GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)
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CodeBlower
- Shakespearean Groupie
- Posts: 1760
- Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2006 12:27 am
- Location: IL, USA
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CodeBlower
- Shakespearean Groupie
- Posts: 1760
- Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2006 12:27 am
- Location: IL, USA
- Contact:
Word of the Day Thursday March 26, 2009
propinquity \pruh-PING-kwih-tee\, noun: 1. Nearness in place; proximity. 2. Nearness in time. 3. Nearness of relation; kinship.
Following the race he took umbrage at Stewart's rough driving so early in the day, and the propinquity of the two drivers' haulers allowed the Kid to express his displeasure up close and personal.
-- Mark Bechtel, "Getting Hot", Sports Illustrated, December 6, 2000
Technologically it is the top service among the women's fighting forces, and it also has the appeal of propinquity to gallant young airmen.
-- "After Boadicea -- Women at War", Time Europe, October 9, 1939
I was stunned by the propinquity of the events: I had never been in the same room with anyone who was later murdered.
-- Karla Jay, Tales of the Lavender Menace
Schultz came by her position through propinquity: her husband, older by 12 years, used to play music with De Maiziere and afterward chat about politics.
-- Johanna McGeary, "Challenge In the East", Time, November 8, 1990
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Propinquity derives from Latin propinquitas, from propinquus, near, neighboring, from prope, near.
propinquity \pruh-PING-kwih-tee\, noun: 1. Nearness in place; proximity. 2. Nearness in time. 3. Nearness of relation; kinship.
Following the race he took umbrage at Stewart's rough driving so early in the day, and the propinquity of the two drivers' haulers allowed the Kid to express his displeasure up close and personal.
-- Mark Bechtel, "Getting Hot", Sports Illustrated, December 6, 2000
Technologically it is the top service among the women's fighting forces, and it also has the appeal of propinquity to gallant young airmen.
-- "After Boadicea -- Women at War", Time Europe, October 9, 1939
I was stunned by the propinquity of the events: I had never been in the same room with anyone who was later murdered.
-- Karla Jay, Tales of the Lavender Menace
Schultz came by her position through propinquity: her husband, older by 12 years, used to play music with De Maiziere and afterward chat about politics.
-- Johanna McGeary, "Challenge In the East", Time, November 8, 1990
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Propinquity derives from Latin propinquitas, from propinquus, near, neighboring, from prope, near.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
S Adams
Despite the gastric tumult caused by having bulleted two malted milk shakes in rapid succession, Freddo felt a different tumult due to the propinquity of an attractive young woman. But the context did not seem promissory to promiscuity.
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine
[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
Friday March 27, 2009
feckless \FEK-lis\, adjective:
1. Ineffective; having no real worth or purpose.
2. Worthless; irresponsible; generally incompetent and ineffectual.
He was a great admirer of the poetry of plain speech. He despised mere feckless adornments of language or thought.
-- Richard Elman, Namedropping: Mostly Literary Memoirs
Nelson spent decades in feckless pursuit of a superstructure for implementing his grand design.
-- Paul Andrews, How The Web Was Won
Grandpa was a jovial, good-natured man but feckless and addicted to drink, producing in Lucy an everlasting hatred of liquor that she must have drummed into her grandson.
-- Ron Chernow, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
Feckless is from Scots feck, alteration of effect + -less.
Saturday March 28, 2009
velleity \veh-LEE-uh-tee; vuh-\, noun:
1. The lowest degree of desire; imperfect or incomplete volition.
2. A slight wish or inclination.
To become now a priest was an elevation of sorts; yet the ceremony, as we would soon see, reinforced every contrast between the life he would lead and the life of the high and mighty, for whom the crowds roar and the bands play, courtiers and servants surrounding them to gratify the least velleity, historians on their toes to record their wispiest thought.
-- William F. Buckley Jr., Nearer, My God
The ease of her words, the control of them, was meant to convey to Compton that her wish to know of her real parents was hardly more than a velleity, a thought that would come to one while watering a plant or peeling an orange.
-- Thomas Savage, The Sheep Queen
He does not shout out his wishes or velleities, unless invited by his host to do so.
-- Philip Howard, "Modern Manners", Times (London), September 15, 2003
Velleity is derived from Latin velle, "to will, to be willing, to wish."
Sunday March 29, 2009
osculation \os-kyuh-LAY-shuhn\, noun:
The act of kissing; also: a kiss.
He had engaged in nervous osculation with all three of Lord Flamborough's daughters.
-- Thomas Sutcliffe, "The art of seduction, the skill of the tackle", Independent, June 13, 1994
Their incessant onstage osculations during her last concert tour seemed to offer public proof of their passion.
-- "The Big Boom in Breakups", People, November 13, 1995
Osculation comes from osculatio, "a kissing," from osculari, "to kiss," from osculum, "a little mouth, a kiss," diminutive of os, "mouth."
(Writer's Volleyball 2009 spoof) 
Tormented in his dreams by The One Ring of Power, Freddo was no longer a feckless teenage compulsive hand washer, and polite slave of social conformity who idly flitted from one youthful velleity to another. Oh no ... in his wicked dreams of power he was a naughty, edgy, and rebellious young teen who didn't bathe daily, and dreamed of dirty bathrooms, osculation, and causing mild embarassment and uncertainty to people even shorter and more timid than himself. His head swam drunkenly at the thought of weilding such supreme evil power !
Tormented in his dreams by The One Ring of Power, Freddo was no longer a feckless teenage compulsive hand washer, and polite slave of social conformity who idly flitted from one youthful velleity to another. Oh no ... in his wicked dreams of power he was a naughty, edgy, and rebellious young teen who didn't bathe daily, and dreamed of dirty bathrooms, osculation, and causing mild embarassment and uncertainty to people even shorter and more timid than himself. His head swam drunkenly at the thought of weilding such supreme evil power !
Last edited by Darb on Sun Mar 29, 2009 4:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I often have the velleity to be the first to use the new WotD, to say nothing of contributing to the Volleyball 2009.
But my efforts are mostly feckless.
PG-13
But my efforts are mostly feckless.
PG-13
Spoiler: show
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine
[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
Word of the Day Monday March 30, 2009
ludic \LOO-dik\, adjective: Of or relating to play; characterized by play; playful.
Um, there's only one problem: her mother. Who, being a substantial executive, has a somewhat different attitude to the worth of the professions than her wastrel, ludic husband.
-- Pat Kane, "Pleasing papa", The Guardian, July 11, 2001
He is indeed the outstanding imaginative prose stylist of his generation, with an entirely recognizable literary manner, fizzy and playful (I am trying to avoid the words "pyrotechnic" and "ludic").
-- Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "What Kingsley Can Teach Martin", The Atlantic, September 2000
But within this ludic tale there lurks a tragedy of love and loss that does not lose its tenderness even when embedded in [the author's] perpetually farcical frame of mind.
-- Richard Bernstein, "Lalita, Post-Modern Object of Desire", New York Times, September 8, 1999
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Ludic derives from Latin ludus, "play." Ludicrous, "amusing or laughable," shares the same root.
ludic \LOO-dik\, adjective: Of or relating to play; characterized by play; playful.
Um, there's only one problem: her mother. Who, being a substantial executive, has a somewhat different attitude to the worth of the professions than her wastrel, ludic husband.
-- Pat Kane, "Pleasing papa", The Guardian, July 11, 2001
He is indeed the outstanding imaginative prose stylist of his generation, with an entirely recognizable literary manner, fizzy and playful (I am trying to avoid the words "pyrotechnic" and "ludic").
-- Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "What Kingsley Can Teach Martin", The Atlantic, September 2000
But within this ludic tale there lurks a tragedy of love and loss that does not lose its tenderness even when embedded in [the author's] perpetually farcical frame of mind.
-- Richard Bernstein, "Lalita, Post-Modern Object of Desire", New York Times, September 8, 1999
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Ludic derives from Latin ludus, "play." Ludicrous, "amusing or laughable," shares the same root.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
S Adams
Word of the Day Tuesday March 31, 2009
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 offenceas 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
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Contretemps comes from French, from contre, "against" (from Latin contra) + temps, "time" (from Latin tempus).
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 offenceas 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
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Contretemps comes from French, from contre, "against" (from Latin contra) + temps, "time" (from Latin tempus).
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
S Adams
Word of the Day Wednesday April 1, 2009
jape \JAYP\, noun, verb: 1. A joke or jest. 2. A trick or prank.
intransitive verb: 1. To joke; to jest.
transitive verb: 1. To make fun of; to mock.
One elderly Englishman, complete with tweed suit and cane, japed to a passport control officer: "We're not all hooligans you know."
-- Mike Underwood, "Into the fire", Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough, England), October 13, 2003
He tried to defuse each petty crisis with a merry jape and spend each day with a life-affirming and reasonably up tempo alt. country song in his heart.
-- Chris Priestley, "Payne's grey", New Statesman, November 29, 2004
The shot was more of a jape than an assassination attempt, and was rightly treated as a laugh by the press and by the Prime Minister, who carried on as if nothing had happened.
-- Nick Cohen, "Daddy will stop at nothing to see you", New Statesman, November 15, 2004
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Jape comes from Middle English, probably from Old French japer, "to yap, to chatter."
jape \JAYP\, noun, verb: 1. A joke or jest. 2. A trick or prank.
intransitive verb: 1. To joke; to jest.
transitive verb: 1. To make fun of; to mock.
One elderly Englishman, complete with tweed suit and cane, japed to a passport control officer: "We're not all hooligans you know."
-- Mike Underwood, "Into the fire", Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough, England), October 13, 2003
He tried to defuse each petty crisis with a merry jape and spend each day with a life-affirming and reasonably up tempo alt. country song in his heart.
-- Chris Priestley, "Payne's grey", New Statesman, November 29, 2004
The shot was more of a jape than an assassination attempt, and was rightly treated as a laugh by the press and by the Prime Minister, who carried on as if nothing had happened.
-- Nick Cohen, "Daddy will stop at nothing to see you", New Statesman, November 15, 2004
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jape comes from Middle English, probably from Old French japer, "to yap, to chatter."
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
S Adams
It is surely a contretemps, and jape at our expense, for our Dictionary.com to recycle the former word, after they'd already used it in 2006.
This is ludicrous!
We should raise a tumult!
but in addition, they were feckless enough to also recycle the latter word, already used in 2005 , and on April Fool's Day, just as today, to boot!Not only Brad correctly wrote:It is surely a contretemps, and jape at our expense, for our Dictionary.com to recycle the former word, after they'd already used it in 2006.
We should raise a tumult!
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine
[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
Word of the Day Tuesday April 7, 2009
nescience \NESH-uhn(t)s; NESH-ee-uhn(t)s\, noun: Lack of knowledge or awareness; ignorance.
The ancients understood that too much knowledge could actually impede human functioning -- this at a time when the encroachments on global nescience were comparatively few.
-- Cullen Murphy, "DNA Fatigue", The Atlantic, November 1997
He fought on our behalf in the war that finally matters: against nescience, against inadvertence, against the supposition that anything is anything else.
-- Hugh Kenner, "On the Centenary of James Joyce", New York Times, January 31, 1982
The notion has taken hold that every barometric fluctuation must demonstrate climate change. This anecdotal case for global warming is mostly nonsense, driven by nescience of a basic point, from statistics and probability, that the weather is always weird somewhere.
-- Gregg Easterbrook, "Warming Up", The New Republic, November 8, 1999
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Nescience is from Latin nescire, "not to know," from ne-, "not" + scire, "to know." It is related to science. Nescient is the adjective form.
nescience \NESH-uhn(t)s; NESH-ee-uhn(t)s\, noun: Lack of knowledge or awareness; ignorance.
The ancients understood that too much knowledge could actually impede human functioning -- this at a time when the encroachments on global nescience were comparatively few.
-- Cullen Murphy, "DNA Fatigue", The Atlantic, November 1997
He fought on our behalf in the war that finally matters: against nescience, against inadvertence, against the supposition that anything is anything else.
-- Hugh Kenner, "On the Centenary of James Joyce", New York Times, January 31, 1982
The notion has taken hold that every barometric fluctuation must demonstrate climate change. This anecdotal case for global warming is mostly nonsense, driven by nescience of a basic point, from statistics and probability, that the weather is always weird somewhere.
-- Gregg Easterbrook, "Warming Up", The New Republic, November 8, 1999
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nescience is from Latin nescire, "not to know," from ne-, "not" + scire, "to know." It is related to science. Nescient is the adjective form.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
S Adams
Your fault for showing such ludicrous velleity!
Had you been feckless enough to use a lipstick bar on a borrowed napkin, and then osculate the legitimate owner of the lipstick , your thesis would have brought you a PhD of nescience, specialty: jape
Had you been feckless enough to use a lipstick bar on a borrowed napkin, and then osculate the legitimate owner of the lipstick , your thesis would have brought you a PhD of nescience, specialty: jape
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine
[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
[i]LMB, The Labyrinth [/i]
Word of the Day Thursday April 9, 2009
impugn \im-PYOON\, transitive verb: To attack by words or arguments; to call in question; to make insinuations against; to oppose or challenge as false; to gainsay.
As might be expected of fanatical flag idolaters, the GAR did not accept refusals lightly, and in one instance in Illinois impugned the patriotic loyalty of recalcitrant local school administrators by spreading rumors that one of them was a foreign alien yet to be naturalized and the other a draft dodger who evaded Civil War service by fleeing to Canada.
-- Albert Boime, The Unveiling of the National Icons
After hearing that her brother had been impugned by his political rivals, she also wrote a verse defense of his honor, entitled "Lines on reading an attack upon the political career of the late Albert Baker Esqr."
-- Caroline Fraser, God's Perfect Child
Even though it is nowhere alleged that disclosures of sinful activity by priests impugn the integrity of the entire ministry, that nevertheless is the passing legacy of the current scandals.
-- William F. Buckley Jr., "The House of Disillusion", National Review, May 14, 2002
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Impugn comes from Latin impugnare, "to assail," from in-, "against" + pugnare, "to fight."
impugn \im-PYOON\, transitive verb: To attack by words or arguments; to call in question; to make insinuations against; to oppose or challenge as false; to gainsay.
As might be expected of fanatical flag idolaters, the GAR did not accept refusals lightly, and in one instance in Illinois impugned the patriotic loyalty of recalcitrant local school administrators by spreading rumors that one of them was a foreign alien yet to be naturalized and the other a draft dodger who evaded Civil War service by fleeing to Canada.
-- Albert Boime, The Unveiling of the National Icons
After hearing that her brother had been impugned by his political rivals, she also wrote a verse defense of his honor, entitled "Lines on reading an attack upon the political career of the late Albert Baker Esqr."
-- Caroline Fraser, God's Perfect Child
Even though it is nowhere alleged that disclosures of sinful activity by priests impugn the integrity of the entire ministry, that nevertheless is the passing legacy of the current scandals.
-- William F. Buckley Jr., "The House of Disillusion", National Review, May 14, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Impugn comes from Latin impugnare, "to assail," from in-, "against" + pugnare, "to fight."
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you,
S Adams
S Adams
Surely you don't mean to impugn my intellectual manhood by implying not only fecklessness in my chosen field {advanced theoretical nescience}, but a complete lack of osculatory scruples as well ? Perhaps you were thinking of that partially cyborged gadfly, C0berst, who's been loitering around the Soapbox lately ? That man would probably kiss the hind end of a goat if doing so would present the opportunity of pontificatating at length, before a large audience.