Language & Grammar discussion
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Grammar Central
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What's Your Word for the Day?
As my father, also a lawyer would say, "Sue and be damned!" ;-)
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vertiginous (adj.) -- characterized by or suffering from vertigo; giddy, inconstant; causing or tending to cause dizziness.
Makes sense, I guess. I just didn't put two (vertigo) and two (vertiginous) together.
Newengland wrote:.......vertiginous (adj.) -- characterized by or suffering from vertigo; giddy, inconstant; causing or tending to c..."
One of my favorite words!
I know people to whom this adjective aptly applies!
Cozen: to deceive or obtain by deceit.
ASTERTEOGNOSIS (medical term)noun, The inability to estimate the size, shape and weight of objects by touch.
From Greek words meaning "lacking solid knowledge."
Examples
“He developed astereognosis, failing to recognize objects such as a watch-chain or a safety-pin with the right hand, and succeeding with the left. ”
“Astereognosis, the inability, in spite of normal touch sensation, to identify an object by touch alone.”
“He could not recognize any object placed in or manipulated by his left hand, the astereognosis being absolute.”
“ If the power of perception of form of objects by touch be lost, the condition is spoken of as astereognosis.”
Mod
What? You were cut off in mid sentence. The definition I found didn't make sense.Gnosis (from one of the Greek words for knowledge, γνῶσις) is the spiritual knowledge of a saint[1:] or mystically enlightened human being.
this may help to understand it..it is also known as tactile agnosia.AGNOSIA
Noun 1. agnosia - inability to recognize objects by use of the senses
astereognosis, tactile agnosia - a loss of the ability to recognize objects by handling them
brain disease, brain disorder, encephalopathy - any disorder or disease of the brain
auditory agnosia - inability to recognize or understand the meaning of spoken words
visual agnosia - inability to recognize or interpret objects in the visual field
Thanks Teach ,it is much clearer now. I was forgetting the A.
SLANTENDICULAR(adjective) Oblique, not perpendicular; indirect.
Notes
From slant + -endicular (as in perpendicular).
Examples
“Once I made a half-hearted suggestion about bidding farewell to Blowitz, who expected me to get out at Vienna and might wonder where I'd got to; Willem gave me a slantendicular smile and said Kralta would send him a note.”
“I put these thoughts to Lincoln, you know, after the war, and he sat back, cracking his knuckles and eyeing me slantendicular.”
“They were giggling to each other under the broad brims of their bonnets, and when I sat down they looked slantendicular and giggled more than ever, whispering in each other's ears until the old biddy told them to leave off.”
Mod
SLANTENDICULAR Apparently it is.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a SLANTENDICULAR building.
RIGGITE (good April Fool's Day word!)(noun) One who plays rigs; a joker; a jester.
From the word "rig", meaning 'a frolic, a prank' + -ite.
Examples
“This, and my being esteem'd a pretty good riggite, that is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my consequence in the society.”
from my source-- the word "riggite" is found in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and almost nowhere else. (No foolin'.)
VEISALGIA(noun) A hangover.
Veisalgia comes from the Norwegian kveis, or 'uneasiness following debauchery,' and the Greek algia, or 'pain'.
Examples
“A hangover (veisalgia) describes the sum of unpleasant physiological effects following heavy consumption of drugs, particularly alcoholic beverages.”
“In more buttoned-up -- some might say sober -- circles, the hangover has a proper name: veisalgia.”
“Perhaps the most alarming feature of veisalgia is its high prevalence.”
“As a condition warranting physician recognition and treatment, veisalgia, with its cardiac, neurologic, and psychiatric effects, is far more than a mere nuisance.”
Great examples you've found. Pronunciation, please, so that I can use it in a spoken sentence.
"Amuse-bouche" (Fr. for "mouth-amuser"), meaning either an interesting tidbit of food, or metaphorically, and amusing tidbit of information or thought. Came up twice in the last 48 hours. Had never heard it before.
Mod
ahhh...to amuse and excite the taste buds of my book club group tonight...my amuse-bouches should pair nicely with an oaky chardonnay. :-)
Ruth, now I feel like the geologist who didn't know schist[image error]
from Shinola.
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Shale I layer in on this? I crumble sometimes....
You can take my being stoned for granite, but don't charge me with felonious basalt.
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pteromerhanophobia
Care to guess what it means?
Afraid of what the left hand is doing behind the right hands back????????????LOL
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You were close Debbie. Fear of flying.
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Here's an interesting Word For The Day: QuiddityIt means the quality that makes a thing whatever it is. I've occasionally come across it in philosophy, but I just recently read it in a Saul Bellow novel, so its use is a bit wider than I would have thought.
Mod
Do you have the sentence it was used in?
Yes, it does seem as if it should be at least five syllables.In philosophy, the use would be something like, "...of course the phenomenal appearance of the object can never disclose the quiddity of the noumenon."
With Bellow, the direct quote refers to the youthfulness of the protagonist's nephew:
His brassy hair subsided on his jaws, towards his chin, in light streaks of down. You could almost see the pollen of adolescence over the bridge of this nose. Why did he have to be so very tall? His quiddity was overstreched.
Saul Bellow, The Dean's December
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Hi Debbie --Yes, it's the "whatever-it-is" that makes something unique. I love the vagueness of it!
Sorry I've been away. I'm much better now. Once I get back to stride, I expect to post more often.
Mod
Sorry to hear you weren't feeling well, Tyler.
Oh, come on, NE. Don't we love the English language because it's so rich in words that give us shades of meaning and nuance? Sending you good wishes, Tyler.
Glad you are feeling some better Tyler.
Mod
NE, no apologies, please. Just needling you in a friendly way, and will probably continue to do so. Feel free to do the same. Didn't know you were both a journalist and a poet. I guess you can be a poetic journalist, but can you be a journalistic poet?
Mod
Thanks for the good wishes, from the pith of my heart.Uhhh ... that didn't sound right. How about, "... from the plinth of my quiddity"? Oh, nevermind. Just thanks.
Mod
Keep 'em coming.
suzerainty [ˈsuːzərəntɪ:]n pl -ties
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the position, power, or dignity of a suzerain
2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the relationship between suzerain and subject
su·ze·rain
/ˈsuzərɪn, -ˌreɪn/ Show Spelled[soo-zuh-rin, -reyn:] Show IPA
–noun
1.
a sovereign or a state exercising political control over a dependent state.
2.
History/Historical . a feudal overlord.
I have never heard of these words. I came across it describing The Papal authority in Bologna in the 1500's.
Mod
Probably, it is suppose to be French in origin, but is used in books about Turkey and the Ottoman Empire. I had not seen it before. I read it in a book about Michelangelo. Good book by the way.
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Language & Grammar
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Let me know if you need help with the 'Iggy' infringement!