GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[tollbaby]

Laurie, it wasn't for nothing Look at how well you keep Brad in line now!

[Darb]

[mock indignant old git mode]

Look, I'm getting kind of tired of all this linguistic foofaraw posted by people who can't even be bothered to use the WOTD in a proper sentence.

The peanut gallery will kindly vacate the WOTD thread, and traipse on over to the applicable commentary thread, otherwise I'll be forced to sic Woofaraw on you, and laying about with my cudgel, while shouting perspicuous imprecations.

Now, go on and GIT ! Shoo !! Skedaddle !!

[/mode]

[voralfred]

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?

Well, if foofaraw comes from the spanish "fanfarron" then I'd say there is no connection.
"froo-froo" or "frou-frou" as we spell it in french has a very clear origin: it in an onomatopea, imitating the sound ofthe hem of ladies' skirts on the ground or against obtacles, or even one layer of the skirt on the other. You have to figure those huge skirts, of very heavy fabric, over layer over layer of "jupons", all of them supported by a wooden architecture, called a crinoline (women had to turn to the side to go across doorways, the crinoloien were too wide to go through facing ahead). This is frou-frou.
Now whether this, rather than fanfarron is the origin of foofaraw (word that I discover here for the first time), I don't know, but these two origins have clearly nothing in common

[CodeBlower]

"froo-froo" or "frou-frou" as we spell it in french has a very clear origin: it in an onomatopea, imitating the sound ofthe hem of ladies' skirts on the ground or against obtacles, or even one layer of the skirt on the other.

Thanks, man!

[Ghost]

Word of the Day Friday January 19, 2007

yeasty \YEE-stee\, adjective: 1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling yeast. 2. Not yet settled or formed; immature or incomplete. 3. Marked by agitation or change. 4. Frothy or trivial; frivolous. 5. Full of vitality; exuberant.

Aunt Mari had the basket open and was taking out freshly baked rolls, which had been carefully wrapped in a tea towel. The yeasty smell of them and of fried chicken made Eve realize how hungry she was.
-- Mary Balog, Slightly Married

We are living in the time of the parenthesis, a great and yeasty time, he concluded. "Make uncertainty your friend."
-- Bill Sweetman, "A yeasty time", Interavia Business & Technology, July 1, 2001

In that yeasty time in the mid-sixties when I went to work as a reporter in Paris, the world was about to pop.
-- Raymond Sokolov, Why We Eat What We Eat

I see you bubbling all over the place -- you're yeasty, and I think it's grand!
-- Joan Anderson, A Year by the Sea

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Yeasty is from yeast, from Middle English yeest, from Old English gist.

[Darb]

Ok, time for a quick joke.

A brewer, a baker, and a woman with a yeast infection walk into a bar, and ...

{Tollbaby, Daetara and Laurie descend out of nowhere, and begin shooting, clubbing and whipping Brad before he can continue}

[laurie]

hmmmmmmm.....Brad seems to have lost his usual yeasty temperament.

[CodeBlower]

hmmmmmmm.....Brad seems to have lost his usual yeasty temperament.

yeasty meaning "frothy" or meaning "exuberant"?

[laurie]

A bit of both, with "immature" tossed in for good measure.


I have this vision of Brad as a lump of fast-rising bread dough being punched down by the ladies....

[Ghost]

Word of the Day Monday January 22, 2007

censure \SEN-shur\, noun: 1. The act of blaming or finding fault with and condemning as wrong; reprehension; blame. 2. An official reprimand or expression of disapproval.
transitive verb: 1. To find fault with and condemn as wrong; to blame; to criticize severely. 2. To express official disapproval of.

She was tired of their disapproval, the silent censure, their eagerness always to assume the worst.
-- Mary McGarry Morris, Fiona Range

But it was the dread news of death from scurvy that dominated headlines. A naval court of inquiry censured Nares for failing to provide his sledge crew with fresh lime juice.
-- Leonard F. Guttridge, Ghosts of Cape Sabine

The reason Vinnie was censured and put on probation rather than terminated was the extenuating circumstances of his behavior.
-- Robin Cook, Vector

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Censure comes from Latin censura, "censorship, judgment," from censere, "to form or express an opinion, to appraise."

[voralfred]

Too yeasty discussions about "frou-frou" should be censured (or, maybe moved to TVR).

[tollbaby]

It isn't often that tollbaby is treated to her own censure, but Brad's yeasty comments have finally necessitated it.

[Darb]

Archbishop Phyrrho Perfidious (a trappist monk/brewer with a history of gluttony and priapism) wandered nearby, swinging his censer to and fro ... clearly drawn by the twin mentions of censure and yeastiness, and the proximity of women.

[CodeBlower]

Archbishop Phyrrho Perfidious (a trappist monk/brewer with a history of gluttony and priapism) wandered nearby, swinging his censer to and fro ... clearly drawn by the twin mentions of censure and yeastiness, and the proximity of women.

I looked up the definition of "priapism", with the intention of posting it if it hadn't already been defined in this forum.

But .. I think I'm gonna pass ...

[felonius]

Unfortunately, despite several yeasty advances and a few puerile innuendos thrown in for good measure, the Archbishop could elicit nothing from the women other than triple glares smacking of unadulterated censure and disdain.

"Where's Priapus when one needs him?" he sighed.

[Darb]

The district manager shouted furiously at his teenage newhire.

"LOOK, I don't want you taking any more creative liberties with the stock codes for our beverage distribution system !" He unfurled a database printout and began reading some highlights.

"Redbull" is not "Bull Piss"
"Red Dog" is not "Dog Piss"
"RC Cola" is not "Red Commie Coke"
"Kedem Grape Juice" is not "Jewish Juice"
"Prune Juice" is not "Johnnie Trots"
"Coke" is not "Cocaine Cola"
"Jolt" is not "Nectar of the Gods"
"Chocolate Ensure" is not "Censure"
"Root Beer" is not "Sex Cola" ... what, are you Australian or something ?
"Jamaica Ginger Beer" is not "Rasta Ale"

Having thoroughly censured the newhire's database entry habits, he crumpled the printout.

"Either use our standard nomenclature, or pack up and get out."

[KeE]

-So, why are you wearing this coxcomb, my acolyte?
-It happened at court yesterday, master. My advances at courtship was deemed so crude, I was given the option to either bowdlerize or face the fate of permanent foolcap. My selfesteem will not suffer any censure on behalf of my behaviour when it comes to matters of the incardine. I do what I will, as my former master Proudhon thaught me.
-Pink, my acolyte? You should know that bowing down to peek up under never gets you there, although you might get a glimpse… And I’m pretty sure Proudhon won’t like it one bit that you call him master.
-Oh, I am so sorry. He always said it was an imprecation, although I only ment it as a honorary mention to his wisdom. Such terms are what keeps us in the eddy of the medieval ages, he said, and prevents us from moving with the inevitable stream of time. I shall repent.
-My acolyte, your language is becoming full of foofaraw and I won’t stand for it. I’m the one that should be using words you only find in a dictionary. It is the masters privilege to cudgel anyone who tries to usurp this right!
-I am so sorry, oh master. My grip of the tools of opaque speech is still yeasty at best. I shall endeavour to keep such things to myself until I can get an acolyte of my own.
-I am pleased to hear that our long and winding conversation not only has led you to this enlightenment but also given you resolve to continue our proud pedagogic traditions. As a reward, I will give you a proverb that will reinforce your resolve at improper behaviour when you return to court. Here goes: “The world has no need for warm beer or cold women.â€

[Ghost]

Word of the Day Tuesday January 23, 2007

supine \soo-PYN; SOO-pyn\, adjective: 1. Lying on the back, or with the face upward. 2. Indolent; listless; inactive; mentally or morally lethargic.

On the edge of sleep, I urged my thoughts backward, back to my own back yard, where I lay supine, looking at the stars on a summer night, looking back in time as far as starlight could take me--and a drop of water fell on my forehead.
-- Eric Kraft, Leaving Small's Hotel

Days are spent lying supine, crouching or kneeling in that small space, chiseling away at the matrix rock and picking out the nuggets of fossilized resin that are exposed.
-- George Poinar Jr. and Roberta Poinar, The Amber Forest

Such independence of mind was a revelation and an incitement. It promised a counterweight to a supine tendency to follow socially sanctioned practices and ideas.
-- Alain De Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy

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Supine derives from Latin supinus, "lying on the back."

[wolfspirit]

KeE:


Scott

[Darb]

The deceased lupine lay supine beneath the pine ... having whined, and then dined, on a deadly nightshade that could have slain nine.

[voralfred]

The deceased lupine lay supine beneath the pine ... having whined, and then dined, on a deadly nightshade that could have slain nine.

This is a very fine line.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day Wednesday January 24, 2007

inscrutable \in-SKROO-tuh-buhl\, adjective: Difficult to fathom or understand; difficult to be explained or accounted for satisfactorily; obscure; incomprehensible; impenetrable.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright recalled the inscrutable comment of a French diplomat about the interaction of the various European organisations: "It will work in practice, yes. But will it work in theory?"
-- Jonathan Fenby, France on the Brink

There is nothing mysterious to a seaman unless it be the sea itself, which is the mistress of his existence and as inscrutable as Destiny.
-- Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness

He delighted in keeping people guessing. His thought processes were eclectic, inscrutable and unpredictable.
-- "Martin Mogridge", Times (London), March 17, 2000

A page of John Lennon's enigmatic lyrics for "I Am [the] Walrus," one of the Beatles' most inscrutable songs, was sold for £78,500 at auction in London yesterday.
-- John Shaw, "Lennon lyric sells for £78,500", Times (London), October 1, 1999

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Inscrutable is from Late Latin inscrutabilis, from Latin in-, "not" + Late Latin scrutabilis, "searchable," from Latin scrutari, "to search through, to examine thoroughly (as if rummaging the trash or a heap of discarded garments)," from scruta, "trash, rags." The noun form is inscrutability. It is related to scrutiny, "careful examination."

[tollbaby]

The deceased lupine lay supine beneath the pine ... having whined, and then dined, on a deadly nightshade that could have slain nine.

This is a very fine line.

err... why?

[voralfred]

The deceased lupine lay supine beneath the pine ... having whined, and then dined, on a deadly nightshade that could have slain nine.

This is a very fine line.

err... why?

This line of mine wasn't so fine? I thought it so incarnadine!

A bit earlier, I saw a discussion about "décolleté" vs "décolletage". Well you want a noun, not an adjective, but in France (Canadian usage may well be different), the noun for "plunging neckline, cleavage" is décolleté; décolletage is not a french word at all; or if it is, it would mean "beheading", but this has gone out of use for centuries.

[tollbaby]

nope, Canadian usage isn't quite the same. And "décolletage" isn't necessarily a French word, per se, it's an English word BASED on the French. But I've seen it used in French as well.

Maybe I just don't understand your sense of humor, but the thin line post didn't seem to make much sense.