GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Algot Runeman]

rationale

noun
\rash-uh-NAL\
1: an explanation of controlling principles of opinion, belief, practice, or phenomena
2: an underlying reason : basis

The newspaper's editorial reflected the concerns of many who questioned the rationale behind the mayor's decision.

"… the sacred trust that elected officials will share all options they've explored, identify the ones they haven't, and share the rationale behind their decisions." — Robert F. Walsh, Stratford (Connecticut) Star, January 29, 2015

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Let's be rational. We need to ration Al.
He's eating way too much. He will kill himself.
We want him around, so that's our rationale for the intervention.

[Algot Runeman]

coiffeur

Pronunciation: /kwɑːˈfəː/ /kwɒˈfəː/
noun
A hairdresser.

Origin
Mid 19th century: French, from coiffer 'arrange the hair', in Old French 'cover with a coif' (see coif).


epSos .de

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John takes good care to dress, but his hair is always a mess.
No brush no comb can cure the disaster of his dome.
Whether walking dog or even cat, John should always wear a hat.
One thing that's very sure, John overpays his coiffeur.

[My wife and I both are amazed to realize we have been misusing this word "forever" as the hairdo or hairstyle instead of the one who does the style.]

[[Update: Spelling weakness strikes again. "Coiffure" is the hairstyle, and that's the word my wife and I use.]]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

coiffeur

A balding guy stepped into the "salon de coiffure" and sat down in the barber's chair.

The coiffeur noted that the man had only three hairs left on his pate and, barely restraining his laughter, he remarked dryly: "Shall I put the parting on the right or the left, sir?"

"The left, please."

The coiffeur was about to cut the third hair when it came out.

"I'm afraid, sir, that I'll have to comb it with a parting in the middle because one hair just fell out."

"That's okay. No problem."

But fate and Murphy's law caused a second hair to come loose.

"I'm so sorry sir, but another hair came out."

"Oh, never mind. Leave the rest messed up."

[Algot Runeman]

whippersnapper

Pronunciation: /ˈwɪpəsnapə/
noun
informal
A young and inexperienced person considered to be presumptuous or overconfident: I know her better than you do, you young whippersnapper!

Origin
Late 17th century: perhaps representing whipsnapper, expressing noise and unimportance.

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I was once a wild and whimsical whippersnapper. It suited me to challenge the status quo. Though I was often "put in my place", it never cured me. It is difficult to believe I will ever grow up.

[voralfred]

schist
...
I’ve made a list of kinds of schist.
...

If I were to ask you to delete two characters in the word schist and still have a meaningful word remaining, which two letters would you drop?

Oh, you mean like "hits" by taking out one S and the C. I'm SURE you had that in mind.

Actually NO.

I was thinking of chit, like in credit chit.

The Belgian Proton credit chit (in €) has been discontinued since 1 January 2015.
So now preferably in Betan Dollars or Barrayaran Marks.

(…)

I knew you could not mean "hits", the order of the letters was wrong, but I did not guess "chit" either.
And I'll also take reyuls, nuyens, GSA federal credits or even Athosian pounds, but no millifenigs, please….

[Algot Runeman]

doofus

Pronunciation: /ˈduːfʌs/
(also dufus)
noun (plural doofuses)
North American informal
A stupid person: a doofus who paid an inflated price for a tatty house

Origin
1960s: perhaps an alteration of goofus, or from Scots doof 'dolt'.


Chris Knight

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The character Kramer on the American TV sitcom "Seinfeld" epitomizes a doofus.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

doofus
...
The character Kramer on the American TV sitcom "Seinfeld" epitomizes a doofus.

I've never watched "Seinfeld".

But I got my example of a doofus by way of Penny's former boyfriend (his name escapes me) in "The Big Brother Theory".

[Algot Runeman]

haughty

Pronunciation: /ˈhɔːti/
adjective (haughtier, haughtiest)
Arrogantly superior and disdainful: a look of haughty disdain a haughty British aristocrat

Origin
Mid 16th century: extended form of obsolete haught, earlier haut, from Old French, from Latin altus 'high'.


Andrew Poole

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Her highness was both haughty and a hottie.
Her station kept her from seeming merely snotty.
She was a royal beauty.
The princess was a cutie.

[Algot Runeman]

fortissimo

Pronunciation: /fɔːˈtɪsɪməʊ/
Music
adverb & adjective
(Especially as a direction) very loud or loudly: the movement ends with a fortissimo coda
noun (plural fortissimos or fortissimi fɔːˈtɪsɪmi)
A passage performed or marked to be performed very loudly: Tchaikovsky’s fortissimos are given plenty of weight in the bass

Origin
Italian, from Latin fortissimus 'very strong'.


Matthew Grapengieser

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Cal told his joke
With voice fortissimo.
A jolly bloke,
Though very loud, you know.

[Algot Runeman]

nocuous

Pronunciation: /ˈnɒkjʊəs/
adjective
literary
Noxious, harmful, or poisonous.

Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin nocuus (from nocere 'to hurt') + -ous.



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Drink it down, dear; no drop waste.
Bitter at the end, odd taste.
Nocuous draft, carefully placed
To send you off with painful haste.

My own quaff, taste lingers sweet.
Same color, smell, liquor neat.
You'll go. I'll stay. Your cash, my treat.
Goodbye, you beast. In hell we'll meet.

[Algot Runeman]

confidant

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒnfɪdant/
/ˌkɒnfɪˈdant/
/ˌkɒnfɪˈdɑːnt/
noun (feminine confidante pronounced same)
A person with whom one shares a secret or private matter, trusting them not to repeat it to others: a close confidante of the princess

Origin
Mid 17th century: alteration of confident (as a noun in the same sense in the early 17th century), probably to represent the pronunciation of French confidente 'having full trust'.



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Corrie was very confident that Joel was her confidant. Years of secrets, told in confidence, had never spread. What she didn't know was that he wrote a private journal. When he died, she suffered notoriety when his brother published Joel's works posthumously. Eventually, notoriety became fame, the era of Internet social media, you know. Kardashian who?

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

confidant

Though my grandma had only one confidant - her husband - my grandpa had many: all his pigeons.

And if ever any of his birds intended to divulge any of his secrets, it landed in the pot.

[Algot Runeman]

homonym

Pronunciation: /ˈhɒmənɪm/
noun
1 Each of two or more words having the same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings and origins (e.g. pole1 and pole2).
1.1 Biology A Latin name which is identical to that of a different organism, the newer of the two names being invalid.

Origin
Late 17th century: via Latin from Greek homōnumon, neuter of homōnumos 'having the same name', from homos 'same' + onoma 'name'.



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Babe swung a mean bat but couldn't fly like a bat.
Keep a log of how many logs we've cut flat.
Homonyms are common in our speech.
Using them is within your reach.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

homonym
...


Homonyms are common in our speech.

Your ticks ticked me off.
And homonymic ticks are even worse, they suck blood!

[Algot Runeman]

listless

Pronunciation: /ˈlɪs(t)ləs/
adjective
(Of a person or their manner) lacking energy or enthusiasm: bouts of listless depression

Origin
Middle English: from list3 + -less.


Hugh Lunnon

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Listless and lazy.
Everything hazy.
Working it through.
Tomorrow will do.

There's no need to rush.
Anxiety, hush.
Relax today.
Tomorrow's okay.

[Algot Runeman]

gunk

Pronunciation: /ɡʌŋk/
noun
[mass noun] informal
An unpleasantly sticky or messy substance: factories spewing out unspeakable gunk

Origin
1930s (originally US): the proprietary name of a detergent.

Darren Birgenheier

MSCDirect.com

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Sonny went to the auto parts store to replenish his supply of parts degreaser. He was disappointed. His favorite brand, Gunk, was out of stock. He bought some off-brand product to get the gunk off greasy engine parts at his shop. The clerk said the real thing would be back in stock by next week.

[Algot Runeman]

duodenary

Pronunciation: /ˌdjuːəˈdiːnəri/
adjective
rare
Relating to or based on the number twelve.

Origin
Mid 19th century: from Latin duodenarius 'containing twelve', based on duodecim 'twelve'.


Kate Ter Haar
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Duodenary day,
Duodenary night,
Twice twelve hours of fun.
Some with the sun
The rest out of sight.

The AM and PM
Don't match the sun.
The offset is twelve though.
So it's good to go.
No need to shun.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

duodenary

?
Not to be confused with a duodenary gunshot wound in the gut ...

[Algot Runeman]

E.P.S.,

Not to be confused with a duodenary gunshot wound in the gut ...

I wondered who would have the guts to bring that up.

[Algot Runeman]

poteen

Pronunciation: /pəˈtʃiːn/
/pəˈtiːn/
(also potheen)
noun
[mass noun] chiefly Irish
Alcohol made illicitly, typically from potatoes.

Origin
Early 19th century: from Irish (fuisce) poitín 'little pot (of whiskey)', diminutive of pota 'pot'.


Robyn Lee

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Poteen in the morning
A sip or two at night
Vodka from a bottle
Then everything's alright.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

poteen

I've never heard or read of "poteen". Before this WotD entry, the word would have made me think of the "Gascon garbure", the French "potée" and the Flemish "hutsepot". A stewish dish served in a cross between a pot and a tureen.

But, though never having tasted it, I do know of "moonshine". That is the preferred liquid sustenance of gentlemen hit with a stiff divorce alimony, isn't it?

Delicious Flemish Hutsepot

[Algot Runeman]

folktronica

Pronunciation: /fəʊkˈtrɒnɪkə/
noun
[mass noun]
A style of popular music incorporating elements of folk and electronic music: this is as perfect an example of melodic folktronica as one might hope to find [as modifier]: a folktronica band

Origin
Early 21st century: blend of folk (sense 2) of the noun) and electronica.

Sound Samples

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Too much moonshine and poteen seem to have lead to the development of folktronica which I imagine sounds like Joan Baez singing along to a theremin.

[Algot Runeman]

kelpie

Pronunciation: /ˈkɛlpi/
noun
1 A water spirit of Scottish folklore, typically taking the form of a horse and reputed to delight in the drowning of travellers.
2 A sheepdog of an Australian breed with a smooth coat, originally bred from a Scottish collie.

Origin
Late 17th century: perhaps from Scottish Gaelic cailpeach, colpach 'bullock, colt'. sense 2 apparently comes from the name of a particular bitch, King's Kelpie (circa1879).


drastique44

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Riding the surf as it curls and crashes challenges the kelpie to keep up. It is a challenge willingly accepted.

[Algot Runeman]

bailiwick

Pronunciation: /ˈbeɪlɪwɪk/
noun
1 (one's bailiwick) One’s sphere of operations or area of interest: after the war, the Middle East remained his bailiwick
2 Law The district or jurisdiction of a bailie or bailiff: the warden had the right to arrest all poachers found within his bailiwick

Origin
Late Middle English: from bailie + wick2.



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Cranway may be the smallest town of the region, but it is Barnaby's bailiwick. The traffic going either east and west or north and south can only cross the river easily at Cranway, making it not only the center of the region, but its commercial hub as well. He and his family had made the best of it for generations.

[Algot Runeman]

farceur

Pronunciation: /fɑːˈsəː/
noun
1 A writer of or performer in farces.
1.1 A comedian: the show unearthed a generation of gifted farceurs and mimics

Origin
Late 17th century: French, from obsolete farcer 'act farces'.



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Leslie Nielsen acted angry
Or parts with suave demeanor.
But after joining "Airplane!", he
Will always be a farceur.