GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Darb]

"Das ist VERBOTEN !" thundered Heinrich Himmler, upon entering the interrogation room, and spotting one of the soldiers present holding a black comb under his nose, and making a faux salute.

Seething with fury, the Panjandrum of the SS silently perambulated around the suddenly pallid soldier, as the latter stuttered and prevaricated at rigid attention in sheer terror ... keenly aware of the draconian treatment meted out to others for similarly flagitious gaucheries.

[voralfred]

E Pericoloso Sporgersi:
and all this kind of things...
but...
I thought such jokes were verboten on this forum except on TVR?

[Darb]

I'd say it was just inside the boundaries, so there was no need for me to stop and don my panjamas.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

Word of the Day Friday, January 29, 2010
Verboten\ver-BOHT-n\, adjective;
1.Forbidden, as by law; prohibited.
...

There 's no way a thesaurus about my fur-loving grandma could contain the word "verboten". This word can only exist in a vocabulary as applied to other people (occasionally she did apply it even to me !).
So Darb, I'm afraid you'll have to do better than that.

E Pericoloso Sporgersi:
... I thought such jokes were verboten on this forum except on TVR?

I'd say it was just inside the boundaries, so there was no need for me to stop and don my panjamas.

A moderator of another forum taught me a rule of thumb to assess whether something is admissible or verboten:
Would I feel at ease telling this anecdote/story/joke to my prudish aunt, my teenage daughter, my employer, the recruitement officer I'm soliciting for a new job, the pope ...?
Yes, I know, my previous post may be fresh, but still, I did avoid (I think) using rude or vulgar 4-letter words.
And you'll have to admit that my grandma did waft in a fresh wind in this thread. She adores a brisk breeze on her furs, it makes them look alive ...

[voralfred]

In fact I was joking when saying the story should be "verboten".
The story was slightly "fresh", as EPS says so refreshingly, but I agree it was still inside the boundaries.
I wrote that just to use that word

[Darb]

Agreed ... I just did the Himmler post to use the word as well.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day Wednesday, February 03, 2010

aubade\oh-BAHD\ , noun; 1. A song or poem greeting the dawn; also, a composition suggestive of morning.

He was usually still awake when the birds began to warble their aubade.
-- Christopher Buckley, "What was Robert Benchley?", National Review, June 16, 1997

And there he lingered till the crowing cock...
Sang his aubade with lusty voice and clear.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emma and Eginhard

Gwynn was up the back, playing a soft aubade on the piano that Feni had installed years ago when business was brisker and he could afford to pay entertainers.
-- K.J. Bishop, The Etched City

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Aubade comes from the French, from aube, dawn + the noun suffix -ade: aube ultimately derives from Latin albus, white, pale, as in "alba lux," the "pale light" of dawn.

[Darb]

Would a fusillade of morning flatus constitute bad aubade, or merely an extended onomatopeeyeweia ?

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

Would a fusillade of morning flatus constitute bad aubade, or merely an extended onomatopeeyeweia ?

If my grandpa were to serenade such a trumpeting aubade, I'm sure it would elicit witticisms from my grandma. The smellier, the wittier.
She would also make sure to instruct him to air her furs for the next 24 hours or so.

[Darb]

In the 20:200 tunnelvision of hind-end-sight, I probaby should have had Roving Punster post that oh-so-bad aubade instead, since potty humor lies squarely (or rather, roundly) in his wheelhouse.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day Thursday, February 04, 2010

pecuniary\pih-KYOO-nee-air-ee\ , adjective; 1. Relating to money; monetary. 2. Consisting of money. 3. Requiring payment of money.

He lacked the finer element of conscience which looks upon Art as a sacred calling, she remembered, and because of "pecuniary necessities" he "scattered his forces in many different and unworthy directions."
-- James F. O'Gorman, Accomplished in All Departments of Art

The young man of the house was absorbed in his vegetable garden and the possibilities for pecuniary profit that it held.
-- Samuel Chamberlain, Clementine in the Kitchen

He sees the great pecuniary rewards and how they are gained, and naturally is moved by an impulse to obtain the same for himself.
-- David J. Brewer, "The Ideal Lawyer", The Atlantic, November 1906

Over the decades, Pitt built an impressive roster of similarly well-heeled clients who stood accused by the SEC of securities fraud, misstating their finances, other pecuniary offenses.
-- Jonathan Chait, "Invested Interest", The New Republic, December 17, 2001

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Pecuniary comes from Latin pecuniarius, "of money, pecuniary," from pecunia, "property in cattle, hence money," from pecu, "livestock, one's flocks and herds."

[Darb]

Grrrrr .... we already did that one on July 16th, 2007.

Someone wanna hop up on the pitching mound and toss us a substitute knuckle ball ?

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

Someone wanna hop up on the pitching mound and toss us a substitute knuckle ball ?

Allow me, please.

Aardvark

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aardvark :

The Aardvark (Orycteropus afer) (afer: from Africa) is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa.[2] It is sometimes called "antbear", "anteater", "Cape anteater" (after the Cape of Good Hope), "earth hog" or "earth pig". The word "aardvark" is famous for being one of the first entries to appear in many encyclopaedias and even abridged dictionaries. The name comes from the Afrikaans/Dutch[3] for "earth pig" or "ground pig" (aarde = earth/ground, varken = pig), because early settlers from Europe thought it resembled a domesticated pig. However, the aardvark is not closely related to the pig; rather, it is the sole recent representative of the obscure mammalian order Tubulidentata, in which it is usually considered to form a single variable species of the genus Orycteropus, coextensive with the family Orycteropodidae. The aardvark is not closely related to the South American anteater, despite sharing some characteristics and a superficial resemblance.[4] The closest living relatives of the aardvark are the elephant shrews, along with the sirenians, hyraxes, tenrecs, and elephants.

• - Tossing an adult aardvark in your neighbour's yard is hard labor.
  - My grandma's favorite rebuke to pestering men was: "Stop being such an aardvark!", forcing them away in search of a dictionary.
  - Hottentots consider stepping in an aardvark's droppings a smelly mishap.

[Darb]

"Dat man, ez' an ard verkin aardvark fer sure ... alvays vit da noz in da durt !"

{Translation: "That man, he's a hard working aardvark for sure ... always with his nose in the thick of things."}

[Darb]

With the sudden loss of all his teeth, as well as his cash, Mr. Cassius Wechler sadly eschewed his chewing of copius caches of cachews.

Word of the Day Saturday, February 06, 2010

Eschew\es-CHOO\ , transitive verb;

1.To shun; to avoid (as something wrong or distasteful).

Quotes:

In high school and college the Vassar women had enjoyed that lifestyle, but afterward they had eschewed it as shallow.
-- Nina Burleigh, A Very Private Woman

While teaching in Beijing, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang in the late 1920s, he helped launch what became known as the "new poetry" movement, which eschewed traditional forms and encouraged topics based on everyday life.
-- Bruce Gilley, Tiger on the Brink

Finally, the first American diplomats . . . made a point of eschewing fancy dress, titles, entertainments, and all manner of protocol, so as to be walking, talking symbols of republican piety.
-- Walter A. McDougall, Promised Land, Crusader State

Origin:
Eschew comes from Old French eschiver, ultimately of Germanic origin, scheuchen.

[Darb]

Word of the Day Sunday, February 07, 2010

Ignoramus\ig-nuh-RAY-mus\ , noun;
1.An ignorant person; a dunce.

Quotes:

My "perfect" reader is not a scholar but neither is he an ignoramus; he does not read because he has to, nor as a pastime, nor to make a splash in society, but because he is curious about many things, wishes to choose among them and does not wish to delegate this choice to anyone; he knows the limits of his competence and education, and directs his choices accordingly.
-- Primo Levi, "This Above All: Be Clear", New York Times, November 20, 1988

I am quite an ignoramus, I know nothing in the world.
-- Charlotte Bronte, Villette

Only the crassest ignoramus can still hold to the old-fashioned notion that seeing is believing. That which you see is the first thing to disbelieve.
-- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

Origin:
Ignoramus was the name of a character in George Ruggle's 1615 play of the same name. The name was derived from the Latin, literally, "we are ignorant," from ignorare, "not to know," from ignarus, "not knowing," from ig- (for in-), "not" + gnarus, "knowing, acquainted with, expert in." It is related to ignorant and ignore.

[Darb]

After having skulked about for several decades as a psychophantic assistant to an utter ignoramus, Igor found he could no longer ignore his own budding megalomaniacal urges. At long last, the time was finally ripe for him to eschew his old role and take over as THE Evil Overlord.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

Did I mention that my grandma was no ignoramus in furs?

[Darb]

If I were to eschew all discretion, I'd speculate that your grandmother was quite the cougar.

[voralfred]

The new Evil Overlord evinced his flagitious machinations by using a WOTD before posting it, eschewing a time-honored tradition!
Should a such a verboten action justify a pecuniary compensation, for instance a coat of aardvark fur for EPS"s grandmother? Hardly, since Igor already establisned himself as plenipotentiary Panjandrum.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

If I were to eschew all discretion, I'd speculate that your grandmother was quite the cougar.

When curious minds get tickled, they tickle Google ...

I doubted very much that you used "cougar" for its zoological meaning.
The page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar_%28 ... guation%29 pointed me to
"Cougar (slang)" and to "Cougar Annie".
I assume you meant the latter?

[voralfred]

So maybe a coat of cougar fur would be a better compensation than an aardvark one? I must admit I was quite the ignoramus about any uses of "cougar" beyond the plain zoological one.

[Darb]

Oh, I was definitely using it in the slang context.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day Monday, February 08, 2010

approbation\ap-ruh-BAY-shuhn\ , noun; 1. The act of approving; formal or official approval. 2. Praise; commendation.

The speech struck a responsive chord among many and won him much approbation.
-- George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed

More importantly, these drawings represented a first success, which brought the intoxicating rewards of approbation and cash.
-- Matthew Sturgis, Aubrey Beardsley: A Biography

To some of his contemporaries, the episode seemed more the schemings of someone craving attention and the approbation of his peers than an act of sabotage.
-- Richard Siklos, Shades of Black

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Approbation is from Latin approbatio, from approbare, "to approve or cause to be approved," from ap- (for ad-), used intensively + probare, "to make or find good," from probus, "good, excellent, fine."

[MidasKnight]

I think voralfred has a better grasp of the English language than I do.