNCLE - husband of l'aunt

LUNGULE - a small sub-part of an organ of breathing

FUNULE - basic unit of enjoyment. Maximum value = exhilaration
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SHIMATTA ! - 07/22/19 12:32 PM

SOLECISM

PRONUNCIATION: (SOL-i-siz-ehm, SO-li-)

MEANING: noun:
1. A grammatical mistake or a nonstandard usage.
2. A breach of etiquette.
3. An error, inconsistency, or impropriety.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin soloecismus, from Greek soloikismos, from soloikos (speaking incorrectly; literally, inhabitant of Soloi) after Soloi, an ancient Athenian colony in Cilicia where a dialect considered as substandard was spoken. Earliest documented use: 1577.
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SOLECISTM - the Sun, the Earth, and all the associated moons and satellites and asteroids and comets

SOLE-COSM - the flip side of the Multiverse

SOLE-ISM - a firm belief in the sanctity of one's Immortal Shoe
Posted By: wofahulicodoc OK, I cheated a little - 07/23/19 01:43 PM

MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

PRONUNCIATION: (man-CHOOR-ee-uhn KAN-di-det)

MEANING: noun: A person, especially a politician, acting as a puppet of a foreign power.

ETYMOLOGY: From the novel The Manchurian Candidate (1959) by Richard Condon. The term was popularized by a film (same title, 1962) based on the book. Manchuria is a region in the east between China and Russia. Earliest documented use: 1975.
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MANCHURIAN CANIDATE - stranger running for dog officer...

MANCHURIAN CANADATE - ...in Ottawa...

ANCHOVIAN CANDIDATE - ...there's something fishy going on here!

Posted By: wofahulicodoc DUNK ARK - I see Noah's run into a storm... - 07/24/19 11:57 AM

DUNKIRK

PRONUNCIATION: (DUN-kurk)

MEANING: noun:
1. A desperate evacuation or retreat.
2. A crisis requiring drastic measures to avoid total disaster.

ETYMOLOGY: After Dunkirk (in French, Dunkerque), a seaport and town in northern France. In World War II, it was the site of evacuation of more than 330,000 Allied troops by sea while under German fire during May-June 1940. Earliest documented use: 1941.
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DUNK IRE - anger at being shoved unexpectedly into the swimming pool

DUNG IRK - ..and clean up after your @#$$%& elephants!

DUN KIRK - when the Scottish church won't pay its bills
Posted By: wofahulicodoc IBERiA-the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain - 07/26/19 12:50 AM

SIBERIA

PRONUNCIATION: (sy-BEER-ee-uh)

MEANING: noun: An undesirable or isolated location assigned to those who have fallen out of favor or are being disciplined.

ETYMOLOGY: After Siberia, a vast region of central and eastern Russia, used as a place of exile by Russia under the tsars and by the USSR. Earliest documented use: 1841. See also: gulag.
__________________________

SOBERIA - the Holy Grail of alcoholics

I, BERIA - autobiography of a Communist

S.I. BERRA - Yankee catcher has another career working for Sports Illustrated magazine
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Re: IBERiA-the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain - 07/26/19 07:29 PM

ULTIMA THULE

PRONUNCIATION: (UL-tuh-muh THOO-lee)

MEANING: noun:
1. The northernmost part of the world believed habitable by the ancients.
2. A distant or remote goal or place.
3. The farthest point.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin ultima (farthest) + Thule, a place believed by ancient people to be the northernmost, variously identified as Iceland, Norway, Greenland, or Shetland Islands. Earliest documented use: 1771.
__________________________

ALTIMA THULE - what you use to repair a Nissan (H pronounced as in "Thomas")
(also Thule Air Force Base in Greenland, for that matter)

ULTIMAT YULE - last Christmas

MULTI-MATH ULE - a low-energy technology with much mathematical underpinning
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HYPOCLORISTIC - bleachy - 07/29/19 08:58 PM

HYPOCORISTIC

PRONUNCIATION: (hy-puh-kuh-RIS-tik, hip-uh-)

MEANING: adjective: Relating to a pet name or diminutive form of a name.
noun: A pet name or diminutive form of a name.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek hypokoristikos, from hypokorizesthai (to call by pet names), from hypo- (under) + kor- (child). Ultimately from Indo-European root ker- (to grow), which is also the source of other words such as increase, recruit, crew, crescent, cereal, concrete, crescendo, sincere, and Spanish crecer (to grow). Earliest documented use: 1796.
__________________________________

HYPNOCORISTIC - putting the kids to sleep; lullaby-like

HYPOCHORISTIC - singing under your breath

THY POCO-RISTIC - your little flick of the hand
Posted By: wofahulicodoc FILIALION - the Lion Prince - 07/30/19 11:37 PM

FILIATION

PRONUNCIATION: (fil-ee-AY-shuhn)

MEANING: noun:
1. The fact of being descended or derived from someone or something.
2. The act of determining such relationship.
3. Forming of a new branch.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin filius (son). Earliest documented use: 1529.
_________________________________

FIFIATION - transforming into a French poodle

CILIATION - developing hairlike projections all over

FILIATIRON - ferromagnetic wiring

FILINATION - a country of form-filler-outers
Posted By: wofahulicodoc TECNOZYMY - genetically-engineered yeast - 07/31/19 08:55 PM

TEKNONYMY - (or TECNONYMY)

PRONUNCIATION: (tek-NON-uh-mee)

MEANING: noun: The custom of naming a parent after their child.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek teknon (child) + -onym (name). Earliest documented use: 1888.

NOTES: If you have ever called your spouse Billy’s Dad or Billy’s Mom, you have practiced teknonymy. When we refer to a parent as a senior, as in Bush Sr. (or, to get fancy, Bush père), we are also doing a kind of teknonymy. It’s just that in some cultures teknonymy is practiced more formally and a parent is renamed after the birth of the first child. There are many reasons for using teknonymy. In some cultures, it’s considered taboo to call certain relations by name (as in the usage example below). Sometimes, it’s convenience. You may not know or remember the names of your child’s friends’ parents, for example, so you resort to teknonymy.
__________________________________

TECH NO NY MY - No electronics in New York City? Amazing!

TECNOZYMY - genecically-engineered yeast

TECHNONYMY - web-surfing in incognito mode

TREKNONYMY - nobody knows the names of Picard and crew in this adventure that takes place in the Holodeck
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CUERPERAL - pertaining to the body - 08/02/19 12:49 AM

PUERPERAL

PRONUNCIATION: (pyoo-UHR-puhr-uhl)

MEANING: adjective: Relating to childbirth or following childbirth.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin puerpera (woman who has given birth), from puer (child) + -para (carrying), from parere (to bear). The Latin puer is ultimately from the Indo-European root pau- (few, little), which is also the source of few, foal, filly, pony, poor, pauper, poco, puerile, poltroon, pullulate, punchinello, and catchpole. Earliest documented use: 1716.
_______________________

GUERPERAL - warring

PUER-PERIAL - His Exalted Majesty is still only six

PUERTERAL - portly
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PREDANTIC-the Renaissance before The Divine Comedy - 08/02/19 07:14 PM

PEDANTIC

PRONUNCIATION: (puh-DAN-tik)

MEANING: adjective: Characterized by an excessive, narrow adherence to rules without practical judgment.

ETYMOLOGY: From French pédant or Italian pedante, perhaps from Latin paedagogare (to teach). Earliest documented use: 1607.
__________________________

PET ANTIC - my little doggie does the cutest trick

PEDIANTIC - and so does my kid

SEDAN TIC - my car gets a twitch at 31 mph

FED ANTIC - what's the Federal Reserve Bank trying to do now?
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CORDIAL ERA - the Age of Civility - 08/06/19 02:22 AM

CORDILLERA

PRONUNCIATION: (kor-duhl-YER-uh)

MEANING: noun: A chain of mountains or mountain ranges.

ETYMOLOGY: From Spanish cordillera, diminutive of cuerda (cord), from Latin chorda (cord), from Greek khorde (gut). Earliest documented use: 1704.
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CORD ILL SERA - inoculants against umbilical cord disease
see also CORD ILLER - mine is sicker than yours

COR DILL SERA - inoculants against pickled heart

COR-DRILLER - a cardiologist who practices TMR (Trans-Myocardial Revascularization)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc I know Art when I see it, and that ain't it! - 08/06/19 02:21 PM

BONDIEUSERIE

PRONUNCIATION: (bon-DYOO-zuh-ree)

MEANING: noun: A piece of banal religious art, devotional object, ornament, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From French bondieuserie (religious knick-knack), from bon (good) + dieu (god). Earliest documented use: 1941.
_______________________

BLONDIE USER, I.E. - someone who takes advantage of Dagwood Bumstead's wife, I mean to say

BON-DIEUSE RITE - ritual of Benign-Goddess worship

BOND E.U. SERIES - Ian Fleming also wrote of his debonair agent's adventures on the Continent
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PAREBOLIA - a dyslexic conic section - 08/07/19 11:12 PM

PAREDOLIA

PRONUNCIATION: (per-eye-DOH-lee-uh)

MEANING: noun: The tendency to see a specific pattern or meaningful images in random stimulus.

ETYMOLOGY: From German Pareidolien, from Greek para- (along) + eidolon (image), from eidos (form, idea). Ultimately from the Indo-European root weid- (to see), which also gave us wise, view, supervise, wit, eidetic, eidos, vidimus, previse, hades, guy, invidious, and vizard. Earliest documented use: 1962.
___________________________________________

PRE-IDOL IA - Des Moines before the Beatles' visit

PARSE "I DO," LIA - Lia, take apart that short sentence for me and tell me the meaning and function of each word

PARED ELIA - Charles Lamb has been peeled
Posted By: wofahulicodoc AKA-TIC - full of aliases - 08/08/19 06:15 PM

AKRATIC

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-KRAT-ik)

MEANING: adjective: Characterized by weakness of will that results in acting contrary to one’s better judgment.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek akretes (powerless), from a- (without) + kratos (power, strength). Earliest documented use: 1896.
_____________________________

AGRA TIC - I get a twitch every time I see the Taj Mahal

AKMATIC - nickname of a Russian-made 7.62mm semi-automatic rifle

ARRATIC - unpredictable

OKRATIC - full of gumbo

PAKRATIC - given to collecting and saving useless baubles

UKRATIC - the British Public's expectations of Brexit
Posted By: wofahulicodoc I won't stand for it ! - 08/09/19 12:48 PM

SATYAGRAHA

PRONUNCIATION: (suh-TYAH-gruh-uh, sut-YAH-gru-ha)

MEANING: noun: The policy of passive nonviolent resistance as a protest against injustice.

ETYMOLOGY: Coined by Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) in India’s freedom struggle, from Sanskrit satyagraha, from satyam (truth) + agraha (determination, insistence), ultimately from the Indo-European root ghrebh- (to seize or reach), which also gave us grasp and grab. Earliest documented use: 1920.
__________________________

SATYAGRAHAM - the silent struggle to market a new cracker

SATYR! AGRA! HA! - A bordello next to the Taj Mahal? Who knew?!
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MOON SHOW - total lunar eclipse - 08/12/19 09:40 PM

MOON SHOT

PRONUNCIATION: (MOON shot)

MEANING: noun:
1. A mission to the moon.
2. A highly ambitious, unlikely project with great potential impact.
3. In sports, an act of hitting or throwing a ball very high.

ETYMOLOGY: From moon + shot, from Old English sceot/gesceot. Earliest documented use: 1949. Also, there’s an earlier citation from 1873, in the sense, lit by moonlight.
________________________

MOOR SHOT - Oh, no! Othello's been assassinated!

NOON'S HOT - If you don't like it, stay out of Arizona!

MORON SHOT - 0.5 cc of this stuff injected will turn you into a gibbering idiot
Posted By: wofahulicodoc unless it's a bowling pin, of course - 08/13/19 02:52 PM

LIGHT-YEAR

PRONUNCIATION: (LYT yeer)

MEANING: noun:
1. A unit of length equal to the distance traveled by light in one year in a vacuum, about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion km.
2. Very far, in distance or time.

ETYMOLOGY: From light, from Old English leoht + year, from Old English gear. Earliest documented use: 1888.

NOTES: A light-year is a unit of distance -- there’s no such unit as a heavy-year (nor is there a dark-year). To get a light-year’s worth of frequent-flier miles you’d need to travel between New York and Moscow only a little over a billion times.
_________________________

MIGHTY EAR - what it takes to hear a pin drop

FLIGHT-YEAR - how long a trip to Mars in an elliptical orbit would take

EIGHT-YEAR - a long-term car lease
Posted By: wofahulicodoc RICKET SCIENCE - expertise in Vitamin D metabolism - 08/14/19 06:49 PM

ROCKET SCIENCE

PRONUNCIATION: (ROK-it sy-uhns)

MEANING: noun
1. The science of rocket design, construction, and flight.
2. Something requiring advanced knowledge and intelligence.

ETYMOLOGY: From Italian rocchetta, diminutive of rocca (spindle, distaff) + science, from Latin scientia, present participle of scire (to know). Ultimately from the Indo-European root skei- (to cut or split), which also gave us schism, ski, shin, adscititious, conscientious, exscind, nescient, scienter, and sciolism. Earliest documented use: 1931.
__________________________

RACKET SCIENCE - for the very best in tennis equipment

POCKET SCIENCE - specialized knowledge possessed by pool hustlers

SOCKET SCIENCE - a wrenching field of study
Posted By: wofahulicodoc LIFT-OFF - power is out on the elevator in London - 08/16/19 09:28 PM

LIFT-OFF

PRONUNCIATION: (LIFT-of)

MEANING: noun:
1. The action of being airborne, such as that of a rocket, aircraft, etc.
2. The launch of a project, an initiative, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old Norse lypta, from lopt (air) + off, stressed variant of the word of. Earliest documented use: 1907.
________________________________

LIFT ORFF - to adapt music from The Planets and claim you wrote it

LIFE TOFF - born with a silver spoon, and still rich and elegant

SIFT-OFF - the finals of the Pillsbury Flour contest
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SPICE CADET - candidate to join a girls' band - 08/16/19 10:02 PM

SPACE CADET

PRONUNCIATION: (SPAYS kuh-det)

MEANING:\ . noun:
1. A trainee astronaut.
2. A person who behaves strangely or appears to be out of touch with reality.

ETYMOLOGY: From Robert Heinlein’s 1948 novel Space Cadet. Why the second sense of the term? The book inspired TV and radio shows and comics and the term became popular. Eventually, the meaning shifted and now a space cadet is one who is spaced out or has their mind in space, probably as a result of drug use. Earliest documented use: 1948. Other words coined by Robert Heinlein that have become words in the English language are grok and waldo.
__________________________

PACE CADET - Freshman in a New York city university (it also has a campus in Westchester)

APACE CADET - energetic, bustling trainee

SPACE CARET - editors' symbol for "insert a two-en quad here"
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PYTHAGORITE - the Philosophers' Stone - 08/19/19 02:43 PM

PYTHAGORIZE

PRONUNCIATION: (puh-THOG-uh-ryz)

MEANING: verb intr.: To philosophize or speculate in the manner of Pythagoras or the Pythagoreans.
verb tr.: To convert (a person or thing) into another.

ETYMOLOGY: After Pythagoras, Greek philosopher (c. 570-495 BCE). Earliest documented use: 1603.

NOTES: Pythagoras is best known for the Pythagorean theorem, although it was widely known before him. Pythagoras was ultimately a philosopher with wide interests and had many followers. He also believed in the transmigration of the soul which resulted in the second sense of the word pythagorize.

Did you know there’s a Pythagoras Day? It doesn’t occur every year. Last one was on 8/15/17 (8² + 15² = 17²). Next will occur on 12/16/20 (12² + 16² = 20²). Start planning the celebrations now!
______________________

MYTHAGORIZE - to sort out the shenanigans of the denizens of Mount Olympus

PYTHAGONIZE - to be in great distress over the white part of an orange rind

PHTHAGORIZE - to spread tuberculosis through the Greek marketplace
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MA LAPTOP - the mother of all portable computers - 08/20/19 02:25 PM

MALAPROP

PRONUNCIATION: (MAL-uh-prop)

MEANING: verb intr.: To misuse a word by confusing it with a similar-sounding word, producing a humorous effect. For example, “pineapple of perfection” for “pinnacle of perfection” (from the play The Rivals).

ETYMOLOGY: After Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Sheridan’s play, The Rivals (1775), who confused words in this manner. The name Malaprop is coined from French “mal à propos” (inappropriate). Earliest documented use: 1959.
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MAULAPROP - when you run your outboard motor in water that's too shallow
(see also MAILAPROP - to order a replacement from Sears-Roebuck)

MAL A PREOP - sick, and scheduled for surgery

GALA PROP - an easel with the sign pointing you to big party
Posted By: littldrop Nestorize - 08/21/19 10:35 AM
Restorize- create and maintain a state of peace and easy feeling
Posted By: wofahulicodoc NEATORIZE - to put into good order - 08/22/19 01:18 AM

Welcome, Littldrop, nice to have you with us!
________________________

NESTORIZE

PRONUNCIATION: (NES-tuh-ryz)

MEANING: verb tr.: To fill someone with the idea of being very wise.

ETYMOLOGY: After Nestor, king of Pylos, who was the oldest and wisest of the Greeks and served as a counselor in the Trojan War. Earliest documented use: 1612.
_______________________

NEST PRIZE - for building the bestest place ever for a birdie to lay eggs !

ONE-STORIZE - to divest of all branch stores

NEXTORIZE - nosy neighbors (say it out loud!)
Posted By: littldrop Just - 08/22/19 03:49 PM
Dewitt

Do witt - motivational remark

De mitt! - nursery acceptable language

Pew it- tactical theatrics


😊 thank you, wofahulicodoc
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ODE WITT - the comedian has a fee due to him - 08/22/19 09:52 PM

DEWITT

PRONUNCIATION: (di-WIT)

MEANING: verb tr.: To kill by mob violence.

ETYMOLOGY: After brothers, Johan and Cornelius De Witt, Dutch statesmen, who were killed by a mob on Aug 20, 1672. Earliest documented use: 1689.

NOTES: Today’s word has a better-known synonym: lynch. While the word lynch is coined after the perpetrator of such extra-judicial killing (Captain William Lynch), the word dewitt is coined after people who were the object of such violence.
_____________________________

DEWI TIT - after frolicking in the morning grass, the tiny songbird is wet

DE WIDT - side-to-side dimension, analogous to the up-and-down dimension (de hite)

DEE ITT - another cousin in the Addams Family
Posted By: wofahulicodoc aladdinize PRONUNCIATION: (uh-LAD-uh-nyz) MEANIN - 08/23/19 07:32 PM

ALADDINIZE

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-LAD-uh-nyz)

MEANING: verb tr.: To magically transport or transform someone or something.

ETYMOLOGY: After the title character of the story Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. Earliest documented use: 1848.
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A LAD: DIN, IRE - prize-winning ultra-short story about a noisy boy who makes everybody angry

SALAD DINIZE - eat only lettuce and tomato and cucumbers

GAL, ADD IN IZE - ya gotta use yer peepers better to communicate yer feelings
Posted By: littldrop Bo-Peep - 08/24/19 03:14 AM
Paladdinize- knightly constitutional
Posted By: wofahulicodoc was that Bret or Bart? - 08/24/19 05:13 PM


Paladdinize - knightly constitutional

wink
Posted By: LukeJavan8 Re: was that Bret or Bart? - 08/24/19 05:15 PM
Do you mean Bret or Bart the Maverick bros?
Posted By: littldrop Re: was that Bret or Bart? - 08/24/19 10:21 PM
Originally Posted by wofahulicodoc


Paladdinize - knightly constitutional

wink


Non linear thinking:
Paladin- knight
101 Dalmatians- evening constitutional
UK- Cockney rhyming slang
Knight- evening/night
Bo Peep- sleep
Ize- eyes/peepers

I usually check my word sites at night
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ERRE - a French land without tea - 08/27/19 12:42 AM

ERE

PRONUNCIATION: (air)

MEANING: conjunction: Before (earlier in time).

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English aer (earlier). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ayer- (day, morning), which is also the source of early and erst (as in erstwhile). Earliest documented use: 822.
_______________________

MR. E. - a puzzlement

R. R. E. - a mechanical model of the Solar System

T. R. E. (preferably with a German accent) - a hypothesis, or (after a while) the best explanation we have for a set of observations

RE - That's about it.
Posted By: littldrop To pu'er is human - 08/27/19 12:14 PM
Ere

LRE- lesson, ready-to-educate. A self-contained, individual school ration.
Posted By: LukeJavan8 Re: Mensopause v - 08/27/19 01:56 PM
Puer Caeruleis oculis.
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Behold: Alfred E Newman - 08/27/19 03:05 PM

ECCE

PRONUNCIATION: (EK-ay, ECH-ay, EK-see)

MEANING: interjection: Behold! (used to call attention to someone or something).

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin ecce (see, behold). Earliest documented use: 1598.
__________________________

ECCH - What, me worry?

'ENCE - elsewhere, in medieval English-with-a-Cockney-accent. Ex: "Get thee 'ence"

DECCE - many Italian record companies (cf. lira, pl. lire)
Posted By: littldrop Ink master: different strokes for different folks - 08/28/19 02:57 PM
Pinim- "stick it to the man"

Vinim- mini sized vitamin

Linim- an ocean in a drop
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MINI MR. - a homunculus - 08/28/19 11:49 PM

MINIM

PRONUNCIATION: (MIN-uhm)

MEANING: noun:
1. The least amount of anything.
2. In music, a half note.
3. A unit of liquid measure, equivalent to 1/60 of a fluid dram (about one drop of liquid).
4. In calligraphy, a short vertical stroke, as in the letters i, m, n, u.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin minimus (smallest, least). Earliest documented use: 1440.
______________________

MINT I.M. - intramuscular flavoring

MR NIM - champion at taking-away game

MINI-MD - Doogie Howser
Posted By: littldrop Mums the word: shhh - 08/30/19 12:35 PM
Mumdrum- mother's heartbeat for newborns
Wurdrum- white noise shusher machine
Purdrum- kitten noise maker with attached, fine grit, sandpaper tongue
Hurdrum- countless sheep jumping over the moon, comes with flokati
Surdrum- good knight, fast asleep
Nurdrum- logo maniac
Posted By: wofahulicodoc OUR DRUM - shared ownership of the Bongo - 08/30/19 08:28 PM

MURDRUM

PRONUNCIATION: (MUR-drum)

MEANING: noun:
1. A murder, especially in secret.
2. A fine paid for a murder.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin murdrum (murder), from Old French murdre (murder). Earliest documented use: 1290.

NOTES: Before England went around colonizing the world, they were colonized/conquered by Romans, Angles/Saxons/Jutes, Vikings, and Normans. The locals vented by killing their new lords. So the law came down that any murder of a Norman was to result in a heavy fine for the whole village. On the other hand, if the person killed was an Englishman or an Englishwoman: pas de problème. This fine was known as murdrum.
____________________________

CURD-RUM - a beverage made from fermented milk

SUR DRUM - the cymbal on top of the Bass Drum in l'Orchestre de Paris

MUR DEUM - the Sacred Wall in Rome
Posted By: wofahulicodoc popularized by Walt Disney - 09/02/19 02:56 PM

UNBIRTHDAY

PRONUNCIATION: (uhn-BUHRTH-day)

MEANING: noun: A day other than one’s birthday.

ETYMOLOGY: Coined by Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) in Through the Looking-Glass (1871). Earliest documented use: 1871.

NOTES: Today is a very special day. Most of our readers (about 99.7% of you) have their unbirthday today. A very happy unbirthday to you! How are you celebrating your unbirthday?
And if you happen to have your birthday today, well, a happy birthday to you!
_________________________

SUNBIRTHDAY - the Winter Solstice

UNMIRTHDAY - April 15, for most of us, the day U.S. Income Tax returns are due

UNGIRTHDAY - I just lost 40 pounds!
Posted By: wofahulicodoc RUN CABLE - what the Comcast Lineman does - 09/04/19 02:25 AM

RUNCIBLE

PRONUNCIATION: (RUHN-suh-buhl)

MEANING: noun: A utensil that is a combination of a fork and spoon. Also known as a spork.
adjective: Shaped like a combination fork and spoon.

ETYMOLOGY: Coined as a nonsense word by the poet Edward Lear (1812-1888) in 1871.

NOTES:A runcible or spork is the love child of a spoon + fork, but that’s not what the word meant in the beginning. Edward Lear coined the word in the poem “The Owl and the Pussycat”:
...They dined upon mince, and slices of quince
Which they ate with a runcible spoon...
What runcible meant was left to the imagination of the reader. Lear later used the same word to describe other things: cat, hat, goose, and wall. Eventually, the word took the sense of a spoon that can do the job of both a fork and a spoon
_______________________________

RUN BIBLE - The Compleat Guide to Marathon Racing, by Alberto Salazar

RUNNIBLE - a long solid suit of cards in Bridge

RUNCI BLUE - a distinctive color popularized by Italian designer Giacomo Runci
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CHINALITY - orientation - 09/04/19 02:25 PM

CHIRALITY

PRONUNCIATION: (ky-RAL-i-tee)

MEANING: noun: The property of not being superimposable on its mirror image: dissymmetry.

ETYMOLOGY: Coined by physicist, engineer, and mathematician William Thomson, Baron Kelvin, also known as Lord Kelvin (1824-1907). From Greek cheir (hand). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghes- (hand), which also gave us cheiromancy/chiromancy (palmistry), surgeon (literally, one who works with hands), and enchiridion (handbook). Earliest documented use: 1894.
___________________________

CHORALITY - singtogetherableness (see also CHOIRALITY)

CHIRALITE - an ore of meteoric origin

CHIRA LAITY - non-clergy in a Latin American city

CHI REALITY - there is a 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet
Posted By: littldrop Ka Pai Te Kai - 09/05/19 04:15 PM
Chireality-
1) falling inn love (totally stolen from movie on Netflix)
2) creative tension

"To explain the creative tension concept further, Fritz came up with a metaphor. Imagine yourself stretching a rubber band between your right and left hand. Your right hand represents your ‘vision’ and your left hand represents your current reality. The greater the gap between them, the greater your creative tension will be."

(https://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/what-creative-tension-and-how-could-it-help-you)


Chairality- a libation of one part chai and one part espresso taken before battle, inducing a signature call. (Xena's war cry)

Posted By: wofahulicodoc I know, it's a stretch - 09/06/19 12:17 AM

ESEMPLASTIC

PRONUNCIATION: (es-em-PLAS-tik)

MEANING: adjective: Having the capability of molding diverse ideas or things into unity.

ETYMOLOGY: Coined by poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), apparently inspired by German Ineinsbildung (forming into one). From Greek es- (into) + en, neuter of eis (one) + plastic, from Latin plasticus (related to molding), from Greek plastikos, from plassein (to mold). Earliest documented use: 1817.
__________________________

'E'SEMI-PLASTIC - 'e'll deform, but only if you pull 'im slowly

EJEMPLA STIC - a long skinny piece of wood, for example

ESTE M-PLASTIC - this Spanish explosive compound
Posted By: littldrop Best of I love Lucy - 09/06/19 01:30 PM
Esimplastic- Lucy at the plastic factory

¡Esemplistic!- Ricky Ricardo's way of saying, "She's Nuts."
Posted By: littldrop Elipsis - 09/06/19 01:45 PM
Gonzo-[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/kzyo90D2ZAA[/video]



Posted By: wofahulicodoc GONZO - the daredevil Muppet - 09/06/19 08:55 PM

GONZO

PRONUNCIATION: (GON-zo)

MEANING: adjective: Having a bizarre, subjective, idiosyncratic style, especially in journalism.

ETYMOLOGY: Coined by Bill Cardoso, journalist and author, in 1971. It was first used in a published work by Hunter S. Thompson, journalist and author (1939-2005). Perhaps from Italian gonzo (simpleton) or Spanish ganso (dull or fool, literally a goose). Earliest documented use: 1971.
__________________________

GOON ZO - a zany old-time radio show featuring Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine.

GONZOO - the Ardastra Gardens, Zoo and Conservation Centre in Nassau (Bahamas), alas, after recent Hurricane Dorian

GONDO - the guy who leers from a pole-propelled boat in Venice, singing "Santa Lucia"
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SEUSTRESS - Mrs. Theodore Giesel - 09/09/19 02:27 PM

EUSTRESS

PRONUNCIATION: (YOO-stres)

MEANING: noun: A positive, beneficial form of stress.

ETYMOLOGY: Coined by the endocrinologist Hans Selye (1907-1982). From Greek eu- (good) + stress, from shortening of distress or from Old French estressei (narrowness or oppression), from Latin strictus, from stringere (to bind tight). Earliest documented use: 1950s.

NOTES: Eustress is happy stress. Some examples of eustress are excitement at starting a new job, an upcoming wedding, etc. In general, mild stress works as eustress, bringing motivation and spurring action. Too much stress results in distress.
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EDUSTRESS - the SATs

EUSTLESS - of no value whatsoever

EUSTRUSS - what to do if you get a hernia
Posted By: littldrop Re: SEUSTRESS - Mrs. Theodore Giesel - 09/09/19 11:36 PM
Seustress- Whoville whodo

Thanks for the giggle
Posted By: A C Bowden Eustress - 09/10/19 12:44 AM
Originally Posted by wofahulicodoc
Too much stress results in distress.

Or should that be 'dystress'? wink
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Re: Eustress - 09/10/19 09:05 PM
Originally Posted by A C Bowden
Originally Posted by wofahulicodoc
Too much stress results in distress.

Or should that be 'dystress'? wink

Agreed...
Posted By: wofahulicodoc NULLIPIETY - lack of faith - 09/10/19 09:14 PM

NULLIBIETY

PRONUNCIATION: (nuh-luh-BY-uh-tee)

MEANING: noun: The state of being or existing nowhere.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin nullibi (nowhere), from nullus (null) + ibi (here, there). Earliest documented use: 1668. The opposite is ubiety.
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GULLIBIETY - the purchase of seagoing birds

NULLIBRIETY - teetotalling
(compare NUNLIBIETY: Sister's overdoing the sacramental wine...)

NULLIBILETY - just can't do anything well
Posted By: littldrop Guten Abend, gute Nacht - 09/11/19 05:18 AM
Lullibiety- the condition or quality of being calm

Nullidiety- diet free
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Re: Guten Abend, gute Nacht - 09/11/19 04:13 PM
Originally Posted by littldrop
Lullibiety- the condition or quality of being calm

Good one!
Posted By: wofahulicodoc EXCARNATION - a wilted boutonniere - 09/11/19 04:23 PM

EXCARNATION

PRONUNCIATION: (eks-kahr-NAY-shuhn)

MEANING: noun:
1. The removing of flesh, especially from a corpse before burial.
2. The supposed separation of the soul from the body at death.

ETYMOLOGY: From excarnate, from Latin excarnare (to remove flesh), from caro (flesh). Earliest documented use: 1847.
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EXTARNATION - swearing has been officially banned

EXCORNATION - I feel so much better now after visiting my podiatrist

EXCARIATION - when the dentist takes care of my cavities (Query: what's left when you remove a hole?)
Posted By: littldrop Viva la Vida! - 09/12/19 02:22 PM
Exzarnation- officially wrecked
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ...all Greek to me! - 09/13/19 12:57 AM

DYSPHEMISM

PRONUNCIATION: (DIS-fuh-miz-em)

MEANING: noun: The substitution of a harsher, deprecating, or offensive term in place of a relatively neutral term.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek dys- (bad) + -phemism (as in euphemism). Earliest documented use: 1884. The opposite is euphemism.

NOTES: Examples include “death tax” for “estate tax” and “snail mail” for “paper mail”.
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DY-SPHERISM - belief in two suns

DAYS-PHEMISM - Women's Lib while the sun shines

DYS-HEMISM - show disrespect for the claim that stocks follow the length of women's skirts, with a six-month lag
Posted By: littldrop Now Zees Sings Get Vierd... - 09/13/19 04:10 AM
ZYSPHEMISM- to speak with a teutonic accent (comparable to any found in a Mel Brooks movie)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc see also "noxious" - 09/13/19 03:24 PM

NOCEBO

PRONUNCIATION: (no-SEE-bo)

MEANING: noun: A substance producing harmful effects in someone because it is believed to be harmful, but which in reality is harmless.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin nocebo (I will harm), from nocere (to harm). Modeled after its antonym placebo (I will please). Earliest documented use: 1961.
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NICE, BO - well done, Ms Derek

NO CEO - the head of the company just got canned

NO SEBO - a first-class gringo trying to say "I don't understand" in Spanish
Posted By: wofahulicodoc DOG-TARD - exhausted in Alabama - 09/16/19 09:12 PM

DOTARD

PRONUNCIATION: (DOH-tuhrd)

MEANING: noun: One whose mental faculties have deteriorated, especially due to old age.

ETYMOLOGY: From Middle English doten (to be foolish). Earliest documented use: 1393.
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DON'TARD - inevitably says "No!"

DEOTARD - worn at a Passion Ballet

DOPARD - a biochemist-hedonist
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SODDEN-MITTED - Campanella's glove is soaked - 09/17/19 03:07 PM

SODDEN-WITTED

PRONUNCIATION: (SOD-en-wit-id)

MEANING: adjective: Dull.

ETYMOLOGY: From Middle English soden (boiled), past participle of sethen (to boil) + wit (mental capacity). Earliest documented use: 1609, in Troilus and Cressida.
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SUDDEN-WITTED - abruptly became smart

SHODDEN-WITTED - comfortably funny, like an old shoe

SODDEN-WILTED - all wet and floppy
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SCALLION - has a bad rap - 09/18/19 01:24 PM

SCULLION

PRONUNCIATION: (SKUL-yen)

MEANING: noun:
1. A servant who does menial work in a kitchen, such as washing dishes.
2. A lowly or contemptible person.

ETYMOLOGY: Of uncertain origin, probably from Old French escouvillon (dishcloth, mop), diminutive of escouve (broom), from Latin scopa (broom) or from scullery (a small kitchen), from Old French escuele (dish), from Latin scutella, diminutive of scutra (pan). Earliest documented use: 1483.
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CULLION - one who has been removed from a group in order to leave more room and resources for others more fit

SCULLIN' - rowin' down the river

SCULL ICON - part of a pirates' flag
Posted By: wofahulicodoc KNOTTY-FATED - destined to be tied up - 09/19/19 06:47 PM

KNOTTY-PATED

PRONUNCIATION: (NOT-ee-pay-tid)

MEANING: adjective: Blockheaded or thickheaded.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English cnotta (knot) + pate (head). Earliest documented use: 1598.
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KNOTTY-RATED - measured speed in the water

KNOTTY-PATHED - without a simple, direct route from one end to the other

SNOTTY-PATED - wipes his nose on his hair
Posted By: wofahulicodoc OR-BELLIED - having a golden tummy - 09/20/19 06:29 PM

GORBELLIED

PRONUNCIATION: (GOR-bel-eed)

MEANING: adjective: Having a large belly: fat.

ETYMOLOGY: From gorbelly (large belly), from gor (gore) + belly, from Old English belig (bag). Earliest documented use: 1529.
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GO REBEL LIED - enthusiastic dissident was not truthful

GOBEL-LIED - Lonesome George (50s TV comedian) sang in Berlin

IGOR-BELLIED - the Mad Scientist's assistant who enjoyed his beer too much
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HE BET, INC - Gamblers' Anonymous - 09/23/19 08:53 PM

HEBETIC

PRONUNCIATION: (hi-BET-ik)

MEANING: adjective: Relating to or happening at puberty.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek hebe (youth). Earliest documented use: 19th c. Also see hebephrenia.
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SHEBETIC - the high blood sugar sometimes seen in pregnancy

HEMETIC - makes you vomit blood

HE-BEST-IC - fixated on being first, even among equals
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Abide with me - 09/24/19 02:36 PM

EVENTIDE

PRONUNCIATION: (EE-vuhn-tyd)

MEANING: noun: The evening time.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English aefentid, from aefen (evening) + tid (time). Earliest documented use: before 1000.
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SEVENTIDE - the boat will sail at 7:05

EVERTIDE - brand of shoelaces that will never come undone

OVENTIDE - detergent that cleans even at high temperatures

EVENTIRE - so your vehicle will give you an EVENRIDE
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CA-COP-TONY - Italian member of the LAPD - 09/25/19 03:12 PM

CACOPHONY

PRONUNCIATION: (kuh-KOF-uh-nee)

MEANING: noun: A harsh mixture of sounds.

ETYMOLOGY: From French cacophonie, from Greek kakophonia (harsh sounding), from kakos (bad) + phone (sound). Kakos is ultimately from the Indo-European root kakka-/kaka- (to defecate), which also gave us poppycock, cucking stool, cacology, and cacography. Earliest documented use: 1656.
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CACO-PONY - what has to be here somewhere 'cuz there's so much manure, according to the happy little boy mucking the stable

COCOPHONY - a bottle of cheap scent labelled "Chanel # 5000"

CACOPHONE - a musical instrument known for its raucous, unpleasant sound
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ...as opposed to INDEFEATIBLE, which can't lose - 09/27/19 12:29 AM

INDEFEASIBLE

PRONUNCIATION: (in-di-FEE-zuh-buhl)

MEANING: adjective: Not subject to being revised, defeated, or annulled.

ETYMOLOGY: From in- (not) + defeasible, from Old French desfaire (to undo or destroy), from Latin dis- (apart, away) + facere (to do). Ultimately from the Indo-European root dhe- (to set or put), which is also the source of do, deed, factory, fashion, face, rectify, defeat, sacrifice, satisfy, Sanskrit sandhi (joining), Urdu purdah (veil or curtain), and Russian duma (council). Earliest documented use: 1548.
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INDEFENSIBLE - can't be defended or supported

INDYFEASIBLE - Ya know, we just might do OK in this big auto race, come Memorial Day

SINDEFEASIBLE - this could be a good place to establish the India/West Pakistan border
Posted By: wofahulicodoc not to be confused with CONTUMELY - 09/27/19 06:48 PM

CONTUMACY

PRONUNCIATION: (KON-too/tyoo-muh-see)

MEANING: noun: Stubborn rebelliousness or insubordination.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin contumacia, from contumax (insolent). Earliest documented use: 1386.
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COSTUMACY - a Masquerade Ball

CON TO MACY - what Gimbels' scheme looked like to his competitor

CONTAMACY - spoiling with germs
Posted By: wofahulicodoc THINKOI - a scrawny fish in a garden pond - 10/01/19 01:57 AM

THINKO

PRONUNCIATION: (THING-koh)

MEANING: noun: A careless error in thinking.

ETYMOLOGY: From think, formed on the pattern of typo (typographical error). Earliest documented use: 1990s.

NOTES: When someone makes a typo and spells “teh” instead of “the”, it’s not that they don’t know the spelling of the word “the”. A thinko works the same way: it’s a glitch in one’s thinking, perhaps due to a distraction, tiredness, etc.
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THINKA - famous Rodin sculpture on loan to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts

THICKO - antisocial psychopath with a list

THINNO - opposite of a thicko
Posted By: wofahulicodoc BESA MEL - Kiss Mr Torme - 10/01/19 07:44 PM

BESAIEL

PRONUNCIATION: (bi-SAY-uhl)

MEANING: noun: A grandfather’s father: great-grandfather.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French besayel/besaiol, from Latin bis (twice) + avolus, diminutive of avus (grandfather). Earliest documented use: 1480.

NOTES: A grandfather is an aiel, a great-grandfather a besaiel, a great-great-grandfather a tresaiel. Now that you know the pattern, feel free to coin words beyond your grandfather’s grandfather. Also, now that you know what to call them, who’s your besaiel?
_______________________

BESOIEL - to bedeck with silk

BESAIL - a second attack, coming right after you ASSAIL

B.S. AIEL - You say "aiel" is "Grandfather"? That's bullsh*t.
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ALPO-PHENIA - a display of dog food - 10/02/19 08:14 PM

APOPHENIA

PRONUNCIATION: (a-puh-FEE-nee-uh)

MEANING: noun: The perception of connections or meaning in unrelated or random phenomena.

ETYMOLOGY: From German Apophänie, from Greek apo- (away, off, apart) + phainein (to show). Earliest documented use: around 1980. Apophenia is the general term -- pareidolia is an example of apophenia.
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APO-PHRENIA - the delusion of thinking one is a simian primate

APOPHONIA - the diagnosis for a ventriloquist whose "thrown" voice comes from a great distance

A "POP" HERNIA - what comes eventually from a weakness of the inguinal region
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ANACO LUTHOR - father of Superman's arch-enemy Lex - 10/04/19 01:35 AM

ANACOLUTHON

PRONUNCIATION: (a-nuh-kuh-LOO-thahn/thuhn)

MEANING: noun: An abrupt change in the middle of a sentence making one part inconsistent with the other.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin anacoluthon, from Greek anakolouthos, from an- (not) + akolouthos (following), from a- (together) + keleuthos (path). Earliest documented use: 1706.
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AN ACOLYTHON - a long TV program to raise funds for priests' assistants

ANACOLUSHON - absence of a conspiracy

AN ACOLUTRON - a newly discovered kind of subatomic particle, with a strange but apparently charmed life
Posted By: wofahulicodoc DELPHIDESTRIAN - Greek street-walker in old c - 10/04/19 03:49 PM

DELPHINESTRIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (del-fi-NES-tree-uhn)

MEANING: noun: A dolphin rider.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin delphinus (dolphin), on the pattern of equestrian. Earliest documented use: 1820.

NOTES: If you ever get the urge to ride a dolphin, please leave them alone. Find yourself an inflatable one instead. In general, if you find yourself wanting to do things to any sentient being without their permission, find yourself an inflatable one. Also see, wooden horse.
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DOLPHINESTRIAN - someone raised in a dolphin home

DELPHIC-NESTRIAN - someone raised by an Oracle

DELPHIN-ESTRIAL - pertaining to hormones from a lowering plant of the family Ranunculaceae
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Think Eeyore. - 10/08/19 01:24 AM

GUMMIDGE

PRONUNCIATION: (GUH-mij)

MEANING: noun: A peevish, pessimistic person.

ETYMOLOGY: After Mrs Gummidge, a grumpy old widow in Charles Dickens’s novel David Copperfield (1850). She likes to say, “I am a lone lorn creetur’ ... and everythink goes contrairy with me.” Earliest documented use: 1873.
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GLUMMIDGE - pessimist; one who is always down in the mouth (no, silly, not your dentist)

GUMMI-DOGE - a miniature jelly candy in the shape of a Venetian magistrate

GUNMIDGE - a tiny insect that fouls your rifle barrel and causes your shot to miss

GUMRIDGE - what your teeth plug into (see "alveolar ridge")
Posted By: wofahulicodoc WIGGER - one who wears a peruke - 10/09/19 02:00 AM

TIGGER

PRONUNCIATION: (TIG-uhr)

MEANING: noun: Someone filled with energy, cheerfulness, and optimism.

ETYMOLOGY: After Tigger, a tiger in A.A. Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Earliest documented use: 1981.
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TRIGGER - a black-and-orange-striped horse

TIGGET - what you get frob a cop with a cold whed he pulls you over for speedig

TIOGER - a small town in New York State, 115 miles southwest of UTIGGER and about ten miles from the Pennsylvania border
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Bad news - 10/09/19 08:27 PM

DEBBIE DOWNER

PRONUNCIATION: (DEB-ee DOU-nuhr)

MEANING: noun: Someone who is persistently negative and pessimist.

ETYMOLOGY: After Debbie Downer, a character in the television series Saturday Night Live, who frequently brings bad news in even the most cheerful situations. You can also call her a killjoy. Earliest documented use: 2004.
___________________________

DEBBIE DOWNER - That would be Eddie. (At least the first one was)

DOBBIE DOWNER - Bellatrix Lestrange. With a silver dagger. In the Malfoys' dining room.

DEBBIE DROWNER - unknown. (Wait - it was Natalie Wood who drowned. Oh well - the perp is still unknown)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc who the Dickens is he, inventing all these eponyms - 10/11/19 04:07 PM

TAPLEYISM

PRONUNCIATION: (TAP-lee-i-zuhm)

MEANING: noun: Extreme optimism, even under most hopeless circumstances.

ETYMOLOGY: After Mark Tapley, a character in Charles Dickens’s Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-44). Earliest documented use: 1857.

NOTES: The mission of Mark Tapley is to remain “jolly” under all circumstances. It is tested when he accompanies his boss Martin Chuzzlewit on a trip to America and comes down with malaria while living in a swamp. When asked how he’s doing, he responds: “Floored for the present, sir, but jolly!” Other examples of words coined after characters from the same book are pecksniffian and gamp.
______________________________

"TABLE Y"-ISM - belief that one is always placed at the end of the list

STAPLEY-ISM - belief that one is always left hanging by a thin wire

TALLEY-ISM - government by consensus ("Them's my views, and if you don't like 'em, I'll change them")
Posted By: wofahulicodoc NÉE YORE - maiden name - 10/11/19 07:31 PM

EEYORE

PRONUNCIATION: (EE-ohr)

MEANING: noun: A gloomy, pessimistic person.

ETYMOLOGY: After Eeyore, a donkey in A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh (1926). Earliest documented use: 1932.

NOTES: Eeyore is named onomatopoeically, after the braying call of a donkey. He’s the most depressing character in the Pooh universe -- the antithesis of Tigger. He keeps losing his tail. His house keeps getting knocked down. How can you blame him for being gloomy and pessimistic? Still, he’s a hopelessly lovable character.
________________________

EEE YORE - when we wore very wide shoes

EEK! ORE! - We struck it rich!

e. e. LORE - history of Mr cummings
Posted By: wofahulicodoc FRIDAY FARE - fish, for many - 10/14/19 03:20 PM

FRIDAY FACE

PRONUNCIATION: (FRY-day fays)

MEANING: noun: A glum expression or a person with such an expression.

ETYMOLOGY: From the time when Fridays were days of fasting. Earliest documented use: 1592.

NOTES: Today, most people look forward to Fridays (TGIF: Thank God It’s Friday), but it wasn’t always so. These days Friday means the weekend is near, but back when religion ran day-to-day life, in some religions a Friday was marked as a day of fasting or at least abstaining from meat. Hence, a Friday came to be associated with a gloomy face.
__________________________________

FRIDAY FARCE - what occasionally results from the office "casual Friday" dress code

FRIDAY FACT - In France, Friday is the traditional market day, and is thus called Vendredi: the French word for "to sell" is "vendre," as in English "vend" and "vendor."

FRIDAY LACE - one of seven, if you have a different pair of shoelaces for each day of the week
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SUNDAY PAUNCH - you eat too well at Sunday dinners - 10/16/19 09:23 PM
SUNDAY PUNCH

PRONUNCIATION: (SUHN-day punch)

MEANING: noun: A powerful, devastating blow.

ETYMOLOGY: In boxing, a Sunday punch is another name for a knockout punch, one that leaves an opponent unable to continue fighting. It’s not clear what the significance of Sunday is in Sunday punch. It could be because most boxing matches took place on a weekend and/or a Sunday punch supposedly knocked an opponent out till the following week. Earliest documented use: 1915.
_________________________________

SUNDAY LUNCH - what you have instead of Sunday Dinner so you don't get a paunch

SUNDAY PINCH - so you won't fall asleep during the sermon

SUNDAE PUNCH - a yummy dessert made of ice cream with whipped cream and a cherry on top, floating on a large bowl of seltzer water
Posted By: wofahulicodoc BLUR MONDAY - after Sunday's overindulgenc - 10/16/19 09:36 PM

BLUE MONDAY

PRONUNCIATION: (bloo MUHN-day)

MEANING: noun: A depressing Monday.

ETYMOLOGY: It’s not confirmed what makes a Monday a blue Monday. It could be because Monday means returning to work after a weekend’s fun and relaxation. It could also be a result of a weekend spent drinking, resulting in a hangover and a depressed state of mind typically associated with the color blue. Earliest documented use: 1790.
__________________________

BLUE MOONDAY - the second full moon in a given calendar month (occurs rarely)

BLUME MONDAY - Day in honor of a prolific author of Young Adult fiction

CLUE MONDAY - our school is having a Game Day early next week!
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SUNDAY DRIVEL - the weekly sermon, all too often - 10/17/19 09:02 PM

SUNDAY DRIVER

PRONUNCIATION: (SUHN-day dry-vuhr)

MEANING: noun: One who drives slowly, poorly, or overcautiously.

ETYMOLOGY: What’s Sunday got to do with driving slowly, poorly, or overcautiously? The allusion here is to someone who is out for a leisurely Sunday drive taking the scenic route. Or one who drives poorly because they drive infrequently. Or they drive overcautiously in the manner of someone who comes out to drive only on Sunday when there’s little traffic. Earliest documented use: 1877.
____________________________

SUNDAY DROVER - gentleman farmer who visits his livestock on weekends only

SUNDAY DRIER - never could get it through his head about "Monday Washday"!

SUNDRY DRIVER - licensed for all kinds of motor vehicle
Posted By: wofahulicodoc a "factota"? - 10/18/19 08:38 PM

GIRL FRIDAY

PRONUNCIATION: (guhrl FRY-day)

MEANING: noun: A female assistant, especially in an office, who does a wide variety of duties.

ETYMOLOGY: Patterned after man Friday in Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe (1719). Earliest documented use: 1928.
___________________________________

GIRL FORIDAY - female for only 24 hours

GIL FRIDAY - Dodger first-baseman Hodges was Mister Friday, the way Reggie Jackson was Mr October

G.I. ALFRID? AY! - Are you Infantry Private Alfrid?
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Can you say "Dorian Grey"? - 10/23/19 08:16 PM

AGERASIA

PRONUNCIATION: (a-juh-RAY-zhuh)

MEANING: noun: Not growing old, or looking younger than one’s age.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin agerasia, from Greek agerasia, from geras (old age), which also gave us gerontology. Earliest documented use: 1706.

NOTES: Do people tell you you look ten years younger than you really are? There’s chronological age, determined by when you were born, totally out of your control. Then there’s biological age (calculate it), which is how well you have aged, and it is quite likely up to you.

If you have ever wanted a word to describe that youthful look you have maintained from regular exercise, healthful eating, and conscientious living, your wish is granted. As for actually not growing old, you ask too much.
_______________________

GERANIA - several plants with clusters of bright red/vermillion flowers

AVERASIA - to infer the existence of a large Eastern continent

AGORASIA - an oriental Greek marketplace
Posted By: wofahulicodoc as opposed to PERISIOPESIS - 10/23/19 08:42 PM

APOSIOPESIS

PRONUNCIATION: (ap-uh-sy-uh-PEE-sis)

MEANING: noun: An abrupt breaking off in the middle of a sentence, as if one is unable or unwilling to proceed.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin aposiopesis, from Greek aposiopesis, from apo- (intensive prefix) + siopan (to be silent), from siope (silence). Earliest documented use: 1578.
_______________________

POSIOPESIS - the residue of ripping a flower into shreds

APOSIOPEPSIS - the competititon for aposio-Cokes

APOGIOPESIS - music with a lot of stepwise broken chords
Posted By: wofahulicodoc that would be like oak leaves in the fall - 10/23/19 08:49 PM

MARCESCENT

PRONUNCIATION: (mahr-SES-uhnt)

MEANING: adjective: Withering without falling off.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin marcescent- (beginning to wither), present participle of marcescere (to wither), from marcere (to wither). Earliest documented use: 1727.
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MARCHESCENT - growing later in the Spring

MARCIE'S CENT - that little girl in the Peanuts comic strip has a penny

MARESCENT - how a stallion can tell when a horse is in heat
Posted By: wofahulicodoc RUPESTRA: French street musicians playing together - 10/24/19 11:56 PM

RUPESTRAL

PRONUNCIATION: (ru-PES-truhl)

MEANING: adjective: Relating to rocks. For example, living on, carved on, growing on, made of, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin rupes (rock). Earliest documented use: 1834.
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GRUPESTRAL - synchronous menstruation

RUE STRAL - a small street in suburban Strasbourg

RUPE'S TRAIL - a pathway through what is now known as Sequoia Park [California], first followed by explorer Carlos Rupe
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PROFITOMANIA - insatiable desire for more money - 10/25/19 03:44 PM

PRODITOMANIA

PRONUNCIATION: (pro-dit-uh-MAY-nee-uh)

MEANING: noun: The feeling or the belief that everyone around is out to get you.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin prodere (to betray). Earliest documented use: 1898.
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PRODITTOMANIA - an overwhelming drive to agree

'PHRODITOMANIA - a need to spring full-grown for your father's head

PROD-IT-OMANIA - an incurable need to disturb sleeping dogs
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SIMON - a Simple imitation game - 10/28/19 08:44 PM

SINON

PRONUNCIATION: (SY-non/nuhn)

MEANING: noun: One who misleads or betrays.

ETYMOLOGY: After Sinon, a Greek who, by his false tale, persuaded the Trojans into taking the wooden horse inside Troy. From Greek sinomai (to harm or hurt). Earliest documented use: 1581.

NOTES: Sinon, a Greek, was found by the Trojans all by himself. He told the Trojans that the Greeks had left and abandoned him because of his rivalry with Odysseus. He said that the Greeks had made the wooden horse as an offering to gods to help them have a safe journey home. He claimed that they made the horse really big so Trojans couldn’t take it inside the city. The Trojans fell for his story, dragged the horse inside, and the rest, as they say, is mythology.
Sinon was the grandson of Autolycus, known for his skill in theft and trickery. Autolycus himself was the son of Hermes, the god of cunning and theft, among other things. With a lineage like that...
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SIFON - a pressurized jar of seltzer water, popularized by Clarabelle the clown

SIGNON - how to access your Facebook account

SIN ON - how to get to Hell in one easy lesson

SÍ, NOON - ¿Is it midday in Madrid?
Posted By: wofahulicodoc GRO-BAN - ultimate purpose of herbicides - 10/29/19 02:37 PM

GROBIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (GROH-bee-uhn)

MEANING: noun: A coarse, buffoonish person.

ETYMOLOGY: From German Grobian (boor, lout), a fictional patron saint of boorish and vulgar people, from German grob (coarse, vulgar). In Latin, Grobianus. Earliest documented use: 1621.
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GROBEAN - what Jack the Giant Killer started with

GYROBIAN - early candidate for describing Igor Sikorsky's invention

GRABIAN - describing momeraths, who possess this skill to a high degree (according to Lewis Carroll)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Tales 1002 through 1004 - 10/30/19 07:42 PM

SCHEHERAZADE

PRONUNCIATION: (shuh-her-uh-ZAHD, -ZAH-duh, -dee)

MEANING: noun: A storyteller, especially one who tells long, entertaining stories.

ETYMOLOGY: After Scheherezade, the wife of a king in One Thousand and One Nights. Earliest documented use: 1851.

NOTES: In One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of stories from the Middle East, the king Shahryar discovers his wife being unfaithful. He learns that his brother’s wife is unfaithful as well. He kills his wife and decides to take revenge on all women by marrying a virgin every day and having her executed the next morning so she never gets an opportunity to cheat. One day it’s the turn of Scheherezade, the vizier’s daughter, to be the bride. She asks the king if she could say farewell to her sister Dunyazad first. The king agrees and the sister, who has been prepared in advance, asks Scheherezade to tell a story. The story is engrossing and the king is awake listening. Scheherezade stops the story just before dawn saying there’s no time left to finish. The king spares her life to find out what happened. The next night she finishes the story and starts another, even more captivating story. And so it goes for 1001 nights and by that time the king has fallen in love with her beauty and intelligence and makes her the queen.

Sheherazade is the patron saint of television script writers, who decide just where to put commercial breaks in a TV show.
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SCHEHERANADE - what drunken Romeo sang to Juliet on her balcony

SCHNEE-RAZADE - a particularly beautiful ski excursion in the Bavarian Alps

SHE/HE A ZADIE - the father's biological gender was never conclusively proved
Posted By: wofahulicodoc How come we never hear from the White Queen? - 11/01/19 01:00 AM

RED QUEEN HYPOTHESIS

PRONUNCIATION: (red kween hy-POTH-uh-sis)

MEANING: noun: The hypothesis that organisms must constantly adapt and evolve in order to survive in an evolutionary arms race.

ETYMOLOGY: Proposed by the biologist Leigh van Valen (1935-2010). Earliest documented use: 1973.

NOTES: In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass the Red Queen tells Alice: “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”

Evolutionary biologist Leigh van Valen used that as a metaphor to describe how competing species must keep up with one another. For example, in a predator and prey relationship, if the prey evolves to run faster, the predator must keep up or go extinct.
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RED QUEEN HYPO THIS IS - Yoda says he uses it to shoot up a Jedi drug

RED QUEEN HYPNO-THESIS - she was under post-hypnotic suggestion when she said those irrational things in the courtroom

REO QUEEN HYPOTHESIS - I hear the Speedway group was masterminded by her behind the scenes
Posted By: wofahulicodoc RODEO, MONT. - where cowboys display their skills - 11/02/19 05:04 PM

RODOMONT

PRONUNCIATION: (RAH-duh-mont)

MEANING: noun: A vain boaster.

ETYMOLOGY: After Rodomonte, the boastful king in Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Boiardo and the sequel Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. Earliest documented use: 1592. A related word is rodomontade.
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R.O. DUMONT - Robert Orrin Dumont, the black sheep of the family

ODO, MONT. - a town in Montana whose boundaries keep shifting

FRODO, MONT - another town, whose citizens were profoundly influenced by The Hobbit
Posted By: wofahulicodoc GLAD AND - elated - 11/04/19 03:57 PM

GLAD HAND (or GLAD-HAND)

PRONUNCIATION: (GLAD hand)

MEANING: noun: A hearty welcome or greeting, often insincere.
verb tr., intr.: To greet warmly, often insincerely.

ETYMOLOGY: From glad, from Old English glaed (bright, cheerful) + hand, from Old English hand. Earliest documented use: 1895.

NOTES: Glad-handing is typically associated with politicians, used-car salesmen, and their ilk. There’s often a hidden agenda: they are not greeting so enthusiastically because they are delighted to see you, rather they want something from you. You’d never find a dog glad-handing or glad-pawing you (cats, maybe). When they come running, tails wagging, to greet you at the front door, they mean every bit of it.
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GO LAD HAND - Cheers for Odell Beckham the rugby star

LAD HAND - the kid who helps out on the farm

GLAD HANK - Aaron after # 715
Posted By: wofahulicodoc RINGERPOST - target for pitching horseshoes - 11/05/19 03:35 PM

FINGERPOST

PRONUNCIATION: (FING-guhr-post)

MEANING: noun:
1. A post with one or more signs pointing toward one or more places.
2. Something or someone serving as a guide.

ETYMOLOGY: From the resemblance of the sign to the fingers of a hand. Earliest documented use: 1738.

NOTES: A fingerpost is a post with long thin boards pointing toward various locations. These boards may look like fingers on a hand, hence the name. Sometimes these boards actually terminate in a pointing finger. The Oxford English Dictionary lists another sense of the word fingerpost: a parson or a member of the clergy. As this citation from the A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785 tells it:
“Finger post, a parson, so called, because like the finger post, he points out a way he probably will never go, i.e. the way to heaven.
______________________________

SINGERPOST - my job as resident vocal soloist

FINGERPEST - someone with a very low threshold for flipping people the bird...

GINGERPOST - an extremely tentative Facebook entry
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CHAIROCRACY - rule by the seat of your pants - 11/06/19 04:15 PM

CHIROCRACY

PRONUNCIATION: (ky-ROK-ruh-see)

MEANING: noun: Government that rules by physical force.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek chiro- (hand) + -cracy (rule), alluding to a rule by a strong hand or a heavy-handed rule. Earliest documented use: 1677.
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CAIROCRACY - government by Egypt

SHIROCRACY - government by Hobbits

CHIROCRAZY - when your specialist in spinal manipulation claims to cure cancer, heart disease, and diabetes
Posted By: wofahulicodoc BAR-KNUCKLE - a fight in the saloon - 11/07/19 07:39 PM

BAREKNUCKLE

PRONUNCIATION: (BER-NUHK-uhl)

MEANING: adjective, adverb
1. Without using boxing gloves.
2. Rough; unrestrained by rules or scruples.

ETYMOLOGY: From bare, from Old English baer + knuckle, diminutive of Middle Low German knoke (bone). Earliest documented use: 1883.
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BAREKNICKLE - overgrowth on the bottom of an Scottish boat

BAREN UNCKLE - my mother's brother is having a problem getting his wife pregnant

BAREK NICKLE - a five-cent coin with the likeness of Former President Obama on the obverse
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ANU MISSION - Spread the magic of words everywhere - 11/08/19 06:57 PM

MANUMISSION

PRONUNCIATION: (man-yuh-MISH-uhn)

MEANING: noun: Release from slavery, servitude, or restraint.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin manumittere (to free), from manus (hand) + mittere (to let go). Ultimately from the Indo-European root man- (hand), which also gave us manual, manage, maintain, manicure, maneuver, manufacture, manuscript, command, manure, manque, legerdemain, and mortmain. Earliest documented use: 1452.
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MAN OMISSION - concern for others, all too often

MANUFISSION - splitting by hand, as for example a log

MANY MISS ION - and without them there would be no chemistry
Posted By: wofahulicodoc FROGWARD - how a tadpole grows - 11/11/19 03:42 PM

FROWARD

PRONUNCIATION: (FRO-wurd/urd)

MEANING: adjective: Difficult to deal with; contrary.

ETYMOLOGY: From Middle English fro- (away, from) + -ward (moving or facing in a specific direction). Earliest documented use: 1340.

NOTES: If you recall the phrase to-and-fro (which is short for “to and from”), you can easily sense where froward is going. It’s the opposite of toward. Over time, the senses of the two words have shifted so they are not antonyms any more.
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UROWARD - where the bladder specialist admits patients

PRO-WARD - 1. I'm improving, and might even go on the Tour soon!
2. ...and against Roebuck

FRO-WAND - how Hobbits do magic
Posted By: wofahulicodoc LISTLESS - not tilted in any direction - 11/12/19 04:21 PM

LISTLESS

PRONUNCIATION: (LIST-luhs, -lis)

MEANING: adjective: Devoid of energy or enthusiasm.

ETYMOLOGY: From list (desire, inclination), from Old English lystan (to be pleasing). Ultimately from the Indo-European root las- (to be eager), which also gave us lust. Earliest documented use: 1440.
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LASTLESS - sign in shoemaker's shop: "Closed; out of materials"

LINTLESS - my belly button is quite clean

WISTLESS - not wanting for or desirous of anything

LISTLOSS - now how am I supposed to do my shopping?
Posted By: wofahulicodoc UNDO LENT - repossess - 11/13/19 03:42 PM

INDOLENT

PRONUNCIATION: (IN-duh-lehnt)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Lazy, lethargic, averse to exertion.
2. Painless or causing little pain; slow to develop or heal. Used in medicine, for example, indolent ulcer.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin indolent-, stem of indolens, from Latin in- (not) + dolens, present participle of dolere (to suffer, feel pain) which also gave us dolor, condole, and dole. Earliest documented use: 1663.
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INDOLANT - a six-legged creature whose biochemistry is based on indole rather than formic acid

INDY LENT - Professor Jones let his students borrow his fedora

IN DOLE NOT - Scrooge's motto
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MATE ONLY - no draws allowed in this chess game - 11/14/19 10:12 PM

MATRONLY

PRONUNCIATION: (MAY-truhn-lee)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Stately; dignified.
2. Characteristic of a mature, plump, unfashionable woman.

ETYMOLOGY: From matron (a married woman; a woman in charge), from Latin matrona (married woman, wife), from mater (mother). Ultimately from the Indo-European root mater (mother), which also gave us mother, material, matter, matrix, and matrimony. Earliest documented use: 1590.
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MACRONLY - how France is governed these days

MARRON-LY - the way a chestnut would

MATRON ALY - Nurse in charge of the Hospital de los Niños in Hollywood
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HALOROUS - saint-making - 11/15/19 05:41 PM

VALOROUS

PRONUNCIATION: (VAL-uhr-uhs)

MEANING: adjective: Courageous; brave; bold.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin valor (worth), from valere (to be well or strong). Earliest documented use: 1477.
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CALOROUS - rich [food]; will put weight on you in a hurry if you eat too much

VAPORO-US - a now-failed chain of shops selling e-cigarettes

VALOR OPUS - any long saga about the exploits of the courageous, brave, and bold
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CONGO OZ LED - the Wizard of Africa went first - 11/19/19 02:36 AM

GONGOOZLER

PRONUNCIATION: (gon-GOOZ-luhr)

MEANING: noun: An idle spectator.

ETYMOLOGY: Of uncertain origin, perhaps from Lincolnshire dialect gawn and gooz, both of which mean to stare. Earliest documented use: 1904.

NOTES: Rubberneckers gawk at highway accidents, trainspotters spot trains, and gongoozlers goozle gons. Well, no, language doesn’t work like that. Originally, a gongoozler was a person who liked to hang out around canals watching passing boats. Over time, the word has evolved to refer to anyone who likes to stare at some activity. See also, kibitzer.
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GONGOOGLER - the search-engine-company employee isn't at her desk just now

GOING OOZLER - becoming slimy

GONGOOSLER - done for...
Posted By: wofahulicodoc AIL FELLOW - works behind the bar at the local pub - 11/19/19 10:28 PM

HAIL-FELLOW

PRONUNCIATION: (HAYL-fel-oh)

MEANING: noun: A congenial companion.
adjective: Enthusiastically friendly.

ETYMOLOGY: Short for the former greeting “Hail-fellow well met.” Earliest documented use: 1577.
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HALL-FELLOW - patrols the school corridors while class is in session

HAIL-FERLOW - how an orthographically-challenged soldier exults over his week-end pass

HAIL (bellow) - dialog and stage directions for a bit part in Julius Ceasar

HAIR-FELLOW - tonsorial expert (Both terms have fallen from the modern vocabulary in favor of the shorter "barber".)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc knowledge, discernment, and taste - 11/20/19 05:03 PM

CONNOISSEUR

PRONUNCIATION: (kon-uh-SUHR/SOOR)

MEANING: noun: An expert who is knowledgeable enough to pass critical judgment in a field, especially in fine arts, cuisines, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From French connoisseur (connaisseur in Modern French), from Old French conoisseor, from conoistre (to know), from Latin cognoscere (to learn or get to know), from co- (together) + gnoscere (to know), (to learn). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gno- (to know), which is also the source of know, recognize, acquaint, ignore, diagnosis, notice, normal, agnostic, incognito, anagnorisis (the moment of recognition or discovery), and prosopagnosia (inability to recognize faces). Earliest documented use: 1719.
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CONNOISSOEUR - it's a wise child who knows his own sister

CON - NO, I'SE SUR - It's OK, Henri, he ain't puttin' you on

CONN OISTEUR - poorly-spelled bivalve mollusk from New London, CT
Posted By: wofahulicodoc GINGREL - what sleighbells do, almost - 11/22/19 03:28 PM

GANGREL

PRONUNCIATION: (GANG-ruhl)

MEANING: noun:
1. A vagrant or drifter. But
2. A tall, thin, long-limbed person.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English gang/gong (manner of going, way, passage), from gangen (to go). Earliest documented use: 1450.
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GANOREL - Lear's orthographically-challenged daughter

GONGREL - My dog wasn't pure-bred, and it's sad that I can't find him

GANGREN - past participle of gangrene
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PULGARIAN - a Spaniard who's all thumbs - 11/22/19 03:42 PM

VULGARIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (vuhl-GAY-ree-uhn)

MEANING: noun: A boorish, lewd, and crude person who makes a conspicuous display of wealth.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin vulgus (mob, common people). Earliest documented use: 1833.
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VULGARIAN - a boorish person from Sofia, depending on whether you're using b-de-burro or v-de-vaca

VOLGARIAN - a Russian-river dweller

VULGAR HAN - Mr Solo's un-cool alter ego

PULGARIAN - a Spaniard who's all thumbs
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SMELL-SHOCKED - unexpectedly sprayed by a skunk - 11/25/19 03:48 PM

SHELL-SHOCKED

PRONUNCIATION: (SHEL-shockd)

MEANING: adjective: Stunned, confused, and exhausted as a result of experiencing intense stress, such as in a war zone.

ETYMOLOGY: From shell, from Old English sciell + shock, from French choc, from choquer (to collide). Earliest documented use: 1898.
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SHELL-SHACKED - living in a "shellter" made from old oyster and clam and mussel and scallop shells

HELL-SHOCKED - much distressed after a brief glimpse of the afterlife

SHE'LL SHOO KED - the girl is going to chase away the sneaker
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HATCHER JOB - for a mother hen - 11/26/19 10:01 PM

HATCHET JOB

PRONUNCIATION: (HATCH-it job)

MEANING: noun: Malicious criticism meant to harm someone’s reputation.

ETYMOLOGY: From hatchet (a small, short-handled axe), from Old French (hachete), diminutive of hache (axe) + job, of unknown origin. Earliest documented use: 1925.

NOTES: In the beginning a hatchet job was a murder carried out by a hired Chinese assassin in the US, known as a hatchet man. Over time, the word began to be used metaphorically for verbal criticism meant to destroy someone’s reputation. Another hatchet idiom is to "bury the hatchet," meaning to end hostilities and reconcile.
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HITCHET JOB - attach the horses to the wagon

HATCHET JOY - easy work for a lumberjack

HATCHET JIB - a small sail in the prow of the boat that lets it slice through the wind
Posted By: wofahulicodoc BATT, LEAVE - Go away, Batt - 11/27/19 07:48 PM

BATTLE-AXE (or BATTLE-AX)

PRONUNCIATION:

(BAT-l aks)

MEANING: noun:
1. A broadax used as a weapon of war.
2. A typically older woman with a reputation for being sharp-tongued, domineering, and aggressive.

ETYMOLOGY: From battle, from Latin battuere (to beat) + ax, from Old English aecs (ax). It’s not entirely clear how this term came to be applied to a fierce woman. Perhaps it’s because a sharp-tongued woman could cut down someone as well as an ax, metaphorically speaking. Earliest documented use: 1380 (1896 for the figurative meaning).
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B.A. TITLE AXE - the lumberjack's tool that went to college
(see also B.A. TITLE X - ...because she could postpone having children until she wanted them

BATT, LEAH - sister of Batt, Rachel

CATTLE-AX - (I don't think I want to discuss this one)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SMOKING GUY - the Marlboro Man - 11/28/19 08:32 PM

SMOKING GUN

PRONUNCIATION: (SMOH-king gun)

MEANING: noun: Something that serves as incriminating evidence, especially of a crime.

ETYMOLOGY: From the idea that someone holding a recently fired gun that still has the smoke coming out of the barrel would make for incontrovertible evidence that they were the one who shot the victim. Earliest documented use: 1970s.
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SMOKING GYN - you're my doctor, she said; you should know better

I'M OK-ING GUN - Here's your license to carry

AMOK-ING GUN - fires a psychosis-inducing drug instead of a tranquilizer

SUMO KING GUN - even big wrestlers sometimes have to defend themselves
Posted By: wofahulicodoc TREAT GUNS - fire goodies at you - 11/29/19 04:33 PM

GREAT GUNS

PRONUNCIATION: (grayt gunz)

MEANING: noun: Someone or something impressive.
adverb: With energy and enthusiasm; successfully.
interjection: Expressing surprise or disbelief.

ETYMOLOGY: In the beginning, great gun referred to a large firearm that required mounting. Eventually it came to be applied metaphorically. The adverbial use started in horse races. Earliest documented use: 1430.
________________________________

GROAT GUNS - ditto for kernels of grain

GREAT RUNS - record-breaking streaks of anything

GRE AT UNS - prerequisite for admission for graduate study at the University of Nova Scotia
Posted By: wofahulicodoc FULGAR - all thumbs (Spanish) - 12/02/19 07:23 PM

FULGOR oR FULGUOR

PRONUNCIATION: (FUHL-guhr))

MEANING: noun: Splendor; brightness.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin fulgor (brightness), from fulgere (to shine). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhel- (to shine or burn), which also gave us blaze, blank, blond, bleach, blanket, flame, refulgent, fulminate, and effulgent. Earliest documented use: 1600
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FULIGOR - a zombie wrestling hold (cf. HALF-IGOR)

NUL-GOR - rated G

FOULGOR - rated XXX for violence
Posted By: wofahulicodoc INQUIRINE - curious - 12/03/19 08:00 PM

INQUILINE

PRONUNCIATION: (IN-kwuh-lyn)

MEANING: noun: An animal living in the nest, burrow, or home of another.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin inquilinus (tenant, lodger), from in- (into) + colere (to dwell). Earliest documented use: 1640.
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INQUIRINE - curious

INQUININE - malaria-resistant

MINQUILINE - furry

SINQUILINE - transgressing (see also INIQUILINE)

INQUILINK - precursor of the fountain pen
Posted By: wofahulicodoc JOLISSANCE - prettiness - 12/04/19 04:03 PM

JOUISSANCE

PRONUNCIATION: (ZHWEE-sans)

MEANING: noun: Pleasure; ecstasy.

ETYMOLOGY: From French jouissance, from jouir (to enjoy). Earliest documented use: 1484.
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LOUISSANCE - regal bearing

JOUISTANCE - position taken by expert game-players

JOLUISSANCE- boxing prowess
Posted By: wofahulicodoc WORDI COW - Bossy is a motormouth - 12/06/19 01:23 AM

WORRICOW

PRONUNCIATION: (WUH-ree-kau)

MEANING: noun: A hobgoblin, scarecrow, or a person of frightening appearance.

ETYMOLOGY: From Scottish, from worry (to harass) + cow (hobgoblin). Earliest documented use: 1711.
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WORRI-CON - annual gathering of Fussbudgets

TWO RR ICON - Chessie (Chesapeake and Ohio Railway); Roxy (Long Island Rail Road)

WORRICOWL - worn by monks to indicate their bafflement over the ambiguities of this world
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HYALORD - morning wake-up prayer greeting - 12/06/19 09:17 PM

HYALOID

PRONUNCIATION: (HY-uh-loyd)

MEANING: adjective: Glassy or transparent.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin hyaloides, from Greek hualoeies (glass-like), from hualos (glass). Earliest documented use: 1835.
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HOYALOID - like a Georgetown sports team

HYALOIN - by going to school in Brooklyn, Noo Yawk

HYALOIS - 1. Clark Kent's informal greeting to Daily Planet reporter Lane; 2. Newspaper daily-and-Sunday comic strip
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CORBIE MESS ENDER - newspaper lining the birdcage - 12/09/19 03:00 PM

CORBIE MESSENGER

PRONUNCIATION: (KOR-bee mes-uhn-juhr)

MEANING: noun: A messenger who does not arrive or return in time.

ETYMOLOGY: noun: From allusion to the crow that Noah had sent out from his ark. From corbin (raven), from Old French corbin, from Latin corvus (raven, crow). Earliest documented use: 1525.
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CORBIE MESS ANGER - rage at the bad food in the Crow army

SCORBIE MESSENGER - brings word of crippling Vitamin C deficiency

GORBIE MESSENGER - ambassador from the USSR between 1985 and 1991
Posted By: wofahulicodoc GLAND OF NOD - the pineal, which regulates melanin - 12/11/19 08:58 PM

LAND OF NOD

PRONUNCIATION: (land ov nod)

MEANING: noun: Sleep.

ETYMOLOGY: From a punning reference to the land of Nod in the Bible. Earliest documented use: 1738.
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BAND OF NOD - plays nothing but lullabies

LAND IF NOD - stay up in the air until I say so!

LANE OF NOD - the pavement drone induces Highway Hypnosis

LAND OF NED - the Devil's country
Posted By: wofahulicodoc A POLL YON - Look! A place to vote! - 12/11/19 10:18 PM

APOLLYON

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-POL-yuhn)

MEANING: noun: One who destroys; another name for the Devil.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin, from Greek Apollyon, from apollynai (to destroy), from apo- (from, away) + ollynai (to destroy). Earliest documented use: 1382.

NOTES: The Bible’s Book of Revelation 9:11 introduces Apollyon as: “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.”
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APOLLO-N - the fourteenth Moon mission

A POLLY-EON - the interval between crackers

A POLL-CON - fake news

CAPO LLYON - a Mafia don in FFrance
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MAD ALENE - Alene is angry - 12/12/19 10:13 PM

MAGDALENE or MAGDALEN

PRONUNCIATION: (MAG-duh-leen, -luhn)

MEANING: noun: A penitent woman, particularly a reformed prostitute.

ETYMOLOGY: After Mary Magdalene, a Biblical character who was a follower of Jesus. Earliest documented use: 1563.

NOTES: The name Magdalene means “of Magdala” in Greek and is derived after a town on the Sea of Galilee. The name Magdala, in turn, means a tower in Aramaic. So here we have a word coined after a person, who was named after a place, which was named after a thing. The word is also used for a home for reformed/retired prostitutes. Magdalene has given birth to another eponym, maudlin meaning “overly sentimental”.

Pope Gregory I, in a sermon delivered in 581 CE, conflated an unnamed “sinner” with Mary Magdalene. Pope Paul VI fixed the error in 1969, but the damage was done. Mary Magdalene forever remains identified as a former prostitute in popular culture. It took them 1,388 years to acknowledge the error. In comparison, Galileo got off easy. The Church took a mere 359 years to say that he was right after all.
__________________________

MADALENE -
In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines
Llved twelve little girls in two straight lines
...
The smallest one was MADALENE.
-- [Adapted from Ludwig Bemelmans]

MANDALEN - a multi-stringed instrument, played by plucking or picking the strings

MAGNALEN - Bernstein's been putting on weight lately, hasn't he?

PAGDALENE or PAGDELEN - a penitent man, or reformed gigolo
Posted By: wofahulicodoc GOLBATH - Midas' attempt at cleaning himself - 12/13/19 03:51 PM

GOLIATH

PRONUNCIATION: (guh-LY-uhth)

MEANING: noun: A giant; a person or organization of enormous size or power.

ETYMOLOGY: After Goliath, a giant Philistine warrior, who was slain by David using a sling and a stone. Earliest documented use: 1607.

NOTES: “David and Goliath” has become a metaphor for an underdog facing a much larger, powerful opponent, in sports, business, politics, and beyond.
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GO LITH - cheering for Stone Academy (Connecticut)

GLIATH - a supporting structure of nerve cells in the CNS

GOLI ASH - what's left when you've lost the hockey game in a shootout and your defense is really burnt up about it
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HO, MILO - Greetings, Mr Minderbinder - 12/16/19 03:38 PM

HOMILY

PRONUNCIATION: (HOM-uh-lee)

MEANING: noun: A lecture of a moralizing or admonishing nature, usually tedious and trite.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French omelie (homily), from Latin (homilia), from Greek homilia (assembly or sermon), from homilos (crowd), from homou (together). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sem- (one), which also gave us simultaneous, assemble, simple, Sanskrit sandhi (union), Russian samovar (a metal urn, literally, self-boiler), and Greek hamadryad (a wood nymph, who lives in a tree and dies when the tree dies), dissimulate, and simulacrum. Earliest documented use: 1386.
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HOMINY - 1. a specified quantity
2. What the Boston a capella group sings in perfect

HOPILY - how the rabbit family lived ever after

HO, MILTY - greetings to my favorite comedian (and Uncle)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc RAGULE - a small rag - 12/18/19 03:43 AM

RAGULY

PRONUNCIATION: (RAG-yuh-lee)

MEANING: adjective: Having a row of oblique notches.

ETYMOLOGY: Probably from Old English ragg. Earliest documented use: 1660.
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RAG UGLY - an unprepossessing rag

RAGALY - like a sitar melody

RAGURY - a branch of nautical law pertaining to anger management

RAGU LYE - used to make soap from spaghetti sauce

RAJULY - the Egyptian Sun God who in mid-summer is unusually powerful (at least in the northern hemisphere)

RAOUL Y. - a Frenchman whose identity is being protected
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Lots of nice words in this category of "false adverbs." There's
- "apply," which doesn't mean "like a small program for your smartphone"
- "imply" (like one of Santa's elves)
- "reply" (like your fitness or body-building exercise -
- the minimalist "ply"
- the ambivalent "supply," which is either a false adverb or a true one (depending on how you use it)
- "surly" (they don't all have a P in them)
and so on.
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ESPAÑOPLY - a layer of Spaniards - 12/18/19 10:16 PM

EMPANOPLY

PRONUNCIATION: (em-PAN-uh-plee)

MEANING:] . verb tr.: To enclose in complete armor.

ETYMOLOGY: From em- (in) + panoply (a full suit of armor), from Greek panoplia (a complete suit of armor), from pan (all) + hopla (arms, armor), plural of hoplon (weapon). Earliest documented use: 1784.
________________________

ENPANOPLY - to remove half a suit of armor

EMPANOPOLY - a game involving the selection of jurors

EMPANOPLAY - kindly remove performing Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto from your next concert program
Posted By: wofahulicodoc POGO-DAEDALY - Walt Kelly did it often - 12/19/19 06:33 PM

LOGODAEDALY

PRONUNCIATION: (log-uh-DEE-duh-lee)

MEANING: noun: Skill in using or coining words.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin logodaedalia, from Greek logodaidalia, from logodaidalos, from logos (word) + daedalus (skillful). Earliest documented use: 1727.
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LOGODAEDAILY - to coin a word every day (boy, does this sound self-referential!)

LOGO-DAREDALY - like an audacious symbol

BLOGODAEDALY - a weblog consisting of only slanted or even made-up statements
Posted By: wofahulicodoc NEUTRAPELY - only an average conversationalist - 12/20/19 10:14 PM

EUTRAPELY

PRONUNCIATION: (yoo-TRAP-uh-lee)

MEANING: noun: Liveliness and ease of conversation.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek (pleasantness in conversation), from eu- (well) + trapely (to turn). Earliest documented use: 1596.

NOTES: Can you talk to anyone on any topic with ease? If so, you have the gift of eutrapely, also known as eutrapelia. It was one of Aristotle’s dozen virtues.
__________________________________

.EDU.TRAPELY - being shmoozed by the University fundraiser

EUTAPELY - recorded in pristine condition, with the 18 minutes intact

EUTRAVELY - the Bon Voyage you wish your departing friends

EXTRAPELY - recently out of a snare
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PACTANCY - tending to form agreements - 12/23/19 04:19 PM

JACTANCY

PRONUNCIATION: (JAK-tuhn-see)

MEANING: noun: Boasting or boastfulness.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin jactantia, from jactantem, present participle of jactare (to throw about), frequentative of jacere (to throw). Earliest documented use: 1623.
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TACTANCY - of a sensitive and inoffensive nature

FACTANCY - a misrepresentation of the existing state of affairs; see "truthiness"

JACFANCY - the pumpkin has been carved into an very interesting image
(compare JACANCY, where the pumpkin is empty)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ORZIVOROUS - eating pasta - 12/24/19 04:37 PM

ORYZIVOROUS

PRONUNCIATION: (oh-ri-ZIV-uhr-uhs)

MEANING: adjective: Rice-eating.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin oryza (rice) + -vorous (feeding). Earliest documented use: 1857.
________________________

OROZIVOROUS - Gold-eating. Not recommended. See the legend of King Midas

OYZIVOROUS - eating yourself up inside with worry. Also not recommended.

OREZIVOROUS - eating creme sandwich cookies. Recommended Warned about by the dentist who fills your cavities.

TORYZIVOROUS - what the Whigs wish their party could be in Parliament
Posted By: wofahulicodoc GAMINESQUE - the type that appeals to M. Chevalier - 12/25/19 10:23 PM

GAMINESQUE

PRONUNCIATION: (gam-uh-NESK)

MEANING: adjective: Playfully impudent or mischievous.

ETYMOLOGY: From French gamine (a pert, impudent, or mischievous girl), feminine of gamin (a young boy working as a glassblower’s assistant), of obscure origin. Earliest documented use: 1886.
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GARMINESQUE - like a dedicated GPS tracker

AMINESQUE - like an organic acid

GAMINE-SLUE - when the imp's sled spins 'round and 'round on the way down the hill
Posted By: wofahulicodoc TWI-ORKER - a Manhattanite at sunset - 12/26/19 09:26 PM

TWIFORKED

PRONUNCIATION: (TWAI-forkt)

MEANING: adjective: Divided in two; two-pronged.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English twi- (two) + forked, from forca, from Latin furca (fork, yoke). Earliest documented use: 1635.
_____________________________

TWOFORKED - one in each hand - can eat ambidextrously (and twice as fast).
Compare TRI-FORKED, which pushes the concept one further for polybrachiates

TWIN-FORKED - banished to southern New Mexico

TWICORKED - hermetically sealed, like some wine-bottles. An extra-long corkscrew is required to open such.
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MAXOPHOBIA - fear of the biggest anything - 12/27/19 04:13 PM

AMAXOPHOBIA

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-mak-suh-FOH-bee-uh)

MEANING: noun: The fear of riding in a vehicle.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek hamaxa (wagon) + -phobia (fear).
__________________________

AMAYOPHOBIA - fear of dry BLT sandwiches

AMATOPHOBIA - fear of conjugating Latin verbs

ASAXOPHOBIA - fear of classical jazz
Posted By: wofahulicodoc RUMDINGER - a drink made with rum - 12/31/19 01:47 AM

HUMDINGER

PRONUNCIATION: (hum-DING-uhr)

MEANING: noun: Someone or something outstanding, remarkable, or unusual.

ETYMOLOGY: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps a blend of hummer and dinger, both meaning someone or something exceptional. Earliest documented use: 1883.
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BUMDINGER - a pitched baseball that hits the batter in the backside (see also HAMDINGER)

HUMWINGER - a small bird whose wings move extremely fast, permitting it to hover in the air

HUMMING-ER - the resident in the Emergency Room was singing more quietly to herself
Posted By: wofahulicodoc RIP; SHORTER - quick fix for over-long pants - 12/31/19 07:21 PM

RIPSNORTER

PRONUNCIATION: (RIP-snor-tuhr)

MEANING: noun: Something or someone remarkable in excellence, intensity, strength, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: A fanciful coinage from rip (to tear) + snorter (something extraordinary). Earliest documented use: 1840.
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R.I.P. SHORTER - fictitious short obituary for a long distance runner

RIPE SNORTER - cocaine user in dire need of a bath

RIPS NORTEL - FCC complaint prior to the company filing for bankruptcy
Posted By: wofahulicodoc TALLY-HOO ? - cry of an uncertain fox-hunter - 01/01/20 06:56 PM

BALLYHOO

PRONUNCIATION: (BAL-ee-hoo)

MEANING: noun: 1. Clamor or uproar. 2. Sensational or extravagant promotion.
verb tr.: To promote or publicize in a sensational or extravagant manner.

ETYMOLOGY: Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1901.
________________________________

BALL ! SHOO ! - what you say when the dog keeps jumping up to lick your face instead of chasing the ball you just threw

BALL-Y-HOOP - name for the game of basketball, in Madrid

BALLY HOBO - vagrant who mostly haunts a Las Vegas hotel/casino
Posted By: wofahulicodoc FOOFAR LAW - how the Foofars are governed - 01/04/20 12:58 AM

FOOFARAW

PRONUNCIATION: (FOO-fuh-raw)

MEANING: noun:
1. Excessive or unnecessary ornamentation.
2. Fuss; commotion.

ETYMOLOGY: Foofaraw is a word from the American West, but how was it formed? Nobody knows. Perhaps from French fanfaron or Spanish fanfarrón. Earliest documented use: 1848.
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FOOBAR - AW! - expression of dismay upon seeing a situation messed up beyond all recognition...

FOE OF ARAW - Araw's mortal enemy

FOO FARAD - a placeholder in the capacitance calculation formula
Posted By: wofahulicodoc LOL "LA PALOOZA" - Isn't that hilarious! - 01/04/20 01:07 AM

LOLLAPALOOZA

PRONUNCIATION: (lol-uh-puh-LOO-zuh)

MEANING: noun: An exceptional person, thing, or event.

ETYMOLOGY: Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1904.

NOTES: The word has a number of variants: lollapaloosa, lalapalooza, lallapalooza, but they all mean the same thing: something or someone truly remarkable. It’s also the name of a popular music festival.
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LOLA PALOOZA - Frankie Palooza's wife. Whatever she wants, she gets...

LOLLA PALOOKA - the boxer's daughter, who also starred in a movie

OLLA PALOOZA - an earthenware jar created and decorated by the Italian artist Ignatio Palooza
Posted By: wofahulicodoc OMBRIFULGE - lulminescent rain - 01/06/20 03:37 PM

OMBRIFUGE

PRONUNCIATION: (OM-bruh-fyoozh)

MEANING: noun: Something that provides protection from the rain, especially an umbrella.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek ombro- (rain shower) + -fuge (repelling). Earliest documented use: 1869.
______________________________

HOMBRIFUGE - Señor is running away

UMBRIFUGE - a spinning device to mix brown crayons

OMB REFUGE - a place of shelter from the government's Office of Management and Budget

______________________________

PS: I thought an "umbrella" something that, by providing shade (umbra), protected from the sun like a "parasol," rather than from the rain? Or do shade and rainshowers share a common derivation?
Posted By: wofahulicodoc DEX-EMPLUM - a right-handed male worker - 01/07/20 08:44 PM

EXEMPLUM

PRONUNCIATION: (ig-ZEM-pluhm)

MEANING: noun:
1. An example or model.
2. An anecdote used to illustrate a moral truth or support an argument.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin exemplum (example), from eximere (to take out), from ex- (out) + emere (to take). Ultimately from the Indo-European root em- (to take or distribute), which also gave us example, sample, assume, consume, prompt, ransom, vintage, redeem, diriment, subsume, and peremptory. Earliest documented use: 1482.
__________________________

EXEMPLUS - add something to XM

EXAM PLUM - a very easy test question

EXEMBLUM - a company's previous logo
Posted By: wofahulicodoc encountered every day in abdominal surgery - 01/08/20 09:55 PM

SPLANCHNIC

PRONUNCIATION: (SPLANGK-nik)

MEANING: adjective: Of or relating to the internal organs or viscera.

ETYMOLOGY: From splanchnicus, from Greek splankhnikos, from splankhna (entrails). Earliest documented use: 1694.
__________________

SPLANCH - NICE ! - what a great Cannonball dive that was!

S-PLAN CYNIC - I'm not very optimistic about the nineteenth plan

'SPLAN CHIC - On the other hand, it's very much à la mode...
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SING ALTUS - Let me hear a high tenor note! - 01/09/20 09:22 PM

SINGULTUS

PRONUNCIATION: (sing-GUHL-tuhs)

MEANING: noun: A hiccup.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin singultus (sob, gasp, hiccup). Earliest documented use: 1754.
____________________

I SINGUL. TU? - Casanova's pickup line

SIN, 'GUSTUS - encourage the Emperor to misbehave

USING "ULTUS" - something never to be done in Latin class
Posted By: wofahulicodoc IN DA TATE - Where can I see good art in Britain? - 01/10/20 10:43 PM

INDAGATE

PRONUNCIATION: (IN-duh-gayt)

MEANING: verb tr.: To search into; to investigate.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin indagare (to search). Earliest documented use: 1623.
_____________________

INDIAGATE - political scandal in New Delhi

WIN DA GATE - take home the door prize at a Brooklyn show

INK A GATE - it happens on Halloween if you ignore "Trick or Treat!"
Posted By: wofahulicodoc EATSOONS- it's-almost-dinnertimes - 01/13/20 03:29 PM

EFTSOONS

PRONUNCIATION: (eft-SOONZ)

MEANING: adverb:
1. Soon after.
2. Again.
3. From time to time.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English ęft (again) + sona (soon). Ultimately from the Indo-European root apo- (off or away), which is also the source of after, off, awkward, post, puny, appose, and apposite. Earliest documented use: 1000.
____________________________

LEFT'SOON'S - departed at the earliest possible moment

EFT'NOONS - times when the sun is descending

EFTSOOPS - what you make when there are no newts to put in the chowder
Posted By: wofahulicodoc FAUTE DE MIAUX - my cat has laryngitis - 01/14/20 04:16 PM

FAUTE DE MIEUX

PRONUNCIATION: (foht duh MYOO/MYUH)

MEANING: adverb: For want of something better.

ETYMOLOGY: From French faute (lack) + de (of) + mieux (better). Earliest documented use: 1766.
______________________________

FAUTE LEMIEUX - the Penguins are in trouble; Mario can't play tonight.

FAURÉ DE MIEUX - Gabriel's Requiem is the best ever

FAUTE DE MOI/EUX - Martin Buber was wrong. It's not "I/Thou;" it should be "Me/Them."

SAUTÉ DE MIEUX - That'd be Javier Sotomayor of Cuba. He high-jumped 2.45 m (8 ft 1⁄2 in) in Salamanca, Spain on 27 July 1993 to set the current Word's Record
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MAMA IN? - Is your mother home? - 01/15/20 09:20 PM

AMAIN

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-MAYN)

MEANING: adverb:
1. With all one’s strength.
2. At full speed.
3. With great haste.

ETYMOLOGY: From a- (on, in, to) + main, from Old English maegen (strength, power). Earliest documented use: 1540.
______________________

ARMAIN - signature of a dyslexic fashion designer

A.M. PAIN - known to almost everyone 75 and older

AMAZIN' - graceless
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CORTÉS - early explorer of the New Wrorld - 01/16/20 09:35 PM

CERTES

PRONUNCIATION: (suhr-TEEZ)

MEANING: adverb: Certainly.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French certes, from Latin certus (certain). Earliest documented use: 1250.
______________________________

CERRES - largest asteroid we have yet identified, considered by some a dwarf planet

CERTERS - people who go about certifying things

CERATES - makes a saw-toothed edge
Posted By: wofahulicodoc AL FRESCA - prepared with lime/grapefruit flavor - 01/19/20 05:37 PM

ALFRESCO

PRONUNCIATION: (al-FRES-ko)

MEANING: adverb, adjective: Outdoors; in the open air.

ETYMOLOGY: From Italian alfresco (in the fresh). Earliest documented use: 1717.
________________________

ALFRED'S C.O. - that'd be Bruce Wayne, right?

AL FRISCO - where Señor goes to see Nob Hill and the Golden Gate Bridge

AL FRIES CO. - racecar driver makes the best chips in London
Posted By: wofahulicodoc AD LITE - low-key promotional message - 01/20/20 04:56 PM

AD LITEM

PRONUNCIATION: (AD LYT-uhm)

MEANING: adjective: A person appointed by a court to represent someone, such as a child, who is considered incapable of representing themselves in a lawsuit.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin ad litem (literally, for the lawsuit), from ad (toward) + litigare (to go to law), from lis (dispute) + agere (to drive). Earliest documented use: 1683.
______________________________

ADD LITEM - put another case on the Court's docket

AB LITEM - away from the legal proceedings, behind closed doors

...AND LIT 'EM - they piled up all the sticks to make a bonfire...
Posted By: wofahulicodoc FERRANT - iron - 01/21/20 03:52 PM

ERRANT

PRONUNCIATION: (ER-uhnt)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Traveling, especially in search of adventure.
2. Erring, straying, or moving aimlessly.

ETYMOLOGY: For 1: From Old French errer (to travel), from Latin iterare (to travel), from iter (road, trip).
For 2: From Old French errer (to err), from Latin errare (to wander or to err).
Earliest documented use: 1400s.

NOTES: How in the world can a word have so many different meanings? Blame homographs, two different words having the same spelling (lead, the verb & lead, the metal). In the case of today’s word, two Latin words (iterare and errare) evolved into the Old French errer. This homographic confusion continued when the words traveled to English. As if this weren’t enough, the word errant has morphed into another word resulting in further confusion: arrant.
Only the first adjective form is used postpositively.
________________________

TERRANT - Earthlike

E.R. RANT - there's a madman yelling and screaming in the Emergency Room!

'ERRANG - what you caught yesterday when you were fishing (past tense of 'ERRING)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc AFIRETHOUGHT - pyrokinesis - 01/22/20 04:41 PM

AFORETHOUGHT

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-FOHR-thot)

MEANING: adjective: Planned or premeditated; not by accident.

ETYMOLOGY: From afore (before) + thought, from Old English thoht. Ultimately from the Indo-European root tong- (to think or feel), which also gave us the words think and thank. Earliest documented use: 1472.
____________________________

AFRO RETHOUGHT - reconsidering your 60s hairdo

AMORE THOUGHT - When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie (see also ADORE THOUGHT)

"A" FOR E THROUGH T - accolades for the middle (though chunky) volume of an encyclopedia
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Also Thomas Jefferson. - 01/24/20 03:02 AM

IMMEMORIAL

PRONUNCIATION: (im-uh-MOHR-ee-uhl)

MEANING: adjective: Very old; beyond memory or recorded history.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin in- (not) + memoria (memory). Earliest documented use: 1593.
__________________________

IN MEMORIAL - where Abraham Lincoln's statue is in Washington, D.C.

VIM MEMORIAL - a tribute to my get-up-and-go, which (no surprise!) has got-up-and-went

GIMME-MORIAL - describing the behavior of the insatiably greedy
Posted By: wofahulicodoc gout, too - 01/24/20 09:02 PM

LAUREATE

PRONUNCIATION: (LOR-ee-uht)

MEANING: adjective: Having special distinction or recognition in a field.
noun: A person honored for achieving distinction in a field.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin laureatus (crowned with laurel), from laurea (crown of laurel), feminine of laureus (of laurel), from laurus (laurel). Earliest documented use: 1395.

NOTES: In ancient Greece, a wreath or a crown of laurel sprigs was used to honor people. The word baccalaureate as a synonym for bachelor’s degree was formed from the alteration of Latin baccalarius to conform to bacca lauri (laurel berry).
____________________________________

L.A. URATE - what gives many kidney stones in Los Angeles

LAURA, TE... - attempted words of affection from Laura's bashful Latino boy-friend

FAURÉ ATE - Gabriel the composer did this in restaurants
Posted By: wofahulicodoc Ooh! It's a double-dactyl ! - 01/28/20 04:07 PM

BIBLIOPHILIA

PRONUNCIATION: (bi-blee-uh-FI-Lee-uh)

MEANING: noun: The love of books.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek biblio- (book) + -philia (love).
_________________________

BILIOPHILIA - love of anger

BIBIOPHILIA - love of Netanyahu

BIBLI-OPHELIA - beloved of Hamlet, reads a lot of books
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CRESTOMATHY - rigorous study of wave mechanics - 01/28/20 04:17 PM

CHRESTOMATHY

PRONUNCIATION: (kres-TOM-uh-thee)

MEANING: noun:
1. A volume of selected literary passages, usually by one author.
2. A selection of literary passages from a foreign language, especially one assembled for studying a language.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek chrestomatheia, from chrestos (useful) + manthanein (to learn). These two parts of the word ultimately derive from Indo-European gher- (to like or want) which gave us yearn, charisma, greedy, exhort; and mendh- (to learn) that resulted in the terms mathematics and polymath. Earliest documented use: 1832.
_____________________________

CHRESTOMATH - numerology applied to literature

CHRESTOPATHY - your father's selection of one author's works

CHRISTOMATHY - a concordance of the New Testament
Posted By: wofahulicodoc BIBLIOBLAST - bookmaker - 01/29/20 04:46 PM

BIBLIOCLAST

PRONUNCIATION: (BIB-lee-uh-klast)

MEANING: noun: One who destroys or mutilates books.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek biblio- (book) + -clast (breaker). Earliest documented use: 1880.
_______________________________

BIBLICOCLAST - mutilator of Bibles

BIBLIOCLASH - when my book says your book is wrong

BI-CLIO-CLAST - one who breaks statues of the Muse of History, who swings both ways
Posted By: wofahulicodoc FEU ISLET ON - power is restored on Fire Island - 01/30/20 11:41 PM

FEUILLETON

PRONUNCIATION: (FOI-i-ton) [the final syllable is nasal]

MEANING: noun:
1. The part of a European newspaper devoted to light literature, criticism, and the like; also something printed in this section.
2. A novel published in installments.
3. A short literary piece

ETYMOLOGY: From French, from feuillet (sheet of paper), diminutive of feuille (leaf), from Old French foille, from Latin folium (leaf). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhel- (to thrive or bloom), which also gave us flower, bleed, bless, foliage, blossom, and blade. Earliest documented use: 1845.
_______________________________

FEUILLE-TONE - part of a palette of red/orange/brown autumn-leaf colors

FEW ILL ETON - only a couple of cases at the school

FE QUILL ETON - the school is known for requiring an iron pen for writing

FEU ISLET ON - power has been restored to Fire Island

FEU I'D LET ON - fire has permission to come aboard
Posted By: wofahulicodoc BIBLI-SOPHAGE - the Book of Knowledge - 01/31/20 09:45 PM

BIBLIOPHAGE

PRONUNCIATION: (BIB-lee-uh-fayj)

MEANING: noun: One who loves to read books; a bookworm.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek biblio- (book) + -phage (one who eats).
_________________________________

BIBLIOPHASE - a stage of cell division when the cell consults its book to decide how to replicate its chromosomes

BIBLIOPLAGE - a beach in Nice which requires reading a book for admission

BI-GLIO-PHAGE - a brain cell important to the process of pruning and remodeling synapses
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MAL-OCH - one Evil Eye - 02/03/20 03:35 PM

MOLOCH

PRONUNCIATION: (MOH-lahk, MAH-luhk)

MEANING: noun: Someone or something to which extreme sacrifices are made.

ETYMOLOGY: After Moloch, a Canaanite god of the Bible, associated with the practice of child sacrifice. From Latin Moloch, from Greek Molokh, from Hebrew Molekh, from melekh (king). Earliest documented use: 1615. Moloch has turned into a verb as well: molochize.
_________________________

G.M.O. LOCH - a secluded lake in Scotland where research on genetically-modified marine plants is conducted

MORLOCH - the bad guys in H.G.Wells' The Dundee Time Machine

MO BLOCH - little-known brother of Henry and Richard, the accountants
Posted By: wofahulicodoc BE FOAR-what you'll be when you're no longer three - 02/04/20 04:13 PM

BEZOAR

PRONUNCIATION: (BEE-zohr)

MEANING: noun: A stone-like mass formed in the stomach or intestines of some animals, formerly believed to be a remedy for poison.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French bezahar/bezoard, from Arabic bazahr, from Persian padzahr (antidote), from pad- (protector) + zahr (poison). Earliest documented use: 1597.
__________________________

BE SOAR - how you'll feel the day after your first workout in months

BEFOAR - in front of, ahead of

BED OAR - what you row your cot down the stream with
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CAVIL-CADE - a parade of petty complainers - 02/05/20 04:54 PM

CAVALCADE

PRONUNCIATION: (kav-uhl-KAYD, KAV-uhl-kayd)

MEANING: noun:
1. A procession of riders on horses, vehicles, etc.
2. A noteworthy series of events.

ETYMOLOGY: From French cavalcade (stampede, cavalcade), from Italian cavalcata (ride, cavalcade), from cavalcare (to ride on horseback), from Latin caballus (horse). Earliest documented use: 1591.
________________________________

CAVALCARE - veterinary insurance for horses

NAVALCADE - the Seventh Fleet traverses the Panama Canal

CABALCADE - a procession of conspiratorial numerologists
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SABER-TATTLING: Your sword...unbated and envenomed - 02/07/20 01:32 AM

SABER-RATTLING or SABRE-RATTLING

PRONUNCIATION: (SAY-buhr-rat-ling)

MEANING: noun: Threatening words or action, for example, in the form of a flamboyant display of military power.

ETYMOLOGY: From saber/sabre (a heavy cavalry sword with a curved blade), from French sabre, from German dialect Sabel (now Säbel), from Hungarian szablya + rattle (to make a quick succession of sharp noises), probably ultimately of imitative origin. Earliest documented use: 1922.
_______________________________

SABER-TATTLING - Your sword...it's unbated and envenomed! I'm gonna tell on you!

SABRE-GATTLING - six whirling blades to cut down your opponents en masse

SAVER RATTLING - how falling interest rates affect consumers with just a little left over at the end of the month

S.A. BERRA TILING - Yogi's Mexican relatives' mosaic-making company
Posted By: wofahulicodoc I knew him, Horatio - 02/07/20 08:43 PM

CALASH

PRONUNCIATION: (kuh-LASH)

MEANING: noun:
1. A light horse-drawn carriage with a folding top.
2. The folding top of a carriage.
3. A folding bonnet formerly worn by women.

ETYMOLOGY: From French calèche, from German Kalesche, from Czech kolésa (carriage, wheels). Earliest documented use: 1666.
_____________________________________________

ALASH - mumbled by a tipsy Shakespearean actor, addressing the skull of poor Yorick

CA-WASH - where a Bostonian takes his vehicle to remove the dirt and road salt from last winter

CAL'BASH - she to whom you say "Goodnight" at the end of the show, no matter where she is

CALAS - late, lamented soprano star
Posted By: wofahulicodoc can't you hold hands without interlocking fingers? - 02/10/20 04:01 PM

INTERDIGITATE

PRONUNCIATION: (in-tuhr-DIJ-i-tayt)

MEANING: verb tr., intr.: To interlock like the fingers of two hands.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin inter- (between, together) + digitus (finger, toe). Ultimately from the Indo-European root deik- (to show, to pronounce solemnly), which also gave us judge, verdict, vendetta, revenge, indicate, dictate, paradigm, diktat, dictatress, dittohead, fatidic, hoosegow, and interdict. Earliest documented use: 1847.

NOTES: To interdigitate is to hold hands together. Also, to hold toes of two feet together. Also, hand and foot. Also, hand and paw. Or foot and paw. Think of other combinations. Show us what you come up with. Write to us at words@wordsmith.org.
____________________________

WINTERDIGITATE - freeze one's fingers; needs mittens

INTER, DIG, IRATE - angry gravedigger describes his day tersely

ENTER DIGIT AT "E" - write in a numeral on the fifth line
Posted By: wofahulicodoc TITH LAR - a Klingon Rite of Passage - 02/11/20 03:47 PM

TITULAR

PRONUNCIATION: (TICH-luhr, TIT-uh-luhr)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Of or relating to a title.
2. In the name only: having a title without accompanying responsibilities and powers.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin titulus (title). Earliest documented use: 1540.
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TITH LAR - a Klingon Rite of Passage

TIBULAR - involving both bones of the lower leg

TITULAX - brand name of a remedy for heartburn and constipation; contains calcium carbonate and phenolphthalien

TITULAE - teeny weeny titles

Posted By: wofahulicodoc CLOCKLOFT - where large timepieces are installed - 02/12/20 08:58 PM

COCKLOFT

PRONUNCIATION: (KOK-loft)

MEANING: noun: A small loft just below the roof.

ETYMOLOGY: From cock (rooster), from Old English cocc, of imitative origin + Old English loft (sky). Apparently roosters love to roost up high and this is the highest place, indoors, in the house. Earliest documented use: 1580.
_________________________________

BOCKLOFT - the high you get from some beers

CORKLOFT - storage for bottle stoppers; a good use for that "wasted space" just below the roof peak in an old winery

COCKLIFT - rooster thumbs a ride
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CUTLINE-where you separate jigsaw puzzle pieces - 02/13/20 09:39 PM

CUNTLINE (or CONTLINE or CANTLINE)

PRONUNCIATION: (KUHNT-lyn)

MEANING: noun:
1. The spiraling groove between two strands of a rope.
2. The space between bilges (the widest part) of two casks stowed side by side.

ETYMOLOGY: From cant (slope), from French from Latin cantus (corner), from canthus (rim). Earliest documented use: 1848.
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AUNTLINE - inheritance via your mother's sister

COUNTLINE - sheep passing under the Shepherd's staff

CULT LINE - "Join us! Salvation awaits!"
Posted By: wofahulicodoc words that look (or sound) scurrilous but aren't - 02/14/20 04:21 PM

CUMMINGTONITE

PRONUNCIATION: (KUHM-ing-tuh-nyt)

MEANING: noun: A mineral, otherwise known as magnesium iron silicate hydroxide.

ETYMOLOGY: Named after Cummington, Massachusetts, where it was discovered. Earliest documented use: 1824.

NOTES: Cummingtonite is named after Cummington, MA, and the town of Cummington itself is named after Colonel John Cumings who got things started in the township. If cummingtonite is not enough for you, there’s also fukalite, named after Fuka mines in the Fuka region of Japan. Then there is carnalite, named after mining engineer Rudolf von Carnall.

Not much is known about cummingtonite’s applications. An unscientific survey shows it’s commonly used in the making of T-shirts [as a leering nerdy pun - Wofa].
_____________________________________

CUMMIN TONITE - smells like curry for dinner!

CHUMMING TONITE - that'll be good bait for fishing tomorrow

CUMM INTO NITE - newly-discovered Eugene O'Neill play

CUMMING TO NICE - Riviera, next stop!
Posted By: wofahulicodoc no, not a sewing machine - 02/17/20 03:10 PM

FAFF

PRONUNCIATION: (faf)

MEANING:\. verb intr.: To waste time without accomplishing much.
noun: Fuss; activity perceived as a waste of time.

ETYMOLOGY: Of imitative origin, to describe something flapping in the wind. Earliest documented use: 1874.
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FAPF - all you can utter when you're stupefied beyond speaking [homage to Major Hoople]

FA𝒇𝒇 - the fourth note of the scale, played very loudly

F.A.C.F. - Fellow of the American College of Fellows
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SACRO-OP: orthopedic surgeon treats low back pain - 02/18/20 03:28 PM

SCROOP

PRONUNCIATION: (skroop)

MEANING: verb intr.: To make a scraping or grating sound.
noun: A scraping sound, especially the rustle of a silk fabric.

ETYMOLOGY: Of imitative origin. Earliest documented use: 1787.
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SCHROOP - to drink the last of the soup directly from the edge of the bowl

'S CROUP - I know the kid's sick, but why's his cough sound so funny?

SCROOD - past tense of...oh, never mind
Posted By: wofahulicodoc FANFARO NADA : score of the Fanfaro soccer team - 02/19/20 09:08 PM

FANFARONADE

PRONUNCIATION: (fan-far-uh-NAYD, -NAHD)

MEANING: noun:
1. Bragging or blustering behavior.
2. Fanfare.

ETYMOLOGY: From French fanfaronnade, from Spanish fanfarronada (bluster), from fanfarron (braggart), ultimately of imitative origin. Earliest documented use: 1652.
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FANFARONASE - an intracellular enzyme involved in the metabolism of fanfarones

FANTA-RON ADE - a soft drink that you can get in McDonald's

FANFARE ON A D - short ceremonial flourish played on brass instruments to introduce the fourth letter of the English alphabet
Posted By: wofahulicodoc JUPE - Juno's affectionate name for her husband - 02/21/20 02:58 AM

JAPE

PRONUNCIATION: (jayp)

MEANING: noun: A joke or prank.
verb intr.: To joke or play a trick.
verb tr.: To mock or trick.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French japer (to yap; Modern French japper), of imitative origin. Earliest documented use: 1362.
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JA, PEU - Overheard in a café in Strasbourg, after "Would you like a some more coffee?"

J.A. PEI - the architect's younger brother

JA, pp- response to "Even softer, Herr Beethoven?
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CHICKER - more "with it" and glamorous - 02/21/20 04:39 PM

WHICKER

PRONUNCIATION: (HWIK-uhr, WIK-)

MEANING: verb intr.:
1. To neigh.
2. To laugh in a half-suppressed manner.

ETYMOLOGY: Of imitative origin. Earliest documented use: 1656.
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WHISKER - someone who moves things quickly from one place to another

WHICHER - a stickler for grammar, who [wrongly] searches and removes all "that"s from his writing and replaces them with "which"es

WICKER - the person who puts the cotton string in the middle of candles
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SOME DEAL - What a bargain for you! - 02/24/20 03:20 PM

SOMEDEAL

PRONUNCIATION: (SUHM-deel)

MEANING: adverb: Somewhat; to some degree.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English sum (some) + dael (deal). Earliest documented use: 725.
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COMEDEAL - 1. the casino is hiring; 2. pertaining to humor

SAME DEAL - nothing has changed

DOMEDEAL - buying an NFL football stadium

SAMEDEAL - pertaining to Saturday in Paris
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ABAIT - put it on yer hook afore ya go a-fishin' - 02/25/20 09:46 PM

ABAFT

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-BAFT)

MEANING: adverb: Toward the rear or stern.
preposition: Behind.

ETYMOLOGY: From Middle English a- (toward) + baft (in the rear). Earliest documented use: 1400.
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ADAFT - a bit off yer rocker

A-BART - the first car undercoating (the last being Z-bart)

JABAFT - a shot in the rear

A.B., OFT - what follows four years of college, frequently
Posted By: wofahulicodoc BATHELESS - how to save soap and water - 02/26/20 04:27 PM

NATHELESS

PRONUNCIATION: (NAYTH-luhs/lis)

MEANING: adverb: Nevertheless; notwithstanding.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English na (no) + the (this, that) + laes (less). Earliest documented use: 11th c.
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LATHELESS - why the carpenter can't make spindles for his staircase railings

MATH E-LESS - before the concept of natural logarithms was developed

NAT_HELEN_S - the username adopted by Nathan and Helen Szczymonowsky
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ENDSONG - the concluding chorus - 02/28/20 01:51 AM

ENDLONG

PRONUNCIATION: (END-long)

MEANING: adverb: From end to end; lengthwise.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English andlang (lengthwise). Earliest documented use: 1225.
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BENDLONG - fold along the long axis

'EADLONG - head over heels

ENDLOG - the linchpin of a stockade fence
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SOMEWHITHER - opposite of SOMEWHENCE - 02/28/20 05:02 PM

SOMEWHITHER:

PRONUNCIATION: (SUM-hwith-uhr)

MEANING: adverb: To some place; somewhere.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English sum (some) + whither (where). Earliest documented use: 1398.
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SAMEWHITHER: - fellow-travellers, having the same destination

SOMEWITHER: - how apples become wrinkled

SOMEWHITER: - the difference between laundry loads after you put in bleach
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CANNER-BLOSSOM - a bouquet for the farmer's wife - 03/02/20 03:58 PM

CANKER-BLOSSOM

PRONUNCIATION: (KANGK-uhr-blos-uhm)

MEANING: noun: One who destroys good things.

ETYMOLOGY: From canker (to decay, infect, or corrupt), from Old English cancer (crab, tumor) + blossom (the mass of flowers on a plant). Earliest documented use: 1600, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
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CAN KERB LOSS ...OM - a Brit meditating on limiting financial woes

TANKER-BLOSSOM - barnacles on the oil transport sip

CANKER-FLOSSOM - dentist's advice on how to prevent aphthous stomatitis (mouth sores)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CURVE-ALL - the original Warp Drive - 03/03/20 03:54 PM

CURE-ALL

PRONUNCIATION: (KYOOR-awl)

MEANING: noun: A remedy to any problem.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin cura (care or concern) + eall/all (all). Earliest documented use: 1793.
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C.U.? REALLY? - expression of disbelief and dismay over the scandal at Consumers' Union

CURSE-ALL - a symptom of Tourette's Syndrome

C.U. REAL - the Centrales Unidas soccer club
Posted By: wofahulicodoc WANTIT - 1) Gimme!; or 2) a pale bird - 03/04/20 04:33 PM

WANTWIT

PRONUNCIATION: (WANT-wit)

MEANING: noun: A fool; one lacking good sense.

ETYMOLOGY: From want + wit, from Old Norse vanta (be lacking) + Old English wit (mind). Earliest documented use: 1449.
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WASN'T WIT - distinctly not funny

TAN TWIT - tease about getting so much sun

WANT WRIT - No, you need a court order for that
Posted By: wofahulicodoc KNOT-IT-ALL - in no way - 03/05/20 09:15 PM

KNOW-IT-ALL

PRONUNCIATION: (NO-uht-ahl)

MEANING: noun: One who acts as if they know everything, dismissing others’ ideas or advice.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English cnawan (to recognize, identify) + hit (it) + eall/all (all). Earliest documented use: 1873
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KNOWITAL - a barbiturate that makes you omniscient

KIOWI TALL - slogan of a proud tribe of Native Americans from the central plains

KOWITALL - pertaining to phonetic copulation
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MAKE PENCE - mint low-denomination coins - 03/06/20 04:16 PM

MAKEPEACE

PRONUNCIATION: (MAYK-pees)

MEANING: noun: One who reconciles persons at odds with each other; a peacemaker.

ETYMOLOGY: From make + peace. From Old English macian (to make) + Old French pais, from Latin pax (peace). Earliest documented use: 1513.
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MAKEPLACE - provide room for another person

MAKEPEACH - grow Elbertas, Clings, and Freestones

SAKEPEACE - the tranquility that follows drinking rice wine
Posted By: wofahulicodoc QUID DIT ALIVE - says no French-English dictionary - 03/09/20 11:27 PM

QUIDDITATIVE

PRONUNCIATION: (KUI-di-tay-tiv)

MEANING: adjective: Relating to the essential nature of something or someone.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin quid (what), which also gave us quidnunc, quid pro quo, and quiddity. Earliest documented use: 1600.
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"QUIDDIT!" ACTIVE - an unmistakable order to stop

SQUIDDITATIVE - behaving like a tentacled marine cephalopod

QUADDITATIVE - transforming into a four-part entity
Posted By: wofahulicodoc MICO-CEPHALIC - having the head of a mushroom - 03/10/20 02:54 PM

MICROCEPHALIC

PRONUNCIATION: (my-kro-suh-FA-lik)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Having an abnormally small head.
2. Small-minded.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek micro- (small) + -cephalic (having a head), from kephale (head). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghebh-el- (head), which also gave us the word gable. Earliest documented use: 1857. The opposite of today’s word is macrocephalic.
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MICRONEPHALIC - with only the tiniest bit of turbidity

OMICROCEPHALIC - having a round head with a hole in the middle, like the Greek letter O

MICRO-CEPHELIC - a dwarf variable star, whose brightness pulsates with a well-defined stable period
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CHARYSOCRACY - rule by personal magnetism - 03/11/20 07:17 PM

CHRYSOCRACY

PRONUNCIATION: (kri-SAH-kruh-see)

MEANING: noun: Rule by the wealthy.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek chryso- (gold) + -cracy (rule). Earliest documented use: 1828. A synonym is plutocracy.
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CHRYSOCRACK - special kind of yellow cocaine

CHRYSOC TRACY - his real name; small wonder the detective preferred to be called "Dick" by his friends

CHRYSLOCRACY - when Ford and GM couldn't pull it off, yet another car manufacturer tried to make the rules
Posted By: wofahulicodoc well, that tears it - 03/13/20 09:36 PM

LACHRYMOGENIC

PRONUNCIATION: (lak-ruh-muh-JEN-ik)

MEANING: adjective: Inducing tears.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin lacrima (tear) + -genic (producing). Earliest documented use: 1907. Two related words are lachrymose and lachrymal.
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LACHRYMOPENIC - dry-eyed (not enough tears)

LOCH RYMOGENIC - a lake in the northernmost reaches of Scotland, little known and hardly ever visited

LACH RHYMOGENIC - a psychological disorder wherein the victim shows paroxysms of laughter leading to a compulsion to speak in rhymes
Posted By: wofahulicodoc anything but logorrhea... - 03/13/20 09:45 PM

PLENILOQUENCE

PRONUNCIATION:(ple-NIL-uh-kwens)

MEANING: noun: Excessive talking.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin pleni- (full) + -loquence (speaking). Earliest documented use: 1838. The opposite is breviloquence.
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PLENILOQUENCH - Shut up!

SPLENILOQUENCE - a lengthy screed, full if vitriol and anger

POENILOQUENCE - vividly describing wracking pain

PENCILOQUENCE - graphite-based writing
Posted By: wofahulicodoc and without substance, at that - 03/17/20 01:38 AM

RAZZLE-DAZZLE

(RAZ-uhl daz-uhl)

MEANING: noun: Noisy excitement, showy display, or extravagant actions, especially when executed in an effort to distract or confuse.

ETYMOLOGY: A reduplication of dazzle, frequentative of daze, from Old Norse dasa (weary). Earliest documented use: 1885.
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RAZZLEDAZOLE - a new anti-seizure medicine

FRAZZLE-DAZZLE - when people are stunned by your really, REALLY, REALLY bad-hair day

RAZZ LE DAZZLE - tease the ultra-bright Paris lighting
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HOB-KNOB - how a vagabond opens his door - 03/17/20 05:25 PM

HOBNOB

PRONUNCIATION: (HOB-nob)

MEANING: verb intr.: To associate socially, especially with people of higher status.

ETYMOLOGY: From the earlier phrase hobnob or hob-or-nob, used by two people to toast or drink to each other. It’s apparently from habnab meaning “give or take” or “hit or miss” from hab nab meaning “to have or have not”. Earliest documented use: 1761.
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MOBNOB - to mingle with the Capo and his associates

HOB-SNOB - Bilbo Baggins after his new-found stature went to his head

HORNOB - a brass musical instrument with a double reed
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ANTSY-FANTSY - highly ornate Formicidae - 03/18/20 03:57 PM

ARTSY-FARTSY (also ARTY-FARTY)

PRONUNCIATION: (art-see FART-see)

MEANING: adjective: Pretentiously artistic or sophisticated.

ETYMOLOGY: From reduplication of art, from Latin ars (art), as fart + pejorative diminutive suffix -sy. The word fart is from Old English feortan, ultimately from the Indo-European root perd- (to fart), which also gave us partridge and futz. Earliest documented use: 1962.

NOTES: In Japan, there’s a 33-foot long scroll depicting various scenes of fart competitions. In Japanese, it's called he-gassen (fart fight). Really! It's an enlarged and revised edition (the original was done by an unidentified painter in 1680) made by Fukuyama Soran in 1846.
______________________

ARTSO-FARTSY - another name for depictions of Japanese he-gassen (see notes, above)

ANTSY-FARTSY - restlessly flatulent

ARTY-PARTY - soirée in Greenwich Village NY
Posted By: wofahulicodoc prestidigitation, or Now you see it, now you don't - 03/20/20 12:18 AM

FLIMFLAM

PRONUNCIATION: (FLIM-flam)

MEANING: noun: 1. Nonsense.
2. Deception.
verb tr.: 1. To deceive.
2. To swindle.

ETYMOLOGY: A reduplication, probably of the Old Norse flim (mockery). Earliest documented use: 1538.
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F LIME LAM - loud green citrus fruit runs away

FLIMFLAME - the results when a flying flim gets too close to the candle (see also FLIMFLAMP)

FLIMFLAMB - offspring of a flimf ewe
Posted By: wofahulicodoc LARDY-DARBY - my hat has grease stains on it - 03/20/20 03:33 PM

LARDY-DARDY

PRONUNCIATION: (LAHR-dee DAHR-dee)

MEANING: adjective: Pretentious; affected; dandyish.

ETYMOLOGY: A reduplication of la-di-da which is imitative of affected pronunciation. Earliest documented use: 1861.
_______________________

LARDY-TARDY - the cook was late putting in the fat

LARRY-DARRY - affectionate nickname for a Stooge

LANDY-DANDY - scornful nickname for Mr Calrissian
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HOUSE MARINE - my underwater vacation dwelling - 03/23/20 03:22 PM

HORSE MARINE

PRONUNCIATION: (hors muh-REEN)

MEANING: noun:
1. Something imaginary.
2. Someone out of their element; a misfit.
3. A marine part of a cavalry or a cavalryman doing marine duty.

ETYMOLOGY: From horse, from Old English hors + marine, from Latin mare (sea). Earliest documented use: 1823.

NOTES: It sounds ridiculous that a soldier mounted on a horse would be of much use on water and that’s the idea behind the term horse marine. As unbelievable as it sounds, there have been horse marines in practice; there have been some famous horses in the US Marine Corps. Meet Staff Sergeant Reckless
.__________________________

HORSE FARINE - equine brought up eating only flour (thus poorly nourished and weak)

HORDE MARINE - an army (navy?) of Mermen

HORS DE MARINE - (French) blown out of the water
Posted By: wofahulicodoc CHEVALIER - spiritual godfather of Gigi - 03/24/20 03:27 PM

CHEVALIER

PRONUNCIATION: (shev-uh-LEER, shu-VAL-yay, -VAHL-)

MEANING: noun: A chivalrous man, one having qualities of courtesy, honor, bravery, gallantry, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From Anglo-Norman chevaler, from Old French chevalier, from Latin caballarius (horseman), from caballus (horse). Earliest documented use: 1377.
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CHEVALITER - 1000 cc of good Scotch

CHEVALIAR - Frenchman who mis-represents his horse's qualities to get you to buy it; precursor of a used-car dealer

CHE-VALUER - one who assigns great importance to Ernesto Guevera for his role in Cuban history
Posted By: wofahulicodoc UNHOARSE - after the laryngitis went away - 03/25/20 05:36 PM

UNHORSE

PRONUNCIATION: (uhn-HORS)

MEANING: verb tr.:
1. To dislodge from a horse.
2. To unseat from a position of power.

ETYMOLOGY: From un- (not) + horse, from Old English hors. Earliest documented use: 1390.
_________________________________

U.N. HOUSE - 405 E. 42nd Street, NY 10017, NY

SUNHORSE - logo of the oil conglomerate after Sunoco merged with Mobil

UNH OR SUE ! - claiming unlawful refusal to grant admission to the University of New Hampshire
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HIPPOCENE - the Horse Age - 03/26/20 03:42 PM

HIPPOCRENE

PRONUNCIATION: (HIP-uh-kreen, -kree-nee)

MEANING: noun: Poetic or literary inspiration.

ETYMOLOGY:
In Greek mythology, Hippocrene was a spring on Mt. Helicon and was created by a stroke of Pegasus’s hoof. From Greek hippos (horse) + krene (fountain, spring). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ekwo- (horse), which also gave us equestrian, equitant, hippodrome, and hippology. Earliest documented use: 1598.
_____________________________________

ZIPPOCRENE - a spouting of cigarette lighters

HIPPOCREME - the latest fat-dissolving scam

HIPPOCRATENE - facilitates the transition from medical student to physician
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HORSE TENSE - the nag is skittish - 03/27/20 08:41 PM

HORSE SENSE

PRONUNCIATION: (HORS sens)

MEANING: noun: Common sense.

ETYMOLOGY: From horse, from Old English hors + sense, from Latin sensus (faculty of feeling). Earliest documented use: 1832.

NOTES: Why horses in this idiom, as opposed to, say, foxes? Perhaps it’s the association of horses with the country and the sound practical judgment shown by an unsophisticated country person. Or maybe it’s an allusion to a horse’s sense in staying out of trouble. Also, in Jonathan Swift’s 1726 satire Gulliver’s Travels, Houyhnhnms is a race of horses endowed with reason, contrasted with Yahoos (boorish humans). Compare the term horsefeathers (nonsense).
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HOUSE SENSE - sanity among the Representatives

HOSE SENSE - good taste in stockings

HORSE SEANSE - it's the spirits of Topper and Trigger and Silver and Scout returned...
Posted By: wofahulicodoc OLYMPIAN - like the capital of Washington - 03/30/20 07:16 PM

OLYMPIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (oh-LIM-pee-uhn, uh-)

MEANING: adjective: 1. Lofty; surpassing others.
2. Like an Olympian god: majestic or aloof.
3. Of or relating to the Olympic Games.
4. Of or relating to Mount Olympus or gods and goddesses believed to be living there.
noun: 1. A person of great achievement or position.
2. A contestant in the Olympic Games.
3. A native or inhabitant of Olympia, Greece.
4. One of the ancient Greek gods.

ETYMOLOGY: Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece, was believed to be an abode of the gods in Greek mythology. Also, Olympia, a plain in ancient Greece, was the site of the ancient Olympic Games. Earliest documented use: 1487.
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POLYMPIAN - like many Military Police

ÖOLYMPIAN - the Egg Games of the Gods

0LYMPHIAN - an occasional complication of radical mastectomy

SO-LYMPIAN - champion of flaccidity
Posted By: wofahulicodoc BULKANISE - licorice-flavored plant, by the bushel - 03/31/20 02:13 PM

BALKANIZE (British BALKANISE)

PRONUNCIATION: (BAWL-kuh-nyz)

MEANING: verb tr.: To divide a region, group, etc., into small, often hostile, entities.

ETYMOLOGY: From allusion to the breakup of the the Balkan Peninsula following the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The Peninsula is named after Balkan Mountains, which are named after a Turkish word for mountains: balkan. Earliest documented use: 1917.
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WALKANIZE - a portmanteau word: to organize a walk to raise money for a charitable cause

BALKANIRE - the cause of this persistent hostility

BALKANITE - an iron ore found in the mountains of south-eastern Europe
Posted By: wofahulicodoc AREOPHAGUS - swallowing air - 04/02/20 12:02 AM

AREOPAGUS

PRONUNCIATION: (ar-ee-AHP/OP-uh-guhs)

MEANING: noun: A high court.

ETYMOLOGY: Via Latin, from Greek Areios pagos (hill of Ares, the Greek god of war), from Areios (of Ares) + pagos (hill), from pegnunai (to fasten or stiffen). In ancient Greece, Areios pagos was the site where the highest governmental council met. Later it turned into a judicial body. Earliest documented use: 1642.
_________________________________

ARENOPAGUS - Don't call me while I'm at the big game!

ARE NO PA, GUS - you don't make a very good Dad, Herr Mahler

AREOPA GNUS - wildebeasts from Areopa
Posted By: wofahulicodoc EYEREST - the treatment of eyestrain - 04/02/20 08:23 PM

EVEREST

PRONUNCIATION: (EV-uh-ruhst/rest)

MEANING: noun: The highest point of something: achievement, ambition, challenge, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: After Mount Everest, the highest mountain (8,848 m) on the Earth (above sea level) in the Himalayas. The mountain is named after George Everest (1790-1866), Surveyor-General of India. Earliest documented use: 1909.
_______________________________

NEVEREST - the ultimate in procrastination

EVEREAST - where the sun rises (for the next six billion years, anyway)

EVE PEST - mosquitos
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PELITON = a jam of bicycle-racers - 04/03/20 07:54 PM

PELION

PRONUNCIATION: (PEE-lee-uhn)

MEANING: noun: A huge or difficult task.

ETYMOLOGY: After Mount Pelion, a mountain in Greece. Earliest documented use: 1560.

NOTES: In Greek mythology, the twins Otus and Ephialtes piled Mount Pelion on Mount Ossa and both on Mount Olympus in an attempt to reach heaven and attack the gods. The word is mainly used in the idiom “to pile Pelion upon Ossa” meaning to make a challenging task even more difficult by piling something on top of it.
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pHELION - the acidity of a solar orbit

PET LION - not allowed in most municipalities (or zoos)

PELICON - seabird with a big distensible pouch in its mouth
Posted By: wofahulicodoc an inflated opinion of herself ? - 04/06/20 02:20 PM

MAE WEST

PRONUNCIATION: (may WEST)

MEANING: noun: An inflatable life jacket.

ETYMOLOGY: After actress, singer, and playwright Mae West (1893-1980), from the apparent resemblance of an inflated vest to her large bust. Earliest documented use: 1940.
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MALE WEST - the right-hand opponent of the player sitting North is a man

MA NEWEST - my most recent, in Savannah, Georgia

MAX WEST - the biggest member of the West family
Posted By: wofahulicodoc ADONIA - a school no lecturers or tutors with - 04/07/20 08:59 PM

ADONIC

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-DAH/DOH-nik)

MEANING: adjective: Strikingly handsome.

ETYMOLOGY: After Adonis, a very handsome youth in Greek mythology. There’s a verb coined after him, as well: adonize. Earliest documented use: 1579.
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ADDONIC - given to putting on more bells and whist

ADORIC - what Lucy did to her husband

ADONICE - hold the PR messages, we're scrubbing the advertising campaign

RADONIC - a basement with too much nasty gas
Posted By: wofahulicodoc HANDAL - composer of The Massiah - 04/08/20 03:17 PM

VANDAL

PRONUNCIATION: (VAN-dl)

MEANING: noun: One who willfully damages another’s property.

ETYMOLOGY: After Vandals, a Germanic tribe who overran Gaul, Spain, and northern Africa, and in 455 CE sacked Rome. Earliest documented use: 1555.
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EVANDAL - Dirksen and Gore

VANADAL - like Element #23

VANDAM - Belgian martial artist and action film star

FAN/DAL - New Delhi resident who enjoys breakfast
Posted By: wofahulicodoc NO, MR O'DIZE - to refuse the Irishman - 04/10/20 09:30 PM

NIMRODIZE

PRONUNCIATION: (NIM-ruh-dyz)

MEANING: verb intr.: To behave like a tyrant.

ETYMOLOGY: Nimrod was a great-grandson of Noah’s, according to the Bible. He was a hunter and an evil tyrannical king. Earliest documented use: 1614.
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NIMROD ICE - what the famed hunter puts in his Scotch

NAM, RODIZE - Private Rodize is having a flashback

NO, I'M RODIZE - Sergeant, you're talking to the wrong guy!
Posted By: wofahulicodoc SHADBAND - a school of unruly fish - 04/10/20 09:37 PM

CHADBAND

PRONUNCIATION: (CHAD-band)

MEANING: noun: An oily, hypocritical person.

ETYMOLOGY: After Rev. Mr. Chadband, a greedy preacher in Charles Dickens’s 1853 novel Bleak House. Earliest documented use: 1853.
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CHAN BAND - Sidney Toller's film family

CHARD BAND - the elastic strip that holds the vegetables together in a bunch

CHAD BRAND - that's how we know where in central Africa these products originate
Posted By: wofahulicodoc RAM - a branching set of unexpected consequences - 04/13/20 08:58 PM

RAD

PRONUNCIATION: (rad)

MEANING: noun: One who advocates fundamental or far-reaching change or reform.
adjective: Extraordinary; wonderful; fashionable; hip; cool.

ETYMOLOGY: From shortening of radical, from Latin radix (root). Ultimately from the Indo-European root wrad- (branch, root), which also gave us radish, root, rutabaga, eradicate, and ramify. Earliest documented use: 1820 for noun, 1976 for adjective.
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RAP - a Native American tribe historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming, clipped at both ends

RAID - a length of woven hair, clipped at its proximal end and free from insects

RAT - a casserole food, made from cooked eggplant and tomatoes, squash and pepper, onions and garlic, and more, not clipped at all but rather sliced or chopped
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PLIZ - I can has cheezburger? - 04/15/20 08:19 PM

PHIZ

PRONUNCIATION: (fiz)

MEANING: noun: Face; facial expression.

ETYMOLOGY: A shortening/respelling of physiognomy (face, expression), via French and Latin from Greek physiognomonia. Ultimately from the Indo-European root gno- (to know), which also gave us know, can, notorious, notice, connoisseur, recognize, diagnosis, ignore, annotate, noble, narrate, anagnorisis (the moment of recognition), gnomon (the raised arm of a sundial), gnomic (puzzling), and agnostic. Earliest documented use: 1687.
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PHIL - familiar name referring to a symphony orchestra

PHEZ - a pet game hen

pH OZ - the acidity of the water in the Emerald City
Posted By: wofahulicodoc P-LED - a diode which emits a very soft light - 04/15/20 08:37 PM

PLEB

PRONUNCIATION: (pleb)

MEANING: noun:
1. A commoner, one belonging to the working class.
2. An uncultured or unsophisticated person.
3. A person of low social status.

ETYMOLOGY: Short for plebeian, from Latin plebeius (of the common people), from plebs (common people). Earliest documented use: 1795.

NOTES: In 2012, the British MP Andrew Mitchell resigned when it was reported that he called a police officer this word. There’s more to the story and the incident has come to be known as Plebgate.
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PELE B - almost as good a fútbol player as Edson Arantes Do Nascimento

PHLEB - nickname of my friend the lab-test blood-drawer

PRE-B - A

Posted By: wofahulicodoc DIV Y - "Five hundred four. Why?" in Twitterspeak - 04/16/20 09:19 PM

DIVVY

PRONUNCIATION: (DIV-ee)

MEANING: noun: Dividend; share.
verb tr.: To divide and share.

noun: A foolish person.
adjective: Foolish.

ETYMOLOGY: For the first noun, verb: A shortening of dividend, from Latin dividere (to divide), from dis- (apart) + -videre (to separate). Earliest documented use: 1872.
For the second noun, adjective: Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1975.
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DIVEY - what follows "Mairzy Doats and Dozey Doats and Liddle Lamsey"

DIV NY - the New York division

DRIVVY - my feeble attempt at hitting a golfball off a tee
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PHNOM - clipped Capital of Cambodia - 04/17/20 05:44 PM

PHENOM

PRONUNCIATION: (FEE-nom, fi-NOM)

MEANING: noun: A person of outstanding ability or promise.

ETYMOLOGY: Shortening of phenomenon, from Latin phaenomenon, from Greek phainomenon (appearance), from phainesthai (to appear), from phainein (to show). Earliest documented use: 1881.
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PHEROM - subtle chemical produced by many lifeforms to induce a behavioral change in others of their species

PHONOM - what ET was trying to do

PHENNOM - snake poison

PRENOM - when a political candidate starts thinking of running for office
Posted By: wofahulicodoc PEER FORCE - an army of Noblemen - 04/20/20 09:40 PM

PERFORCE

PRONUNCIATION: (puhr-FORS)

MEANING: adverb: Out of necessity.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French par force (by force), from par (by) + force, from Latin per (by) and fortis (strong). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhergh- (high), which also gave us iceberg, borough, burg, burglar, fortify, force, belfry, bourgeois, inselberg, and sforzando. Earliest documented use: 1330.
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PET FORCE - an army of dogs and cats, plus the occasional bird and fish

APER FORCE - an army of mimics

PAR FORCE - golf holes, usually 300 to 450 yards long

PEE FORCE - what many men lose with age (or prostate enlargement)
Posted By: wofahulicodoc TOTEST: the most totally and absolutely imaginable - 04/22/20 01:17 AM

TOTES

PRONUNCIATION: (tohts)

MEANING: adverb: Totally; absolutely; definitely.

ETYMOLOGY: A shortening of totally, from total, from Latin totus (whole, entire). Earliest documented use: 2006.
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[Don't forget also
Totes (v.t.) - carries and
Totes (n, pl) bags for carrying one or more small objects]
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TORTES - feminine wrongdoings (legal)

TOTEO - an as-yet unreleased medium of mass entertainment that is
perceived by all the senses

TATE'S - brand name of a cheap, inconsistent, and misleading compass,
giving rise to the saying "He who has a Tate's is lost"
Posted By: wofahulicodoc NUMBR-OUSLY - countably - 04/22/20 09:41 PM

CUMBROUSLY

PRONUNCIATION: (KUHM-bruhs-lee)

MEANING: adverb: In an awkward or ponderous manner.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French encombrer (to hinder), from combre (dam). Earliest documented use: 1401.
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UMBROUSLY - like a shadow

CRUMBROUSLY - so as to leave a trail for following

CUM BROSL, Y - if Brosl is included, I say Yes
Posted By: wofahulicodoc GAS-KANCE - where you store fuel for the lawnmower - 04/23/20 07:45 PM

ASKANCE

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-SKANS)

MEANING: adverb:
1. With suspicion or disapproval.
2. With a side glance.

ETYMOLOGY: Origin unknown. Earliest documented use: 1530.
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MASKANCE - the degree of obscuration or concealment

ASH-KANCE - what the Super puts burnt-out coal in, to be picked up at curbside Monday mornings

ASKANCEK - a fictional island off the cost of Siberia (from a satirical novel by Tolstoy)

ASK ANNE - early candidate for the name of Eppie Lederer's advice column.
See also ASK ONCE
Posted By: wofahulicodoc P'NATCH - flair for flamboyance and style - 04/25/20 01:48 AM

NATCH

PRONUNCIATION: (nach)

MEANING: adverb: Naturally; of course.

ETYMOLOGY: Shortening and alteration of naturally, from natural, from Latin natura (nature), from nasci (to be born). Earliest documented use: 1945.
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NATH - (slang) abbreviation for "anathema," natch

NATACH - companion of Boris in old Bullwinkle cartoons

ATCH - a dyslexic adrenocortical hormone

NOT-CH - Ḥ
Posted By: wofahulicodoc to be continued... - 04/28/20 03:39 PM

More than 1000 entries in this thread - time to restart.

Continued here .
Posted By: A C Bowden Re: to be continued... - 04/29/20 03:31 AM
Originally Posted by wofahulicodoc
More than 1000 entries in this thread - time to restart.

I think you closed the wrong thread!

smirk
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