tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22782304852400949362024-03-13T06:57:31.559-07:00Word GooberUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-3019785692825934732008-06-26T02:25:00.000-07:002008-06-26T02:25:29.043-07:00Skullduggery<p><br /><span class="dropcap">W</span>hile listening to <a href="http://www.knx1070.com/">KNX1070</a> last week, during their business segment, Frank Mottek and an expert were talking about one of the many terrible financial situations going on right now. I forget if it was about the housing crisis, Wall Street or oil speculators, but the expert used the word skullduggery.<br /></p>What a genius, image-conjuring word! I immediately pictured shady backroom deals and back alley exchanges. Skullduggery only has one meaning. From <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/skullduggery">Dictionary.com</a>:<br /><blockquote><br />skull·dug·ger·y or skul·dug·ger·y n. pl. skull·dug·ger·ies or skul·dug·ger·ries<br /><br />Crafty deception or trickery or an instance of it.<br /><br /><br />[Probably alteration of Scots sculduddery, obscenity, fornication.] </blockquote><br /><br />Really, its perfect when describing what may have happened to bring down our economy. Sigh.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-32317119104015299802008-05-12T03:05:00.000-07:002008-05-12T03:09:56.826-07:00Awkward!<p><br /><span class="dropcap">A</span>wkward is apparently the new buzzword with young people (wow, am I no longer young?) the way "random" was beloved just a few years ago.<br /></p><br /><br />Here's what the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050900135.html?wpisrc=newsletter&sid=ST2008050901743">Washington Post</a> says:<br /><blockquote><br />Awk-ward: Sing the second syllable a minor third lower than the first.<br /><br />It is the era of awkward.<br /><br />It is as if the world has suddenly become blessedly simplified. Every complex negative experience can now be encapsulated in two syllables. </blockquote><br /><br />It's a funny article. Yeah, but what does "awkward" mean? Dictionary.com tells us:<br /><br /><blockquote>awk·ward [awk-werd] –adjective<br />1. lacking skill or dexterity; clumsy.<br />2. lacking grace or ease in movement: an awkward gesture; an awkward dancer.<br />3. lacking social graces or manners: a simple, awkward frontiersman.<br />4. not well planned or designed for easy or effective use: an awkward instrument; an awkward method.<br />5. requiring caution; somewhat hazardous; dangerous: an awkward turn in the road.<br />6. hard to deal with; difficult; requiring skill, tact, or the like: an awkward situation; an awkward customer.<br />7. embarrassing or inconvenient; caused by lack of social grace: an awkward moment<br />8. Obsolete. untoward; perverse.</blockquote><br /><br />Wow. Awkward really is that perfect word that can describe just about anything nowadays.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-85274599856500202112008-03-06T21:53:00.000-08:002008-03-06T21:56:20.103-08:00Flummox<p><br /><span class="dropcap">F</span>lummox - to <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/flummox">bewilder; confound; confuse</a>.<br /></p><br /><br />[fluhm-uhks][<span style="font-style: italic;">Probably of English dialectal origin.</span>]<br /><br />I've been saying this word since yesterday. I think its my word of the week. I love saying it! It's so much more fun than saying, "he's totally confused."<br /><br />Instead of being confused, "I'm flummoxed!" I love it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-26382713431419528742008-03-04T21:38:00.000-08:002008-03-04T21:45:47.710-08:00Gams<p><br /><span class="dropcap">G</span>ams - "legs," 1781, ult. from M.E. gamb "leg," from O.N.Fr. (see gammon). Now, in Amer.Eng. slang, especially of pretty women, but this was not the original sense. (<a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=gams&searchmode=none">Link</a>)<br /></p><br />I've heard this word only a few times; a coworker once used it in a joking comment. Today, the old guy from my gym used it and it was kind of funny.<br /><br />I had been leaving the gym. The old guy, harmless guy who's often there and I've talked to many times before, was talking to someone at the entrance when he looked at me in surprise and said, "damn! you look good in clothes!" I laughed and said thank you and continued on my way. I was wearing a skirt, and he exclaimed, "wow, you've got gams!" Again, I laughed and waved goodbye.<br /><br />Use of the word gams makes me think of the swinging 20s or 30s, when men wore suits all the time and women wore dresses all the time. I'm not entirely sure if its a designation to be offended by, but its an interesting word.<br /><br />And, as <a href="http://mightyredpen.wordpress.com/2007/04/05/nice-gams/">mightyredpen pointed out</a>, its hard to pull it off if you're not Dick Tracy.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-17530874127567939542007-12-14T22:38:00.000-08:002007-12-14T22:42:37.935-08:00W00t!<p><br /><span class="dropcap">W</span>00t is Merriam Webster's 2007 word of the year, not to be confused with <a href="http://wordgoober.blogspot.com/2007/12/dictionarycoms-words-of-year.html">Dictionary.com's words of the year</a>. That's W00t! spelled with two zeros rather than o's and the 't' is interchangeable with a 7.</p>From the Washington Post:<br /><blockquote>It's leet speak, which itself is a kind of geek speak, and can alternately be rendered "woot" or "w007." It translates as "hurray!"<br /><br />Leet speak (a.k.a. 1337sp33k) is short for "elite speak" -- a playful online lingo that frequently swaps numbers for letters and that originated in the hacking community.</blockquote>Does this mean its officially out of style? It's strange, since I know that "w00t!" has been in use for a long time, yet its only become mainstream now. Hm.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-80523839215847084752007-12-06T21:37:00.000-08:002007-12-06T21:45:50.694-08:00Dictionary.com's words of the year<p><span class="dropcap">D</span>ictionary.com has come out with their list of the <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/features/words_of_2007.html">top words of the year</a> and its an.....interesting list. The article says that each word was chosen because of its prominence on Dictionary.com's search logs and research searches going on online.</p><blockquote><ul><li>January: water intoxication</li></ul>"Jennifer Strange had taken part in the 'Hold Your Wee for a Wii' game, which promised the winner a Nintendo Wii. Afterwards she reportedly said her head was hurting and went home, where she was later found dead. Initial tests have shown her death is consistent with water intoxication." — BBC News<br /><ul><li>February: coffee art</li></ul>"Coffee art: Creative images are made in coffee." — CNN Video<br /><ul><li>March: bracketology</li></ul>"Bracketology — the practice of parsing people, places, and things into discrete one-on-one matchups to determine which of the two is superior or preferable works because it is simple. It is a system that helps us make clearer and cleaner decisions about what is good, better, best in our world. What could be simpler than breaking down a choice into either/or, black or white, this one or that one?" — The Enlightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of Everything by Mark Reiter and Richard Sandomir, excerpt courtesy of Slate<br /><ul><li>April: nappy</li></ul>"The controversy over using the book 'Nappy Hair' at a Brooklyn elementary school has had predictably distressing effects. Now a principal at an intermediate school in the same district has decided against using two excellent books in the sixth grade, apparently for fear of parental protests." — The New York Times<br /><ul><li>May: diatribe</li></ul>"When Meyer launched into a diatribe, was dragged away by campus cops and subdued with a Taser gun, Jessup, 22, quickly sent the footage to CNN -- because, she says, she wanted national attention and does not like Fox News." — The Washington Post<br /><ul><li>June: virtual dissection</li></ul>"Point-and-click versions of scalpels, scissors and even saws allow students to find, remove and examine organs without ever smelling formaldehyde. Hundreds of schools, which are already using software as an alternative to animal dissection will receive the fetal pig module later this month.<br /><br />"Nearly a dozen states have laws or regulations requiring public schools to offer students such an option. Animal protection groups have lobbied against dissection and many students have decided that dissecting real animals is not for them." — The New York Times<br /><ul><li>July: dogfighting</li></ul>"Michael Vick's lead lawyer left open the possibility of a plea agreement after the suspended NFL star was scheduled for an April 2 jury trial on state dogfighting charges. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback pleaded guilty to a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge in August and voluntarily reported to jail last week, even though he will not be formally sentenced until Dec. 10." — The Canadian Press<br /><ul><li>August: itch mite</li></ul>"Health officials believe the Oakleaf Itch Mite may be responsible for a mysterious outbreak of itchy, red rashes in the Chicago area." — ABC News September: teratoma<br />"M.R.I. scans revealed a teratoma in Megan's skull — a noncancerous mass of rapidly dividing cells, the result of natural developmental processes gone awry." — The New York Times<br /><ul><li>October: fire</li></ul>"Fire crews watched for flare-ups Wednesday afternoon as high winds and low humidity levels increased the danger of a new blaze in fire-scarred Southern California." — The Mercury News<br /><ul><li>November: steroids</li></ul>"A quarter of Blackwater security guards in Iraq use steroids and other 'judgment-altering substances,' according to a lawsuit filed by the families of several Iraqis killed or wounded in a Baghdad shooting in September." — CNN News<br /><ul><li>December: subprime mortgage</li></ul>"Andy Weissman, publisher of the weekly Energy Business Watch, said the current focus in Congress on housing market woes and the subprime mortgage meltdown are understandable, but both parties need to refocus on energy policy." — Fox News</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-43251085457713398592007-11-22T20:50:00.000-08:002007-11-22T20:56:53.909-08:00Thanksgiving<p><br /><span class="dropcap">W</span>e're all celebrating Thanksgiving Day today, and it seemed an appropriate word to explore.<br /></p>Dictionary.com gives us this <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=thanksgiving">definition</a>:<br /><blockquote>thanks·giv·ing [thangks-giv-ing]–noun<br /><br /><table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dn" valign="top">1.</td><td valign="top">the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, esp. to God. </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dn" valign="top">2.</td><td valign="top">an expression of thanks, esp. to God. </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dn" valign="top">3.</td><td valign="top">a public celebration in acknowledgment of divine favor or kindness. </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dn" valign="top">4.</td><td valign="top">a day set apart for giving thanks to God.</td></tr></tbody></table></blockquote>Interesting how none of that definition refers to anything regarding family get-togethers, food or feasts.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-39354010998654434882007-10-08T22:21:00.000-07:002007-11-22T20:55:59.033-08:00Persistency<p><br /><span class="dropcap">I</span> heard a prominent journalist say "persistency" while speaking at an event a couple of days ago.<br /></p>Persistence is a word. Consistency is a word. But you can't really combine them to become a new word. Now, what does <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/persistence?r=75">persistence</a> mean?<br /><span class="me"></span><blockquote><span class="me">per·sist·ence </span><span class="pronset"><span class="show_ipapr" style="display: none;"><span class="prondelim">/</span><span class="pron">pərˈsɪs<img class="luna-Img" src="http://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.png" alt="" border="0" />təns, </span><span class="pron">-ˈzɪs-</span><span class="prondelim">/</span> <a class="pronlink" onclick="pk = window.open('/help/luna/IPA_pron_key.html', 'PronunciationKey','height=700,width=560,left=0,top=0,resizable,scrollbars');if(pk){pk.focus();}" onmouseout="status='';return true;" onmouseover="status='Click for pronunciation key';return true;" title="Click for pronunciation key">Pronunciation Key</a><span class="pron_toggle" style="display: inline;"><span class="prondelim"> - </span><a class="pronlink" onclick="javascript:show_sp()" onmouseout="status='';return true;" onmouseover="status='Click to toggle pronunciation';return true;" title="Click to show spelled pronunciation">Show Spelled Pronunciation</a></span></span><span class="show_spellpr" style="display: inline;"><span class="prondelim">[</span><span class="pron">per-<b>sis</b>-t<i>uh</i><img class="luna-Img" src="http://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.png" alt="" border="0" />ns, </span><span class="pron">-<b>zis</b>-</span><span class="prondelim">] -noun<br /><br /></span></span></span><table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dn" valign="top">1.</td><td valign="top">the act or fact of persisting. </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dn" valign="top">2.</td><td valign="top">the quality of being persistent: <span class="ital-inline">You have persistence, I'll say that for you. </span> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dn" valign="top">3.</td><td valign="top">continued existence or occurrence: <span class="ital-inline">the persistence of smallpox. </span> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="luna-Ent"><tbody><tr><td class="dn" valign="top">4.</td><td valign="top">the continuance of an effect after its cause is removed.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Also, <span class="secondary-bf">per·sist·en·cy.</span></blockquote><span class="secondary-bf"></span>Who knew you could also pronounce it with a y at the end? I had thought he pronounced it incorrectly.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-51637371974391044762007-09-27T20:15:00.000-07:002007-09-27T20:24:35.977-07:00Redolent<p><a href="http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef"><span class="dropcap">T</span>op Chef</a> has become a part of my life, and I'm grieving a little that its going to end next week. </p><p>I blame Trinity for my <a href="http://darleeneisms.la/?p=538">obsession with the show</a> now, which of course has led to my scouring the blogs by and about the show. Which brought me to my new word of the day -- redolent. According to <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=redolent">dictionary.com</a>: </p><blockquote><p>red·o·lent [red-l-uhnt] adjective</p><p>1. having a pleasant odor; fragrant.<br />2. odorous or smelling (usually fol. by of): redolent of garlic.<br />3. suggestive; reminiscent (usually fol. by of): verse redolent of Shakespeare.</p><p></p></blockquote><p>The word came up in <a href="http://www.bravotv.com/blog/anthonybourdain/2007/09/hot_for_teacher.php?page=6">Anthony Bourdain's blog</a>, as he talked about the visually unappetizing, yet apparently delicious Sausage Shepherd's Pie that Cheftestant Brian Malarky whipped up last week. The context for such an elegant word is a bit of a gut check:</p><blockquote>I don't care how fine Brian's “Sausage Shepherd's Pie (with Chicken)” tasted.<br />Let's assume it was indeed, delicious. Spectacularly so. I would argue that it<br />was an effort more redolent of chickenshit than actual chicken.</blockquote><p>But I suppose using <em>redolent</em> is <em>apropos</em>, since saying something was more like chickensh*t evokes a sense of smell.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-62074792933052704552007-09-22T12:14:00.000-07:002007-09-27T20:25:23.184-07:00Superfluous<p><span class="dropcap">A</span> friend on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a> recently used this superlatives app to nominate me most likely to use the word "superfluous" correctly.<br /></p><br /><br />I hate to tell everyone, but I am not the dictionary that many seem to think I am. I had to look it up myself; my knowledge of words is often dependent on its context. I'm very good at knowing what a word means by the context its used in.<br /><br />su·per·flu·ous [soo-pur-floo-uhs] –adjective <blockquote><br />1. being more than is sufficient or required; excessive.<br />2. unnecessary or needless.<br />3. Obsolete. possessing or spending more than enough or necessary; extravagant.</blockquote><br />[Middle English, from Old French superflueux, from Latin superfluus, from superfluere, to overflow : super-, super- + fluere, to flow; see bhleu- in Indo-European roots.]Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-92212089060152689312007-09-21T21:50:00.000-07:002007-09-21T22:45:06.589-07:00Highfalutin<p><span class="dropcap">H</span>ighfalutin is one of my favorite words. Its fun to say and it practically sounds exactly like its meaning.<br /></p><p> </p><p>high·fa·lu·tin [hahy-fuh-loot-n] or [hahy-fuh-loo-ting, -loot-n] </p><p></p><p>–adjective Informal.<br />pompous; bombastic; haughty; pretentious. </p><p>Its origin is unknown, but I love this note from <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=highfalutin">dictionary.com</a>:</p><blockquote>H.L. Mencken, in his famous book The American Language, mentions<br />highfalutin as an example of the many native U.S. words coined during the<br />19th-century period of vigorous growth. Although highfalutin is characteristic<br />of American folk speech, it is not a true regionalism because it has always<br />occurred in all regions of the country, with its use and popularity spurred by<br />its appearance in print. The origin of highfalutin, like that of many folk<br />expressions, is obscure. It has been suggested that the second element,<br />-falutin, comes from the verb flute—hence high-fluting, a comical indictment of<br />people who think too highly of themselves.<br /></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-62528472878774675652007-09-17T14:49:00.000-07:002007-09-17T15:01:43.225-07:00Tripping balls<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>ripping balls</p>It's a term I heard last night while we had a friend over for dinner. She was describing a neighbor who has recently degenerated into a full-time, round-the-clock addict.<br /><br />According to the urban dictionary:<br /><br /><blockquote>1. being under the influence of a substance that is extremely altering your mental and/or spiritual state<br />2. being srongly under the affects of LSD or psychedelic mushrooms. this is a superlative of tripping, and a contraction of the phrase "tripping one's balls off". unless someone is new to the drug, or very sensitive to it, at least 5 or 6 hits are necessary to trip balls.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />The most beautiful and perfect experiences of my life all happened when I was trippin' balls.<br /></span></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2278230485240094936.post-59017094541156341422007-09-10T14:08:00.000-07:002007-09-10T14:43:14.936-07:00Tesseract<span class="dropcap">I</span>n honor of <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/09/AR2007090901947.html?hpid=sec-artsliving">Madeleine L'Engle's passing</a>, I decided to jumpstart the Word Goober, a blog I reserved at least a year ago.<br /><br />It's a term well known to fans of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wrinkle-Time-Madeleine-LEngle/dp/0440498058">A Wrinkle In Time</a>.<br /><br /><span class="me"><span style="font-weight: bold;">tes·ser·act</span> </span><!--EOF_HEAD--><!--BOF_DEF--> n. The four-dimensional equivalent of a cube.<br /><!--EOF_DEF--><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract">Wikipedia</a> says:<br /><blockquote><p>In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometry" title="Geometry">geometry</a>, the <b>tesseract</b>, also called <b>8-cell</b> or <b>octachoron</b>, is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_dimension" title="Fourth dimension">four-dimensional</a> analog of the (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-dimensional_space" title="Three-dimensional space">three-dimensional</a>) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cube" title="Cube">cube</a>, where motion along the fourth dimension is often a representation for bounded transformations of the cube through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time" title="Time">time</a>. The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_%28geometry%29" title="Square (geometry)">square</a>; or, more formally, the tesseract can be described as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_convex_4-polytope" title="Regular convex 4-polytope">regular convex 4-polytope</a> whose boundary consists of eight <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cube_%28geometry%29" title="Cube (geometry)">cubical</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28geometry%29" title="Cell (geometry)">cells</a>.</p> <p>A generalization of the cube to dimensions greater than three is called a “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercube" title="Hypercube">hypercube</a>”, “n-cube” or “measure polytope”. The tesseract is the four-dimensional hypercube or 4-cube.</p> <p>According to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OED" title="OED">Oxford English Dictionary</a>, the word <i>tesseract</i> was coined and first used in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1888" title="1888">1888</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Howard_Hinton" title="Charles Howard Hinton">Charles Howard Hinton</a> in his book <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_New_Era_of_Thought&action=edit" class="new" title="A New Era of Thought">A New Era of Thought</a></i>, from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionic_Greek" title="Ionic Greek">Ionic Greek</a> “<span lang="grc">τεσσερες ακτινες</span>” (“four rays”), referring to the four lines from each vertex to other vertices. Some people have called the same figure a “tetracube”, and also simply a "hypercube" (although a hypercube can be a cube of any dimension).</p></blockquote><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0