What's Your Word for the Day? Showing 1,251-1,300 of 3,049

[Summer]

New to me: pulchritude
1. That quality of appearance which pleases the eye; beauty; comeliness; grace; loveliness.
2. Attractive moral excellence; moral beauty.

Thanks to some word of the day email or another.

I like it because it is incognito.

Also: peripatetic
1. Walking about; itinerant.
2. Of or pertaining to the philosophy taught by Aristotle (who gave his instructions while walking in the Lyceum at Athens), or to his followers.

Thanks to the movie Doubt.

[M]

Wow, nice ones ^
"Pulchritude" is very new to me; and yes, very incognito.
When I think of grace, or loveliness, that word doesn't exactly jump to mind.

I have always loved the word "eccentricity".

[Ken, Moderator]

Pulchritude doesn't sound like its definition, which bothers me. It sounds like it should mean "cheap, miserly," or some such. Not sure why.

As for eccentricity (560 miles west of newyorkcity), I've distrusted it since a "friend" in college informed me that I was eccentric. Um, no. You need to be rich to be eccentric.

[Summer]

Newengland wrote: "Pulchritude doesn't sound like its definition, which bothers me. It sounds like it should mean "cheap, miserly," or some such. Not sure why."

That is exactly why I like it but I am generally onery.

[M]

You need to be rich to be eccentric now?
I always grouped it with "eclectic", never really thought you had to be well-off to be classed as eccentric.

And yes, pulchritude, very odd for it's definition, but maybe that's the entire appeal?
You could say it in a sentence, obviously referring to the niceness of something, and it will make people stop and think.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

So if you are not richly eccentric NE.....?!!

[David]

Otiose--superfluous and unnecessary ("teats on a bull")

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

We say tits on a bull downunder!!

[Ken, Moderator]

Poorly eccentric. Like tits on bulls (though the bulls would rather that than eyes on bulls).

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I was always taught that poorly eccentric was merely insane!!!:-)

[Ken, Moderator]

Busted (at last). I'm surprised it took you this long, Debs.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Hahahaha! Takes one to know one!!

[M]

Haha, we're all mental downunder Deb.

[David]

They're all daft except thee and me, and I'm not so sure about thee.

[Ken, Moderator]

If it's down under you need to do the Mississippi on a daft, what's my excuse? I'm Up Above...

buoyant

[David]

A girl ant is either a worker or a queen. Yes, among ants, the queens are female. How quaint!

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Ummm.....among people too.....at least I THINK Elizabeth 2nd is a female (not too sure about the first one!!)>

[Ken, Moderator]

Elizabeth I was married to England (or so I just read) because she didn't have to worry about England poisoning her soup or plotting for the throne. Smart girl. And 45 years on the throne used to be #1 for duration until QEII replaced her record.

longevity

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I thought Victoria managed longer than that.....but then you are of the nation that freed itself from the yoke of monarchy so allowances must be made! I have actually been a 'fan' of Liz the first since I was in my teens and have just finished reading a really good tome about her (it's on my bookshelf).

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

tome

[Ken, Moderator]

I sit corrected!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

interregnum

[David]

An interregnum is a time between reigns.

A diastema is a space between teeth.

A no-man's-land or demilitarized zone is a space between armies.

What's the word for a space between the ears?

[David]

More on diastema. Wikipedia says:

In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of the "gap-toothed wife of Bath." As early as this time period, the gap between the front teeth, especially in women, had been associated with lustful characteristics. Thus, the implication in describing "the gap-toothed wife of Bath" is that she is a middle-aged woman with insatiable lust. This has no scientific basis, but it has been a popular assumption in folklore since the Middle Ages.

It's not a scientific sample, but in my salad days, I found it to be true.

Why "salad days"? Why not "cold-cut days" or "popcorn daus"?

[Ken, Moderator]

What's the word for a space between the ears?

An intercranium? In George Bush's case, an intervacuum?

Re: "Salad Days" -- see the Shakespeare thread (in need of rejuvenation, says this juvenile who never read Juvenal).

[David]

An'ny & Cleo, they sez.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

See "To Debbie who Spells with U's" by David! Apparently we all would, if I had my diastemic way!! Moe (Autumnal Liz) managed to pen an ode too, that contained a line about my 'diastemic whistle'.....what are you Yanks trying to say??!!

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Etymology is my word.....we need Donna/Bun here to give us one for salad days....

[Ken, Moderator]

See Will shake his spear (there's an impaled grape tomato on it) over in the Shakespeare thread

[David]

I could wile away the hours
Conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain
And my head I'd be scratchin'
While my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain

I'd unravel any riddle
For any individ'le
In trouble or in pain

(Dorothy)
With the thoughts you'd be thinkin'
You could be another Lincoln
If you only had a brain

(Scarecrow)
Oh, I would tell you why
The ocean's near the shore
I could think of things I never thunk before
And then I'd sit and think some more

I would not be just a nuffin'
My head all full of stuffin'
My heart all full of pain
I would dance and be merry
Life would be a ding-a-derry
If I only had a brain

I like that orthographic pun--"wile away the hours." Something Coyote would do.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Wile E.

poignant

[David]

boffin British slang for a scientist or engineer, equivalent to US "geek" or "egghead.". Distinguish from "boffo" (a hit play) and "tiffin" (a meal).

[Ken, Moderator]

puling poultry. alliteration to go...

[Ken, Moderator]

Stubborn as a pule

[Ken, Moderator]

Right below your post to the right side you'll see the words "reply," "edit," "delete," and "flag." My best friend is the "edit" button. Click. Make correction. Click again. Ipso fasto you're in business.

[Ken, Moderator]

The Word for the Day, then, is serendipity.

I think it's a desert in Africa (the Serendipity, that is).

[David]

Serendip is a poetic word for Ceylon or Sri Lanka as they call her these days.

Or else it's a party dip made out of ground mermaid.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

We had that one before!

Dejas-vu

[Ken, Moderator]

Omniscient is the Word of the Day (because I said so).

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Closely related to omnipresent?!!

[Ken, Moderator]

Second cousin twice removed

[Savvy]

but the omnivorous omnipresent omnipotent is the true
Omniscience!

new word....OMPHALOSKEPSIS

(n): literally, the contemplation of one's navel, which is an idiom usually meaning complacent self-absorption

[Ken, Moderator]

Better that than inside out (at least you can see it coming... or going maybe)!

[David]

Hesychasm--the monastic search for God in silence. St Gregory Palamas vs Barlaam.

[David]

You have a brain (nudge nudge)? What's it like?

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Hee!

[Ken, Moderator]

Why do I hear the Scarecrow's song at a bum-biting time like this?

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

"If I only had a brain....lalalala...."

[Ken, Moderator]

CEREBRAL

[David]

It's boring, not to say awkward, to bite one's own bum, thank you very much.

[Ken, Moderator]

My dog should know.