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Post by Elasticband on Jan 3, 2007 18:11:34 GMT -5
Another of today's words, courtesy of blarg.co.uk: Blarg
Blarg The single greatest word in the history of the universe. Incredibly versatile, can be used in nearly any situation.
Blarg is considered to be one of the modern wonders of the world. Nobody quite knows where it came from but one thing can be assured - it's much better than blerg
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Post by Chris on May 1, 2007 15:03:41 GMT -5
Awe, my old thread. Did you miss me, baby?
Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: credulous
credulous \KREJ-uh-lus\, adjective: 1. Ready or inclined to believe on slight or uncertain evidence. 2. Based on or proceeding from a disposition to believe too readily.
Credulous monarchs were easy game for the numerous charlatans and tricksters who toured the courts of Europe trying to dupe them into parting with real gold by means of little more than a promise that they would repay such investments thousandfold. -- Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum
To her critics, she was a madam and con artist who charged credulous clients . . . small fortunes to cast spells and bring about the deaths of rivals. -- Laurence Bergreen, Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life
And unless our educational system focuses more on teaching students how to think than on what to think, our populace will become increasingly credulous. -- Theodore Schick Jr., "The End of Science?", Skeptical Inquirer, March/April 1997
Credulous derives from Latin credulus, "believing easily," from credere, "to believe."
It's credulous that this thread will make a comeback.
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Post by Chris on May 2, 2007 9:58:16 GMT -5
Today's word, courtesy of Dictionary.com, is a word I'm going to be using the heck out of, particularly to describe Jayda: termagant
termagant \TUR-muh-guhnt\, noun: 1. A scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman; a shrew.
adjective: 1. Overbearing; shrewish; scolding.
The termagant who had dragged him out on long, boring walks, who had tried in vain to censor his reading, who had labelled him an impious liar and criminal, was dead at last, and the boy, hearing a servant say 'she has passed away', sank to his knees on the kitchen floor to thank God for so great a deliverance. -- Jonathan Keates, Stendhal
Family legend recounts that Sister Garrison once quite literally brokeup her husband's drinking party by smashing the offending bottles, and this is sometimes taken to mean that Abijah Garrison was driven to desert his family by his termagant of a wife. -- Henry Mayer, All on Fire
The music critic Maclintick, with his termagant wife and his book which will never be finished, who in a moment of drunken despair throws his cherished text down the lavatory and then gasses himself. -- David McKie, "Secret harmonies", The Guardian, March 30, 2000
Termagant comes from Middle English Termagaunt, alteration of Tervagant, from Old French. Termagant was an imaginary Muslim deity represented in medieval morality plays as extremely violent and turbulent. By the sixteenth century, termagant was used for a boisterous, brawling, turbulent person of either sex, but eventually it came to refer only to women.
Let's hope that termagant Jayda never sees this, because termagant people are scary. (Hehe, I burned with both the noun and the adjective.)
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Post by Chris on May 3, 2007 10:36:41 GMT -5
My fellow feeble infidels, never forget to kiss the ground that your Lord and master Angie walks on, because what would this guild, her pantheon, be without her. Oh, and maybe while your at it, you could probably kiss Ash's ground too. But not as much as Angie's. What's a pantheon, you ask? Good question, since that's today's word of the day, courtesy of dictionary.com. Don't you just love my smooth segues? Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: pantheonpantheon \PAN-thee-on; -uhn\, noun: 1. A temple dedicated to all the gods; especially (capitalized), the building so called at Rome. 2. The collective gods of a people; as, a goddess of the Greek pantheon. 3. A public building commemorating and dedicated to the famous dead of a nation. 4. A group of highly esteemed persons. Well into the fourteenth century the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Prince Gediminas, still put his faith in Perkunas, the god of thunder and forests, who ruled over the many other gods and goddesses in the Lithuanian pantheon. -- Yaffa Eliach, There Once Was a World What [Galileo] discovered . . . would soon do nothing less than revolutionize astronomy, change forever the way the inhabitants of this planet conceived the universe beyond it, and . . . land him in the pantheon of immortal scientists. -- William E. Burrows, This New Ocean Argentina had spawned its own pantheon of civic-minded historical heroes, from General Jose de San Martin, the country's liberator in the independence struggle with Spain, to Domingo Sarmiento, the crusading journalist, educator, and president who had finally wrested Argentina into the modern age as a unified republic. -- Jon Lee Anderson, Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life Pantheon comes from Greek pantheion, "temple of all the gods," from pan-, "all" + theos, "god." P.S. For a pantheon, this place sure smells a little funky. How about giving it a cleaning once in a while, eh?
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Post by Chris on May 4, 2007 11:16:12 GMT -5
I was up until like midnight last night, so pardon me for being unable to spice this thread up with my usually bitingly sharp wit. My family's in town for my grandmother's memorial service, so of course we had to spice up the night. Anyway, I digress. Let's redound to the topic at hand. Today's word, courtesy of dictionary.com: redoundredound \rih-DOWND\, intransitive verb: 1. To have a consequence or effect. 2. To return; to rebound; to reflect. 3. To become added or transferred; to accrue. Even if we don't officially round them up, as we did with Japanese Americans in World War II, the unofficial acts of meanness and hatred against those who look like our blood enemies are likely to redound to our shame. -- William Raspberry, "Worse to Come", Washington Post, September 15, 2001 Women are so inclined to vote Democratic that a Republican drive to get out the women's vote may actually redound to the Democrats' advantage. -- Ruth Conniff, "No more angry feminists", The Progressive, October 1, 1996 The Kemp Commission tracked three periods of reduced taxation in this century. Each was followed by an economic boom that redounded to the benefit of the entire society. -- Mona Charen, "You Can't Punish the Rich Without Hurting the Rest of Us", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 25, 1996 O'Sullivan busied himself writing would-be contributors, outlining his plan for the enterprise and how its glory would redound to all associated with the project. -- Edward L. Widmer, Young America Redound, originally "to be in excess or to overflow," derives from Latin redundare, "to overflow, to be in abundance or excess," from re- + unda, "wave." Wow, this word of the day stuff is really redounding to my knowledge. Let's hope it doesn't redound my head to become freakishly large, or I'll have to redound to see Dr. Touchy-Feely for the third time this year. Did I use that word right even once?
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Post by Chris on May 5, 2007 8:35:45 GMT -5
Greetings and salutations, all you people who aren't reading. I once again redound to moil in my quest to better all our vocabularies.
And, once again, no one cares. But don't worry, I'm not gonna nag at you to do something to better yourselves; I'm no termagant. Ooh, that's it, I'll get Jayda to do it!
Today's word, courtesy of Dictionary.com: moil
moil \MOYL\, intransitive verb: 1. To work with painful effort; to labor; to toil; to drudge. 2. To churn or swirl about continuously.
noun: 1. Toil; hard work; drudgery. 2. Confusion; turmoil.
Why should he toil and moil, and be at so much trouble to pick himself up out the mud, when, in a little while hence, the strong arm of his Uncle will raise and support him? -- Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
He saw himself in the sleepless moil of early parenthood, and felt a plunging anxiety. -- Alan Hollinghurst, The Spell
Moil comes from Middle English moillen, "to soak, to wet," hence "to soil, to soil one's hands, to work very hard," from Old French moillier, "to soften, especially by making wet," ultimately from Latin mollis, "soft."
Man, it's such moil to be hot and smart simultaneously. Well, so I assume.
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Post by Angie on May 6, 2007 13:53:54 GMT -5
(When I hear the word "moil", I always think of "mohel" because of Seinfeld. ) sapid \SAP-id\, adjective: 1. Having taste or flavor, especially having a strong pleasant flavor. 2. Agreeable to the mind; to one's liking. Chemistry can concentrate the sapid and odorous elements of the peach and the bitter almond into a transparent fluid -- David William Cheever, "Tobacco", The Atlantic, August 1860 I've raved about the elegant and earthy lobster-and-truffle sausage, the sapid sea bass with coarse salt poached in lobster oil, and the indescribably complex and delectable ballottine of lamb stuffed with ground veal, sweet-breads and truffles. -- James Villas, "Why Taillevent thrives", Town & Country, March 1, 1998 Sapid comes from Latin sapidus, "savory," from sapere, "to taste."
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Post by Chris on May 6, 2007 13:58:48 GMT -5
Man, I'm so famished. I want something sapid for lunch like some hot, steamy, juicy egg rolls, instead of having to go through the moil of eating Ramen yet again. It's very credulous that all that Ramen is seriously gonna redound me to become a termagant.
I sound so pompous, I'm tempted to look for a stick in my rear.
Today's word, courtesy of Dictionary.com: sapid
sapid \SAP-id\, adjective: 1. Having taste or flavor, especially having a strong pleasant flavor. 2. Agreeable to the mind; to one's liking.
Chemistry can concentrate the sapid and odorous elements of the peach and the bitter almond into a transparent fluid -- David William Cheever, "Tobacco", The Atlantic, August 1860
I've raved about the elegant and earthy lobster-and-truffle sausage, the sapid sea bass with coarse salt poached in lobster oil, and the indescribably complex and delectable ballottine of lamb stuffed with ground veal, sweet-breads and truffles. -- James Villas, "Why Taillevent thrives", Town & Country, March 1, 1998
Sapid comes from Latin sapidus, "savory," from sapere, "to taste."
The word sapid feels so sapid in my mouth that I'm becoming sapid just saying it.
EDIT: I'm so sorry, Angie, I never noticed you beat me to it yesterday, lol.
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Post by Chris on May 7, 2007 22:46:53 GMT -5
It's such moil trying to be clever. I can't think of a single way to use today's word in a sentence. Whatever I try comes across like a pastiche of cheesy segues, forced jokes and references involving collages for some reason. Oh, wait a minute! Yay! Today's word, courtesy of Dictionary.com: pastiche pastiche \pas-TEESH; pahs-\, noun: 1. A work of art that imitates the style of some previous work. 2. A musical, literary, or artistic composition consisting of selections from various works. 3. A hodgepodge; an incongruous combination of different styles and ingredients. The figure was a pastiche, assembled from fragments: a Greek head, a Roman imperial cuirass, and halo, limbs, weapons, and crocodile fashioned by a Venetian craftsman. -- Patricia Fortini Brown, Venice and Antiquity Whoever said the unexamined life is not worth living apparently never intended to go into book publishing, where there is almost no research and where much of the conventional wisdom is a pastiche of folklore, myth and wishful thinking. -- Edwin McDowell, "Publishing: And They All Said It Wouldn't Sell", New York Times, February 6, 1989 Rather, the aim is to create a composite reflection of how New York got this way, how its bridges and subways were built, how its power structure and political culture evolved, how its pastiche of unique neighborhoods developed, collapsed and rose again, and how some of its citizens survive on the bottom rung and others succeed or fail on the top. -- Sam Roberts, "The 10 Best Books About New York", New York Times, February 5, 1995 Pastiche comes from Italian pasticcio, "a paste," hence "a hodgepodge, literary or musical," ultimately from Latin pasta, "paste." Hmm. I need a pastiche of hard liquor, rock music and dirty fornication. On a seemingly unrelated note, I wonder what Shmuggles is doing right now.
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Post by Chris on May 8, 2007 10:47:31 GMT -5
Here's another word I know I'm gonna be using the heck out of, and this one suits Den to a T. T for termagant, that is!
lol, I just love that word.
Today's word, courtesy of Dictionary.com: intransigent
intransigent \in-TRAN-suh-juhnt; -zuh-\, adjective: Refusing to compromise; uncompromising.
He was intransigent at times, and almost playfully yielding at others. -- "The Decline and Fall of a Sure Thing", New York Times, September 10, 1989
Sometimes I was intransigent, and proud of it. At other times I seemed to myself to be nearly devoid of any character at all, timid, uncertain, without will. -- Edward W. Said, Out of Place: A Memoir
The dispute brewed through the summer as Nehru remained intransigent and U.S. officials confronted an unbending legal mandate. -- George Perkovich, India's Nuclear Bomb
Intransigent is from French intransigeant, from Spanish intransigente, from in-, "not" (from Latin) + transigente, present participle of transigir, "to compromise," from Latin transigere, "to come to an agreement," from trans-, "across" + agere, "to drive."
Isn't it ironic that the word intransigent has French origins?
I ... think I just made a joke. If I did, it's too bad I don't understand it.
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Post by Chris on May 10, 2007 15:56:28 GMT -5
Sorry I couldn't make it yesterday; my internet's been down because of my stupidness. It's a long story, the denouement of which involves me keeping a vigil at the window to make sure no one discovers that I had to call a repairman to fix it.
I know what you're thinking: I'm such a termagant! (I know that's a gratuitous use of the word, but I'm in such a love affair with it).
Today's word, courtesy of Dictionary.com: denouement
denouement \day-noo-MAWN\, noun: 1. The final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work. 2. The outcome of a complex sequence of events.
And perhaps this helps to explain the frequency of the violent denouement in contemporary novels: in the country that embraced the slogan "Today is the first day of the rest of your life," how do you call it quits on a character who is still breathing? -- Brad Leithauser, "You Haven't Heard the Last of This", New York Times, August 30, 1998
Of course, the crusaders were losers in the short run, but Europe's storytellers have traditionally awarded them the righteous victory and not dwelt on the embarrassing denouement. -- Todd Gitlin, The Twilight of Common Dreams
Though still only a prospect on the horizon, this, I think, could well be the next revolution. What a denouement if it is! -- Julian Barbour, The End of Time
Denouement is from French, from Old French denoer, "to untie," from Latin de- + nodare, "to tie in a knot," from nodus, "a knot."
If a denouement is the outcome of a complex series of events, then banging my head while saying, "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" would be the denouement of me asking someone on a date.
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Post by Chris on May 11, 2007 16:30:57 GMT -5
Wow, I've been finding the most colorful words to describe the guildians lately. Termagant for Jayda, instransigent for Den, and ... I guess Froggy could be sapid, because she's such a shortcake!
Aw, man I shouldn't have said Froggy. It just stirs the acrimony caused by the many old friends leaving that breaks my heart.
Hold it together, Pesto. You'll redound from this.
Today's word, courtesy of Dictionary.com: acrimony
acrimony \AK-ruh-moh-nee\, noun: Bitter, harsh, or biting sharpness, as of language, disposition, or manners.
In years to come, liturgical infighting ranked alongside disputed patents, contested fortunes, and savage political feuds as a source of McCormick family acrimony. -- Richard Norton Smith, The Colonel
The partnership eventually broke up in acrimony. -- Henry Grunwald, One Man's America
As losses swelled, acrimonyled to lawsuits, countersuits, and the bankruptcy of the ironworks. -- Patricia O'Toole, Money & Morals in America
Mr. Cioran himself once wrote: "However much I have frequented the mystics, deep down I have always sided with the Devil; unable to equal him in power, I have tried to be worthy of him, at least, in insolence, acrimony, arbitrariness and caprice." -- Eric Pace, "E. M. Cioran, 84, Novelist And Philosopher of Despair", New York Times, June 22, 1995
Acrimony is from Latin acrimonia, from acer, "sharp."
Acrimony best describes what John Sapphire must have felt to find that we'd tossed that British, "look-at-me-I'm-so-smart-but-not-smart-enough-not-to-piss-off-Ash" poison out of the guild. We sure shoved his silver spoon where the sun don't shine (and I'm not talking about his mouth).
P.S. Jayda is a termagant. Just putting it out there.
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Post by Chris on May 12, 2007 9:46:57 GMT -5
God, that was the worst night of sleep ever. I'm aching like nobody's business. I tell ya, a good night of sleep is nonpareil; without it, you're all cranky, irritable, exhausted and naggy. Not to mention ugly. If you want proof, look at Jayda: what a termagant.
Today's word, courtesy of Dictionary.com: nonpareil
nonpareil \non-puh-REL\, adjective: 1. Having no equal; peerless.
noun: 1. Something of unequaled excellence; a peerless thing or person. 2. A flat disk of chocolate covered with beads of colored sugar.
It's not often that Mike Emrick, the nonpareil hockey voice, errs. His play by play is peerless. -- Richard Sandomir, "Later Post Ensures That Derby Is Alone for Hammond's Dream Call", New York Times, May 4, 2001
Some birds make and use tools and show evidence of culture, and many are vocalists nonpareil. -- Bernd Heinrich, "So, This Parrot Comes Into a Bar and Says . . .", New York Times, January 30, 2000
But when it comes to his profession, he is a nonpareil. -- Peter Andrews, "A Jazzy Murder Case", New York Times, October 30, 1983
Steve Redgrave won his third gold medal at his third successive Olympic Games and we hymned the man as if he were the greatest athlete we had ever seen: a superman, a nonpareil, a demigod walking the earth. -- Simon Barnes, "Honour and praise to three athletes who graced the sporting arena", Times (London), December 27, 2000
Nonpareil comes from Old French, from non, "not" + pareil, "equal," from (assumed) Vulgar Latin pariculus, diminutive of Latin par, "equal."
Those chocolate nonpareils sound nonpareil. Making a mental note to try one of those someday.
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Post by Chris on May 13, 2007 17:39:34 GMT -5
Doughty are the few who moil to read this thread; it shall redound their brains to become hideously large. Sure, it's a social killer, but it won't kill your capacity to rule over mankind with your incredulous knowledge.
Today's Word, courtesy of dictionary.com: doughty
doughty \DOW-tee\, adjective: Marked by fearless resolution; valiant; brave.
He was obsessed with the Arctic, his imagination stoked by epic accounts of the doughty pioneers who had led wooden ships into uncharted waters and northern mists. -- Sara Wheeler, "In Cold Blood?", New York Times, February 25, 2001
One day he stumbled, fell against the spinning saw and half severed his left arm. It was three days before a doctor came, but the doughty old Swede was still alive. -- Quentin Reynolds, "The Bold Victory of a Man Alone", New York Times, September 13, 1953
Doughty comes from Old English dohtig, "brave, valiant, fit."
I think of all the guildians here, doughty best describes me, as I must have nerves (and cojones) of steel to blatantly point out that Jayda is a termagant and live to tell the tale. No matter what she does to me, I shall remain intransigent.
Of course, if she comes near my cojones, that's a different story; I'll just say Ethan told me to do it.
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Post by Chris on May 14, 2007 16:14:59 GMT -5
Warning Guildians: you may be in the midst of an internecine situation here. Broky and Ash have sharpened their claws and are going for the throat. You may want to put your tails between your legs and haul ass, especially considering that this catfight involves a guy (doesn't it always?).
Today's word, courtesy of Dictionary.com: internecine
internecine \in-tuhr-NES-een; -NEE-syn; -NEE-sin\, adjective: 1. Of or relating to conflict within a nation, an organization, or a group. 2. Mutually destructive; involving or accompanied by mutual slaughter. 3. Deadly; destructive; marked by slaughter.
It was directed locally and regionally by mid-level party bosses . . . who were likely to be engaged in internecine feuding. -- Michael H. Kater, The Twisted Muse
The Mexican government, wracked with internecine struggle and hopelessly in debt, had threatened to nationalize American oil companies. -- Susan Hertog, Anne Morrow Lindbergh: Her Life
While the Seven Years' War resolved none of Europe's internecine conflicts, so far as North America and the British Empire were concerned, this immense conflict changed everything, and by no means only for the better. -- Fred Anderson, Crucible of War
During the months of war and the internecine street fighting, coal and wood supplies ran out and houses went unheated. -- Edmund White, Marcel Proust
Internecine is from Latin internecinus, from internecare, "to destroy utterly, to exterminate," from inter- + necare, "to kill," from nec-, nex, "violent death."
As much as I'd like to support Ash in this chickfight, she seems more the nerd type, whereas Broksters is more of the gouge-first-ask-questions-later type. Sorry Ash darling, but if things are gonna get internecine around here, I'd rather align myself on the side of the person who makes my balls retract.
I guess I'm not as doughty as I thought.
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