What's Your Word for the Day? Showing 701-750 of 3,049

[David]

axolotl

Are there any other English words ending in "tl"? It's a violation of English pronounceability rules.

Most Nahuatl nouns end in "tl." But "coyote," which is Nahuatl, isn't "*coyotl."

[Old-Barbarossa]

David, what is "axolotl"?
I wish to try and use it in conversation today.

[Old-Barbarossa]

Now...to get both into conversation...Hmmm...
Is a spearflinger different from a spearthrower? The first more casual? The second a piece of medieval artillery?

[Old-Barbarossa]

OK, I'm off to google for photos.

[David]

An "atlatl" is a throwing stick. One of the first known man-made weapons.

It is indeed a Nahuatl word. You win a kewpie doll.

"Avocado" is derived from Spanish aguacate, which in turn comes from Nahuatl "huacatl," which means both "testicle" and "avocado" for obvious reasons. "Guacamole" is not only the name of a double entendresong, but crushed avocado, sometimes with other ingredients, used as a sauce (Sp. mole).

[David]

Screwed up the HTML that time. Trying again:

"Avocado" is derived from Spanish aguacate, which in turn comes from Nahuatl "huacatl," which means both "testicle" and "avocado" for obvious reasons. "Guacamole" is not only the name of a double entendresong but crushed avocado, sometimes with other ingredients, used as a sauce (Sp. mole).

Here goes nothin'

[David]

Close but no cigar. I wish you could make the text you enter in the comboxes bigger.

double entendre

mole

[David]

While I'm at it, I'm thinking about words for childhood acts of minor violence.

I can thing of "noogies," "Indian burn," "Irish haircut," and "wedgie."

There have to be more. Note the attributions to ethnic groups. Such words are a whole nother category.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

irish haircut?
we had the irish rub-the knuckles of your hand applied to the head of another and rubbed furiously back and forth so the friction would pull the hair quite unpleasantly

[Ken, Moderator]

Of the four you provide, David, I'd only heard of the infamous noogie and, of course, the older-than-dirt(-y underwear) wedgie.

[Peter]

Pretty "cool" creatures, aren´t they? Fascinating!
Barbarossa, look them up on wiki. Not actually the biggest, but one of the strangest amphibians alive. But I really can´t imagine how you´d include them in conversation, except about lines of evolution... ;-)
Peter

[Old-Barbarossa]

I failed with the whole atlatl/axlotl thing. They never passed my lips all day.
Damn that Eddie Izzard for setting such high standards in rambling monologues.

[Peter]

In Germany we have a "horse´s kiss"- actually pretty dumb: the classic is, you form a circle with your forefinger an thumb, and if you show it to your classroom-pal and he/ she looks through it, you´r entitled to give him/her a severe punch to the shoulder. And if the person concerned doesn´t say "Thank you!" you hit again. Nice, eh? One can get very creative- and very bruised.
Still, it was fun...
Peter

[Savvy]

After learning what an AXOLOTL was, I also learned what NEOTENY meant....

NEOTENY

1. Retention of juvenile characteristics in the adults of a species, as among certain amphibians.
2. The attainment of sexual maturity by an organism still in its larval stage.

veeeery interesting..........

[David]

"Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny."

IOW, the individual organism goes through stages of development similar to those of the species, family, phylum, etc.

I thing S.J.Gould wrote a book on the subject. I don't know if the idea is current.

[Stamatia]

God, David I had a hard time understanding that little phrase and Greek is my native language!

[Boreal Elizabeth]

this way folks
and to your right
you'll see the group of brainiacs

no no keep moving
and don't mess with the guy with the crab on his head
or the mask lady
or the greek
or the guy who's name is a geograpical area
or eyebrows or the woman with squiggles she calls letters or the happy new zealander
be very quiet
there are more lurking in the shadows

and puuuullllleeeeeaaaaaazzz

don't talk to them

[Boreal Elizabeth]

hello kiwikathleen

since deb's not here to say it,

pop up to the introductions thread and give us the lowdown or highlights

so we can say
"glad to meet ya"

do you know deb? heehee i couldn't resist

[Stamatia]

We love you too aestival

[Stamatia]

"the guy who's name is a geograpical area "
this gave me an idea it's TOPONYMIC
and that's my word for the day.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

aww thanks
now i'm off to google toponymic
which reminds me of topographical
love their maps
especially the mountains

[Ken, Moderator]

Yes, welcome to KiwiKathleen. (And Aestizabeth, I don't think all Kiwis know each other...)

We should all switch to toponymics here. Nom de terres.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

really?

all maniacs do

2nd cousin twice removed and all

nom de terres

if i switch to socal now no one will follow me

perhaps i could opt

for "west of sonora"

"south of san andreas"

"east of kelpbeds"

[Angela]

my geographical name would be heart of tennessee

[Savvy]

I'd be...

in the shadow of Mt. Rainier

on a sleepy glacial lake...west of the Cascade Range volcanoes

and east of the Juan de Fuca Plate

[Old-Barbarossa]

Ultima Thule...I'm somewhere between Scotland and Norway.

[Stamatia]

And I would be East of the Aegean, heh heh.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

...and I would be near the mouth of Maui's fish.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

i once lived on paradise farm
northeast of Lake Sam Hill
and east of Honeymoon Brook
at the bottom of Breakneck Hill
in Unorganized Territory Township 31
almost exactly 1 mile west of Cloud 9 general store
last house on the grid and former homestead of Wilbur Day infamous bear trapper, wilderness guide and poacher

you know the old day place just south of the machias chain lakes

maine thank you

[Ken, Moderator]

I like all of your Geo's. Nom de Terres are pretty cool.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

absolutely the more places i go to the more incedible places i realize there are
i never thought i would like so cal
but i do
and that cascades sounds awfully nice
and maui's fish?-please s'plain that one lucydeb

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Lucydeb?? (Peanuts Lucy?!!)
The north island of NZ is meant to be the fish Maui caught, and the south island is his canoe. Maui is the youngest and most mischievous son of Rangi the sky father and Papa the earth mother in Maori legend. Check out a google map and you will see that the north island is shaped like a stingray with 2 fins to the sides and tail to the north, and eye and mouth to te south. Lake Taupo in the centre is it's heart.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

be u tee ful
lucy as in lucille ball
desi used to say oh luuuucccyyy you got some s'plainin to do
lucydeb

are you telling me i love lucy reruns haven't made it to kiwiland yet?

[David]

I am the Margrave of B** F*** Egypt.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Been and gone moe!! In fact I think I vaguely recall some of the originals!!! NO! Wait, we didn't get a tele until I was 6 so must have been The Lucy Show that I saw. I loved Lucy......

Now DAVID is the one who needs to do some s'plainin'!!!!!

[Boreal Elizabeth]

as in bum f*** egypt
or as was common in my neck of the woods
east bum f**
also known as the boonies, boondocks, williwacks, or the sticks
anyone else have a name for those out of the way geographical locales?

[David]

toolies,

originally "tules" after a kind of wetland vegatation, I think.

For distant places, also try "Diddy Wah Diddy," a distant suburb of Baltimore; also a song, excerpted below:

"I went to church
Put my hat on the seat,
Lady said 'Mister,
You sure is sweet.'

"Won't anyone tell me
What 'diddy-wah-diddy' means?"

[David]

I like new monosyllables, which are pretty rare.

I'm partial to "lerp," "lerp is a structure of crystallized honeydew produced by larvae of psyllid insects as a protective cover."

It's also a computing acronym, but never mind that.

And as Stephen Wright asks, "Can't we find a shorter word for 'monosyllable'?"

[Peter]

The Lurking Comment-
Aestival, I´m not so very sure what to think of that:
"don´t mess with the guy" (namely me) in the sense of don´t make fun of him or rather don´t even try to engage with him into a discussion. Remember, I´m no native speaker...
As for "don´t talk to them"- that´s rather severe. If that´s meant sarcastically, I have no problem- for as some around here (hello S. from WA) know I can be the incarnation (another word!) of sarcasm. If meant for real and earnestly, the crabhead is not really amused.
Brainiac I just might be in some ways. What I try to is to ever keep on learning.
Accepted?
The bacchanalian Fear.
Go interprete whatever you want.
But don´t get personal, please.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Is this what you meant Peter?

"this way folks
and to your right
you'll see the group of brainiacs

no no keep moving
and don't mess with the guy with the crab on his head
or the mask lady
or the greek
or the guy who's name is a geograpical area
or eyebrows or the woman with squiggles she calls letters or the happy new zealander
be very quiet
there are more lurking in the shadows

and puuuullllleeeeeaaaaaazzz

don't talk to them "

I don't believe this was written to cause offence....it was done in a spirit of good humour. Please don't take offence where none was intended. (Anyway, you are the one who pointed out the crab on your head....I thought it was some kind of weird hat up til then).

[Savvy]

Sherri

That's great!...."Don't give me no frass!"

It's a natural.....

[David]

anodyne--innocuous and bland, perhaps deliberately so.

[Peter]

Thanks, Debbie ;-)
Yeah, you know... as you can look up, I´m a Bavarian (so-German), and languages sometimes interlink in a way not originally intended- meaning, misunderstandings fence your ways. Eyeyey, I experience those rather daily (Servus S.!), but won´t have them deter me. There´s always a way around, or rather an explanation. I WILL believe in the human spirit, no doubt.
And that crab- "the spur of the moment". Believe it, I was just a "little" drunk and found it a fancy idea, exhilerated at the Pacific coast... ask Sheri, who owns the copyright ;-)

All my Best.
Oh a word... hm.

"brachial" or "bracchial". Oops- Webster´s says only it´s according to the upper-arm-section or the branching of a tree.
Here I must insist and disagree: in German, "brachial" means an overloaded power/force wielded against a foe. "A brachial power" means- there´d be no defence.
Please correct me.

Peter

[Tyler]

Anodyne? That's a useful word for political discourse, I'd say.

I wouldn't have thought that was the definition. It sounds like something I'd find inside a radio.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

dear peter
i see my friends have explained in my abscence
that i meant no offense
but a warm affection for the human character's collected here
you included
i was "jokingly" warning the people who may be reading our posts
to "not feed the animals"
as a tour guide at the zoo would point out
possibly "dangerous" species

freund?

[David]

noctivagate--to wander around in the dark of night

[Peter]

Ohh Sherri, yep and AM I running, hehe.
Hui, studying German, eh. I´m studying English for "correspondent, translator". Not so hard for me (showing off, sorry), but English from the very beginning came to me naturally. German, on the other hand, proves to be hard, especially regarding grammar. I give you both thumbs up.
As an example, I´m just right at the moment rereading Harry Turtledove´s WorldWar and Colonization- books, and the dear author, in nearly every sentence or quote he states in German- gets it WRONG. Meaning- there´s a lot of work and understanding ahead of ya. Not to disengage you from your venture, but ;-)
I just guess you have it in you, and I whish you luck!
And yep, let me hear. See, actually, ahem.
Nice picture of you btw ;-)

TheLurkingFear
Peter

[Peter]

Freund indeed ;-)
And no problem here, believe it. It´s just those language-barriers, or in this case "understanding-barriers". Believe me I know them. Even if you only once mis-formulate a sentence/statement, you´re "public enemy nr.1". It is so, fact.
Anyway, you can feed me, I won´t bite your hand off.
I´m still member of a dangerous species, though. Humans.
Rrrarhhh...

Perhaps a fitting word:

"Pariah"

Yep.
TheLurkingFear, Peter

[Stamatia]

Oh, I don't know folks, I find the idea that I might be viewed as a zoo exhibit strangely fasccinating. Espescially if I was deemed to represent a dangerous species (roar or is that hiss? - depends on your definition of dangerous) Anyway I'm having such a great time with you guys in this particular zoo that i might even accept being an exhibit.
So zoology is the word

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

If I tell my colleagues that in a hypothetical zoo, I would be labelled the 'happy New Zealander', they would fall about laughing!!! (Not that I am NOT happy....I often am....it's just that they would probably have a different label....one that contained either the word 'cynical' or 'curmudgeoness')!!