Seldom-Used Words

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gormless • adj., (chiefly British) lacking intelligence and vitality; dull.

etymology: From dialectal gawm, sense, from Middle English gome, notice, from Old Norse gaumr.






The word popped out in a sentence written by that extraordinary polymath, Willis Eschenbach, in a piece on the EPA at the blog Watts Up With That:

...What does that even mean, urban sustainability? The cities of the planet have sustained themselves for centuries without clueless, gormless bureaucrats meeting in Paris to discuss how to sustain them...

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/30/lisa-shops-sustainably-by-the-seine/




 
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My mum would say 'You gormless a'porth.' Meaning halfpenny-worth. Bit of an oxymoron, meaning gormless gormless one :)
 
I haven't made it to the Gs, but I am curious as to whether gormless is in there. No, it's not. That is a good one, though. Unfortunately, it reminds me of the slang word, gorp, which means nuts and dried fruits mixed together, aka: trail mix. Gorpless on the trail would mean trouble.

precocial - adj capable of a high degree of independent activity from birth
 


tenesmus • n. (Pathology), a straining to urinate or defecate, without the ability to do so.

Etymology:
1520–30; Medieval Latin, variant of Latin tēnesmos, Greek teinesmós, equivalent to teín ( ein ) to stretch + -esmos noun suffix.




Caroline Alexander used the word in The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, her riveting 2003 account of Fletcher Christian & Co. and William Bligh's masterful 3,600 mile voyage to safety in the ship's 23-foot long launch.


 
Fellmonger

While reseaching my family history, in a parallel line I came across this profession: Fellmonger.

I could work out from 'monger' that he was a dealer in 'fell' whatever that was - like fishmonger, a monger/dealer in fish, but I wasn't sure what 'fell' was.

Thanks to Wikipedia and my full Oxford English Dictionary I now know that fellmonger is a dealer in animal skins, usually untreated before the fellmonger acquires them. A smelly but useful profession!

When was this relation a fellmonger? 1791
 
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/fell-/ I presume is akin to pelt (the fur or wool from an animal's hide) and felt (unwoven cloth made from fur or wool), and shares the same roots in Old High German filz and Latin pellere - to beat.

Do any folks in the UK still mong the fells?
 
Please forgive my absence, but poor internet connection was to blame, not my lack of interest. It is good to be back;

preclude - verb 1. archaic: CLOSE 2. to make impossible by necessary consequence

For some reason, I cannot bold or italic anything. Please excuse this.
 
Happy Easter to All.

precisian
- noun a person who stresses or practices scrupulous adherence to a strict standard esp. of religious observance or morality; specif: PURITAN
 
I looked up sworthy, pellso, but couldn't find it in my dictionary. Are you thinking of swarthy, maybe?

I found this word in an article in Rolling Stone about Paul McCartney:

disquistion - noun a formal inquiry into or discussion of a subject: DISCOURSE

Still no bold or italics, so please excuse me.
 
I looked up sworthy, pellso, but couldn't find it in my dictionary. Are you thinking of swarthy, maybe?

I found this word in an article in Rolling Stone about Paul McCartney:

disquisition - noun a formal inquiry into or discussion of a subject: DISCOURSE

Still no bold or italics, so please excuse me.

disquisition
1 A subject or topic for investigation. L15-M17.
2 Diligent or systematic search; investigation, examination. L16.
3 A treatise or discourse in which a subject is investigated and discussed; a long or elaborate treatise or discourse.

---------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary
Copyright © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 
I looked up sworthy, pellso, but couldn't find it in my dictionary. Are you thinking of swarthy, maybe?

I found this word in an article in Rolling Stone about Paul McCartney:

disquistion - noun a formal inquiry into or discussion of a subject: DISCOURSE

Still no bold or italics, so please excuse me.

sworthy noun A person who is considered extremely attractive, beautiful, gorgeous, hot, etc. Sworthy is a portmanteau that derives from the words swoon + worthy = someone who is worthy of swooning over; a hottie worthy of praise. (from The Urban Dictionary).
 
Thanks, Handley and Tio, for the additional information;

I suppose I knew this one, but somehow forgot it completely;

welter - vi 1.a. WRITHE, TOSS; also WALLOW b. to rise and fall or toss about in or with waves 2. to become deeply sunk, soaked, or involved 3. to be in turmoil
 
preceptor noun 1. A teacher or tutor; the headmaster or principal of a school; 2. the head of a preceptory of Knights Templar.

Hello Allard!
 
Hello Tio dear. I heard the word welter during Ken Burns' Civil War, as in weltering in their own blood, but next to this entry I found;

weltschmerz - noun (often cap) 1. mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state 2. a mood of sentimental sadness
 
Yes, German in origin, coined by the author Jean Paul, it literally means "world pain," and refers to the sadness that comes from realizing the real world can never satisfy the desires of the mind. (Might be quite common here on Lit). Now it can also refer to simply sadness at the evils in the world. It has been a common theme in literature at least since the Romantics, who would have been filled with weltschmerz had they spoken more German. (I know, many of them were fluent im Deutsch, aber ich denke that you'll all give me the liberty of stretching the truth for a little literary humour).
 
Tio, it is a great word, along with this entry, also nearby in the W section;

weltanschauung - noun (often cap) a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world esp. from a specific standpoint

(My son's computer lets me bold and stuff, but not mine, lately.)
 
and we have adopted that concept straight into English with the phrase "world view." When we use the German now, it primarily refers to that concept as a specific philosophical construct.
 
I hate to say my own personal weltanschauung is weltschmerz, but it is true enough.

Another one from the Ws;

Wellerism - an expression of comparison comprising a usually well-known quotation followed by a facetious sequel (as "'every one to his own taste' said the old woman as she kissed the cow'")
 
welkin noun 1. The vault of the sky; the abode of the gods. 2. the upper atmosphere.

Sure is a lot going on down at the wels, isn't there, Allard?
 


deontic adj.,(Philosophy/Logic)
1. of or relating to such ethical concepts as obligation and permissibility,
2. designating the branch of modal logic that deals with the formalization of these concepts

Etymology: from Greek deon [duty], from impersonal dei [it behoves, it is binding]






I'd never seen the word before. It popped up in a comment made on Dr. Judith Curry's climate blog:
http://judithcurry.com/2012/04/10/conservation-in-the-anthropocene/#comment-191507

...But there is a very strong resentment of this model amongst traditional environmentalists, who tend to take a deontic view of the thing (“thou shalt not hunt endangered species”), and they are beginning to have some legal and legislative successes aimed at limiting this business model...



 
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