Michael Gates's Blog, page 33
April 2, 2015
Photo of the Week (by me)
Oh right. Spring. Good Friday, Easter, and so on. Click the pic for a closer view. You know you want to.
April 1, 2015
Random Sequence: connubial
"That is true," cried Ben, rushing to the rescue just in time to save poor Simmons from an expressive connubial 'Ahem' -- "very true. I want no better proof of that than the modern game called SCANDAL. Do you play it?"
--Kormah Lynn, "A Few Friends", in Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, October 1864
(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)
connubial (adjective) = of or relating to marriage or a married couple's relationship
I've seen this word before, used only in the phrase "connubial bliss", but was never sure what it meant. I suppose there is also such a thing as "connubial misery" too.
--Kormah Lynn, "A Few Friends", in Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, October 1864
(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)
connubial (adjective) = of or relating to marriage or a married couple's relationship
I've seen this word before, used only in the phrase "connubial bliss", but was never sure what it meant. I suppose there is also such a thing as "connubial misery" too.
March 30, 2015
March 29, 2015
Word of the Day: pooterish
What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's...
pooterish [POO-ter-ish] (adjective) [TWITO, page 114]
Pompous, self-important, bourgeois
"A bowler hat would be rather pooterish attire for your garden-variety gnome, don't you think?"
"Pooterish" comes from Charles Pooter, the hero of a 19th-century novel called Diary of a Nobody. (Yes, I’m thinking of adding that to my list of potential new titles for my blog.)
pooterish [POO-ter-ish] (adjective) [TWITO, page 114]
Pompous, self-important, bourgeois
"A bowler hat would be rather pooterish attire for your garden-variety gnome, don't you think?"
"Pooterish" comes from Charles Pooter, the hero of a 19th-century novel called Diary of a Nobody. (Yes, I’m thinking of adding that to my list of potential new titles for my blog.)
March 26, 2015
Link Mania: Feeling Myrmecophilous
Ding dong. Care for some "trefoils"?
Coffee Words, Decoded
How about a mocha coconut Frappuccino?
Including "octothorpe" (TWITO, page 100). It might be a good name for your Twitter account. #octothorpe
Long words for lovers of learning
Including "myrmecophilous", an adjective that means "being in a mutually beneficial relationship with ants". That happens?
Photo by me! Snapping it was the only time I remember feeling myrmecophilous.
Coffee Words, Decoded
How about a mocha coconut Frappuccino?
Including "octothorpe" (TWITO, page 100). It might be a good name for your Twitter account. #octothorpe
Long words for lovers of learning
Including "myrmecophilous", an adjective that means "being in a mutually beneficial relationship with ants". That happens?
Photo by me! Snapping it was the only time I remember feeling myrmecophilous.
March 25, 2015
Photo of the Week (by me)
You'll never guess, but you might as well try. Click the pic for a closer view. You have nothing better to do or you wouldn't be here.
March 24, 2015
Random Sequence: traducing
"We can never wholly and heartily enjoy ourselves while traducing our equals and neighbors; the operation is always attended with more or less of fear, lest the powerful friend whose regard we do not really wish to forfeit, or whose resentment we would not willingly incur, may hear of our indiscretion, and cause us to suffer for it."
--Augusta H. Worthen, "Servants", in Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, March 1864
(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)
traducing (verb; also traduce) = to damage someone's reputation by speaking badly or telling lies about them.
Say, "Don't traduce me!" the next time someone criticizes you. That will shut them up.
--Augusta H. Worthen, "Servants", in Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, March 1864
(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)
traducing (verb; also traduce) = to damage someone's reputation by speaking badly or telling lies about them.
Say, "Don't traduce me!" the next time someone criticizes you. That will shut them up.
March 23, 2015
March 19, 2015
Word of the Day: foofaraw
What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's...
foofaraw [FOO-ar-ah] (noun) [TWITO, page 56]
A great deal of attention paid to a trivial matter; much ado about nothing (various spellings)
"Beside, it goes against natur to leave bufler meat and feed on hog; and them white gals are too much like picturs, and a deal too 'foofaraw'...."
--George Frederick Augustus Ruxton, Life in the Far West (1851)
Here's my foofaraw: The cord to my headphones is driving me mad. It kinks, it curls, it tangles, and twirls. I tried suspending the headphones upside down from a hook, thinking that gravity would straighten out my situation. But no, or at least not for long. I like to listen to... things... on the train while commuting, but I'm somewhat embarrassed to pull the headphones out of my man purse and start unknotting the cord while some slack-jawed passenger stares at me from across the aisle. The untangling doesn't go well. I fasten the headphones on, and instead of a nice, smooth, draping line I have an unholy snarl beneath my chin.
foofaraw [FOO-ar-ah] (noun) [TWITO, page 56]
A great deal of attention paid to a trivial matter; much ado about nothing (various spellings)
"Beside, it goes against natur to leave bufler meat and feed on hog; and them white gals are too much like picturs, and a deal too 'foofaraw'...."
--George Frederick Augustus Ruxton, Life in the Far West (1851)
Here's my foofaraw: The cord to my headphones is driving me mad. It kinks, it curls, it tangles, and twirls. I tried suspending the headphones upside down from a hook, thinking that gravity would straighten out my situation. But no, or at least not for long. I like to listen to... things... on the train while commuting, but I'm somewhat embarrassed to pull the headphones out of my man purse and start unknotting the cord while some slack-jawed passenger stares at me from across the aisle. The untangling doesn't go well. I fasten the headphones on, and instead of a nice, smooth, draping line I have an unholy snarl beneath my chin.
March 17, 2015
Link Mania: Are you a comiconomenclaturist?
23 Notoriously Unrhymable Words (That Actually Have Rhymes)
Still waiting for a word to rhyme with "orange", though.
~~~
15 Words That Belong in Every Grandparent's Vocabulary
Send this to your grandma. Includes "afflatus" (TWITO, page 12), "fanfaronade" (page 52), "gravid" (page 63), "vercordious" (page 154), and "wamble" (page 159). But my favorite here is "comiconomenclaturist".
~~~
Background checks: everyday words with legal records
They forgot "briefs".
~~~
11 Strange Movie Job Titles—Explained!
In Hollywood, a woman can be the "best boy".
Still waiting for a word to rhyme with "orange", though.
~~~
15 Words That Belong in Every Grandparent's Vocabulary
Send this to your grandma. Includes "afflatus" (TWITO, page 12), "fanfaronade" (page 52), "gravid" (page 63), "vercordious" (page 154), and "wamble" (page 159). But my favorite here is "comiconomenclaturist".
~~~
Background checks: everyday words with legal records
They forgot "briefs".
~~~
11 Strange Movie Job Titles—Explained!
In Hollywood, a woman can be the "best boy".
