What's Your Word for the Day? Showing 351-400 of 3,049

[Inky]

No dental talk. My WothD: odontophobia.

[Ken, Moderator]

Philia and Phobos. Greek roots of love (friendship) and fear (loathing). What a pair!

And imagine if Philadelphia (City of Brotherly Love) were Phobodelphia (City of Brotherly Fear). OK, don't then, see if I care.

[Tyler]

I read somewhere that people haven't really experienced life deeply until they, at some point their lives, stand before a tree in contemplation. That's a "biophilic" reaction to the natural world.

On the other hand, Luther Burbank thought he could communicate with plants and detect their hidden thoughts. I know he loved natural life. But, now that's just .... gee, I don't know what that's called.

[Ruth]

Nutty.

[[deleted user]]

Relyt-- that would be a seriously different plane of communication ... onto which I will more than likely not venture-- unless I can tranfer my murdeous thoughts to the poison ivy that made me itch, itch, itch!

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Biocide!

[Ken, Moderator]

Nutty? Looking at a tree? Reminds one of the iconic Euell Gibbons, who liked his nuts in granola, thank you. Interesting that tree huggers are sometimes referred to as being a bit "crunchy." I think it all started with Euell, God bless him (RIP).

Meaning? Oh, I don't know, that the WFTD has now shifted to iconic or maybe a more prosaic granola.

[Tyler]

Sarah -- If you could just tell the ivy "Get thee behind me ... " that might be enough to avoid more violent imagery leading to biocide.


Here's an idea:

The person is called a biomaniac

The act itself is called biomancy

The regulations pertaining to it are known as the granola laws

[Ken, Moderator]

Weren't they passed right after the Volstead Act?

[Ken, Moderator]

... with liberal use of the cereal comma.

[[deleted user]]

Nope nope and NOPE!-- I don't want that pesky plant ANYWHERE near me much less behind me! So my husband will have to remove any and all tendrils, vines, runners and bushes on the premises.

OUT DAMN VINE!!!!!

[Ken, Moderator]

Speaking of vineyards (and continuing in the philia vein), the word for the day is


oenophile

[Tyler]

Does that describe your tastes -- oenophilic (or enophilic?)?

[Ken, Moderator]

Saith the raven, "Nevermore." I drank my last bottle of wine some four years ago...

[Catamorandi]

That's fantastic, NE! In October,I will have had my last vodka twenty years ago.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! (Well, a nip every fortnight or so!!!) I am definitely not oenophilic...not very fond of wine at all.

[Ken, Moderator]

Awesome, Andi. 20 years is a lot of discipline (or maybe it's no big deal, as with me).

Yo ho ho, I keep wine on hand for my guests. Beer, no, as my underaged has a taste for it.

[Ruth]

I miss wine. Not so much the alcohol, but the ritual of the glass of wine every night with dinner.

I cut it out because it's suspected in atrial fibrillation, and I've made a few too many trips to the ER, thankyewverymuch.

[Ken, Moderator]

I quit alcohol because of physical problems, too -- in my case, the stomach (and associated nervous system misfirings that also led to the ER). Ah, the stories!

[Ken, Moderator]

temperance

[Ken, Moderator]

intemperance

[Ken, Moderator]

Carrie

[Ken, Moderator]

Nation

[Ken, Moderator]

sister of Indig Nation

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

It's a wonderful word....I'm gonna use it.....if that 'wordhog' NE lets me! (6 posts in a row!!)

[Ken, Moderator]

porcine

(or, related to extreme lustyhede when shown mud and food)

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Haaaaahahahahahahahaha!!!!! (Belly laugh...pork belly!)

[[deleted user]]

Y'all are too much! :)

[Tyler]

Is "lustyhede" a noun?

[Ken, Moderator]

Meretricious is an interesting word, because at first glance it seems to carry a positive connotation (the sound not of music, but "merit"). Alas, it is cheap, showy, and vulgar -- often associated with prostitutes, whose unions have protested outside this word's offices more than once.

[Tyler]

Well, if it's cheap and flashy, then it's a word with a uniquely American flavor. I just finished reading Ragtime. What a perfect book that would have been to use this word in.

So I'm guessing that a "meretocracy" means government by prostitutes?

[Ken, Moderator]

Hmn. Government by prostitutes might get us (as in "U.S.") out of the bazillion-fold debt that Georgie's put us into with his little war. You know, the debt that made China our First (Inter)National Bank. So I'm in favor of it. There'll be a Secretary of Tricks (more honest, anyway) and a Secretary of Internal (Ahem) Affairs. Plus there will be a part for Bill Clinton, who seems lost outside of an active government role. Good idea, tyler! Leading us to June 1st's...

perspicacious

[Tyler]

Yes, that's it, NE. What a perspicacious faculty you have.

[Ken, Moderator]

I have a faculty? There's one at my school, but they deny any ownership...

[[deleted user]]

The faculty of my school is on the verge of a revolt due to a shake-up of the upper admin in the district, who in turn shook up our teaching assignments. **sigh** Change can be difficult, we all get too comfortable ...

Anyway-- I think I understand what Relyt means about your faculty, NE :)

"As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing."
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

[Ken, Moderator]

Faculty joke, is all. There's great unrest between teachers and admin. here, too. I think we need a school where the administration duties are shared by the teachers. This would eliminate this debilitating "us vs. them" problem.

discord (as opposed to "dat cord") is Monday's WFTD.

[Inky]

I think my word of the day will have to be UNION, which is why shared administration between teachers and admins will never happen at the schools in my area. Too many contractual walls.

[Ken, Moderator]

No, I meant shared between teachers PERIOD. No admin to speak of... or, better yet, to listen to.

The word for the day is palaver.

[[deleted user]]

There is way too much palaver during our staff meetings ... get to the point already!

My WFTD irksome

P.S. no teacher unions in Texas :(

[Tyler]

As in --

The irksome palaver over unions is a source of discord.

[Tyler]

My word for the day: Gimcrack

I nominate this noun as a replacement for "gewgaw." "Gimcrack" has a nice, crunchy feel to it as your mouth enunciates it. It's honest-to-goodness English.

"Gewgaw" is too wimpy, and conjures up images of some young lady in Bankok or Saigon giggling at you for saying it, as she raises her fan up over her face while the color flushes your cheeks.

"Gimcrack" used to be the standard English word for trinkets. It's now time to elevate it back to its rightful place.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Re message 449.....very clever Relyt!

[Inky]

Hmm, didn't mean to spark any irksome palaver.

How about Weltanschauung as a WotD? We language and grammarians do have a broad one.

[Ken, Moderator]

Gimcrack is pronounced with the "J" sound like GYM or with the "G" sound like it rhymes with "him"? I thought trinkets were simply known as garbage. My mother calls "stuff" that takes up table and shelf space in the house as... Tchotchkey (I cannot begin to guess how it's spelled, so there it is as phonetic as I can get it).

Inky -- Gesundheit!

[Ruth]

J

Tchotkes

Bless you

[Stamatia]

γεια σου
translates : your health
it's used both as a greeting and as a wish for health after sneezing
back to the point
WOTD mendacious

[Ruth]

WOTD mendacious

IOW, we can't believe a word you say?

[Ken, Moderator]

Hey, I used to live in the suburbs around Menda City...

[Eastofoz]

Hellacious--cool word, not often used :)

[Ken, Moderator]

Hmn. I use it frequently -- usu. as a modifier for New England weather.