Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 11 of 26 1 2 9 10 11 12 13 25 26
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2

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.

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2

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.
____________________________

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

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2

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.
_______________________________

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

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2

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.
_________________________

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

wofahulicodoc #229746 10/08/19 01:24 AM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2

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.
__________________________

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")

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2

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.
__________________________

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

wofahulicodoc #229752 10/09/19 08:27 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2

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)

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2

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")

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2

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

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,695
Likes: 2

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

Page 11 of 26 1 2 9 10 11 12 13 25 26

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,549
Members9,187
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Karin, JeffMackwood, artguitar, Jim_W, Rdbuffalo
9,187 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
1 members (A C Bowden), 136 guests, and 5 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
wofahulicodoc 10,695
tsuwm 10,542
LukeJavan8 9,928
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5