GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Algot Runeman]

bogus

Pronunciation: /ˈbōgəs/

adjective
not genuine or true; fake:a bogus insurance claim

Origin:
late 18th century (originally US, denoting a machine for making counterfeit money): of unknown origin

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Carl carried the bogus bills to the table and spread them across the faux wood surface. He looked carefully and told the boss that they were fake. The robbery had been abig waste of time, and he didn't want to add to the mess by claiming the haul was real.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

bogus

One early spring day, my grandma's fur couturier suggested fitting her with a demi-saison coat made of artificial fur. You know, with bogus pelt?

Oh boy! That day, grandpa seemed to have instantly sprouted eight arms, the way he segued into keeping ballistic objects from hitting the reckless couturier.

Fortunately there were no innocent bystanders around ...

[Algot Runeman]

germane

Pronunciation: /jərˈmān/

adjective
relevant to a subject under consideration:that is not germane to our theme

Origin:
early 17th century: variant of german, with which it was synonymous from Middle English. The current sense has arisen from a usage in Shakespeare's Hamlet


bob in swamp

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Does it bother anybody else that so many things are germane simply because they were included somewhere in Shakespeare's work? I've always wished that Gaius Plinius Secundus would have more influence on our daily lives.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

germane

To have grandma's furs cleaned, her couturier strongly recommended his niece Germaine as "the most germane expert in the field!".
Any refurbishing he would do himself.

[Algot Runeman]

mucronate

Pronunciation: /ˈmyo͞okrəˌnāt/

adjective
Botany & Zoology
ending abruptly in a short sharp point or mucro.

Origin:
late 18th century: from Latin mucronatus, from mucro, mucron- 'point'

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As a boy, I ran around barefoot a lot. The bane of and my friends and me was a plant that we called "stickums", the seeds of which had several mucronate projections. OUCH! Since I grew up, bare feet are rare except at the beach. Using mucronate tips on the needles for telling a quick difference between spruce and fir is more common.

[Algot Runeman]

gaud

Pronunciation: /gôd/

noun
archaic
a showy and purely ornamental thing:displays of overpriced gauds

Origin:
Middle English (denoting a trick or pretense): perhaps via Anglo-Norman French from Old French gaudir 'rejoice', from Latin gaudere. Current senses may have been influenced by obsolete gaud 'a large ornamental bead in a rosary'

Todd was awed by the gaud so much that exclaimed to his girlfriend, Crystal, "Gawd, that thing is huge. It could only be more impressive if it were actually a diamond instead of glass."

[Algot Runeman]

blatherskite

Pronunciation: /ˈblaT͟Hərˌskīt/
noun
chiefly North American
1a person who talks at great length without making much sense.
foolish talk; nonsense:politicians get away all the time with their blatherskite

Origin:
mid 17th century: from blather + skite, a Scottish derogatory term adopted into American colloquial speech during the American Revolution, from the Scottish song Maggie Lauder, by F. Semphill, which was popular with American troops


Photo Credit: Juan Antonio Zamarripa

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"On and on, on and on, and on and on." So go the words of a recent song.
In those classes where the subject didn't seem important to my developing mind, I'd have often described the teacher's lecture as blatherskite. I know it wouldn't have been fair. The teacher found the subject fascinating, I'm sure.

[ Blather is familiar to me. I've use the term occasionally and heard/read it. As blatherskite, though, it isn't familiar. Maybe it was popular in the mid 17th century, a bit before my time. Mayber "North American" is also a hint that this might be more Canadian than U.S. usage. I don't know. ]

[Algot Runeman]

rebarbative

Pronunciation: /rəˈbärbətiv/
adjective
formal
unattractive and objectionable:rebarbative modern buildings

Origin:
late 19th century: from French rébarbatif, -ive, from Old French se rebarber 'face each other “beard to beard” aggressively', from barbe 'beard'


Scott Kinmartin

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Sally, the fairy princess, rarely wanted to kiss. Of course, rubbing her prince's lizard beard against her soft cheek was rebarative in the extreme.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

rebarbative

Excellent!

A new description for the WotD thread:

A Cacophony of Gaudy Rebarbative Blatherskites

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

...
Interjection:

Oxford English Dictionary recognises 'tweet' as a word.

Spoiler: show

[voralfred]

rebarbative
(...)
Origin:
late 19th century: from French rébarbatif, -ive, from Old French se rebarber 'face each other “beard to beard” aggressively', from barbe 'beard'
(...)

Excellent!

A new description for the WotD thread:

A Cacophony of Gaudy Rebarbative Blatherskites

If I may coin a neologism,:
since we don't 'face each other “beard to beard” aggressively', being too far apart, but rather 'face each other “word to word” aggressively' and thus should be called rewordative

a better description should be

A Cacophony of Gaudy Rewordative Blatherskites

[Algot Runeman]

logomachy

Pronunciation: /lōˈgäməkē/

noun (plural logomachies)
rare
an argument about words.

Origin:
mid 16th century: from Greek logomakhia, from logos 'word' + -makhia 'fighting'


Image Credit: Vladimir V. Tarasoff on openclipart.org

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The cacophany of gaudy rewordative blatherskites escalated into full-blown logomachy much sooner than anyone expected. Pens were mightier than swords and keyboards positively bristled with menace.

[MidasKnight]

blatherskite

Pronunciation: /ˈblaT͟Hərˌskīt/
noun
chiefly North American
1a person who talks at great length without making much sense.
foolish talk; nonsense:politicians get away all the time with their blatherskite

Origin:
mid 17th century: from blather + skite, a Scottish derogatory term adopted into American colloquial speech during the American Revolution, from the Scottish song Maggie Lauder, by F. Semphill, which was popular with American troops


Photo Credit: Juan Antonio Zamarripa

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"On and on, on and on, and on and on." So go the words of a recent song.
In those classes where the subject didn't seem important to my developing mind, I'd have often described the teacher's lecture as blatherskite. I know it wouldn't have been fair. The teacher found the subject fascinating, I'm sure.

[ Blather is familiar to me. I've use the term occasionally and heard/read it. As blatherskite, though, it isn't familiar. Maybe it was popular in the mid 17th century, a bit before my time. Mayber "North American" is also a hint that this might be more Canadian than U.S. usage. I don't know. ]

We aren't done overreacting to a former president's public speaking eccentricities?

[Algot Runeman]

We aren't done overreacting to a former president's public speaking eccentricities?

No more than we are finished overreacting to a former President's military career...

Image Credit: Johnny Automatic

Presidents, current or former, are always fair game for humor, or at least they ought to be.

[MidasKnight]

Then let's start making fun of the worst president in our nation's history.

There's nothing funny about Obama's Death to America agenda however.

[Algot Runeman]

cur

Pronunciation: /kər/

noun
an aggressive dog or one that is in poor condition, especially a mongrel.
informal a contemptible man.

Origin:
Middle English (in the general sense 'dog'): probably originally in cur-dog, perhaps from Old Norse kurr 'grumbling'


Photo Credit: Jan Tik

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Callie carried her toy poodle in a basket to keep it safe from other dogs. It didn't matter to her if the others were purebred or cur. She wasn't too interested in mingling with cats, either.

[Algot Runeman]

monocular

Pronunciation: /məˈnäkyələr, mä-/

adjective
with, for, or in one eye:he had only monocular vision
noun

an optical instrument for viewing distant objects with one eye, like one half of a pair of binoculars.

Origin:
mid 17th century: from late Latin monoculus 'having one eye' + -ar1


Photo Credit: Vanessa Pike-Russell

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Pirate Pete attacked the pleasure boat fleet.
He was so bold, never had been beat.
He gazed through his spyglass,
Looking for a likely lass.

He didn't use binoculars; his patch made that silly.
A monocular sufficed, but sounded too frilly.
He swung himself onto the last of the craft.
Sending shivers through the crew, he menacingly laughed.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

monocular

Monocular Pete's jocular warning subdued the patrons of the Shivering Timbers.

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

talkie

Pronunciation: /ˈtôkē/

noun
informal
a movie with a soundtrack, as distinct from a silent film.

Origin:
early 20th century (in the phrase the talkies): from talk, on the pattern of movie


Photo Credit: Abhishek Kumar

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Mimes were little sought as actors in the early talkies. They were not generally popular in them later, either.

[Algot Runeman]

etui

Pronunciation: /āˈtwē/

noun (plural etuis)
dated
a small ornamental case for holding needles, cosmetics, and other articles.

Origin:
early 17th century: from French étui, from Old French estui 'prison', from estuier 'shut up, keep'. Compare with tweezers


Photo Credit: Towe My

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"Etui, Brutus!" Ceasar fell to the steps of the Roman senate. His man bag burst open, strewing his precious posessions. Brutus scooped it up before everyone could see, attentive to Ceasar's last wish.

[Algot Runeman]

epiphora

Pronunciation: /əˈpifərə/

noun
1 Medicine excessive watering of the eye.
2 Rhetoric - another term for epistrophe.

Origin:
late 16th century (sense 2): via Latin from Greek epi 'upon' + pherein 'to bear or carry'. sense 1 dates from the mid 17th century


Megyarsh

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She blamed the epiphora on being constantly sad, but Evie knew she wasn't fooling anyone, she never fooled anyone, which was a fact that could be seen by anyone.

[voralfred]

epiphora

Pronunciation: /əˈpifərə/

noun
1 Medicine excessive watering of the eye.
2 Rhetoric - another term for epistrophe.

Origin:
late 16th century (sense 2): via Latin from Greek epi 'upon' + pherein 'to bear or carry'. sense 1 dates from the mid 17th century

(...)
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She blamed the epiphora on being constantly sad, but Evie knew she wasn't fooling anyone, she never fooled anyone, which was a fact that could be seen by anyone.

Epiphora is excessive watering of the eye
Epiphora is also a fungus genus in the Dothideomycetes order
Epiphora is also a moth genus in the Saturniidae family
Epiphora is also an orchid genus nowadays considered a synonym of Polystachya
Epiphora is also a synonym of epistrophe, which is repeating the same expression over and over
Epiphora is also how I express lukewarm enthusiasm

Spoiler: show

regular enthusiasm would be "Hip Hip Hourra", à la française
Only enthusiastic enthusiasm will have me go to my english accented HIP! HIP! HURRAY!!!

Epiphora is also whatever you might associate with this word...

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

epiphora

Hm ... occasionally, yes ...

But I do love a nice Amphora pousse-café any day.
It does not provoke epiphora at all, though an overdose may induce euphoria.

(It says Amphora on the lower third of the label.)

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

kibitz

Pronunciation: /ˈkibits/

verb
[no object] informal, chiefly North American
look on and offer unwelcome advice, especially at a card game.
speak informally; chat:she kibitzed with friends

Origin:
1920s: Yiddish, from colloquial German, from German Kiebitz 'interfering onlooker' (literally 'lapwing')


Photo Credit: Julio Martinez
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Sam stood behind him as governor Bob Kamut took the podium. There was no point to his being right there. Like all politicians of the level of governor or more, there was a teleprompter to guide the speech. No kibitzing was necessary. Still, Sam felt his presence supported Bob, his friend, his governor, his puppet, if truth be told.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

kibitz

Kibitz 2.0 - Chatroom for pedants, nitpickers and commascrewers (*).

(*) See Pilkunnussija, #1 on 9 Foreign Words the English Language Desperately Needs; also Commaneukers in Dutch.