GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

glissando
a continuous slide upward or downward

Wouldn't you agree that the past weather and road conditions in the U.S. were a perfect example of glissando, usually downward?

A cynical weatherman might say, "Cloudy with a Chance of Glissandos!"

[Algot Runeman]

A cynical weatherman might say, "Cloudy with a Chance of Glissandos!"

OK, icy, I get it. I will make "note" of that, E.P.S. ♪/♩\♪

[Algot Runeman]

autarky

Pronunciation: /ˈôˌtärkē

noun
1Economic independence or self-sufficiency.
1.1A country, state, or society that is economically independent.

Origin
early 17th century: from Greek autarkeia, from autarkēs 'self-sufficiency', from autos 'self' + arkein 'suffice'.


duluoz cats

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Even the vaunted mountain men of the American west delivered furs to a market in trade for supplies. Is there any true autarky in our modern global society?

[When I saw this word, my immediate reaction was that the spelling looked odd. I expected "autarchy" and that is listed as an alternative spelling.]

[Algot Runeman]

bowdlerize

Pronunciation: /ˈbōdləˌrīz, ˈboud-
verb
[with object]
Remove material that is considered improper or offensive from (a text or account), especially with the result that it becomes weaker or less effective: (as adjective bowdlerized) a bowdlerized version of the story

Origin
mid 19th century: from the name of Dr. Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), who published an expurgated edition of Shakespeare in 1818, + -ize.

---------------- --------- -------------------- -------- --.

Bob liked to bemuse his readers and bowdlerized his own writing. He thought it was funny.
His readers, all six of them, decided not to bother reading his second book.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

bowdlerize

Hmm ... I wonder why "bowdlerize" makes me think of Ralph Nader and William Proxmire.
I guess that somewhere I misunderstood the one or the other ...

[Algot Runeman]

skirr

Pronunciation: /skər
verb
[no object] • rare
Move rapidly, especially with a whirring sound: five dark birds rose skirring away

Origin
mid 16th century: perhaps related to scour1 or scour2.


A. Sparrow

,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..,..

Some of the mice scurried into the tunnel as the flock of birds skirred into the clearing. The mice which didn't move fast enough were lunch.

[Algot Runeman]

glocalization

Pronunciation: /ˌglōkələˈzāSHən
noun
The practice of conducting business according to both local and global considerations.

Origin
1990s: blend of global + localization.

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Bob, embracing glocalization, built his business selling locally tailored dresses made from Indonesian fabrics.

[Algot Runeman]

fabulate

Pronunciation: /ˈfabyəˌlāt
verb
[with object]
1 Relate (an event or events) as a fable or story.
1.1 [no object] Relate untrue or invented stories.

Origin
early 17th century: from Latin fabulat- 'narrated as a fable', from the verb fabulari, from fabula (see fable).



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Historical novelists fabulate characters to make history come alive, giving the real events a human on whom we can focus but who needs not be a real person in history.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

fabulate

No. Oh no. No-no. I didn't fabulate stories about my grandma.

Well, maybe just a little.

[Algot Runeman]

No. Oh no. No-no. I didn't fabulate stories about my grandma.

Well, maybe just a little.

But she "lives" in your stories. Thank you for them, fabulated, maybe, but still fabulous.

[Algot Runeman]

flexitarian

Pronunciation: /ˌfleksəˈte(ə)rēən
noun
A person who has a primarily vegetarian diet but occasionally eats meat or fish: in my close social circle I have a vegetarian, a pescatarian, and a flexitarian [as modifier]: a flexitarian diet

Origin
1990s: blend of flexible and vegetarian.

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A flexitarian might be the direct descendent of any hunter-gatherer culture. Eat what you can get, when you get it. Of course, I've always thought of that as "omnivore."

[Algot Runeman]

ponderous

Pronunciation: /ˈpändərəs
adjective
1 Slow and clumsy because of great weight: her footsteps were heavy and ponderous
1.1 Dull, laborious, or excessively solemn: Liz could hardly restrain herself from finishing all his ponderous sentences

Origin
late Middle English: via French from Latin ponderosus, from pondus, ponder- 'weight'.

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He pounded along. Running was not his thing. He felt ponderous, and no wonder. He weighed 280 pounds and it wasn't all muscle. Still, he had no choice. And you couldn't really call it running, more like a quick shuffle-walk.

The car was off the road on its side in a ditch behind him and Jolie was hurt, waiting beside it. He was headed toward the town they had passed through just a few minutes ago, but that had been at 60 MPH. Bob believed he could make eight miles, even in crummy shape. They had seen no traffic, in either direction all day. But there had been cars in the town. Damn the broken network. It used to be that cell phones worked almost anywhere. Nobody carried one anymore.

[Algot Runeman]

dragoman

Pronunciation: /ˈdragəmən
noun (plural dragomans or dragomen)
An interpreter or guide, especially in countries speaking Arabic, Turkish, or Persian.

Origin
late Middle English: from obsolete French, from Italian dragomanno, from medieval Greek dragoumanos, from Arabic tarjumān 'interpreter'.


Alasdair Massie

___^^^___^^^___^^^___^^^___^^^___^^^___^^^___^^^___^^^___^^^___^^^___

Samir stood silently beside the helmeted knight. No translation was required. One or the other would give way or a fight would settle things, no dragoman needed.

[Algot Runeman]

laconic

Pronunciation: /ləˈkänik
adjective
(Of a person, speech, or style of writing) using very few words: his laconic reply suggested a lack of interest in the topic

Origin
mid 16th century (in the sense 'Laconian'): via Latin from Greek Lakōnikos, from Lakōn 'Laconia, Sparta', the Spartans being known for their terse speech.



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I'm not laconic.

[Live with it. After all, this is a forum topic about using words not avoiding them.]

[Algot Runeman]

flânerie

Pronunciation: /ˌflän(ə)ˈrē
noun
Aimless idle behavior.

Origin
French, from flâner 'saunter, lounge'.


Gene Han

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Bobby Flannery flopped down on the lawn blanket. His next class was all the way across campus, too far. Flannery's flânerie enabled him to calmly lie all morning on the flannel instead.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

flânerie

Flânerie in Antwerp's City Park or in the Rivierenhof was a joyful favourite of my grandma and grandpa.

Attentive to each other, they still observed the activities around them, though to the other flâneurs they appeared laconic about it.

When unaccompanied by children or friends, they sometimes indulged in some youthful ânerie or tomfoolery with each other.

Honoré de Balzac described flânerie as "the gastronomy of the eye".

(No, this yummy young lady isn't my grandma.)

[Algot Runeman]

dulcify

Pronunciation: /ˈdəlsəˌfī
verb (dulcifies, dulcifying, dulcified)
[with object] • literary
1Sweeten: cider pap dulcified with molasses
1.1 Calm or soothe: his voice dulcified the panic

Origin
late 16th century (in the sense 'sweeten'): from Latin dulcificare 'sweeten', from dulcis 'sweet'.


David Pacey

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Sugar is sweet and is cheaper than honey,
And dextrose from corn costs still less money.
So make a decision and choose your bad habit.
Dulcify your way, but there's no need to blab it.

[I actually dulcify with one of those artificial sweeteners, but "sucralose" or aspartame didn't fit into the rhyme.]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

dulcify

Don Quixote, founder of the Knights Errant, bore the hopeless burden of an unrequited crush on Dulcinea.

None of his heroic feats nor his countless attempts to dulcify her, managed to get her sweet on him.

[Algot Runeman]

cuspid

Pronunciation: /ˈkəspid
noun
A tooth with a single cusp or point; a canine tooth.

Origin
mid 18th century: from Latin cuspis, cuspid- 'point or apex'.


DresdenPlaid

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At the cusp of the question of how to handle today's WotD is a peak moment of concern. I would give my eye teeth to avoid the controversy, but alas my cuspids have been replaced with crowns along with all the rest of my choppers.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

cuspid

Canine teeth are typically used by predators to grab the throat, rupture the cervical arteries, and afterwards tear the flesh off of larger prey animals. Smaller prey gets its cervival vertebrae crushed or snapped.

Actual vampire bats use sharp elongated incisors to inflict a bleeding skin wound and lap up the blood.

So I'm still wondering why Hollywood et al. depict the vampires of lore with elongated sharp cuspids, and why those movie vampires never use napkins or a simple straw.

[Algot Runeman]

E.P.S.

You always have such incisive comments. They cut directly to the center of the issue. Maybe it is that you are the descendant of such a toothsome grandmother. Hollywood, et. al., while known for being somewhat batty, undoubtedly got confused in their depiction of vampires because of the Lycanthrope (wolfman) concurrence in films. Wolves, with fearsome canines, ---> wolfmen ---> vampires with elongating cuspids.

[Algot Runeman]

orotund

Pronunciation: /ˈôrəˌtənd
adjective
1(Of the voice or phrasing) full, round, and imposing.
1.1(Of writing, style, or expression) pompous; pretentious.

Origin
late 18th century: from Latin ore rotundo 'with rounded mouth'.


Lorraine Elder

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Accuse me of being orotund in my exemplary example sentences. I accept the approbation (ahem - opprobrium). Since I rarely board an airliner, it isn't right to call me a plane speaker any more than a plain speaker.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

orotund
...
Accuse me of being orotund in my exemplary example sentences. I accept the approbation (ahem - opprobrium). Since I rarely board an airliner, it isn't right to call me a plane speaker any more than a plain speaker.

I think one might say that Mr. Shaw, through his character Professor Higgins, told some orotund platitudes about Iberia airliners.

I've never heard of any plane crashing in Spain because of some plain rain. Iberia Airlines' reign always keeps a tight rein on their planes. They plainly don't allow them to fall in the plain.

[Algot Runeman]

I think one might say that Mr. Shaw, through his character Professor Higgins, told some orotund platitudes about Iberia airliners.

I've never heard of any plane crashing in Spain because of some plain rain. Iberia Airlines' reign always keeps a tight rein on their planes. They plainly don't allow them to fall in the plain.

Oh, BRAVO!

[Algot Runeman]

maw

Pronunciation: /mô
noun
1The jaws or throat of a voracious animal: a gigantic wolfhound with a fearful, gaping maw
1.1 • informal The mouth or gullet of a greedy person: I was cramming large pieces of toast and cheese down my maw

Origin
Old English maga (in the sense 'stomach'), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch maag and German Magen 'stomach'.


Leszek Leszczynski

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Ma, had little tolerance for childish petulance. Her grin meant something different from the smiles of other mothers. I worked hard to stay on her good side. If I whined, there was no doubt in my mind that she would open her amazing maw and gleefully devour her own young.

[Extreme narrative license is taken with the sample sentence in this post. My mother was the epitome of tolerance. Her smile was "knowing", though, and I didn't gain any ground by being snotty.]