GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by **Ghost** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:11 am

Word of the Day Wednesday January 10, 2007

coxcomb \KOKS-kohm\, noun: 1. obsolete. A cap worn by court jesters; adorned with a strip of red. (Now cockscomb). 2. archaic. The top of the head, or the head itself. 3. Obsolete. A fool. 4. A vain, showy fellow; a conceited, silly man, fond of display; a superficial pretender to knowledge or accomplishments; a dandy; a fop.

A resemblance between the sacrificial garments of ancient ritual and the costume of a household jester in the Middle Ages--coxcomb, eared hood, bells, and bauble, with a motley coat--has been noted.
-- "Fool", Encyclopedia Britannica

If thou follow him, thou must needs wear my coxcomb.
-- William Shakespeare, King Lear

Fond to be seen, she kept a bevy
Of powdered coxcombs at her levee.
-- Oliver Goldsmith

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Coxcomb is a corrupted spelling of cock's comb, the comb of a rooster, hence the badge resembling it that was worn in the cap of a professional fool or jester, hence the wearer of the cap, hence a fool or a vain and silly man.

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:36 am

hm. I've only ever heard it used to describe a vain, foppish man.

felonius · Post by **felonius** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:59 am

Reminds me how much I've always loved the word 'fop' - not only for its definition, but also for the fact it can double as the sound a tennis ball makes when struck by the racket:

FOP!

(heads turn)

FOP!

(heads turn)

FOPP!!

(heads turn)

FOP!

(heads turn)

FOOOPPPP!!!

(murmur, heads turn)

FOP!!

(breath intake, heads turn)

-----!!!

(APPLAUSE)

Post by **Ghost** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:49 am

Word of the Day Thursday January 11, 2007

bowdlerize \BODE-luh-rise; BOWD-\, transitive verb: 1. To remove or modify the parts (of a book, for example) considered offensive. 2. To modify, as by shortening, simplifying, or distorting in style or content.

The president did not call for bowdlerizing all entertainment, but stressed keeping unsuitable material away from the eyes of children.
-- "Conference a start toward loosening grip of violence", Atlanta Journal, May 12, 1999

His tempestuous high school years are touched upon in a delightful scene where the precocious Roy infuriates his English teacher by trying to restore some of Shakespeare's saucier lines to that classroom's bowdlerized study of Hamlet.
-- Herman Goodden, "A Few Scenes in the Life of Roy McDonald", London Free Press, December 7, 2000

He added that he bowdlerized some of the lyrics -- substituting "jerk" and "butt" for some less printable words.
-- Lloyd Grove, "The Reliable Source", Washington Post, February 15, 2001

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Bowdlerize derives from the name Thomas Bowdler, an editor in Victorian times who rewrote Shakespeare, removing all profanity and sexual references so as not to offend the sensibilities of the audiences of his day.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 10:15 am

Ghost wrote: Bowdlerize derives from the name Thomas Bowdler, an editor in Victorian times who rewrote Shakespeare, removing all profanity and sexual references so as not to offend the sensibilities of the audiences of his day.

For doing what he did, Bowlder got his name to become a verb.

For committing about the same abuse against Michelangelo's paintings, Daniele da Volterra lost his own name to become simply "Il Braghettone". ("the Breeches-maker"; I just checked the correct spelling on Wikipedia, but I had heard of the story in the Sistine Chapel).

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:16 pm

felonius wrote:Reminds me how much I've always loved the word 'fop' - not only for its definition, but also for the fact it can double as the sound a tennis ball makes when struck by the racket:

FOP!

(heads turn)

FOP!

(heads turn)

FOPP!!

(heads turn)

FOP!

(heads turn)

FOOOPPPP!!!

(murmur, heads turn)

FOP!!

(breath intake, heads turn)

-----!!!

(APPLAUSE)

For some reason, when I read that, I had this image of 2 fools in an arena, beating each other with large balloons tied to crops.

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 3:35 pm

*snicker* Brad's having flashbacks to his bachelor party again....

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:22 pm

Speaking of flashbacks ... on a trip a few months before my wedding, my old roommate (and occasional GM) and I attended a ren-faire, wanded past a stall that offered people a chance to don SCA style helmets and fence a bit with padded swords. My friend and I (both of whom had a modest amount of SCA, and well as hundreds of sessions of knock down drag out edge of the fingernails AD&D sessions under our belts, grinned like sh*t-eating ghouls, plunked down some money, armored up, and went at it. We had a lot of fun. I certainly landed a few good whacks on his coxcomb ... and he nailed mine a few times in return.

CodeBlower · Post by **CodeBlower** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:38 pm

felonius wrote:FOOOPPPP!!!

(murmur, heads turn)

FOP!!

(breath intake, heads turn)

-----!!!

(APPLAUSE)

It never would have occurred to me that you could get that much suspense from a three-letter word.

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:59 pm

How about no letters ?

"I've got $20 that says ______ will fop the heck outta ______'s ass !"

{fists appear from everywhere, clutching greenbacks, and shouting their voting preferences)

Post by **Ghost** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:46 am

Word of the Day Friday January 12, 2007

incarnadine \in-KAR-nuh-dyn\, adjective: 1. Having a fleshy pink color. 2. Red; blood-red.
transitive verb: 1. To make red or crimson.

Captain Dobo opened the castle's wine cellars and broke open the casks for his men, who greeted the sultan's soldiers without first politely wiping the incarnadine wine from their blood-red lips and bearded chins.
-- Kevin Keating, "Kilroy Was Here!", International Travel News, October 1, 2001

The more he scrubbed it, the more it bled.
It made the seas incarnadine, he said.
-- Judy Driscoll, "Biddy takes pink gin to the country dance", Hecate, May 1, 1993

In a night of rain, the ruddy reflections of their lights incarnadine the clouds till the entire city appears to be the prey of a monster conflagration.
-- Alvan F. Sanborn, "New York After Paris", The Atlantic, October 1906

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
-- Shakespeare, Macbeth

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Incarnadine comes from Italian incarnatino, which came from the Latin incarnato, something incarnate, made flesh, from in + caro, carn-, "flesh." It is related to carnation, etymologically the flesh-colored flower; incarnate, "in the flesh; made flesh"; and carnal, "pertaining to the body or its appetites."

Post by **Darb** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:11 pm

Genre: Vampire

The hissing and murmuring of the bloodpack quieted as their mistress, Incarnadine, entered the crypt.

One of her brood crept forward through the shadows, and lay a bound and squirming body at her feet.

"We caught thissss one outssside, at unawaressssss ..." simpered the vampireling, while dragging the terrified captive's head closer into view. The disheveled victim was clad as a fool. His makeup was streaked with tears, and his incarnadine coxcomb fell askew as he struggled feebly against the gag. The balloon stick he'd been clutching with a white-knuckled grasp slipped to the ground, forgotten, as the terrible weight of Incarnadine's hypnotic gaze slowly eroded his failing mind and sanity. The acrid smell of urine was suddenly strong.

Incarnadine parted her incarnadine lips, revealing incarnadine fangs. Her eyes glowed incarnadine, and as she lunged and bit, incarnadine blood spouted in a geyser from her victim's neck.

Outside, a wolf howled mournfully at an incarnadine moon - and deep in the brightly lit recesses of the nearby village, the people fearfully put a name to the face of their terror ... Incarnadine.

Post by **Ghost** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:06 am

Word of the Day Monday January 15, 2007

eddy \ED-ee\, noun: 1. A current of air or water running in a direction contrary to the main current, or moving in a circular direction; a whirlpool. 2. A tendency or current (as of opinion or history) contrary to or separate from a main current.
intransitive verb: 1. To move in an eddy or as if in an eddy; to move in a circle.
transitive verb: 1. To cause to move in an eddy or as if in an eddy.

Many inanimate systems have lifelike qualities -- flickering flames, snowflakes, cloud patterns, swirling eddies in a river.
-- Paul Davies, The Fifth Miracle

Egypt, like many countries, was caught up in the eddies of the Great Depression, which overtook Europe and America and which came in Egypt just as the new graduates of the expanded schooling were entering the workforce, looking for the professional opportunities their education had promised.
-- Leila Ahmed, A Border Passage

The indifferent river swirls on, eddying past small promontories where grass peeks through the snow.
-- Roger Cohen, Hearts Grown Brutal

The fragrant water is not completely still but, stirred perhaps by his own entry, seems to eddy around him as if he were being bathed in a rippling brook fed by hot springs, one that cleanses itself even as it cleanses him.
-- Robert Coover, Ghost Town

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Eddy is from Middle English ydy, probably of Scandinavian origin.

Post by **Ghost** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:38 am

Word of the Day Tuesday January 16, 2007

imprecation \im-prih-KAY-shuhn\, noun: 1. The act of imprecating, or invoking evil upon someone. 2. A curse.

After a while, he stopped hurling imprecations . . . and, as he often did after such an outburst, became quite remorseful.
-- Wayne Johnston, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams

Would he criticize an erring colleague? "I shall," Dirksen would promise, in a voice like the finest whiskey aged in fog, "invoke upon him every condign imprecation."
-- Lance Morrow, "We Lose a Great Speaker, We Gain a Great Book", Time, May 24, 2000

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Imprecation derives from Latin imprecatio, from imprecari, "to invoke harm upon, to pray against," from in- + precari, "to pray."

KeE · Post by **KeE** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:39 am

When yoy think about it, "may all your dreams come true" is really an imprecation in the same vein as the old curse, now clichÃ© "may you live in interesting times".

Why? Some of them were rather unpleasant, hm?

KEE

CodeBlower · Post by **CodeBlower** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 2:24 pm

KeE wrote:When yoy think about it, "may all your dreams come true" is really an imprecation in the same vein as the old curse, now clichÃ© "may you live in interesting times".

Why? Some of them were rather unpleasant, hm?

KEE

I always rather hoped that "dreams" (used in that sense) meant "aspirations" -- rather than the jumbled collection of images my sub-conscience throws into an MPEG4 with a hideous sound-track for my brain to enjoy each night ...

CodeBlower · Post by **CodeBlower** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 2:27 pm

Brad wrote:The disheveled victim was clad as a fool. His makeup was streaked with tears, and his incarnadine coxcomb fell askew as he struggled feebly against the gag. The balloon stick he'd been clutching with a white-knuckled grasp slipped to the ground, forgotten, as the terrible weight of Incarnadine's hypnotic gaze slowly eroded his failing mind and sanity. The acrid smell of urine was suddenly strong.

Apparantly, Brad's been checking the "Now Playing" listings for my brain ...

(Bonus points for getting "coxcomb" in there, by the way.)

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:48 pm

CodeBlower wrote:
KeE wrote:When yoy think about it, "may all your dreams come true" is really an imprecation
I always rather hoped that "dreams" (used in that sense) meant "aspirations" -- rather than the jumbled collection of images my sub-conscience throws into an MPEG4 with a hideous sound-track for my brain to enjoy each night ...

So?
That could be even worse!

LMB has one of her characters say something like "the worst curses the gods bring on us are in answer to our prayers" (can't find the exact place and anyway I strongly suspect this is a book I read in English, but have at home only in french- it is one of the "Chalion" series, anyway).
Seeing fulfilled your aspirations, which you aspired to without having realised all their implications, might be worse than the worst collections of subconscious images that fill your most agitated nights.

CodeBlower · Post by **CodeBlower** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:26 am

I could see a little Brendan Frasier going on -- let's just say I have carefully-constructed dreams (read: aspirations).

But, I could agree that I might not be nearly as satisfied at the fulfillment of those dreams.

Since most of them have something to do with world-domination, I still expect it to be entertaining at the least.

Post by **Ghost** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:41 am

Word of the Day Wednesday January 17, 2007

foofaraw \FOO-fuh-raw\, noun: 1. Excessive or flashy ornamentation or decoration. 2. A fuss over a matter of little importance.

A somber, muted descending motif opens and closes the work, which is brief but effective. It provided much needed relief from the fanfares and foofaraw in which brass-going composers so often indulge.
-- Philip Kennicott, "Brass Spectacular is a Spectacle of Special Sound", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 17, 1997

After working in the news business for a number of years, I've become a bit cynical about mass-media coverage of events like the Y2K foofaraw.
-- Roy Clancy, "Ready for Y2K...", Calgary Sun, December 15, 1999

Making the Times best-seller list, or a movie, or all that other foofaraw is not necessarily proof of [a novel's] lasting significance.
-- Roger K. Miller, "Peyton Place' was remarkably good bad novel", Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 29, 1996

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Foofaraw is perhaps from Spanish fanfarrÃ³n, "a braggart."

felonius · Post by **felonius** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:43 pm

If you changed it to wooferaw it could serve as a noun to describe a bunch of dogs barking up a storm over a matter of little importance:

Petunias trimmed to his satisfaction, Horace pocketed his clippers and stood, thoughts turning to the jug of lemonade chilling in the refrigerator. He mounted the porch steps eagerly, but in his haste neglected to catch the screen door as it swung shut behind him. The ensuing clang reverberated across the tranquil yards and set off a strenuous vocal protest from the neighbourhood dogs. More and more of them took up the chorus until the ruckus had grown into a veritable woofaraw of assorted bays, yowls, yips, yaps, yelps, growls, howls, and whimpers.

Shaken, Horace rushed back outside (screen door clanging once more), and yelled, "OK - ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT! QUIET, QUIET! IT'S JUST A DOOR! THAT'S ENOUGH NOW! QUIET, QU -"

But his words were like kerosene on a flame and the great woofaraw swelled to even mightier volume: nails clawed staccato on fences, chains clinked as they were lunged against, thick shoulders butted gates. Human cries of anger and bewilderment began to mix with the throaty refrain of the canine masses, and in the distance, Horace heard an ambulance siren begin to wail.

"QUIETTTT!!" he roared, waving his arms. "QUI -"

Losing balance, he fell from the porch, and had just enough time to register the demise of several petunias under his considerable bulk before unconsciousness took him in its dark embrace...

Still procrastinating. It's a disease.

Post by **Ghost** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:39 am

Word of the Day Thursday January 18, 2007

cudgel \KUH-juhl\, noun: 1. A short heavy stick used as a weapon; a club.
transitive verb: 1. To beat with or as if with a cudgel.

Whatever had been making her dogs uneasy, she'd have to handle it on her own. Rosie Bowe took a heavy piece of firewood as a cudgel and followed them.
-- Jim Crace, Signals of Distress

The Grand Vizier Kuprili of Constantinople, for example, . . . closed the city's coffeehouses. Anyone caught drinking coffee was soundly cudgeled.
-- Mark Pendergrast, Uncommon Grounds

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Cudgel derives from Old English cycgel.

CodeBlower · Post by **CodeBlower** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 11:05 am

Ghost wrote:cudgel \KUH-juhl\, noun: 1. A short heavy stick used as a weapon; a club.

I don't think I learned this word until I started reading Mr. Modesitt's works.

Ghost wrote:foofaraw \FOO-fuh-raw\, noun: 1. Excessive or flashy ornamentation or decoration. 2. A fuss over a matter of little importance.

I have a coworker who calls most of the stuff that ladies buy for home-decorating "froo-froo" .. does that come from this, or somewhere else?

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 12:20 pm

ooooh I've always thought that cudgeling should be an olympic sport

We'd be good at that, wouldn't we Laurie?

Post by **laurie** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:50 pm

tollbaby wrote:ooooh I've always thought that cudgeling should be an olympic sport We'd be good at that, wouldn't we Laurie?

You mean it's *not* an Olympic event?

All that training time......for nothing......