GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Monday November 15, 2004

chortle \CHOR-tl\, transitive and intransitive verb: To utter, or express with, a snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle. noun: A snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle.

Benjamin himself chortled now, an odd laugh to which I grew accustomed in years to come.
--Jay Parini, Benjamin's Crossing

Even Isaksson's stern wife, who rarely cracked a smile, chortled with glee, and Old Mothstead slapped his thighs and flapped his apron and danced around the couple, who moved in ever larger rings amongst the kegs.
--Kerstin Ekman, Witches' Rings, translated by Linda Schenck

A nation that was used to chortling over Charlie Chaplin or rejoicing with the high-stepping Ziegfeld girls found itself drawn to this more refined, decidedly European entertainment.
--Larry Tye, The Father of Spin

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chortle a combination of chuckle and snort. It was coined by Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson), in Through the Looking-Glass, published in 1872.

/me always called that a snuckle or i owuld say "did you just blow coffee out your nose?"

[felonius]

Whenever I read the word 'chortle' I'm somehow always brought back to those good ol' Hardy Boys mysteries and their tendency to supplant the word 'said' with a variety of stilted substitutes:

"Shucks," exclaimed Joe.

"Wait a second," cautioned Frank.

"Piece of junk," quipped Biff.

"We're due at ten," Fenton stated.

"What a doll!" chortled Chet, mouth full of frankfurter.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Tuesday November 16, 2004

louche \LOOSH\, adjective: Of questionable taste or morality; disreputable or indecent; dubious; shady.

You've got to keep yourself free of any suggestion of louche behavior.
--Anthony West

A man in a bar, utterly average, though there is something louche about him, something sly.
--Andrew Holleran, In September, the Light Changes

Danny would be sipping a mai tai or a whiskey sour in some louche West End club.
--Will Self, Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys

In the louche era of the Regency she was almost a portent of the Victorian ideal to come; in an earlier age she might have been a Puritan.
--Mary S. Lovell, Rebel Heart

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Louche is from French louche, "shady, suspicious," from Old French losche, "squint-eyed," from Latin luscus, "one-eyed."

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Wednesday November 17, 2004

supplant \suh-PLANT\, transitive verb:
1. To take the place of (another), especially through intrigue or underhanded tactics; as, a rival supplants another.
2. To take the place of and serve as a substitute for.

He's your rival. The one you'll have to supplant.
--Peter Brooks, World Elsewhere

In traditional accounts, early Greek times appear as a succession of migrations; one tribe drives out and supplants another until driven out in turn by a third, and this process may have lasted many hundreds of years.
--Jacob Burckhardt, The Greeks and Greek Civilization

Economic opportunities for a saddler and harness maker were beginning to decline . . . as railroads supplanted the stagecoach trade.
--Dennis J. Hutchinson, The Man Who Once Was Whizzer White

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supplant derives from Latin supplantare, "to put one's foot under another, to throw down a person by tripping up his heels," from sub-, "under" + plantare, "to stamp the ground with the foot," from planta, "the sole of the foot."

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Friday November 19, 2004

denouement \day-noo-MAWN\, noun: 1. The final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work.
2. The outcome of a complex sequence of events.

And perhaps this helps to explain the frequency of the violent denouement in contemporary novels: in the country that embraced the slogan "Today is the first day of the rest of your life," how do you call it quits on a character who is still breathing?
--Brad Leithauser, "You Haven't Heard the Last of This," New York Times, August 30, 1998

Of course, the crusaders were losers in the short run, but Europe's storytellers have traditionally awarded them the righteous victory and not dwelt on the embarrassing denouement.
--Todd Gitlin, The Twilight of Common Dreams

Though still only a prospect on the horizon, this, I think, could well be the next revolution. What a denouement if it is!
--Julian Barbour, The End of Time

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Denouement is from French, from Old French denoer, "to untie," from Latin de- + nodare, "to tie in a knot," from nodus, "a knot."

[Darb]

Their long torrid courtship finally reached it's inevitable and climactic denouement in the boudoir.

[jweb]

Their long torrid courtship finally reached it's inevitable and climactic denouement in the boudoir.

So they untied the knots in the bedroom? TMI!

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Monday November 22, 2004

disquisition \dis-kwuh-ZISH-uhn\, noun: A formal discourse on a subject.

Hence, although the publisher calls Mr. Roth's work "An Essay on Evil in the Modern World," it will be found to differ materially in approach and manner of treatment from the usual disquisition on an ancient topic.
--Percy Hutchison, "That Old Arch-Enemy of Man, the Antichrist," New York Times, May 12, 1935

Gore was partial to eye-glazing disquisitions on reciprocal trade.
--Bill Turque, Inventing Al Gore

The treatises and pamphlets of the late eighteenth century about the reform of commerce were considered, very soon, to be disquisitions of only limited and technical interest.
--Emma Rothschild, Economic Sentiments

. . . a rambling disquisition, with copious historical discussion and many anecdotes.
--James McCourt, Delancey's Way

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disquisition comes from Latin disquisitio, from disquirere, "to inquire into, to investigate," from dis- + quaerere "to seek." It is related to inquire ("to seek into") and exquisite, which describes something that is "sought out" (ex-, "out") because of beauty, delicacy, or perfection.

[Kvetch]

yayness! new vocabulary.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Tuesday November 23, 2004

panjandrum \pan-JAN-druhm\, noun: An important personage or pretentious official.

Needless to say, when governors and ministers and the panjandrums of British public life asked these appointed advisers and those from whose ranks they were largely drawn for their views on democratic development, they gave the answers that might have been expected.
--Christopher Patten, East and West

And so I have appointed myself the chairman, High Panjandrum, Grand Inquisitor -- and sole member -- of a grievance committee of my own making.
--Alan K. Simpson, Right in the Old Gazoo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Panjandrum was coined by Samuel Foote (1720-1777) in a piece of nonsense writing:

So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage-leaf to make an apple-pie; and at the same time a great she-bear, coming up the street, pops its head into the shop. "What! No soap?" So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber: and there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies, and the grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top, and they all fell to playing the game of catch-as-catch-can till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.

It was composed on the spot to challenge actor Charles Macklin's claim that he could memorize anything. Macklin is said to have refused to repeat a word of it.

/a bit of word trivia to impress your friends

[felonius]

So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage-leaf to make an apple-pie; and at the same time a great she-bear, coming up the street, pops its head into the shop. "What! No soap?" So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber: and there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies, and the grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top, and they all fell to playing the game of catch-as-catch-can till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.

Brilliant.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Monday November 29, 2004

Promethean \pruh-MEE-thee-un\, adjective: 1. Of or pertaining to Prometheus. 2. Boldly original or creative.

Three years later, he became the first American playwright to achieve the Nobel Prize for Literature and was embraced as Broadway's Promethean emblem.
--Arthur Gelb and Barbara Gelb, O'Neill: Life With Monte Cristo

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Promethean self-confidence of the new sciences had seemed likely to sweep everything before it.
--Patrick Allitt, Catholic Converts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prometheus, "forethought" in Greek, was the Titan of Greek mythology who stole fire from Olympus and gave it to mankind. For this, Zeus chained him to a rock where a vulture preyed upon his liver until Hercules saved him. The name comes from promethes, "forethoughtful," from pro, "forward" + an element perhaps derived from menos, "mind."

Usage: Promethean is usually capitalized.

Trivia: Prometheus was fabled to have made man out of clay and to have taught man how to use fire. A metallic element of the periodic table, promethium (Pm) was named for him.

[felonius]

Prometheus Bound, for anyone looking for a fix of classic Greek. It ain't the most feelgood play Aescy ever quilled, but there's some good stuff in there.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Tuesday November 30, 2004

contretemps \KAHN-truh-tahn\, noun;
plural contretemps \-tahnz\: An inopportune or embarrassing situation or event; a hitch.

Mrs. Post was the center of a notable contretemps when she spilled a spoonful of berries at a dinner of the Gourmet Society here in 1938.
--"Emily Post Is Dead Here at 86; Writer was Arbiter of Etiquette," New York Times, September 27, 1960

He looked worried, distressed, more distressed than one should look in the face of a slight contretemps.
--Anita Brookner, Undue Influence

Nathan was a fiercely ambitious and competitive man, as quick to take offence as to give it in his business dealings, and it is not difficult to imagine him responding impetuously to such a contretemps.
--Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contretemps comes from French, from contre, "against" (from Latin contra) + temps, "time" (from Latin tempus).

[laurie]

Prometheus Bound, for anyone looking for a fix of classic Greek. It ain't the most feelgood play Aescy ever quilled, but there's some good stuff in there.

If my memory serves me (God, it's been almost 30 years since my Greek Lit. course ), Aeschylus didn't write ANY feel-good plays.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, Felonius.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Wednesday December 1, 2004

ne plus ultra \nee-plus-UL-truh; nay-\, noun: 1. The highest point, as of excellence or achievement; the acme; the pinnacle; the ultimate. 2. The most profound degree of a quality or condition.

He also penned a number of supposedly moral and improving books which . . . were the very ne plus ultra of tedium.
--Richard West, "A life fuller than fiction," Irish Times, August 9, 1997

If you were a graduate student in the 80's and subject to the general delusion that held literary criticism to be the ne plus ultra of intellectual thrill, then you too probably owned one of these: an oversize paperback with an austere cover and small-type title that, grouped with three or more of its kind on your bookshelf, confirmed your status as an avatar of predoctoral chic.
--Judith Shulevitz, "Correction Appended," New York Times, October 29, 1995


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ne plus ultra is from Latin, literally, "(go) no more beyond", from ne, "not" + plus, "more" + ultra, "beyond."

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Thursday December 2, 2004

empyrean \em-py-REE-uhn; -PEER-ee-\, noun:
1. The highest heaven, in ancient belief usually thought to be a realm of pure fire or light. 2. Heaven; paradise. 3. The heavens; the sky.

adjective: Of or pertaining to the empyrean of ancient belief.

She might have been an angel arguing a point in the empyrean if she hadn't been, so completely, a woman.
--Edith Wharton, "The Long Run," The Atlantic, Feburary 1912

In the poem -- one he had the good sense finally to abandon -- he pictured himself as a blind moth raised among butterflies, which for a brief moment had found itself rising upward into the empyrean to behold "Great horizons and systems and shores all along," only to find its wings crumpling and itself falling -- like Icarus -- back to earth.
--Paul Mariani, The Broken Tower: A Life of Hart Crane

In my experience, the excitement generated by a truly fresh and original piece of writing is the rocket fuel that lifts Grub Street's rackety skylab -- with its grizzled crew of editors, publishers, agents, booksellers, publicists -- into orbit in the empyrean.
--Robert McCrum, "Young blood," The Observer, August 26, 2001

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Empyrean comes from Medieval Latin empyreum, ultimately from Greek empurios, from en-, "in" + pyr, "fire."

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Friday December 3, 2004

malversation \mal-vur-SAY-shun\, noun: Misconduct, corruption, or extortion in public office.

The Inspector General Act was designed to protect patriotic whistle-blowers who seek to reveal malversation in government.
--Arthur Schlesinger Jr., "How History Will Judge Him," Time, February 22, 1999

Aniano Desierto, the government ombudsman, said that the preliminary investigation would take 60 days and involve six charges: plunder, malversation (misuse of funds), violations of the anti-graft law, perjury, bribery and possession of unexplained wealth.
--"Estrada faces plunder inquiry," Times (London), Jan 22, 2001

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malversation comes, via French, from Latin male, "badly" + versari, "to be engaged in, to take part in."

Bonus definition within a definition:
om·buds·man: n. A man who investigates complaints and mediates fair settlements, especially between aggrieved parties such as consumers or students and an institution or organization.

[laurie]

Do ombudsmen sometimes commit malversation too?


Ooh, the possibilities ...

[Darb]

Do ombudsmen sometimes commit malversation too?


Ooh, the possibilities ...

Sure. What's the answer worth to ya ?

/me holds out palm

- IBDoF Ombudsman

[laurie]

Just how many IBDoF titles do you hold, Brad ?

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Monday December 6, 2004

genuflect \JEN-yuh-flekt\, intransitive verb:
1. To bend the knee or touch one knee to the ground, as in worship.
2. To be servilely respectful or obedient; to grovel.

After graduation I talked my way into a job at Ionic Development Corporation, a legendary place in Cambridge on the Charles River, a huge brick building with a lobby the size of a cathedral; every time I walked in, I felt as if I should genuflect.
--Daniel Lyons, Dog Days

People worship capital, adore its aura, genuflect before Porsches and Tokyo land values.
--Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance (translated by Alfred Birnbaum)

Chen said recently he was proud to be a Chinese, a signal to Beijing that he is willing to be conciliatory. The communists, however, apparently want him to genuflect more unambiguously.
--Sin-Ming Shaw, "Give This Guy a Break!" Time Asia, October 30, 2000

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Genuflect is from Late Latin genuflectere, from Latin genu, "knee" + flectere, "to bend."

[felonius]

If my memory serves me (God, it's been almost 30 years since my Greek Lit. course ), Aeschylus didn't write ANY feel-good plays.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, Felonius.

No, no argument here, m'lady, I just meant it in the sense that P.B. is particularly bleak, even for a tragedian. Consider the closing stage direction:

(the scene closes with earthquake and thunder, in the midst of which PROMETHEUS and the DAUGHTERS OF OCEANUS sink into the abyss.)

Doctor Feelgood!! Amusing to think of the ancient Greek audience at the conclusion of the play's original performance at the Acropolis - families standing up from their seats, stretching, Dads saying: "Okay, you little skatas, who wants to grab some hot souvlaki on the way home?"

Chen said recently he was proud to be a Chinese, a signal to Beijing that he is willing to be conciliatory. The communists, however, apparently want him to genuflect more unambiguously.
--Sin-Ming Shaw, "Give This Guy a Break!" Time Asia, October 30, 2000

Funny reading that, 4 years old now - not much has changed. Chen Shui-bian (President of Taiwan) just announced yesterday a plan to push for sweeping change of the names of all the country's foreign offices and state firms from "China" to "Taiwan." That's a pretty unambiguous NON-genuflect.

If China starts shooting missiles over here I'm gonna be out of a job...

(sorry for lengthy thread digression there, Monsieur Ghost...)

[Ghost]

(sorry for lengthy thread digression there, Monsieur Ghost...)

No, no . . . your posts are more than welcome; and contain very interesting information.

Thank you, I get tired of talking to myself.

[laurie]

We'll keep you company, Ghost !


Whenever I hear the word genuflect, an image forms in my mind of Sister Emily, the nun who taught my First Communion preparation class. She had one of those clicker thingees, and whenever she clicked, you knelt - OR ELSE !