What's Your Word for the Day? Showing 1,001-1,050 of 3,049

[Ken, Moderator]

Come on, now. Someone MUST have a Word of the Day perfect for a new start.

Neo- something?

[David]

Your word for today is "leap second." One second is added to the year at New Year's to keep broadcast time in line with astronomical time.

Your alternate word for today is katun, a Mayan calendrical period of about 20 solar years (19.7) in the "long count" calendar. As a man in his fourth katun, I am entitled to respect. Tell that to my children and other drivers.

[Savvy]

Here's one I penned a while back for pseudodictionary....

neoparisitis -

A new social phenomenon relating to the seemingly constant appearance of Paris Hilton everywhere. A condition characterized by the curious desire of young heiress wannabes to pattern after her.

e.g., Katarina was suffering from neoparisitis so bad that she even bought a pet chihuahua and called her Teacup.

[David]

If you want a neo, try "neoteny."

It's the retention of juvenile anatomy in adult animals, supposedly common in dometicated animals. See axolotls, for instance.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Neoparisitis! Hahahaha Susanne....good one! Bears more than a passing resemblance to neo parasitic.....similarities in meaning too I shouldn't wonder!

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I am reading an examination of Elizabeth 1's life and reign by Alison Plowden (and a compelling read it is)....and to my utter delight I met 2 words within 3 pages that I had never come across before! Here they are......

pertinacity
n : persistent determination [syn: doggedness, perseverance,
persistence, persistency, tenacity, tenaciousness]


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Pertinacity \Per`ti*nac"i*ty\, n. [Cf. F. pertinacit['e:].]
The quality or state of being pertinacious; obstinacy;
perseverance; persistency. --Macaulay.

Syn: See Obstinacy.



ter•gi•ver•sa•tion
Pronunciation:
\ˌtər-ˌji-vər-ˈsā-shən, -ˌgi-; ˌtər-ji-(ˌ)vər-\
Function:
noun
Date:
1570
1 : evasion of straightforward action or clear-cut statement : EQUIVOCATION 2 : desertion of a cause, position, party, or faith

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Sorry about using up so much space....but aren't they delicious.....and so right when describing Elizabeth Tudor!! I especially like pertinacity....I am soooo going to use that one at school!

[Savvy]

pertinacity....

yes, delicious...love it Debbie!

Thanks...I too shall delight in using it!

[David]

Try contumely on for size.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Now that one I know....I had an ancestor burned at the stake by Bloody Mary in 1558 (only 5 months before she died) who was burned for being a 'contumacious heretic'. There is an account in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

[Ken, Moderator]

Cool ancestor (though anything-but-cool demise). I once went to a contumely party. That was before I developed my allergy to Halloween...

[David]

eructation

carminative (see Crome Yellow)

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I am sorry to hear that you suffered from eructation David....did the carminative work? (And were you saying that Crome Yellow was long-winded?)

[David]

adiaphora--originally a Stoic term, now also theological. Things that are neither required by virtue and morals, nor condemned by them. You can like spinach, or hate it.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Take it or leave it huh?

[David]

In the case of spinach, chew it or spew it.

[Ruth]

"I say it's spinach and I say to hell with it."

[Ken, Moderator]

salutary (or salad-tary)

[David]

Divagation--verbal rambling; holding forth on a variety of topics.

Think Cliff Clavin.

[Cooki]

transparency...

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

glass

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Ooh...hello Cooki....you're new! How about some blurb on the intro's page?

[Ken, Moderator]

Cross-threadinization. Word of the Day here (which means Cliff Claven's name is as

APROPOS

as you can get.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Sorry NE....got carried away....

[David]

abducted?

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Hahaha! No white knight yet to take me away from all this!

[David]

No horsemen left over from LOTR?

[David]

Suzerainty--a degree of overlordship not equivalent to sovereignty.

Wake up little suzerain
Wake up little suzerain
A new era's here
The empire's over
And you're in trouble deep.

[Tyler]

In a book I've just been reading, it happens the word "suzerain" pops up again and again. To run their territories, suzerains apparently needed a degree of legerdemain, too.

[David]

lackwit
addlepated

[Ruth]

That ain't you, David.

[David]

Thanks, but I'm the latter. Absent-minded perfesser.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Perfesser? Someone who has confessed to a magnificent obsession with scents? And being absent-minded, can't tell your Chanel No 5 from your Joy?

[David]

A "perfessor" is someone who sells snake oil at a carnival, or plays the piano in a house of ill repute.

[Ruth]

I oiled a rosy boa once.

He belonged to my son, and had got himself stuck in a hole in a board.

Mazola got him out, toot sweet.

[Savvy]

Too funny Ruth!

[David]

Snake oil, back in the days, was a universal remedy that cured everything from apoplexy to warts. The elixir presumably came from the ropy reptiles.

If something is claimed to cure everything, fuggedabadit, it don't cure jack.

[Ken, Moderator]

sibilant -- making snakelike s-sounds.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[David]

"Oil a rosy boa"--how mellifluous.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

There's a poem in there somewhere Ruth........

[Savvy]

APOSEMATIC (ap-uh-suh-MAT-ik) adjective

Serving as a warning or alarm.

[From Greek apo- (away, off) + sematic (serving as a sign of danger), from sema (sign). The term is especially used in case of insects, referring to features such as bright colors or markings to warn a predator that they may be poisonous.:]

[Savvy]

Yes...Ruth...there is a poem in that (slithery slippery) oily snake somewhere!:-)

[David]

Rhymes for "boa": koa, Noah, whoa!, and near rhymes sower, knower, etc.

Brings to mind today's word, rhotacism--the introduction of /r/ sounds to replace /z/ sounds, eg.

[David]

Anna, ya got me there. The last kids are 15 and 17, so we're past all than until they breed.

[David]

Well, I did like "Avenue Q," the adult, stage version of "Sesame Street."

But, what about Naomi?

[Alex]

I haven't read the other posts, so I'm not sure if this word has already popped up, but if not, it's perfect for the topic.

sesquipedalian
n.
A long word.
adj.
1. Given to the use of long words.
2. Long and ponderous; polysyllabic.

[David]

Milton used it, I think.

[David]

Latinate, high-falutin names for countries:

Lusitania--Portugal
Hibernia--Ireland
Helvetia--Switzerland
Abyssinia--Ethiopia

There are more. I forget the one for Scotland.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Was Spain Hispania?

[Stamatia]

Hey there everybody! Missed you
Yes Debbie Hispania was Spain
and Scotland was Caledonia