What's Your Word for the Day? Showing 651-700 of 3,049

[Ken, Moderator]

tittle (noun) -- the little dot above the i (or, Y.A.'s last name).

[Ken, Moderator]

Hmn. If that pronunciation is right (BLAG-uhrd), then I've been pronouncing it wrong (just as the words are pronounced separately, only together).

[Ken, Moderator]

That's OK. You should hear how I pronounced "victuals" for DECADES.

[Ken, Moderator]

VICK-choo-als.

Satisfied? Or not until you type "hehehe" again?

[Ken, Moderator]

Exactly. The least they could do is spell it "vittles."

[David]

"Kaparthy, that dreadful Hungarian?
Was he there?"

"No!"

"Jawohl."

"That who uses the science of speech
More to blackmail and swindle than teach?"

"He made it the devilish business of his
To find out who this Miss Doolitle is."

---from My Fair Lady, probably out of sequence.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I only knew it was vittles because I watched the Beverley Hillbillies!!!

[Ken, Moderator]

I knew The Beverly Hillbillies had educational value!

[Ken, Moderator]

pithy and gist

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I have pondered the gist of many a pithy saying.

cuckold

[Ken, Moderator]

Cuckold is so Middle Ages. Like codpiece, maybe.

What's with the mask? I'm beginning to feel like Tonto in this joint.

[David]

If you like "cuckold," try "wittol," a husband who knows his wife is putting the horns on him, and just smiles.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

It's the Masquerade party NE....don't worry, you are already wearing your mask!!!

[David]

A "super" or "supernumerary" can be an extra in an opera.

"Supernumerary mammailia" are extra nipples, beyond the usual pair. Ann Boleyn is rumoured to have had them.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I thought it was a supernumary pinkie!

[Ken, Moderator]

The moon is a mask?

-- The Man in the Moon

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

In your case....yes.

[Ken, Moderator]

Thanks (?)

(story of my life... I can never tell when I'm the beau of some jest)

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

No jest.....the moon is your online visual persona....your 'mask'. You could always change it of course......

[Ken, Moderator]

OK. Bright idea. I'll look for an available sun.

[David]

To "moon" is to "drop trou," i.e., show the passengers in a passing train one's fundament.

An example here.

No, we don't have enough to do in Orange County, although in the event, the cops, also otiose, put a stop to it.

[David]

The name "Anne Boleyn" dredged up memories of a little ditty first recorded by Stanley Holloway, and later covered by the Kingston Trio:

In the Tower of London, large as life
The ghost of Ann Boleyn walks, they declare.
Ann Boleyn was once King Henry's wife
Until he had the axman bob her hair
Oh yes, he done her wrong, long years ago,
And she comes back each night to tell him so

With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the Bloody Tower!
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the Midnight hour

She's going to find King Henry, she means giving him what for
Gadzooks, she's going to tell him off for having spilt her gore
And just in case the axman wants to give her an encore
She's got her head tucked underneath her arm

With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the Bloody Tower!
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the Midnight hour.

Along the drafty corridors for miles and miles she goes
She sometimes catches cold, poor thing, it's cold there when it blows
And it's awfully awkward for the Queen when she has to blow her nose
With her head tucked underneath her arm

With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the Bloody Tower!
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the Midnight hour

Now, sometimes old King Henry throws a spread
For all his pals and gals - the ghostly crew.
The axman carves the joints and cuts the bread,
Then in comes Ann Boleyn to "spoil the do"
She holds her head up with a wild war whoop
And Henry cries, "Don't drop it in the soup!"

With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the Bloody Tower!
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the Midnight hour.

One day she found King Henry, he was in the Castle Bar
He said, "Hiya, Jane Seymour, Ann Boleyn or Cath'rine Parr?
Now how the heck am I supposed to know just who you are?
You got your head tucked underneath your arm!"

With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the Bloody Tower!
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the Midnight hour

[Gail]

Oh, good grief...I always thought that "vittles" was the country bumpkin pronunciation of a word that was actually pronoundced as N.E. thought. This is what comes of a life (mis)spent in the reading of books.

[Ken, Moderator]

We'll form a club, Gail -- The Vick-choo-als Club. Seriously, it's always great to learn something, even if it's at an unlikely place like this.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

philtre....the one you used is an Americanism marco!
acerbic

[David]

The Coasters sang about it.

A "mojo" is a kind of scapular, worn as a love charm. Muddy Waters sang "I got my mojo workin', but I sure don't work on you."

[David]

It sure don't work.

My proofreading mojo is on vacation.

[Ken, Moderator]

Mojo -- wasn't that the mad dog novel written by Stephen King?

[David]

Dunno. My favorite mad dog is in Noël Coward's "Mad Dogs and Englishmen [go out in the noonday sun].

That dates me, I suppose.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Cujo NE!!

[Savvy]

ATAVISTIC

at·a·vism
Pronunciation: \ˈa-tə-ˌvi-zəm\

Etymology: French atavisme, from Latin atavus ancestor, from at- (probably akin to atta daddy) + avus grandfather —

1 a: recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usually due to genetic recombination b: recurrence of or reversion to a past style, manner, outlook, approach, or activity

2: one that manifests atavism : throwback

— at·a·vis·tic \ˌa-tə-ˈvis-tik\ adjective
— at·a·vis·ti·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

He-lloooooo!!!! What DO you take us for? Ask not for whom the bell tolls Knell, it tolls for thee! (sic)

[Boreal Elizabeth]

i don't ka no what you are talking aboot
think i'll find a ka nif and eat some cheese
up there on that ka noll

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Is it a grassy ka-noll?!!! (snigger)

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Oh chill out Marco....life is short...make fun of it! Anyway...I thought we were hilarious....eh moe....moe?

[Stamatia]

Oh, Marco life is like that. If you're willing to dish it out you have to be able to take it, too.

[Tyler]

I've seen "crepuscular," too, and in the hands of a good author, it works. I don't think about the middle syllable because the whole word sounds like "muscular."

"Crepuscualar," I'm thinking, best describes a penumbra. If you find yourself in one, this is the adjective you want.

Otherwise, NE's right: "dim" would say as much in fewer letters for most cases.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

aestival festival
marco you're the best
you're hangin with the language sharks
and it's not even your native tongue
you're aces kid aces
keep hangin cause i want to be able to say
oh marco the world famous _________________?
ya, i've know him for years ;)
my best language buddies and i used to swap barbs with le bon garcon en francais


ok how do you do the accente gu's or whatever they are called?

p.s. deja vu? didn't we do crepuscular?
i vote for steven king as the king of that word
again deja vu? and it means dim?

[Boreal Elizabeth]

i'm sorry if my knell joking offended marco
i was just punning
and didn't mean it meanly
forgive me if it hurt your feelings and don't leave
you're a great contributor
maybe it was just a little language barrier or social misunderstanding and you can cut us some slack for being old and mean
it is a little odd for us to know you are so young and so erudite, makes me feel a little unaccomplished anyway
and i don't want a vicarious glory from your brilliant future
that was more joking
whether you go or stay, i'm sure you will be a wonderful chemist and while i know you are capable i hope you have success in fulfilling that dream
it's a noble one

and finally, heehee phillipine language barricuda
great line-don't hold a grudge
we'll all be so much poorer without your contribution

[Boreal Elizabeth]

aestival elizabeth?
well
i had an uncle and a friend and a beau
and perhaps one other call me sunshine
cheezy but i like cheese

sunshine and summer go together
and my favorite song is...you are my sunshine

so i hereby claim aestival elizabeth as my nom de poste

ooh ooh got to go fix my avatar

[Boreal Elizabeth]

oh come on cut deb some slack
she likes you too
she may have been posting back and forth with you but you did start talking francais behind her back and she absolutely didn't mean to be mean either

now we got to wait for her

dooo doooo doooo deeee dooooo

ok let me go back and look-cause i dont remember anything that bad
but then i wasn't really in the middle
didn't someone call you a marchant?

maybe you are transfering your anger towards david onto deb?

did i tell you analysis is a hobby of mine?

drives most people bonkers
except my friend heather who introduced me to goodreads
haven't seen her post a word

hmmm
maybe she's just a trouble maker

heather heather

[Boreal Elizabeth]

awww
see, that's why i like it

cool glad i could help turn it around
i bought a bike and went to pick it up but it wasn't ready so i'm sort of keyed up
in good spirits because i love bicycles and haven't had one in a long time
can't wait to drive along the quay near the bay or up the hill and across the peninsula


as for analysis
i always say...
just lay still the disecting won't take too long...but they always squirm anyway

is it estival or aestival?

[Ken, Moderator]

Marco --

Earlier today you spammed the threads on this group with a myspace link to some guy in Minnesota's account and incorrectly claimed it was me. I have no myspace account, and I surely do not appreciate your spreading this for two reasons: a) spam is not cool, and b) it is a lie.

I'm hoping that this was not done in malice and am going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but only briefly. I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate it if someone in your school decided to post untruths about you in cyberspace where others could see it and perhaps even believe it.

I'm asking you nicely once: please stop and act responsibly if you want to continue to take part in this forum.

[Savvy]

COPACETIC/kəʊpəˈsɛtɪk/
Fine, excellent, going just right.

It’s possible that this word has created more column inches of speculation in the USA than any other apart from OK. It’s rare to the point of invisibility outside North America. People mostly become aware of it in the sixties as a result of the US space program — it’s very much a Right Stuff kind of word. But even in the USA it doesn’t have the circulation it did thirty years ago. Dictionaries are cautious about attributing a source for it, reasonably so, as there are at least five competing explanations, with no very good evidence for any of them.

One suggestion that’s commonly put forward is that it was originally a word of the African-American community in the USA. The name of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, a famous black tap-dancer, singer and actor of the period round the turn of the twentieth century is commonly linked to this belief about its origin. Indeed, he claimed to have invented it as a shoeshine boy in Richmond. But other blacks, especially Southerners, said later that they had heard it earlier than Mr Robinson’s day. But he certainly did a lot to popularise the word.

A more frequent explanation is that it derives from one of two Hebrew expressions, hakol b’seder, “all is in order”, or kol b’tzedek, “all with justice”, which it is suggested were introduced into the USA by Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants. Yet other accounts say it derives from a Chinook word copasenee, “everything is satisfactory”, once used on the waterways of Washington State, or from the French coupersetique, from couper, “to strike”, or from the French phrase copain(s) c’est épatant! (“buddy(s), that’s great!”), or, in a hugely strained derivation, from the cop is on the settee, supposedly a hoodlum term used to describe a policeman who was not actively watching out for crime, and so one who was OK.

In the absence of further evidence, which may now never be forthcoming, none of these suggestions can be definitely disregarded, though most are extremely implausible.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

kapish?

[Peter]

Yo Marco! "Grown-ups"?? You must be kidding, we´re toying around and building sandcastles... just have a look at my pic, a 33-year-old Bavarian making fun of himself. I guess that I, personnaly, will never grow up. And why should I, why should we, generally- meaning, you learn and will be learning for all your lifetime; there´s actually no such thing as a grown-up.
Understood? It´s all about gaining experience(s), but that doesn´t neccesarily include your actual age.
D´accord?
Best to all,
Peter

[Boreal Elizabeth]

hey crab head
great post
i concur
je suis une total enfant
ask my kids or grandkids

[Old-Barbarossa]

Aye.
Who said "You don't stop playing as you age, you age as you stop playing"???
My word for today is: "nepotism". Related to nephew, and the fact that popes used to always employ their kin for top jobs (maybe simplifying a wee bit there).
Also been using: "diddy" a lot today, Glasgow slang for breast. Used in a similar way to tit. Secondary meaning: someone of limited wit or intellect.

[Peter]

Glaswegian thou art, Barbarossa?
Neat! We had a school-exchange with Glasgow... boy, that´s more than 15 years ago... as you´re seemingly a litte sexist (in a nice way) let me add this one: watching a gal from behind, when she´s walking away from you, I was told by my exchange-friends, that "her arse chews toffee". I find that extremely hillarious ;-)
I liked Glasgow a lot, and believe it or not, I miss fish´n chips. And the girls as well... especially one Nicola Veitch. Perhaps you could look her up? Just kidding. Do you remember the "Soup Dragons"??
Hehe, I also remember the European Soccer-championship right then... Scotland lost versus Germany, and the next day we all masqueraded in Scotch tricots walking the town... one obviously quite drunk fellow walked up to us and literally spat in our faces, "Tha´ was(hh..) har´ luck, boys, eh???!" Yep, it was.
Furthermore- Mr. Barbarossa, feel free to mail privately- I´m pretty much excited to hear from Glasgow after so many years!
Cheers pal!

Peter
TLF

[Old-Barbarossa]

The use of "diddy" isn't usually considered sexist (but I suppose it's all about context), it would be similar to calling someone a boob I think. It has been the secondary meaning I have been muttering to myself a lot today.