Jackie, I can read you post if I click "Quick Quote."
I was able to make one new post in Q & A and W & F but was unable to Reply or Edit, so I thought I'd try another new one here,
Here's what I tried to post:
According to the Detroit Free Press, Wayne State University "unveiled its annual list of the top 10 most useful--and underused--words in the English language":
• Buncombe: Rubbish; nonsense; empty or misleading talk.
• Cerulean: The blue of the sky.
• Chelonian: Like a turtle.
• Dragoon: To compel by coercion; to force someone to do something they'd rather not.
• Fantods: Extreme anxiety, distress, nervousness or irritability.
• Mawkish: Excessively sentimental; sappy; hopelessly trite.
• Natter: To talk aimlessly, often at great length; rarely, it means simply to converse.
• Persiflage: Banter; frivolous talk.
• Troglodyte: Literally, a cave-dweller. More frequently a backward, mentally sluggish person.
• Winkle: To pry out or extract something; from the process of removing the snail from an edible periwinkle.
But I can't edit my reply. This software has serious problems.
I CAN'T read jackie's post by using "quote" - it was the first thing I tried because it has worked in the past.
Edit
but I have been able to edit this one!
Curioser and curioser. (said Alice, wonderingly)
We should remember that Jackie has powers here that the rest of us don't; she's a Moderator. There may be some issue which only affects her, or perhaps, as Tromb suggests, there might be a problem with the forum software.
Buffle, you may be right; I dunno. Not that I'm glad anyone else is having problems, but I'm glad I'm not the only one. Thanks, Peter.
Wow, it's an odd feeling--that you're yelling at the top of your lungs but the crowd doesn't hear you.
Yay!! Back from Mutedom!!
and here I thought perhaps you were staging a Mutiny....
;¬ )
YES!
I received your last two posts above, back from "mutedom".
As to the words.
I love "cerulean", and use the word whenever it fits.
> Buncombe
I've always seen this as Bunkum. Buncombe looks so English...
As to the words.
I love "cerulean", and use the word whenever it fits.
I like cerulean, too, and I think it's why I always want to pronounce "herculean" the wrong way...
....now that you mention it.(Bunkum)
..yes, herculean. I do pronounce it that way too, even knowing
it is not right. Funny how one gets these mental connections
and cannot stave them off.
Buncombe does, indeed, sound "English" - but in UK we also write it as "bunkum."
Not a word heard much, these days, more's the pity.
I have occasionally used, "persiflage" - another fine word!
So, whose idea is it to spell it buncombe?
now that you mention 'persiflage' I am going to add it to my
favorite definition of politicians:
"Bloviating blatherskites, with their tarradiddling
codswallop and persiflage, which they dump on us."
Not totally developed but I am working on it.
I welcome input.
So, whose idea is it to spell it buncombe?
Reminds me of spelling of the name of a town in the Cotswalds.
As to the words.
I love "cerulean", and use the word whenever it fits.
I like cerulean, too, and I think it's why I always want to pronounce "herculean" the wrong way...
your major dictionaries seem to give "the wrong way" as (at a minimum) a secondary pronun. I still have an issue interpreting IPA, but it looks to me like OED gives it as the *only pronun. - at least the accent is on the second sylLAble.
So, "her-KYOO-lee-an" is acceptable? Hmm, I remember being fairly rounded upon when admitting I thought that was the pronunciation.
Cool.
So, whose idea is it to spell it buncombe?
Probably the folks in Buncombe County, NC, which provided the etymology of bunk.
I like cerulean, too, and I think it's why I always want to pronounce "herculean" the wrong way...
Wait. You pronounce Herculean cerulean?
I like cerulean, too, and I think it's why I always want to pronounce "herculean" the wrong way...
Wait. You pronounce Herculean cerulean?
heh
So, whose idea is it to spell it buncombe?
Probably the folks in Buncombe County, NC, which provided the etymology of bunk.
as in bunk bed? and bunco?
Back from mootdom...er...
Anyway--I love you guys! This kind of discussion is what I was hoping for.
Somewhat on the side,
must disagrrree with this be it underused or overused:
* Cerulean: The blue of the sky.
The sky has as many shades of blue as there are shades of grey.
Not to mention that old perennial favorite, sky blue pink.
as in bunk bed?
Probably not.
and bunco?
Nope. Bunk as in "nonsense".
One of my favourites is "mother of pearl sky" and a "papaya pink sunset". I think thelast was Somerset Maugham- I'm not sure.
as in bunk bed?
Probably not.
and bunco?
Nope. Bunk as in "nonsense".
Thanks.
so... bunk bed? bunco? Where they from? ;¬ )
Back from mootdom...er...
Anyway--I love you guys! This kind of discussion is what I was hoping for.
A discussion of your disappearance?
or maybe nothingness???
A discussion of ... nothingness???
We could spend hours here with
nothing to talk about.
so... bunk bed?
Origin unknown.
bunco? Where they from?
From a card game banco, related to bank
;¬ )
%^)
A discussion of ... nothingness???
We could spend hours here with
nothing to talk about.
And often do!
so... bunk bed?
Origin unknown.
bunco? Where they from?
From a card game banco, related to bank
;¬ )
%^)
okey dokey!
can we extrapolate bunk bed from bunk house? or did that come about vicey versey?
so... bunk bed?
Origin unknown.
Etymology Online claims it's from
bunker. Just a step up from "unknown".
can we extrapolate bunk bed from bunk house?
I am not sure, but if I had to guess I'd say the hosue from the beds in it.
Etymology Online claims it's from bunker.
Etymology Online says: "1758, probably a shortened from bunker (q.v.)." That "probably" is one reason I do not care for EO. The guy who cobbled it together from all sorts of sources seems not to like "origin unknown" or "etymology uncertain" and does his best to "solve" these lacunae.
so vicey versey on the bunk beds, and bunker has nothing to do with Buncombe.
It's all coming together!