GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by **Ghost** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:08 am

Word of the Day Thursday January 22, 2009

rancor \RANG-ker\, noun: bitter resentment or ill will; extreme hatred or spite

The day quickly degenerated into rancor as Palestinians and Jews staged competing protests and Arab participants were accused of harassing Jewish delegates.
-- Rachel L. Swarns, New York Times, 2001-08-31

He called for unity after years of partisan rancor and division.
-- Alec MacGillis, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2008-01-22

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c 1225, from Old French rancor, from Latin rancorem "rancidness, grudge, bitterness," from Latin rancere "to stink."

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:06 am

Scene: {Star Wars: return of the Jedi}

The RANCOR bellowed at Luke Skywalker. Months of bad food, lack of soothing mud wallows, and endless deluge of loud discordant noises, had left Rancor feeling particularly rancorous ... so it trumpeted it's rancor, and shambled forward, bent on exacting some small measure of punishment from it's equally rancorous tormentors.

CodeBlower · Post by **CodeBlower** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:02 am

You'd think a steady diet of Twi'lek belly-dancers would qualitatively (or quantitatively) reduce the rancor's rancor.

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:35 am

Ya know, my crazy late Aunt, Mrs. Connie Lingus, warned me repeatedly about eating raw Twi'lek.

At the time, I couldn't understand why she was so rancorous about it. I'd tried explaining about point of origin tags, and about the qualitative outsourcing system the Hutts used for their food purveyors, but she kept yammering on and on and on about how a steady diet of belly dancers would go straight to my belly, and how she'd clap when I'd caught the clap, etc. It didn't make any sense.

So I ate her.

CodeBlower · Post by **CodeBlower** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:06 pm

Brad wrote:Mrs. Connie Lingus

Thanks .. just the smile I needed to get the weekend started right.

Me: "Waiter .. I'd like an entendre .. hell .. make it a double!"

Brad wrote:So I ate her.

Brad the Waiter: "Anything else, sir?"

Post by **Ghost** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:10 pm

Word of the Day Friday January 23, 2009

sallow \SAL-oh\, adjective: having a sickly, yellowish color

"After several days of flying in space, the astronauts may look wan and sallow, so medical staff will put make-up on them to make them look ruddy," the newspaper said.
-- The Sydney Morning Herald, 2005-10-17

Actually, Thompson looked old and sallow, as he faced the cameras for a few seconds before hopping into a waiting GMC Envoy.
-- The Washington Post, 2007-04-19

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Old English salo "dusky, dark," from Proto Germanic *salwa-, from Proto Indo-European base *sal- "dirty, gray."

[Brad: - I can't wait for this one]

Post by **Darb** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:09 am

The sallow looking yarrow chirped all night in the fallow fields of Yalo, harbinging the morrow's break of day.

Post by **Ghost** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:53 am

Word of the Day Monday January 26, 2009

vacuous \VAK-yoo-uhs\, adjective: 1. showing no intelligence or thought 2. having no meaning or direction; empty

The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it.
-- Don Frederick, LA Times

McCain's campaign has been mocking Obama on television and in speeches for weeks, attacking him personally as a vacuous celebrity.
-- Ben Smith, Denver Post, 2008-08-29

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by 1561, from Latin vacuus "empty, void, free." Figurative sense of "empty of ideas" is from 1848.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:17 am

Roy Bean's jaw dropped further and further in dismay comingled with scientific outrage as it became progressively more and apparent how truly imbecilic the movie's special effects were.

"Don't these vacuous idiots know that sound doesn't travel in the vaccum of space ?!" he erupted.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:37 am

Edward Jenner's idea, on the other hand, was not to be thrown into a vacuum cleaner. By using the mild variolÃ¦ vaccinÃ¦ virus (cow pox) to protect people from the deathly smallpox, he invented the first vaccine.

Post by **Ghost** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:39 am

Word of the Day Tuesday January 27, 2009

wanton \WON-tn\, adjective; The plural is faunas or faunae.: 1. reckless, heartless, or malicious; without reason or excuse 2. not moral; lewd, lascivious

"Such (a) stand and attitude are leading to the grave, wanton violation of all the north-south agreements," the report said.
-- Kwang-Tae Kim, Denver Post, 2008-11-11

Ram raiders have smashed through the main admissions area of Royal North Shore Hospital, stealing the contents of an ATM and assaulting a man, in a rampage police have called "wanton bloody destruction".
-- Dylan Welch, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2008-11-11

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c 1300, wan-towen, from Middle English privative prefix wan- "wanting, lacking" (from Old English wan "wanting") + togen/teon "to train, discipline;" literally "to pull, draw," from Proto Germanic *teuhan. The basic notion perhaps is "ill-bred, poorly brought up."

Post by **Darb** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 11:03 am

Still famished from his WOTD exertions, Voralfred cut a swath of culinary destruction through the assorted wonton dishes arranged before him: steamed wontons, fried wontons, szechuan style wontons, wontons in black bean sauce, wontons soup, crispy wonton skins, stirfried wontons with escargot, moo goo gai wonton, Gen Feng's twin wonton hung low with chinese sausage ... you name it, and he scarfed it, with wanton abandon.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 2:53 pm

True enough. But however murdering was my wanton swath of destruction, your list did not include tongue wonton, and indeed I never touched those, especially made from animals raised in the UK.
So noone can accuse me of being a wonton muncher of an english tongue.

CodeBlower · Post by **CodeBlower** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:23 am

Brad - I think you meant for your last "wonton" to actually be "wanton".

(.. and how did I guess -- when I saw the WotD -- that wontons were going to be on the menu? )

.. still trying to come up with a good pun for our governor and the previous WotD ..

Post by **Ghost** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:23 am

Word of the Day Wednesday January 28, 2009

yielding \YEEL-ding\, adjective: 1. not resisting; compliant 2. not stiff or rigid; easily bent or shaped

While he forecasts that lower yielding stocks are likely to bounce more when the markets recover, he says the emphasis on dividends is part of a longer-term trend driven by four key factors.
-- Annette Sampson, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2002-10-26

In fact, on June 29, 2006 - the day the Federal Reserve Board last voted to raise short-term interest rates - the yield on 10-year Treasury notes stood at 5.20 percent. Today, new 10-year notes are yielding less, at 5.02 percent.
-- Paul J. Lim, New York Times, 2007-07-01

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by 1340 from yield, Old English geldan/gieldan "to pay," from Proto Germanic *geldanan "pay," perhaps from Proto Indo-European *ghel-to- "I pay," found only in Balto-Slavic and Germanic. Yielding in sense of "giving up" is c 1425 and "giving way" is by 1588.

Post by **Darb** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:02 am

CodeBlower wrote:Brad - I think you meant for your last "wonton" to actually be "wanton".

(.. and how did I guess -- when I saw the WotD -- that wontons were going to be on the menu? )

.. still trying to come up with a good pun for our governor and the previous WotD ..

I yield to the wisdom of your astute correction.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:30 pm

When the sallow pandiculator came back from his long and vacuous peregrinations, his laissez-faire attitude had left him enervated. Confronted to the wanton rancor of the roving punster, he had no choice but to yield.
Giving up vexillology, he turned to gustatory expertise: he could tell the provenance of cow (in latin: vacca) meat wonton just by the qualitative feeling of its asperity.

CodeBlower · Post by **CodeBlower** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:24 am

The roving punster's body yielded to the wanton rancor of the just-eaten wonton .. leaving his stomach feeling vacuous.

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:33 am

{sings}

I once met a chef
with a brand new nut cracker
she clamped on my wonton
and squeezed til it splattered

Oh pull your bowl over
pull your bowl over
pull your bowl over
and lift up your spoon.

CodeBlower · Post by **CodeBlower** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:32 am

(I don't feel so good ..)

Post by **Darb** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:58 am

You're looking a bit sallow too.

Post by **Ghost** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:36 pm

Word of the Day Friday January 30, 2009

bemoan \bi-MOHN\, verb: to moan about or weep for; mourn

The tower's approval came despite opposition from residents and some city leaders who bemoan the proliferation of cell towers in the city, especially when they are placed near homes.
-- Janine ZÃºÃ±iga, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2008-11-22

Readers rave about Ubuntu's new version of Linux, slam copy protection for high-def content, and bemoan royalty fees for Internet radio.
-- Kellie Parker, The Washington Post, 2007-05-04

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Old English bemÃ¦nan.

Post by **Darb** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 2:27 pm

The director yelled "Cut !!" for the umpteenth time, inwardly bemoaning his casting agency's lack of new starlets who knew how to MOAN effectively during love scenes.

Post by **Ghost** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:01 am

Word of the Day Tuesday February 3, 2009

defalcate \di-FAL-keyt\, verb: to steal or misuse money or property entrusted to one's care

The stockbroker defalcated millions from investment clients.

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c 1540, from Latin defalcere, from de- + falx/falcem "sickle, scythe"

[Mode Note:] should not be confused with Defecate

Post by **Darb** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:26 am

While in the laundromat, washing her delicates, Cate DeFalco brooched a delicate topic of conversation with her friend Dee, whose husband was a double dealing stockbroker with a predilection for defalcation. Cate loved Dee dearly, but whenever she thought of Dee's wayward and defalcating husband, defecation also came to mind, and she fervently wished that Dee would divorce him for it, before she drowned in the criminal backwash that surely awaited him. The man deserved to be decapitated, dismembered, disembowled, and then disinterred and further disrespected after death by those he'd disenfranchised, and then damned for all eternity for what he'd done, and she was deeply debilitated with desperate fear and depression on behalf of her friend as a result.