GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

lodestar
...

So the modern navigational lodestar is not a single binnacle (short for binary barnacle?), but a bank of multiple electronic instruments.

I'm wondering if four instruments that you didn't list have become totally obsolete for navigation: the inertial gyrocompass, the sextant, the wet finger and the corns of one's feet.

Do you have any when you go sailing your hunky dory in Puget Sound or Quincy Bay? Or do you have an Android with an app at the helm?

Once I've had to firmly restrain an urge to navigate by and follow the seat of her pants.

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

navigate by and follow the seat of her pants.

Wow, or perhaps Va, va, voom!

Most boats need to mount artificial fenders. That sailor seems to provide her own.

[Algot Runeman]

minaudière

noun
a small, decorative handbag without handles or a strap.

Origin:
French, literally 'coquettish woman', from minauder 'simper'


princess toadie on Flickr

♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀

Men don't carry a minaudière though some avoid carrying a wallet to have a lump-free miniderrière.

[I wonder where E.P.S.'s navigational guide carries her wallet?]

[Algot Runeman]

sloven

noun
dated
a person who is habitually untidy or careless.

Origin:
late 15th century (in the sense ‘person with base manners’): perhaps from Flemish sloef 'dirty' or Dutch slof 'careless, negligent'


Jason Whittaker on Flickr

☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈☈

It might be said that the person who owns this kitchen is a sloven. Of course, maybe this is the immediate aftermath of a holiday dinner. In an hour, the space will be spotless.

[Algot Runeman]

plongeur

noun
a person employed to wash dishes and carry out other menial tasks in a restaurant or hotel: Orwell worked in Paris as a plongeur

Origin:
French, literally 'person who plunges'


Svadilfari on Flickr

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These dishes were not cleaned for want of a plongeur. Menial tasks are beneath modern job seekers, apparently.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

plongeur
...
Origin:
French, literally 'person who plunges'
...

Plongeur also means diver in French.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his team are plongeurs sous-marins. If they brought up any ancient dishes from wrecked vessels (I mean ships), I don't know.

So that's what those divers at La Quebrada are doing. They're plongeurs who retrieve the washed dishes from the water in the precipice at high tide.

[Algot Runeman]

gyve

noun
(usually gyves) archaic
a fetter or shackle.

Derivatives
gyved
adjective

Origin:
Middle English: of unknown origin


publik15 on Flickr

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The jive dude jigged less while trapped in gyves. He really danced and gyred after his release, though.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

gyve
noun
(usually gyves) archaic
a fetter or shackle.
...

☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺

MacGyver is the man to see to remove gyves, defuse explosive situations and resolve emergencies.

Spoiler: show

[laurie]

Spoiler: show

Too easy, EPS. The answer is hanging in front of M's face!

[Algot Runeman]

baldric

noun
historical
a belt for a sword or other piece of equipment, worn over one shoulder and reaching down to the opposite hip.

Origin:
Middle English baudry, from Old French baudre, of unknown ultimate origin


Jenny Henk on Flickr

⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔

Today's knights carry their axes at night. The music is loud, and most crowds dress very bright.
Their baldric may be cloth, but their energy offsets any fan's sloth.
Tomorrow they'll sleep late. But the next show will be great!

[laurie]

Now THAT is clever, Algot!

[Algot Runeman]

Thank you, Laurie. [blush]

[Algot Runeman]

spill [meaning 2]

noun
a thin strip of wood or paper used for lighting a fire, candle, pipe , etc.

Origin:
Middle English (in the sense 'sharp fragment of wood'): obscurely related to spile. The current sense dates from the early 19th century


Randall Munroe on xkcd.com



If you visit the campground, a lunchbag full of spills and wood chips is handy when it is time to start the campfire. On your hike to get there, keep an eye open for curls of birch bark on the ground, too. The natural oils let the bark burn even if soaking wet, a great fire starter. [Please don't tear bark from a living birch tree!]

[Algot Runeman]

jilt

verb
[with object]
suddenly reject or abandon (a lover): he was jilted at the altar by his bride-to-be

noun
archaic
a person, especially a woman, who capriciously rejects a lover.

Origin:
mid 17th century (in the sense 'deceive, trick'): of unknown origin


Graham Horn on geograph

♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ ♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟ ♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟

It is the nature of chess that the king and queen (in the callous hand of their own master) abandon the bishops, castles, knights and pawns of their retinue, jilting those hapless many, in the attempt to save the few.

[Saturday's word is late, but that means Sunday is a bonus day: two words for the effort of seeing just one.]

[Algot Runeman]

rinky-dink

adjective
informal
old-fashioned, amateurish, or shoddy: the fifty-third issue of the quarterly looked just as rinky-dink as the first

Origin:
late 19th century: of unknown origin


Vertigogen on Flickr

⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉⚇⚉

In spite of their effort, this rinky-dink "float" was rejected from, in no particular order, The Rose Bowl Parade, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, the South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade and the Fourth of July Parade of every small town in the United States.

[Happy two-for-one wordplay with today's pair of words.]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[Happy two-for-one wordplay with today's pair of words.]

"When I first saw her" said grandpa, waxing poetic, "she wore the lovely lacy outfit of Angélique Sancé de Monteloup when she was dressed by the eunuchs in the Sultan's harem. Love's dagger stabbed my heart to the hilt. We're going to the Summer Carnival party in The Golden Spur Café in Kortrijk. She'll be Angélique again and I'll go dressed as Jeoffrey de Peyrac and I'll court her with flourishes and curtsies and declare myself her perpetual champion."

"Careful, man!" replied grandpa's friend, "Don't offer her a ride to that honky-tonk in your rinky-dink jalopy or she'll jilt you to the hilt!"

[Algot Runeman]

ganzfeld

noun
[often as modifier]
a technique of controlled sensory input used with the aim of improving results in tests of telepathy and other paranormal phenomena: ganzfeld tests

Origin:
1980s: from German, literally 'whole field'

[The Wikipedia article is a bit more helpful than this bare definition]



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If you stare long enough at the entirely black, blank image above, you will begin to hallucinate, seeing images that appear as a result of sensory deprivation, something one's mind simply cannot tolerate. In fact, if the Ganzfeld experiment works, telepathy will kick in and you'll see the same hallucination I'm seeing miles and miles away!

Keep staring now...Just like I am staring...

Spoiler: show

I'm seeing a yellow five-pointed star, how about you.

Are you amazed? Did you see what I was seeing?

Wow, just wow.

[laurie]

Does a half-second glance count as "long enough"?

If yes, then

Spoiler: show

I saw the star.

If no, then

Spoiler: show

I saw a photo of Hugh Jackman.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

ganzfeld
... Are you amazed? Did you see what I was seeing?

I tried your suggestion but I think I didn't do it right.

For several seconds I saw multiple stars.

Spoiler: show

Gradually the ganzfeld dissolved and my normal vision returned.
Then I saw this guy walk away from me.

Spoiler: show

Oh yes, was I glad I saw him walk *away* from me!
Sensory deprivation indeed.
With a very sensitive lump on the back of my skull, I didn't exactly feel deprived ...

[Algot Runeman]

Laurie and E.P.S. "Ganz gut!" All good.

My mind doesn't stick on any one hallucination for long. It isn't surprising you both had individual interpretations of the telepathic visual.

[Algot Runeman]

sippet

noun
a small piece of bread or toast, used to dip into soup or sauce or as a garnish.

Origin:
mid 16th century: apparently a diminutive of sop


chotda on Flickr



We love a local coffee shop in the U.S. We love, even more, a cup of coffee and a donut (doughnaught).
A whole chain of shops derive their name from the sippet concept. At Dunkin' Donuts, we dunk a donut and lift our coffee to sip it. So select your sippet, sop it sloppily and slurp happily, you silly sap.

[Algot Runeman]

booty [definition 1]

noun
valuable stolen goods, especially those seized in war: the militias supply themselves with booty from the raided civilian populations
informal something gained or won: now the booty: four winners will receive prizes

Origin:
late Middle English (denoting plunder acquired in common and destined to be divided among the plunderers): from Middle Low German būte, buite 'exchange, distribution', of uncertain ultimate origin


Alan Dean on Flickr

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The booty that soldiers used to collect after capturing the city varied widely. Some collected treasure chests, but that was usually the leaders who had control of the wagons, etc. The less well connected probably got an extra ration of bread and maybe a ham that they stuffed under their armor until dinner time.

[MidasKnight]

There's another kind of booty I prefer...

[laurie]

There's another kind of booty I prefer...

MK -- Did you get the message that J Lo called?

[Algot Runeman]

legerdemain

noun
[mass noun]
skilful use of one’s hands when performing conjuring tricks.
deception; trickery: a classic piece of management legerdemain

Origin:
late Middle English: from French léger de main 'dexterous', literally 'light of hand'


canopic on Flickr

☚☛oo☚☛oo☚☛oo☚☛--☚☛oo☚☛oo☚☛00☚☛

Don't be distracted by this little bit of legerdemain, it is a trick of the mind, not of the eyes. When you concentrate, you'll miss the rest.