The Internet Book Database of Fiction

I wish Bonny, with her bright hairslide, would murmur into my ear some antique rythm. But I should be pragmatic : this is nor likely to happen !

conversant

/kənˈvəːs(ə)nt/
adjective
predicative Familiar with or knowledgeable about something.

Origin
Middle English: from Old French, present participle of converser (see converse). The original sense was ‘habitually spending time in a particular place or with a particular person’.

The young wizard was surprisingly conversant with his trade, casting spells as easily as a veteran fisherman casts dry flies.

phare

/fɛː/
noun
rare
A lighthouse or beacon to guide ships at sea.

Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin pharus, from Greek pharos (see Pharos).

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To be fair, the phare fared only fairly well at its job. There were scores of shipwrecks dashed on the rocky point.

Brittany has a rocky coast and thus needs many lighthouses, a.k.a, phares. In addition you can find fars in most bakeries there, since it is a local delicacy.

naevus
(US nevus)

/ˈniːvəs/
noun
A birthmark or a mole on the skin, especially a birthmark in the form of a raised red patch.

Origin
Mid 19th century: from Latin.

Through the years, dermatologists have examined, photographed and occasionally excised dysplastic nevi from my back following the 1980 removal of a melanoma.

[In the US the pronunciation (by my doctors) is nee-vus.]

Well, I do hope they catch each neavus in time.
I won't try any joke on this post, since melanoma is definitely not a laughing matter.
Long life and good health to you !

Thanks, voralfred.

I often say, "Nevus, leave us!" during the biopsy excision.
You may joke, too, should it become practical.

I have found fear and despair are two unwanted "friends" since there are so many others with better senses of humor locally and via the Internet.

hypocrisy

/hɪˈpɒkrɪsi/
noun
mass noun
The practice of claiming to have higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case.

Origin
Middle English: from Old French ypocrisie, via ecclesiastical Latin, from Greek hupokrisis ‘acting of a theatrical part’, from hupokrinesthai ‘play a part, pretend’, from hupo ‘under’ + krinein ‘decide, judge’.

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I generally avoid hypocrisy by lowering my standards every day.

Algot Runeman wrote:hypocrisy
...
I generally avoid hypocrisy by lowering my standards every day.

If you say so.

But every morning you raise your standard again to the flagpole's top.
Doesn't that make your hypocrisy remain constant overall?

E.P.S.,

Everything is a balance in the end, I guess.

No complaints from me, either way.

Moderation in everything, even excess!

I don't want to sound critical of the way people speak, but I see a logical conundrum here.
When you look at a pressure vs temperature diagram, in the upper right quadrant the fluid is called supercritical, rather than hypercritical, with a latin prefix rather than a greek one, which makes sense since critical does not sound like having a greek origin. So I do not understand why a person who lowers his own standards is not called subcritical, with the same logic.
Hmmm... According to Wiktionary, the latin critical does come from the greek κριτικός. But why are people greek while fluids are latin ?
To make matter worse still, again according to WIktionary, the word overcritical does exist, but undercritical does not.

If I keep running all these contradictions in my mind, I fear it will reach criticality and go off like an atom bomb !

voralfred wrote: ...
If I keep running all these contradictions in my mind, I fear it will reach criticality and go off like an atom bomb !

........(red emphasis is mine)

E Pericoloso Sporgersi wrote:

voralfred wrote: ...
If I keep running all these contradictions in my mind, I fear it will reach criticality and go off like an atom bomb !

........(red emphasis is mine)

Algot ?! DUCK !!!

[

logbook

/ˈlɒɡbʊk/
noun
1 another term for log (sense 2 of the noun)
1.1 British - another term for registration document

===========

This forum topic serves me as a logbook of the words I've known at least long enough to write them down here.

shamus

/ˈʃeɪməs/
noun
North American
informal
A private detective.

Origin
1920s: of unknown origin.

===========

Aloysius is attempting to channel Sam Spade, the fictional famous shamus. He's pretty good when the clues are clearly labeled.

olid

/ˈɒlɪd/
adjective
literary
Smelling extremely unpleasant.

Origin
Late 17th century: from Latin olidus ‘smelling’, from olere ‘to smell’.

==========

Olive's olid cheese is served in its own room with an airlock from a decommissioned spacecraft instead of a normal door.

helical

/ˈhiːlɪk(ə)l//ˈhɛlɪk(ə)l/
adjective

Having the shape or form of a helix; spiral.

==========

A spiral will typically diminish in arc size while a helix generally maintains a consistent diameter. Made of metal, both are considered to be springs.

Algot Runeman wrote:helical

One of the well-known helical springs is the slinky.

E Pericoloso Sporgersi wrote:One of the well-known helical springs is the slinky.

How did you Mathias Wandel was one of my favorite woodworkers?

He's a toy and tool designer, among many other talents. He publishes plans online and makes excellent videos available on Youtube.

It probably proves something that we loop around the helix and meet on common ground so often.

chiromancy

/ˈkʌɪrə(ʊ)mansi/
noun
mass noun
The supposed prediction of a person's future from interpreting the lines on the palms of their hands; palmistry.

==========

Bob was impressed when he saw the evidence of chiromancy which the psychic pointed out on his own left hand. Of course, he was not sure if it meant he would like art, do art or perhaps fall in love with someone named Art.

squillion

/ˈskwɪljən/
cardinal number
informal
An indefinite very large number.

Origin
1940s: fanciful formation on the pattern of billion and trillion.
/ˈskwɪljən/

==========

From the perspective of a wage worker, the current MassMillions jackpot of 1.6 billion US dollars might as well be a squillion, entirely beyond the imagination. In fact, my sister-in-law finds it too scary to contemplate buying a ticket.

quincunx

/ˈkwɪnkʌŋks/
noun
1 An arrangement of five objects with four at the corners of a square or rectangle and the fifth at its centre, used for the five on a dice or playing card, and in planting trees.
2 Astrology mass noun An aspect of 150°, equivalent to five zodiacal signs.

Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘five twelfths’, from quinque ‘five’ + uncia ‘twelfth’.

==========

Perhaps the best known quincunx is that five-dot side of the die.

In french, quincunx is translated by quinconce, plural quinconces.

Bordeaux, one of France major cities, has a public square called Place des quinconces. However, look at all these photos of this square, taken at a variety of angles and even from above. If you can see any quincunx, please point it to me !

sisterly

/ˈsɪst(ə)li/
adjective
Characteristic of or appropriate for a sister or sisters.

==========

Once again we avoid duplication in WotD. In this instance it is by switching sisterly for sororal, spectacularly succeeding with a sibling substitution solution.

review

/rɪˈvjuː/
noun
1 A formal assessment of something with the intention of instituting change if necessary.
1.1 Law A reconsideration of a judgement, sentence, etc. by a higher court or authority.
Compare with judicial review
1.2 A report on or evaluation of a subject or past events.
2 A critical appraisal of a book, play, film, etc. published in a newspaper or magazine.
‘she released her debut solo album to rave reviews’
2.1 often in names A periodical publication with critical articles on culture and current events.
3 A ceremonial display and formal inspection of military or naval forces, typically by a sovereign, commander-in-chief, or high-ranking visitor.
4 A facility for playing a tape recording during a fast wind or rewind, so that it can be stopped at a particular point.
verb
[with object]
1 Assess (something) formally with the intention of instituting change if necessary.
1.1 Law Submit (a sentence, case, etc.) for reconsideration by a higher court or authority.
1.2 Survey or evaluate (a subject or past events)
2 Write a critical appraisal of (a book, play, film, etc.) for publication in a newspaper or magazine.
3 (of a sovereign, commander-in-chief, or high-ranking visitor) make a ceremonial and formal inspection of (military or naval forces)
4 View or inspect again.

Origin
Late Middle English (as a noun denoting a formal inspection of military or naval forces): from obsolete French reveue, from revoir ‘see again’.

==========

Ralph wrote a review after re-viewing the TV revue. He wrote: "Nothing new."



[Let me ⚠ how could you stop me? ⚠ point out that it was necessary to do a review of five pages of posts from this topic to ensure that review had not been formally used as a WotD. It had been used 115 times over the course of our word examinations, but heretofore not offically. That has been rectified with this post. So there!]