GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

... would it be a good idea to ask a ouija board for the answer ?
...

The most simple solution would be: Ask a physicist, they like quarky terms.
Or a dentist, they have lots of drawers full of whatsits.

But ask one that's not vindictive ...

[Algot Runeman]

spree

Pronunciation /spriː/
noun
1 A spell or sustained period of unrestrained activity of a particular kind.
1.1 dated - A spell of unrestrained drinking.
verb sprees, spreeing, spreed
[no object] dated
Take part in a spree.

Origin
Late 18th century of unknown origin.

==========

A spending spree is not for me.
I do not have sufficient money.
I try really hard to put off what I crave,
And as a result, I am able to save.

[voralfred]

(...)
Or a dentist, they have lots of drawers full of whatsits.

I don't think anything could be worse that a spree of activity of a vindictive dentist using all the whatsits, whatchamacallits and other oojahs in his drawers.
I'd rather run the marathon....

[Algot Runeman]

crystal

Pronunciation /ˈkrɪst(ə)l/
noun
A piece of a homogeneous solid substance having a natural geometrically regular form with symmetrically arranged plane faces.

Origin
Late Old English (denoting ice or a mineral resembling it), from Old French cristal, from Latin crystallum, from Greek krustallos ‘ice, crystal’. The chemistry sense dates from the early 17th century.

==========

Bob has spent two days attempting to design a typeface he is calling "Twisty Crystal".

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

crystal
...

Sometimes your illustration squeezes some old memory from my twisty mind.
In this case:

Chubby Checker may have liked it for his 1960 hit record cover.

[Algot Runeman]

undercrackers

Pronunciation /ˈʌndəkrakəz/
plural noun
informal British
Men's underpants.

==========

Of course, the dictionary failed to mention if the style of the undercrackers matters.

[Algot Runeman]

squawk

Pronunciation /skwɔːk/
verb
[no object]
1 (of a bird) make a loud, harsh noise.
1.1 with direct speech (of a person) say something in a loud, discordant tone.
1.2 Complain or protest about something.

Origin
Early 19th century imitative.

==========

Grackles squawking in the trees,
Maple flowers in the breeze,
As a part of spring, they please,
Please excuse me when I sneeze.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

squawk

I've heard a TV set referred to as squawk box.

[voralfred]

Even though I live in a big city, in the morning, just before sunrise, I can hear sprees of beautiful singing by blackbirds.
All day long, however I can also hear black birds squawk. No melodious blackbirds, those black birds, but unkind, unpleasant ravens or even murderous crows.

Incidentally, I thin it would also be very unkind to put crystals inside someone's undercrackers, as that would be extremely unpleasant !

[Algot Runeman]

recipient

Pronunciation /rɪˈsɪpɪənt/
noun
A person or thing that receives or is awarded something.
adjective
attributive
Receiving or capable of receiving something.

Origin
Mid 16th century from Latin recipient- ‘receiving’, from the verb recipere.

==========

T's-ik*ng was the proud recipient of the newly-printed deed for his new home.

[Algot Runeman]

creepy-crawly

Pronunciation /kriːpɪˈkrɔːli/
noun creepy-crawlies
informal
A spider, worm, or other small flightless creature, especially when considered unpleasant or frightening.
adjective
Causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease.

==========

Bob only thinks creepy-crawlies are creepy if they are crawling on him at the moment.

[voralfred]

The word recipient is an interesting faux-ami in french and english.

In french it would be translated as destinataire in layman speech, though the word récipiendaire also exists in legal-speak.

On the other hand, récipient in french does not mean a person, but an object, a vessel (not in the meaning of a ship) or a container (again, not in the meaning of the huge metal thingies they pile up on even huger ships), just something to put things (or liquids) in, like a cup, a bowl, a bucket...

Don't you feel that all these faux-amis are like creepy-crawlies that lurk in corners of your brain and hinder your ability to speak a foreign language ?

Another faux-ami is the partial/partiel mixup

partial

Pronunciation /ˈpɑːʃ(ə)l/
adjective
1 Existing only in part; incomplete.
2 Favoring one side in a dispute above the other; biased.
3 partial to - Having a liking for.
noun
Music
A component of a musical sound; an overtone or harmonic.

Origin
Late Middle English (in partial (sense 2 of the adjective)): from Old French parcial (partial (sense 2 of the adjective)), French partiel (partial (sense 1 of the adjective)), from late Latin partialis, from pars, part- ‘part’.

(...)

In Modern French we do have the spelling partial for sense 2 of the adjective, in addition to partiel for sense 1 of the adjective. Sense 3 does not exist. I had to check with my wife, a French teacher, because by analogy to English I am partial to using the spelling partial in that sense but she told me it does not work that way.

Also I just found out that as a noun, partiel does have the same musical meaning as partial in English. But for University students, this noun is mostly used to mean exams, throughout the year, the results of which are combined together and/or with finals exams (which sometimes do not exist at all) to determine the grade.

Je dois me coucher tôt, j'ai un partiel demain. / I must sleep early, I have a mid-term exam tomorrow.

or, more often :

Je dois bosser toute la nuit, j'ai un partiel demain. / I must swot all night, I have a mid-term exam tomorrow.

I am sure the notion does exist in the US (and other English-speaking countries) but I never heard mid-terms exams called partials. Or do they ?

[Algot Runeman]

roundabout

Pronunciation /ˈraʊndəbaʊt/
noun
British
1 A road junction at which traffic moves in one direction round a central island to reach one of the roads converging on it.
---North American term traffic circle or rotary
2 A large revolving device in a playground, for children to ride on.
2.1 A revolving machine with model horses or cars on which people ride for amusement; a merry-go-round.

==========

Make room. make room; move on. The roundabout's for the kids, unless you are driving a lorry.

[voralfred]

I am sorry to be so direct, but I can find no roundabout way to ask this question : doesn't roundabout also exist as an adjective ?

[Algot Runeman]

roundabout

adjective
1 Not following a short direct route; circuitous.
1.1 Not saying what is meant clearly and directly; circumlocutory.

=====

Sorry about the omission,
It was a poor decision.
Causing your derision...
All in a roundabout way.

[The simple explanation is that the WotD has spread beyond these hallowed halls. I usually post here first, with the full definition. But this time, I posted elsewhere first...and in the case of Mastodon, there's a 500 character limit. That caused me to truncate the definition. My abject apologies to the millions of marvelous word mavens lurking here at IDBoF.]

[Algot Runeman]

soubrette

Pronunciation /suːˈbrɛt/
noun
An actress or other female performer playing a lively, flirtatious role in a play or opera.

Origin
Mid 18th century French, from Provençal soubreto, feminine of soubret ‘coy’, from sobrar, from Latin superare ‘be above’.

==========

I shall not attempt to be coy, nor will I claim any elevated status. Someone else can be the soubrette of this particular play.

[voralfred]

Whenever I have to visit a dentist, in Paris, or surroundings, there is always a very nice person, clad in white, to prepare the fillings, or the injections, or hand the dentist whatever thingamabobs he might need. She is not rightly a soubrette, but I wonder to what extent her role is theatrical, rather than utilitarian.
I also wonder whether the same kind of character plays a role in a dentist's office in, say, Antwerp ?

[Algot Runeman]

babysitting

Pronunciation /ˈbeɪbɪsɪtɪŋ/
noun
mass noun
The care of a child or children while the parents are out.

==========

The most interesting aspect of babysitting for me is that it really does not matter if the baby itself is sitting or not.

The "sitter" may be sitting, and reading/homework is allowed. It is not required that the sitter be actually staring at the baby.

Unless the baby is already in bed, it is generally frowned upon for the sitter to also sleep.

[Algot Runeman]

nuncheon

Pronunciation /ˈnʌn(t)ʃ(ə)n/
noun
archaic, dialect British
A drink taken in the afternoon; a light refreshment between meals; a snack.

Origin
Middle English. From noon + shench.

==========

Being from the US, I've missed out on using the word nuncheon. However, we do enjoy the occasional "brunch", timed between breakfast and lunch. The post meridian option of "lupper" has not caught on.

[voralfred]

babysitting

Pronunciation /ˈbeɪbɪsɪtɪŋ/
noun
mass noun
The care of a child or children while the parents are out.

==========

The most interesting aspect of babysitting for me is that it really does not matter if the baby itself is sitting or not.

The "sitter" may be sitting, and reading/homework is allowed. It is not required that the sitter be actually staring at the baby.

Unless the baby is already in bed, it is generally frowned upon for the sitter to also sleep.

(...)

My personal experience of babysitting my grand-daughter is that I spend an inordinate amount of time on my legs, not so much standing as walking up and down the corridor holding her on my shoulder till she belches. When ravenous, her drinking becomes voracious and thus she swallows a lot of milk and even more air. Then she starts crying when she is still hungry but her stomach is too full of air to drink more. The only way to soothe her in that case is to promenade her. The noun babywalking seems to me much more appropriate.

On a different topic,

nuncheon

Pronunciation /ˈnʌn(t)ʃ(ə)n/
noun
archaic, dialect British
A drink taken in the afternoon; a light refreshment between meals; a snack.

Origin
Middle English. From noon + shench.
(...)

I've never seen the word shench before, neither as such or as a part of a portemanteau word like brunch. Is it for real, or a typo ? Consireding how amny tyops I laeve in my waek, I am lil-plcaed to cricitize.

[Algot Runeman]

I've never seen the word shench before

My eyes elided over that part of the definition while posting it, but was able to find out that it is "leg" in Middle English.
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED39852.

Since neither of us is old enough to have spoken the vernacular from 1066 and some years afterwards, such words seem more like Non-shench, erm "nonsense". "Non-shench" is, it turns out, another way to say nuncheon.

The absolute truth is that I have enough trouble trying to navigate the current word list in my head. Study of Middle English is something my biology specialty in college didn't have in the course expectations.

[Algot Runeman]

shank

Pronunciation /ʃaŋk/
noun
1 often shanks A person's leg, especially the part from the knee to the ankle.
1.1 The lower part of an animal's foreleg.
1.2 The shank of an animal's leg as a cut of meat.
2 A long, narrow part of a tool connecting the handle to the operational end.
2.1 The cylindrical part of a bit by which it is held in a drill.
2.2 The long stem of a key, spoon, anchor, etc.
2.3 The straight part of a fish hook.
3 A part or appendage by which something is attached to something else, especially a wire loop attached to the back of a button.
3.1 The band of a ring rather than the setting or gemstone.
4 The narrow middle of the sole of a shoe.
5 US informal A makeshift knife fashioned from a sharp item such as broken glass or a razor.
6 Golf
An act of striking the ball with the heel of the club.
6.1 Tennis A mishit shot, typically one that is struck with the frame of the racket.
verb
[with object]
1 Golf
1.1 Tennis Mishit (a shot), typically by striking it with the frame of the racket.
2 US informal Slash or stab (someone), especially with a makeshift knife.

Origin
Old English sceanca, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch schenk ‘leg bone’ and German Schenkel ‘thigh’. The use of the verb as a golfing term dates from the 1920s.

==========

"Shanks a lot," slurred the inebriated golfer after also shanking every tee shot during the round.



[Sometimes this language thing proceeds step-by-step. Other times one word gives us a leg up to the next. Such is the case today. You will also note that I will make no attempt today to shank you with a shiv.]

[voralfred]

Thanks for this long and fascinating answer.

But I still don't see why "noon"+"shechn=leg" lead to the meaning of nuncheon even though the sounds do match.

Also I am not really fluent in German and I did not know the word Schenkel, meaning thigh, but I certainly knew that Schinken means ham.

And speaking of a word giving a leg to the next one, you opened my mind to the word shiv. The meaning is knife, but the best translation in French seems to be surin, a rather outmoded slang term. You can find it used by Victor Hugo's characters in "Les Misérables", but hardly now, even by thugs.

Jean Valjean tira de son gousset un couteau, et l’ouvrit. — Un surin ! s’écria Javert.

Jean Valjean took a knife out of his fob, and opened it. — A shiv ! shouted Javert.

(Jean Valjean was not about to kill Javert as the latter believed, but rather to save him by cutting the ropes used to bind him up by revolutionaries on a "barricade" who had recognised him as an undercover policeman.)

[Algot Runeman]

menace

Pronunciation /ˈmɛnəs/
noun
1 A person or thing that is likely to cause harm; a threat or danger.
1.1 mass noun A threatening quality or atmosphere.
1.2 menaces British Threatening words or actions.
1.3 informal A person or thing that causes trouble or annoyance.

verb
[with object]
Be a threat or possible danger to.

Origin
Middle English via Old French from late Latin minacia, from Latin minax, minac- ‘threatening’, from minae ‘threats’.

==========

A tornado or hurricane threatens and technically both are a menace, but they also cannot be blamed for harmful intent.



["Dennis the Menace" was one of my childhood favorites. I wonder if it was that he reflected my own attitudes? Short on both time and talent, today's illustration is borrowed as fair use.]

[Algot Runeman]

paradigm

Pronunciation /ˈparədʌɪm/
noun
1 A typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model
1.1 A world view underlying the theories and methodology of a particular scientific subject.
2 Linguistics
A set of linguistic items that form mutually exclusive choices in particular syntactic roles.
Often contrasted with syntagm
‘English determiners form a paradigm: we can say ‘a book’ or ‘his book’ but not ‘a his book’’
3 (in the traditional grammar of Latin, Greek, and other inflected languages) a table of all the inflected forms of a particular verb, noun, or adjective, serving as a model for other words of the same conjugation or declension.

Origin
Late 15th century via late Latin from Greek paradeigma, from paradeiknunai ‘show side by side’, from para- ‘beside’ + deiknunai ‘to show’.

==========

The paradigm of these daily words is clear. Show (more or less) side by side the serious and silly aspects of the target term.
Therefore, observe this pair of dimes.



[Astute observers of this topic are probably aware of the tendency of the current word selector to "pun"ish the rest of forum activists. For what is worth, I do not apologize for it.]