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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 5:08 pm
by voralfred
Algot Runeman wrote:frondeur

Pronunciation: /frɒnˈdəː/
/fʀɔndœʀ/
noun
rare
A political rebel.

Origin
French, literally 'slinger', used to denote a rebel taking part in the Fronde.

(...)

[By the way, for all those who paid the same level of attention in history class as I did, the rumors that Marie Antoinette was a childhood friend of Louis XIV are totally wrong. I just checked. They are three or four generations removed from one another.]
Being a frondeur seems to be rather a common activity in France. Three ministers were expelled a few months ago from the governmentfor that reason.

As for Marie Antoinette, she was born forty years after the death of Louis XIV….

Edit:
Note, however, that there was an different person by the name of Maria Antonia of Austria, some distant relative of Marie Antoinette, who was a contemporary of Louis XIV. He was already 30 when she was born, so she could not have been his "childhood friend", and moreover there is no indication she ever visited France. She did die before him,though.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 8:08 am
by Algot Runeman
vigneron

Pronunciation: /ˈviːnjərɒ̃/
/viɲ(ə)ʀɔ̃/
noun
A person who cultivates grapes for winemaking.

Origin
French, from vigne 'vine'.

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tribp

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François retired from politics after "the fiasco." He spent his final decades as a vigneron instead of a frondeur. While he consumed much of his own product, so did his political opponents as well as his allies. His heirs were rich. Their money resulted in significant political influence.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 8:22 am
by Algot Runeman
Francophone sequences from ODO like the current vigneron and frondeur are making me revisit my limited understanding of European history. Thanks to voralfred for his first hand remarks, widening and deepening my channels to European knowledge.

Frankly, the term francophone makes me think I'm talking about Spain and Francisco Franco and his personal telephone.

While I'm at it, being frank is always something of a challenge. My parents chose a different first name for me and I am used to it, so being Frank is confusing.

Phew, let there be few of these side comments. They punish the rest of you by being too pun-ish.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:20 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote:Francophone sequences from ODO like the current vigneron and frondeur are making me revisit my limited understanding of European history. ...
Some regret the demise of the francophone. It used to be ubiquitous in Switserland, France and Belgium where it was coin-fed with the national currency, the franc. In Switzerland it still would be if extant.

Just as numerous in other countries, there it had different names but it always was public. The British of course had an exceptional model they traditionally deployed as Dr. Who's personal means of transportation.

In the EU (except Britain and Switzerland) you might expect it to be called a europhone by now. But sadly it was driven to extinction years ago by the impact of the mobile phone, the ultimate dinophone killer. Not even zoos have been safeguarding the species. A classical Greek tragedy.

P.S. Of the models shown below, the one on the left is for right-handed people and the one on the right is for lefties.
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:32 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote:vigneron
...
François retired from politics after "the fiasco." He spent his final decades as a vigneron instead of a frondeur. While he consumed much of his own product, so did his political opponents as well as his allies. His heirs were rich. Their money resulted in significant political influence.
François just ran a vignoble. He was all but ignoble.
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 7:03 am
by Algot Runeman
crass

Pronunciation: /kras/
adjective
Showing no intelligence or sensitivity: the crass assumptions that men make about women an act of crass stupidity

Origin
Late 15th century (in the sense 'dense or coarse'): from Latin crassus 'solid, thick'.

Image
Tex Avery

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I will not be crass.
Nor speak ill of the lass.
Still I will admire
The fine curve of her...hip.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:31 am
by Algot Runeman
typo

Pronunciation: /ˈtʌɪpəʊ/
noun (plural typos)
informal
A typographical error.

Origin
Early 19th century: abbreviation.

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Mark routinely mixed up his words while speaking. He epitomized "a slip of the tongue." If the name hadn't been taken by that old playwright, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Mark would have been called "Mr. Malaprop." Therefore, it might seem strange, Mark became a successful editor. The books over his desk never had a single typo.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 10:47 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote:typo
Is it true that Taiwan's political opposition claims that Taipei is a typo?

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:38 am
by Algot Runeman
Pecksniffian

Pronunciation: /pɛkˈsnɪfɪən/
adjective
Affecting benevolence or high moral principles: he adopted a Pecksniffian tone

Origin
Mid 19th century: from Mr Pecksniff, the name of a character in Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit, + -ian.

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All woodpeckers are peck sniffers when it comes to locating food. Some of us peckerwood humans adopt a Pecksniffian stance when it comes to sharing. Those with less should get an extra job to pay for their needs. "Come work for me."

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 7:38 am
by Algot Runeman
senary

Pronunciation: /ˈsiːnəri/
/ˈsɛnəri/
adjective
rare
Relating to or based on the number six: in the binary scale only two characters are wanted, namely 1 and 0; in the senary, six; in the decimal, ten

Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin senarius 'containing six', based on sex 'six'.

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  • Here are half a dozen senary thoughts:
  • A hexagon shape's 60 degree inner angle results in the senary shape.
  • A play with six scenes will need senary scenery.
  • The cowboy pulled his senary-shooter and drilled the rustler.
  • Can a person with an extra finger on his hand give a "high five"?
  • Let us be done now with this sickness of sixness.
  • The techie witch put a hexadecimal on him when he was sixteen so he got F on a test (though he didn't recognize it as the highest possible).

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2015 7:56 am
by Algot Runeman
suffice

Pronunciation: /səˈfʌɪs/
verb
[no object]
1 Be enough or adequate: a quick look should suffice [with infinitive]: two examples should suffice to prove the contention
Synonyms
1.1 [with object] Meet the needs of: simple mediocrity cannot suffice them

Origin
Middle English: from Old French suffis-, stem of suffire, from Latin sufficere 'put under, meet the need of', from sub- 'under' + facere 'make'.

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Let these suffice to keep me content, shelter, food and love.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2015 8:35 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote:suffice
...
Let these suffice to keep me content, shelter, food and love.
Usually your explanations, elucidations and illuminations do clarify a lot.
This time though, they do not suffice.
Please elaborate.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2015 12:35 pm
by Algot Runeman
E.P.S. wrote:Usually your explanations, elucidations and illuminations do clarify a lot.
This time though, they do not suffice.
Please elaborate.
I have a place to live with heat in the winter. It suffices.
I eat regularly. That is enough.
I enjoy the love of a warm, tender, gentle, passionate wife. That exceeds all my youthful hopes.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 7:57 am
by Algot Runeman
quinquennial

Pronunciation: /kwɪŋˈkwɛnɪəl/
adjective
1 Recurring every five years: they conducted quinquennial reviews
1.1 Lasting for or relating to a period of five years.

Origin
Late 15th century (in the sense 'lasting five years'): from Latin quinquennis (from quinque 'five' + annus 'year') + -al.

5 - 10 - 15 - 20 - 25...

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Cinco de Mayo happens annually. A decade happens every ten years. Does the fifth have significance beyond the size of a liquor bottle? I honestly don't know any fancy sequence of events that are quinquennial. That does not mean we cannot have a word for it.

[Intrepid Internet Exploration reveals that Nero held a festival called the Quinquennial Neronia, but that happened only twice.]

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 10:42 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote:quinquennial
... I honestly don't know any fancy sequence of events that are quinquennial. ...
1. Would a binary couple practicing quinquennial sex aim to have decimal children?

2. Were there no sailors who only returned to their conjugal home every five years?
It's not the sailors who were periodically celibate, they had a wife on each of five continents.
It was the poor wives who had quinquennial sex. Or so they claimed ...
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 8:16 am
by Algot Runeman
[definition 3]

Pronunciation: /neɪ/
adjective
Originally called; born (used before the name by which a man was originally known): Al Kelly, né Kabish

Origin
1930s: French, literally 'born', masculine past participle of naître; compare with née.

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Neigh, nay, . (I'm not really horsing around. cannot properly be compared to horse noise, nay, it cannot.)
Hear what I say.
Today, the word is short.
But long in purpose, I retort.

I was born but once,
But the town clerk might have been a dunce.
Middle name recorded as "Telma"
Certificate later changed more to the realm of
"Talmage." Accuracy matters.

[For purposes known mainly to them, the lexicographers at ODO conjoin three terms to put today's WotD as the third definition: Ne, the chemical abbreviation for neon; NE, the state abbreviation for the US state of Nebraska; and né, "born as" even though the spellings of the three are different.]

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 6:53 am
by Algot Runeman
seidel

Pronunciation: /ˈzʌɪd(ə)l/
noun
dated
A beer mug or glass.

Origin
Early 20th century: from German Seidel, originally denoting a measure between a third and a half of a litre.

Image
Eric Olsen via Trondheim Municipal Archives

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Sidney sidled up to the bar, a gap-toothed smile on his ugly mug. He negotiated with the bartender and with a side of beef. Five seidels of beer and a shot of whiskey each day for a week.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:22 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote: [definition 3]
...
Origin
1930s: French, literally 'born', masculine past participle of naître; compare with née.
...
I was born but once,
...
I distinctly remember someone claiming that "You only live twice."

Was it René Magritte who was born twice?

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 7:13 am
by Algot Runeman
anfractuous

Pronunciation: /ənˈfraktjʊəs/
adjective
rare
Sinuous or circuitous: the line of gold extends and becomes anfractuous

Origin
Late 16th century: from late Latin anfractuosus, from Latin anfractus 'a bending'.

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Anfractuous is the perfect word to describe my thought process. One thing leads to another, seemingly without logic. Have you seen the latest butterfly statistics? I like a good cup of coffee. Looks like it will be sunny today, at least.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 8:19 am
by Algot Runeman
sciolist

Pronunciation: /ˈsʌɪəlɪst/
noun
archaic
A person who pretends to be knowledgeable and well informed.

Origin
Early 17th century: from late Latin sciolus (diminutive of Latin scius 'knowing', from scire 'know') + -ist.

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Your local sciolist reminds you to stand straight and look people in the eye (you choose which eye, of course) to help your audience to believe you actually do know what you are talking about. "Fake it 'till you make it."

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2015 7:39 am
by Algot Runeman
kvell

Pronunciation: /kvɛl/
verb
[no object] North American informal
Feel happy and proud: forgive me if I’m kvelling, but this boy will make us proud

Origin
1960s: from Yiddish kveln, from Middle High German, literally 'well up'.

Image
Tim Shields

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You sail and spot whale
Which eats krill with skill.
You kvell and feel well.
You're proud and shout loud.
"To shore!" There's no more.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 7:59 am
by Algot Runeman
pendulous

Pronunciation: /ˈpɛndjʊləs/
adjective
Hanging down loosely: pendulous branches

Origin
Early 17th century: from Latin pendulus 'hanging down' (from pendere 'hang') + -ous.

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Christina Hellon's Shops

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Pendulous earrings adorned Monique's delicate ears. Somehow that does not sound so elegant. Pendant earrings sounds nicer, I think.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 9:50 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote:pendulous
My grandpa swore high and low that my grandma's breasts were neither pendulous nor pendant. At most, he said, they were pending when she was younger than 11, before her puberty.

Of course grandpa has been known to be pedant. And when older, he grew a pair himself too, though much smaller.

P.S. I'm sure you must have seen this coming. Right? Right?

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:46 am
by Algot Runeman
placate

Line breaks: pla|cate
Pronunciation: /pləˈkeɪt/
/ˈplakeɪt/
/ˈpleɪkeɪt/
verb
[with object]
Make (someone) less angry or hostile: they attempted to placate the students with promises

Origin
Late 17th century: from Latin placat- 'appeased', from the verb placare.

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E.P.S. placated his impatient fans with another scintillating story of grandma. His fans remain ravening beasts, agitating for more. We will never be satisfied.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 1:34 pm
by voralfred
Algot Runeman wrote:kvell

Pronunciation: /kvɛl/
verb
[no object] North American informal
Feel happy and proud: forgive me if I’m kvelling, but this boy will make us proud

Origin
1960s: from Yiddish kveln, from Middle High German, literally 'well up'.

(...)
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You sail and spot whale
Which eats krill with skill.
You kvell and feel well.
You're proud and shout loud.
"To shore!" There's no more.
The opposite of kvelling is kvetching. Our resident kvetcher, namely Kvetch, hasn't posted since August 13th, 2014. We need a new member by the name of Kvell....

Sorry for reacting so late...