GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /ˈpɪknɪk/
adjective
Anthropology
Relating to or denoting a stocky physique with a rounded body and head, thickset trunk, and a tendency to fat.

Origin
1920s: from Greek puknos 'thick' + -ic. The word was first used by the German psychiatrist, Ernst Kretschmer (1888–1964), in his tripartite classification of human types (the other two being asthenic and athletic).




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Eating pounds of potato salad at the regular picnics did little to overcome Julie's pyknic physique. Like the rest of us, she would have done better with potato-less salad and a rollicking game of frisbee golf.

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /kʌŋ(k)ˈteɪʃ(ə)n/
noun
rare
The action of delaying or putting off doing something.

Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin cunctatio(n-), from cunctari 'to delay': see -ation.



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I've been meaning to tell you this for a while, but something caused a delay. "Procrastinators suffer from a surfeit of cunctation." --Not a Hemingway quote

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /ˈbalɪjɑːʒ/
(also baliage, balliage)
noun
[mass noun]
A technique for highlighting hair in which the dye is painted on in such a way as to create a graduated, natural-looking effect: she specializes in balayage, colour corrections, restyles, and extensions

Origin
1970s: French, literally 'sweeping', from balayer 'to sweep'.




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If I were not bald, I suspect I would not go to the salon asking for balayage. I've always been happy with my own hair color.

[Apologies for the week of missing words. I was off the grid on vacation. I guess I must be back.]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[Algot Runeman]

1

Pronunciation: /krʌks/
noun (plural cruxes or cruces ˈkruːsiːz)
(the crux)
1 The decisive or most important point at issue: the crux of the matter is that attitudes have changed



Origin
Mid 17th century (denoting a representation of a cross, chiefly in crux ansata 'ankh', literally 'cross with a handle'): from Latin, literally 'cross'.

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After finding the treasure map and the "X" which marks the spot, the crux of the matter is the location of the island. Sam, captain of The Red Herring, is confident he will locate it. The man who sold him the map also added a deed to a bridge in New York City to sweeten the pot.

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /ɪkˈstɛnjʊeɪt/
/ɛkˈstɛnjʊeɪt/
verb
[with object]
1 (as adjective extenuating) (Of a factor or situation) acting in mitigation to lessen the seriousness of guilt or an offence: hunger and poverty are not treated by the courts as extenuating circumstances

Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'make thin'): from Latin extenuat- 'made thin', from the verb extenuare (based on tenuis 'thin').



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I will attempt to extenuate the effect of last week's dearth of words by providing abundant, admirable and adorable words to brighten each day this week.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /ˌəʊvɪˈpɒzɪt/
verb (oviposits, ovipositing, oviposited)
[no object] Zoology
(Especially of an insect) lay an egg or eggs: larger females have the potential to oviposit on a greater number of hosts

Origin
Early 19th century: from ovi- 'egg' + Latin posit- 'placed' (from the verb ponere).


Hornet image:

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In sports, a team can do badly and someone might say they "laid an egg", especially if the final score for them was ZERO.
One wonders if a sports announcer will ever say "The Hornets really oviposited today."

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /ˈlɒkwɪtə/
(abbreviation: loq.)
verb
(He or she) speaks (with the speaker’s name following, as a stage direction or to inform the reader).

Origin
Latin, from loqui 'talk, speak'.




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CASTLE BATTLEMENT - DAWN

At Rise:
(Figures enter through battlement door, dressed for cold weather.)

Yon and hither willst thou go, my fine fellow. (THE KING, entering stage left.)

Nay, sire, say it is not so. I am happy in court and loath would part. (SIR JOHN, following in behind the king.)
The quest is of little value, as I see it. Dragons have disappeared from the realm, lo these many centuries. They are sure to be extinct. (SIR JOHN in a pleading voice, higher than his usual soprano.)

Of little value, perhaps, but the princess wants a dragon's scale, one still shiny and glistening. None of the old ones in the keep please her. She refuses to marry without one for her wedding tiara. (THE KING, facing away, looking beyond the crenelations of the castle wall.)
Love her as I do, (and perhaps fear her a little, too, he muttered to himself), I must send you forth, Sir John. Where all others have failed, you will succeed. (clapping Sir John on the shoulder and gripping tightly afterwards, making Sir John wince.)

(SIR JOHN slumping in the king's grip, realizing further argument was fruitless. He could see the loquitur in the script of his life. He clearly saw his youth passing quickly into old age as he searched the continent for a living dragon.)
Aye, sire. Yet I would beg that I might share my journey with not only my page, but a small detachment of stout companions. (SIR JOHN had a proclivity for pudgy men, as it were. He would not miss the imperious and grating voice of the princess, truth be told.)

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /mɪˈθrɪdətʌɪz/
(also mithridatise)
verb
[with object] rare
Make (someone) immune to a poison by administering gradually increasing doses of the poison.

Origin
Mid 19th century: from the name of Mithridates (see Mithridates VI), who reputedly made himself immune to poisons by constantly taking antidotes, + -ize.

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The low-dose poisoning of myself, to mithridatize, holds little attraction. I expect even a low dose would make me feel ill. Frankly, I would rather just be healty to my last moments.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /ˈkreɪnɪət/
Zoology
noun
An animal that possesses a skull. Compare with vertebrate.
Subphylum Craniata, phylum Chordata; used instead of Vertebrata in some classification schemes
adjective
Relating to the craniates.

Origin
Late 19th century: from modern Latin craniatus, from medieval Latin cranium (see cranium).




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Children in costumes walking the streets.
Many complex and looking quite dandy.
Some of them only in Mamma's sheets.
Crying "Trick or treat!" for their candy.

Halloween cannot come too soon.
Craniate creatures are really keen.
Zombies munching brains with a spoon.
Hundreds of candy wraps strewn on the scene.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /ˈʒambəʊ/
noun (plural jambeaux pronounced same or jambeaus)
historical
A piece of armour for the leg.

Origin
Late Middle English: apparently an Anglo-Norman French derivative of French jambe 'leg'.


University of Virginia
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Thigh pads used by American football players are the closest analog of the jambeaux worn by knights of old.

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /ˌɒtə(ʊ)ˈtʃɛntəʊ/
adjective
Relating to the 19th century in Italy.

Origin
Italian, literally '800' (shortened from milottocento '1800'), used with reference to the years 1800–99.



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I was a mediocre student in history. I didn't much care what date something happened. I do not know what happened in ottocento Italy.

I just looked it up. It was apparently the century during which the many principalities and city states unified into a single country culminating in the absorbtion of Rome. which had been the Pope's city.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /ɪnɪˈfɛktʃʊəl/
adjective
1 Not producing any significant or desired effect: an ineffectual campaign
1.1 (Of a person) lacking the ability or qualities to fulfil a role or handle a situation: she was neglectful and ineffectual as a parent

Origin
Late Middle English: from medieval Latin ineffectualis, from in- 'not' + effectualis, from Latin effectus (see effect); in later use from in-1 'not' + effectual.



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Rick was an excellent programmer but an ineffectual manager. He wound up reworking most of the code his team submitted. The extra work made the team seem better than it actually was. Rick didn't sleep well, though, because he recognized that he could not keep up the level of work he was doing.

[voralfred]

I'm afraid I have been recently rather ineffectual at playing WOTD. I'll try to be more effectual in the future.

So, EPS, was your Grandma born during the ottocento ? Or is it not gentlemanly to inquire of a lady's age, however craniate she might have been ?

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /uːˈmɑːmi/
noun
[mass noun]
A category of taste in food (besides sweet, sour, salt, and bitter), corresponding to the flavour of glutamates, especially monosodium glutamate.

Origin
Japanese, literally 'deliciousness'.


Glutamic acid

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Monosodium glutamate is responsible for the "flavor" umami. Your mommy might not add it to your food unless she's cooking Asian cuisine.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /djuːˈɒlədʒi/
noun (plural duologies)
A pair of related novels, plays, or films.

Origin
Mid 19th century: from duo- 'two', on the pattern of trilogy.




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The Pitch and The Swing are a YA duology about the life of a baseball player, pitching in the National League. The books follow his career from high school through the major leagues.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[Algot Runeman]

Pronunciation: /ˈriːʃɔːrɪŋ/
noun
[mass noun]
The practice of transferring a business operation that was moved overseas back to the country from which it was originally relocated: reshoring can help us rebalance our economy, create new jobs and cut our trade deficit

Origin
Early 21st century: on the pattern of offshoring.



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Reshoring is restoring,
But it often leaves me snoring.
New jobs we get they say,.
But give just half the pay.