GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Algot Runeman]

ha-ha

Pronunciation: /ˈhä ˌhä, ˌhä ˈhä/

noun
a ditch with a wall on its inner side below ground level, forming a boundary to a park or garden without interrupting the view.

Origin:
early 18th century: from French, said to be from the cry of surprise on suddenly encountering such an obstacle


Photo Credit: Andrew Macpherson

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Ling Ling's* attempted escape from Sing Sing
Was thwarted by the ha-ha.
He didn't waste time with pointless hand wring.
He made up a bridge and was off to Baja.

He left them a note,
"Ho, ho. Hee, hee. Gone and free."
About crossing their moat.
The guards felt ditched and didn't get the joke. There was no "Ah, ha!" moment.

*[This is a blatant attempt to panda to the zoo-going crowd.]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

ha-ha
... from the cry of surprise ...

The ancient castle's walls echoed Castafiore's shriek "Aargh! My emerald! My emerald is gone!"

Holmes turned and said "Ha-ha! You hear that Watson? The game's afoot!"

Meanwhile in the study, Haddock murmured "Ha ... ha, my poor head." and a bit louder "Nestor, pass me the scotch, will you?"

Thomson whispered to Thompson "Maybe we should check the conservatory for a lead pipe?" "Ha-ha!" replied Thompson, "You suspect Mr. Green, eh?"

[Algot Runeman]

obelus

Pronunciation: /ˈäbələs/

noun (plural obeli /-ˌlī/)
1a symbol (†) used as a reference mark in printed matter, or to indicate that a person is deceased. Also called dagger.

2a mark (- or ÷) used in ancient texts to mark a word or passage as spurious, corrupt, or doubtful.

Origin:
late Middle English: via Latin from Greek obelos 'pointed pillar', also 'critical mark'



††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††

"Obladi, Oblada, life goes on, Yeah!"†

[Does it strike you, as it does me, that a line of obeli looks much like a fence, one which marks a boundary? Is it the metaphor for the boundary at the end of life? Is it why there's a fence around cemetaries "because everybody's dying to get in"?]
† Unless, of course, life does not go on. Then we mark somebody as deceased with an obelus *

*(even if the dagger wasn't in their hearts to kill them).

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

obelus

††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††
[Does it strike you, as it does me, that a line of obeli looks much like a fence, one which marks a boundary? Is it the metaphor for the boundary at the end of life? Is it why there's a fence around cemetaries "because everybody's dying to get in"?] ...

(red & bold emphasis is mine)

You corralled the obelus very well there.

Allow me to add an extra rung on top:

₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸₸

[Algot Runeman]

iridescent

Pronunciation: /ˌiriˈdesənt/
adjective
showing luminous colors that seem to change when seen from different angles.

Origin:
late 18th century: from Latin iris, irid- 'rainbow' + -escent


Photo Credit: ★☆Pixie Led☆★

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Benny bounced boyishly as he watched the iridescent glow from the clouds intensify. Maybe he would again see a rainbow. Another pot of gold wouldn't hurt, either.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

iridescent

The iridescence of an oily residue spilled on a wet road can take fantastic shapes, changing constantly into wondrous imaginary scenes.

Noctilucent clouds, though iridescent, change so slowly that they seem static.

[Algot Runeman]

conjugal

Pronunciation: /ˈkänjəgəl/

adjective
of or relating to marriage or the relationship between husband and wife:conjugal loyalty

Origin:
early 16th century: from Latin conjugalis, from conjux, conjug- 'spouse', from con- 'together'+ jugum 'a yoke'


Photo Credit (original): Sean Svadifari
♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂-♀/♂

John said, "It's a yoke, get it? A JOKE, right? You see the humor, yeah?"
These are not good conjugal questions.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

conjugal

I've heard it said that conjugal vows and promises are like pouring water in a colander.
Also that they are the one exception to the laws of gravity: the heavier the conjugal vow or promise, the faster it falls.

And still couples conjugally promise each other that "I love you te pletter!"

P.S. te pletter (Dutch) = (metaphorically) crushed to smithereens; to bits; to death
example: the meteorite fell te pletter on the Moon's surface

[Algot Runeman]

jerkwater

Pronunciation: /ˈjərkˌwôtər, -ˌwätər/

adjective
[attributive] North American informal
of or associated with small, remote, and insignificant rural settlements:some jerkwater town

Origin:
mid 19th century: from jerk1 + water, from the need for early railroad engines to be supplied with water in remote areas, by dipping a bucket into a stream and “jerking” it out by rope


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Every two days, John visited the jerkwater town of Salsberry, once headed west and then back east. He never knew it, though. For him, it was just a trellis bridge and a good stream for engine water.

[Algot Runeman]

technostructure

Pronunciation: /ˈteknōˌstrəkCHər/

noun
[treated as singular or plural]
a group of technologists or technical experts having considerable control over the workings of industry or government.

Origin:
1960s: coined by J. K. Galbraith

--^_^-- --^_^-- --^_^-- --^_^-- --^_^-- --^_^-- --^_^-- --^_^-- --^_^--

Bill Gates acts as if he is the technostructure of American K12 education. There is some evidence he has significant influence.

[Algot Runeman]

maxim

Pronunciation: /ˈmaksim/
noun
a short, pithy statement expressing a general truth or rule of conduct:the maxim that actions speak louder than words

Origin:
late Middle English (denoting an axiom): from French maxime, from medieval Latin (propositio) maxima 'largest or most important (proposition)'


Photo Credit: Matti Mattilla

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"Actions speak louder than words."
"Silence is golden."
Does the combination of these two maxims mean that mimes are the pinnacle of thespian art?

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

maxim

Often my grandpa would put his favorite maxim into action: he would tightly hug grandma for several minutes, whether she was wearing furs or not, or even nothing at all.
Of course grandma also had her little secrets to trigger that behavior ...

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

syncopate

Pronunciation: /ˈsiNGkəˌpāt/
verb
[with object]
1 (usually as adjective syncopated) displace the beats or accents in (music or a rhythm) so that strong beats become weak and vice versa:syncopated dance music
2 shorten (a word) by dropping sounds or letters in the middle, as in symbology for symbolology, or Gloster for Gloucester.

Origin:
early 17th century: from late Latin syncopat- 'affected with syncope', from the verb syncopare 'to swoon' (see syncope)


Image Credit: Singing from the Center

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Ray sat at the keyboard and made the hammers strike in perfect syncopated time. What his ears and those of his audiences heard was nearly the perfection of beat bouncing inside his head.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

syncopate

The twins John and Andrew slowly grew bald pates together.
Sometimes the one took the lead, then the other. But generally they kept in lockstep.
They were synchropated.

[Algot Runeman]

spiff

Pronunciation: /spif/
verb
[with object] (spiff someone/something up) North American informal
make someone or something attractive, tidy, or stylish:he arrived all spiffed up in a dinner jacket

Origin:
late 19th century: perhaps from dialect spiff 'well-dressed'



-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Jake's date was dolled up and she said he looked spiffed up. Together they were dressed to the nines.

[Were there nine spiffy dolls? I guess you had to be there.]

[Algot Runeman]

centrist

Pronunciation: /ˈsentrist/
adjective
having moderate political views or policies.

noun
a person who holds moderate political views.

Origin:
late 19th century: from French centriste, from Latin centrum (see center)



--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--(*)--

Marge said uncertainly, "I think I'm a centrist."
Sally cheered.
Marge wrinkled her brow and indicated her need for an explanation.
Sally said, "Margie, your lack of absolute certainty shows that you ARE a centrist."

[A similar question: Are competitive archers striving to be centrists?]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

centrist
...
A similar question: Are competitive archers striving to be centrists?

Maybe they just like to be the centre of attention?
I'm sure Robin of Locksley loved being the centrist surrounded by swooning maidens.

[Algot Runeman]

Does a 100 person love-in qualify as a cent tryst?
A penny for your thoughts, not that you would bend over to pick up a coin less than a quarter.

[Algot Runeman]

friable

Pronunciation: /ˈfrīəbəl/
adjective
easily crumbled:the soil was friable between her fingers

Origin:
mid 16th century: from French, or from Latin friabilis, from friare 'to crumble'

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Stoney always spoke with a gravely voice until he met his eventual bride, Sandy. Unlike many, Sandy was able to accomplish change in Stoney (AKA "The Rock". He must have been more friable than most men, proverbial putty in her hands (seemingly an odd mix of metaphores unless you think of putty as a sort of clay consisting of particles even smaller than sand).

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

friable

My grandma's love for my grandpa was all but friable.

Countless attempts were made to make her fry but all were fruitless.

One day, in response to a rude question in a Movietone News interview, grandma even referred to him as "my unfriable love" and she hit the disrespectful reporter with her best frying pan to prove her point.

[Algot Runeman]

tacit

Pronunciation: /ˈtasit/

adjective
understood or implied without being stated:your silence may be taken to mean tacit agreement

Origin:
early 17th century (in the sense 'wordless, noiseless'): from Latin tacitus, past participle of tacere 'be silent'


original unremixed face: da5id1 on openclipart.org

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In his sophomore English class, Bob gave this word a tacit definition. His students were not silent, however. Their end-of-term evaluations were verbose, wordy and uncomplementary.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

tacit

The grieving widow kept her late husband's ashes on a pedestal in prominent view in her living room. The taciturn urn showed her tacit respect for their happy years together.

[voralfred]

Had Tacitus been more tacit, how much would we know of the history of ancient Rome?

[Algot Runeman]

spitchcock

Pronunciation: /ˈspiCHˌkäk/
noun
an eel that has been split and grilled or fried.

verb
[no object]
split and grill or fry (an eel or other fish).

Origin:
late 15th century: of unknown origin; compare with spatchcock

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"Eew," said Sally. "I thought we were going to skip having to deal with spitchcock which was YESTERDAY's WotD."

[Yes, we know, Sally. The verbal variation can encounter delays when the word guy is on the road. Sorry you are uncomfortable, too. We will move on without any photo, in deference to your discomfort.]

[Algot Runeman]

pandect

Pronunciation: /ˈpanˌdekt/
noun
chiefly historical
a complete body of the laws of a country.
(usually the Pandects) a compendium in 50 books of the Roman civil law made by order of Justinian in the 6th century.

Origin:
mid 16th century: from French pandecte, from Latin pandecta, from Greek pandektēs 'all-receiver', from pan 'all' + dektēs (from dekhesthai 'receive')

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The panedict of Marolo's Island is one sheet of waterproof paper. The island is only 200 yards long by 300 wide. With just one family in a single house, the "country" decided, "Love one another," was enough law.