The Internet Book Database of Fiction

expositor

Pronunciation: /ikˈspäzitər/
noun
a person or thing that explains complicated ideas or theories:a lucid expositor of difficult ideas

Origin:
Middle English: via Old French or late Latin, from Latin exposit- 'exposed, explained', from exponere (see expound)



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Edward exposed the inner workings of digital encryption. He also exposed the flaws in the theory. The NSA wasn't happy that he was an expositor of their explorations. He escaped through his own back door after exposing the NSA's back doors.

nodus

Pronunciation: /ˈnōdəs/
noun (plural nodi /-dī/)
rare
a problem, difficulty, or complication.

Origin:
late Middle English (denoting a knotty swelling): from Latin, literally 'knot'



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Nancy's noose was feeling tight. Trouble breathing had been going on for a while. She thought of it as just another nodus, a knotty problem to join the others which plagued her life. However, she worked methodically at the knot, certain she she would get through this as she had before.

magniloquent

Pronunciation: /magˈniləkwənt/
adjective
using high-flown or bombastic language.

Origin:
mid 17th century: from Latin magniloquus ( from magnus 'great' + -loquus '-speaking') + -ent



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Sam swore steadily for half an hour. It wasn't common swearing, either. Somehow he pulled off magniloquent blasphemy.

dittography

Pronunciation: /diˈtägrəfē/
noun (plural dittographies)
a mistaken repetition of a letter, word, or phrase by a copyist.

Origin:
late 19th century: from Greek dittos 'double' + -graphy


Mouser Williams

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I wonder wonder wonder if dittography happens more often in canyons than in open plains.

Algot Runeman wrote:dittography
... more often in canyons than in open plains.

Are you referring to Mr. Shaw's dittography about the rain in Spain staying mainly in the plain?

Please note that

Spanish rain does not actually stay mainly in the plain. It falls mainly in the northern mountains. ... Likewise, it is considered technically incorrect that hurricanes ever in fact happen in Hertford, Hereford, or Hampshire (in the UK), as the only hurricane force winds occurring in these areas are due to extratropical cyclones which, in spite of having hurricane force winds, are not strictly speaking hurricanes due to their different physical causes and dynamics.

I'm just saying ...

Well, E.P.S., "If the Shaw fits, wear it."
"Shew!" shrilled Sandy.
Okay, I'm gone.

sacrosanct

Pronunciation: /ˈsakrōˌsaNG(k)t/

adjective
(especially of a principle, place, or routine) regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with:the individual’s right to work has been upheld as sacrosanct

Origin:
late 15th century: from Latin sacrosanctus, from sacro 'by a sacred rite' (ablative of sacrum) + sanctus 'holy'

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The Nation's Budget

• Sacrosanct
• The Military
• The NSA
• The Congressional Paycheck
• Discretionary
• Everything Else

Algot Runeman wrote:sacrosanct

The Roman local branch of Starbucks® is vying to open a franchise in Vatican City.

They will of course serve their usual offerings like Espresso, Latte, Macchiato, Cappucino and many others.
But they also intend to introduce and promote their new Sacrosanct Grail (with or without cream) to the Holy C.

This divine concoction is to be served exclusively in that exalted location. No other Starbucks® shop will be allowed this singular privilege.

Edit: Any similarities with actual persons or places is totally fortuitious.

glair

Pronunciation: /gle(ə)r/
noun
a preparation made from egg white, used especially as an adhesive for bookbinding and gilding.
dated egg white.

Origin:
Middle English: from Old French glaire, based on Latin clara, feminine of clarus 'clear'



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Glenda glanced at the camera as she used a small brush to apply the glair. Unfortunately, as she squinted from the TV lights' glare, she brushed some of the clear mix onto the illuminated and rubricated title page. When the producer examined the volume after the recording session, she found the $1000 artwork solidly stuck together with the otherwise beautiful leather-bound cover.

taciturn

Pronunciation: /ˈtasiˌtərn/

adjective
(of a person) reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little.

Origin:
late 18th century: from Latin taciturnus, from tacitus (see tacit)



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The argument raged.
Bob offered nothing.
The argument raged on.
Bob eventually glanced left and then right.
The crowd slowly quieted.
Bob's taciturn looks were seen by all as tacit turns, acknowleging both sides of the discussion.
He then said, "No" and the argument was over.

Bob was never considered UN-communicative.

Algot Runeman wrote:taciturn

Considering this and this too, I tacitly assume I may as well remain taciturn, also assuming your unspoken sanction.

[...]

Algot Runeman wrote:[...]

A meaningful silence (isn't that an oxymoron?) or aposiopesis is represented by a taciturn ellipsis.
As the ellipsis is written as three consecutive dots it might also mean silentium triplex.

mensch

Pronunciation: /menCH/
noun (plural menschen /ˈmenCHən/ or mensches)
North American informal
a person of integrity and honor.

Origin:
1930s: Yiddish mensh, from German Mensch, literally 'person'

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Mark was considered a mensch by everyone who knew him.

voracious

Pronunciation: /vəˈrāSHəs/

adjective
wanting or devouring great quantities of food:he had a voracious appetite
having a very eager approach to an activity:his voracious reading of literature

Origin:
mid 17th century: from Latin vorax, vorac- (from vorare 'devour') + -ious



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Franco had such a voracious appetite, he consumed three cooking books a week while snacking on at least one recipe prepared from them at each meal.

Algot Runeman wrote:voracious

Isaac Asimov was quite the opposite of a voracious mensch. The Good Doctor has relentlessly spewed an enormous amount of eclectic writings.

E Pericoloso Sporgersi wrote:

Algot Runeman wrote:voracious

Isaac Asimov was quite the opposite of a voracious mensch. The Good Doctor has relentlessly spewed an enormous amount of eclectic writings.

I beg to differ. The Good Doctor was most certainly a mensch.
The fiction he might have invented out of nothing, though its "pseudo-scientific" consistency suggests otherwise. But considering that a significant fraction of his output was nonfiction, and had a scope much beyond his own research, he must definitely have been a voracious reader, before he could write meaningfully on all those topics. Hence he was indeed a voracious mensch, though clearly not a taciturn one.

humph

Pronunciation: /həmf/
exclamation
used to express slightly scornful doubt or dissatisfaction.

Origin:
natural utterance: first recorded in English in the mid 16th century


Image Credit: shankar s.

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"Humph!" exclaimed Carrie. "You dummy! I didn't say 'hump'. This word has NOTHING to do with either camels or dromedaries."

Algot Runeman wrote:humph

Pronunciation: /həmf/
exclamation
used to express slightly scornful doubt or dissatisfaction.

Origin:
natural utterance: first recorded in English in the mid 16th century

Very interestingly, the french language took four centuries to catch up.

When I was in first year of junior high school, I read a translation of "Just so stories" in french where the story of the camel ("How the Camel got his hump") was not translated. Of course, I did not realize it then but only when, just a few years later, I was fluent enough in english to read the original, and discovered a story I had never read before in french. And I realized that the pun "Humph/hump" was just impossible to translate, explaining the absence of the translation of that particular story.

A few (about 10?) years ago I bumped into a reedition of that translation of "Just so stories", by the same editor, the same cover, and essentially the same text for most of the stories, with a major change: the story of the camel was translated. The expletive "Bof !" which just did not exist 30 years earlier, had in the meantime appeared with exactly the meaning of "Humph !" and was perfect to rhyme with "bosse", the exact word for a camel's hump. So the translation of the pun was in perfect parallel with the original.

At that point I really marveled about the evolution of french language that allowed this to happen. Or was it because of Kipling's story that the expletive "Bof !" had entered the french language?

EPS, have you ever seen a translation of "How the Camel got his hump" in flemish and/or dutch? Does it go through? Did it, 30 years ago ?
Anyone fluent in some other language, any comment relevant to this?

puerile

Pronunciation: /ˈpyo͝o(ə)rəl, ˈpyo͝orˌīl/

adjective
childishly silly and trivial:you’re making puerile excuses

Origin:
late 16th century (in the sense 'like a boy'): from French puéril or Latin puerilis, from puer 'boy'


Photo Credit: abbamouse

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"Be adult about it, Joe. She didn't mean anything by it when she called you a jerk."

"I don't care what she meant. I'll be on her case from now on. She'll regret it."

Sam sighed and turned back to his work. He knew Joe wouldn't listen to reason. This wouldn't be the first puerile vendetta Joe began. Thinking about it, Sam realized that six women had left the company since Joe had come on the job. Not one of them had appreciated his stupid, misogynistic jokes. Fortunately, he was a contract worker, and Sam hoped the contract wouldn't be renewed at the end of the year. Sam wondered if the managers saw what was going on.

The full title of a book by Kipling is "Just so stories for little children".
But though the stories are superficially puerile, just like "Le Petit Prince" it is one book I can read again and again and have always as much pleasure. That's where I learned how to read and write, too, with Tegumai and Taffy.

In Dutch there is that nitpicking difference between a "dromedaris" and a "kameel". The former has one hump, the latter has two.

But Flemings consider that puerile "humppicking". They say "kameel" regardless the number of humps. And if you point out the anatomical difference they'll just snort "humph", just as the Anglo-Saxons do.

BTW.
A puerile riddle in Flemish primary schools asks:
What do you get if you crossbreed a Dromedary with a Crocodile?

Why nor a male Cromediry, or a female Drocodale?

So "Bof" is Humph in flemish too, but way about the hump itself, la "bosse" ?

sonsy

Pronunciation: /ˈsänsē/
(also sonsie)
adjective (sonsier, sonsiest)
Scottish literary
having an attractive and healthy appearance.

Origin:
mid 16th century (also in the sense 'lucky'): from Irish and Scottish Gaelic sonas 'good fortune' (from sona 'fortunate') + -y1

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Hamish crossed the street and all the local lasses gazed out of the shop windows, enthralled by the sonsy Scot.

sourpuss

Pronunciation: /ˈsou(ə)rˌpo͝os/
noun
informal
a bad-tempered or habitually sullen person.

Origin:
1930s (originally US): from sour + puss2



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George was grumpy on Saturday. Actually, he had been grumpy all week. Oh, all right! He's always grumpy, a sullen sourpuss.