GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Algot Runeman]

Beemer

Pronunciation: /ˈbiːmə/
(also Beamer)
noun
informal
A car or motorcycle manufactured by the company BMW.

Origin
1980s (originally US): representing a pronunciation of the first two letters of BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG) + -er1.



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After Bea Meyer got her bemired Beemer extracted from the mud, she continued the Rally with her navigator. They came in third despite of the mishap and invested a small bit of the prize money to wash and buff the car to its normal gleaming beauty. Coincidentally, Alan the Audacious of banana seat audax fame was not allowed to enter his Radio Flyer wagon because of the "wheels not meeting the minimum standards of Rally diameter."

[Algot Runeman]

psittacine

Pronunciation: /ˈsɪtəkʌɪn/
/ˈsɪtəsʌɪn/
Ornithology
adjective
Relating to or denoting birds of the parrot family: psittacine beak and feather disease
noun
A bird of the parrot family: psittacines such as budgerigars and sulphur-crested cockatoos

Origin
Late 19th century: from Latin psittacinus 'of a parrot', from psittacus, from Greek psittakos 'parrot'.


Stuart Hacking

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Imagine now the stage and scene.
A pair of parrots, neat and clean
Standing out from forest green.
And lines that rhyme, psittacine.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

psittacine

Thank you for elucidating psittacine.

I was thinking of the hotness factor, because, though the words are only faintly similar, I was confusing with capsaicin.

Henceforth, of course, I'll always say (or write) psittacine whenever I mean a hot parrot. Maybe psittacinie for sexy little lovebirds?

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

dyslexia

Pronunciation: /dɪsˈlɛksɪə/
noun
[mass noun]
A general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence.

Origin
Late 19th century: coined in German from dys- 'difficult' + Greek lexis 'speech' (apparently by confusion of Greek legein 'to speak' and Latin legere 'to read').




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Bob's dyslexia demanded dedicated effort to read his assignments. He had super support in school and at home with his mother and older brother reading along with him when necessary. His dad even scanned and reprinted the textbooks using the helpful opendyslexic font.

[The forum has used a related word alexia before.]

[Algot Runeman]

ollie

noun (plural ollies)
(In skateboarding and snowboarding) a jump performed without the aid of a take-off ramp, executed by pressing the foot down on the tail of the board to rebound the deck off the ground.

verb (ollies, ollieing, ollied)
[no object]
Perform an ollie: they taught me to ollie and stuff

Origin
1970s: from the name of the US skateboarder Alan ‘Ollie’ Gelfand, who invented the jump in 1976.



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No longer banned to the alley,
Skateboards now have their own park.
But now every Tom, Dick and Sally
Ollie and crash the rails on a lark.

[To get a better sense of the jump, there are lots of Youtube videos.]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

ollie

I can well imagine svelte Stan making a jump with a skateboard or snowboard (had those existed in his heyday). But I doubt we'll ever see Ollie performing an ollie on whatever contraption. Though I'd love to see him try ...

P.S. For the very young readers: I refer to the legendary Arthur Stanley Jefferson and Norvell Hardy.

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

vestimentary

Pronunciation: /ˌvɛstɪˈmɛnt(ə)ri/
adjective
formal
Relating to clothing or dress: a vestimentary code

Origin
Early 19th century: from Latin vestimentum 'clothing' + -ary1.



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The vestimentary rules for skateboarders are obvious, though most adults cannot decipher them.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

vestimentary

My grandma had a very classy and stylish taste for fashionable clothes. Though granted that she had a slight penchant for fur coats and furry adornments.

It was quite fitting to her era, but of course totally clashing with today's skateboarders' vestimentary code.

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

veriest

Pronunciation: /ˈvɛrɪɪst/
adjective
[attributive] (the veriest) archaic
Used to emphasize the degree to which a description applies to someone or something: everyone but the veriest greenhorn knows by now

Origin
Early 16th century: superlative of very.



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Bob was the veriest web coder in the room. Of course, he had mistakenly entered a breakout session for the local Luddite society instead of the session on JavaScript tricks across the hall. That Bob didn't notice his mistake until halfway through the speaker's presentation might describe his current web coding level.

[Apologies for the illustration. It is pedestrian ,at best, and does not really illustrate today's word so much as the illustrious, illustrative sentences.]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

veriest

[Apologies for the illustration. It is pedestrian ,at best, ...]

As your illustration has no feet, it can hardly be pedestrian. It doesn't even look very handy, but it certainly has been hacked.

[Algot Runeman]

E.P.S.

You have made the veriest observations of my seated pedestrian which is now updated in the definition post with longer upper arms because somebody else pointed out his earlier version was looking like he had T-Rex ancestry.

The seated figure is a riff on the roadside sign used to warn drivers of an upcoming pedestrian crossing. The US warning sign has a walking figure in profile, but with no feet or hands. All my riffs tend to repeat that. I'm sure you are more familiar with one European version (which I hope I've replicated adequately). I cannot say much about the character of the hands and feet on that pedestrian either. And that head looks a little alien to me! I will say, the European pedestrian looks like he's crossing faster. Does that suggest anything about the drivers on the way to the crossing?

[Algot Runeman]

fabliau

Pronunciation: /ˈfablɪəʊ/
noun (plural fabliaux /ˈfablɪəʊz/)
A metrical tale, typically a bawdily humorous one, of a type found chiefly in early French poetry: one may dispute that the French fabliaux are pornographic [as modifier]: a distinctive feature of fabliau language

Origin
From Old French (Picard dialect) fabliaux, plural of fablel 'short fable', diminutive of fable.

Illustration NSFW "Not Safe for Work" nor for impressionable types or grandmothers or...

Spoiler: show

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Faux Fabliau
Sweet Sadie crept out like a mouse.
Her spouse snored alone in the house.
Then neighbor Jenny came over.
The spouse turned out to be a louse.

[Algot Runeman]

juba

Pronunciation: /ˈdʒuːbə/
noun
[mass noun]
A dance originating among plantation slaves in the southern US, featuring rhythmic handclapping and slapping of the thighs.

Origin
Late 19th century: of unknown origin.


UNMISS Media

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Jon didn't quite get the concept of the Juba. He figured out the clapping part, but kept trying to slap someone else's thighs.

[Algot Runeman]

floatel

Pronunciation: /fləʊˈtɛl/
(also flotel)
noun
1 A floating hotel, especially a boat used as a hotel.
1.1 An accommodation vessel for workers on an offshore oil rig.

Origin
1950s: blend of float and hotel; compare with boatel.



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Frank liked the life of a floatel captain. He enjoyed "parking" in different cities as his clients went from job to job, doing their construction or maintenance work. He didn't need to provide any entertainment, and the workers typically ate on shore so the galley was not overworked either. He also liked the trips between ports.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

floatel

The word floatel is new to me, but I've known about the concept for quite some time. Maybe even since the Queen Mary's permanent shackling in Long Beach, USA.

It also reminds me of M's clandestine office in Hong Kong (1974 MI6 headquarters in The Man with the Golden Gun), though that wasn't exactly floating.

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

I'm not sure about that photo of the Queen Mary?

Why wouldn't somebody take the photo, still from overhead, but with a lateral aspect. As it is, he image looks to me like the ship is shooting downward somehow.

[Algot Runeman]

biryani

Pronunciation: /ˌbɪrɪˈɑːni/
(also biriyani, biriani)
noun
[mass noun]
An Indian dish made with highly seasoned rice and meat, fish, or vegetables: prawn biryani

Origin
Urdu, from Persian biryāni, from biriyān 'fried, grilled'.


John Keogh

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"Get me more beer, Yanni," called Shelly from the table. "This biryani is hotter than usual. What did you add, oh great chef?"

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

biryani
...

Why is this called biryani, I wonder?

It looks like a helping of Valencian paella with a ladleful of Magyar goulash and a Teutonic fried egg on the side, served on a Delftware plate.

European union cuisine, isn't it?

[Algot Runeman]

formicidae

\fȯrˈmisəˌdē\
noun
[mass noun]
Latin name for the ant family in the animal kingdom.



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Alex Wild is a professional photographer who takes superb photos of many species in the ant family, formicidae, among others.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

formicidae

The formi root appears in several other places.

In organic chemistry for example:
HCOOH, formic acid
HCHO, formaldehyde

I guess formicidae is derived from the French word fourmi (ant).

But the brand name Formica has nothing to do with ants, it actually means [substitute] for mica.

Then there's the famous hit song by Charles Aznavour to put ants in your pants (with partially English lyrics):

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

entity

Pronunciation: /ˈɛntɪti/
noun (plural entities)
1 A thing with distinct and independent existence: Church and empire were fused in a single entity
1.1 [mass noun] Existence; being: entity and nonentity

Origin
Late 15th century (denoting a thing's existence): from French entité or medieval Latin entitas, from late Latin ens, ent- 'being' (from esse 'be').



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The couple of 50 years seemed like a single entity to all who knew them.

[Algot Runeman]

kludgy

Pronunciation: /ˈklʌdʒi/
/ˈkluːdʒi/
(also kludgey, cludgy)
adjective (kludgier, kludgiest; cludgier, cludgiest)
informal, chiefly Computing
Awkwardly or inelegantly made or done: you can copy files over a network using slightly kludgy onscreen menus

Origin
1960s: from kludge + -y1.

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Kludgy code which gets the job done is better than elegant programs which do not.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

kludgy

Over the years I've encountered multiple kludgy entities. The fastest way to gain their trust was NOT trying to correct or elevate them. I had to accept them the way they were.

Though I must admit it took me many embarrassing missteps before I fully realised it.

My conclusion is: treat the kludgy ones with as much respect and consideration as you'd like to be treated yourself.

[Algot Runeman]

dulciana

Pronunciation: /ˌdʌlsɪˈɑːnə/
noun
An organ stop, typically with small conical open metal pipes.

Origin
Late 18th century: via medieval Latin from Latin dulcis 'sweet'.



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George loved his HO guage trains. His entire basement was a vast setup with more than a dozen interconnected loops. George's father was the long standing organist of the city's cathedral where the organ was famous. George made his dad happy by naming all the towns in the train layout for organ stops. His main train yard was in "Diapason" and some of the other cities were "Dulciana", "Bourdon", 'Sifflet", "Bombard" and "Geigen." The Arduino-controlled sound synthesizer George had built played appropriate stop sounds as train whistles while passing through each of the cities. George's mom only asked that he turn the volume to a low level.

[Algot Runeman]

vocation

Pronunciation: /və(ʊ)ˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/
noun
1 A strong feeling of suitability for a particular career or occupation: not all of us have a vocation to be nurses or doctors
1.1 A person’s employment or main occupation, especially regarded as worthy and requiring dedication: her vocation as a poet
1.2 A trade or profession: GNVQs in Leisure and Tourism will be the introduction to a wide span of vocations

Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin vocatio(n-), from vocare 'to call'.



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Family Business

His trade was to trade:
A pill for a buck,
A suit off a truck.
Vocation? Be "made."