Seldom-Used Words

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I found this word and have used it all my life, but never knew it was hyphenated

in-kind - consisting of something (as goods) other than money

I'd like to know who put the hyphen in.

Benefit in kind, an extra, but non-cash, benefit to a wage. An example is use of the "firm's car" whilst not on the firm's business.
 
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cre·pus·cu·lar   [kri-puhs-kyuh-ler] Show IPA
–adjective
1.
of, pertaining to, or resembling twilight; dim; indistinct.
2.
Zoology . appearing or active in the twilight, as certain bats and insects.
 
I'd like to kn0ow who put the hyphen in.

Benefit in kind, an extra, but non-cash, benefit to a wage. An example is use of the "firm's car" whilst not on the firm's business.

Depends. You'd use hyphens in the adjectival positon ("benefit-in-kind program") but not in the noun position ("We call that program benefit in kind.")
 
might already be in here, I didn't read the whole thread, but

callipygian: having a beautiful bum

as in, "The callipygian girl made me fall off my barstool when she leaned across the pool table to make a shot"
 
Thank you, Trysail, for explaining my last word's origin. Gypsy Rose Lee was ahead of her time.

I am on vacation staying with a friend who has an inferior dictionary to mine at home, so bear with me on this one;

sibyl - prophetess

Anyone know the origin of this one?
 
This is one I rarely hear;

morass - a marsh, bog; or an entanglement, something that confuses or impedes people
 
Would you believe I had a new one hit me just a couple of weeks ago: satyriasis.

Since I have protagonists in more than one book series prone to this, I've been using the term left and right since then.
 
Epithalamium (from Greek; epi- upon, and thalamios nuptial chamber, sometimes also spelled "epithalamion") specifically refers to a form of poem that is written for the bride. Or, specifically, written for the bride on the way to her marital chamber.




The waters of the west, and of the ocean, were then mingled by Doctor Mitchell, who pronounced an epithalamium upon the union of the River and the Lakes...

Peter L. Bernstein
( quoting Cadwallader D. Colden )
Wedding of The Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of A Great Nation.
New York, NY 2005.
 

amphictyony In the Archaic period of ancient Greece, an amphictyony (ἀμφικτυονία), a "league of neighbors", or Amphictyonic League was an ancient association of Greek tribes formed in the dim past, before the rise of the Greek polis.



I suppose you won't be shocked if I tell you that I ran across the word in Thomas Cahill's Sailing The Wine Dark Sea: Why The Greeks Matter.

The desert amphictyony of the Israelites— memorialized in the Torah's scenes of Moses in earnest conversation with his people— is the earliest indication in mankind's historical record of a tribal assembly that welcomed debate.


 

Fujiwhara Effect • n, the tendency of two nearby tropical cyclones to rotate cyclonically about each other.


 

glossolalia n, repetitive nonmeaningful speech (especially that associated with a trance state or religious fervor); the fluid vocalizing (or, less commonly, the writing) of speech-like syllables, often as part of religious practice. Though some consider these utterances to be meaningless, others consider them to be a holy language



 
Trysail, would holy language include 'speaking in tongues'? I have a girlfriend who does that on rare occasions.

hearse - 1. a. triangular candelabrum for 15 candles used esp. at Tenebrae b. an elaborate framework erected over a coffin or tomb to which memorial verses or epitaphs are attached 2. a. coffin b.bier 3. a vehicle for conveying the dead to the grave
 

glossolalia n, repetitive nonmeaningful speech (especially that associated with a trance state or religious fervor); the fluid vocalizing (or, less commonly, the writing) of speech-like syllables, often as part of religious practice. Though some consider these utterances to be meaningless, others consider them to be a holy language




Trysail, would holy language include 'speaking in tongues'? I have a girlfriend who does that on rare occasions.

hearse - 1. a. triangular candelabrum for 15 candles used esp. at Tenebrae b. an elaborate framework erected over a coffin or tomb to which memorial verses or epitaphs are attached 2. a. coffin b.bier 3. a vehicle for conveying the dead to the grave


Yes, Allard, Glossolalia is the linguists term for "speaking in tongues." Studies have shown that those who do speak in tongues never violate the phonetic strictures of their native language, suggesting a less-than-divine origin for the phenomenon.

I've spoken in tongues once, quite unexpectedly. I was walking a girlfriend home after an interesting evening at my apartment when I turned to her and attempted to tell her what a great night it had been. A stream of unintelligble sounds came forth. We both cracked up, laughing, and she did comment on how joyous was the sound of my glossolalia.
 

fraccing [ fracking ] v, [ Slang ] Hydraulic fracturing is a process that results in the creation of fractures in rocks. Hydraulic fractures may be natural or man-made and are extended by internal fluid pressure which opens the fracture and causes it to grow into the rock.

Hydraulic fracturing n., A stimulation treatment routinely performed on oil and gas wells in low-permeability reservoirs. Specially engineered fluids are pumped at high pressure and rate into the reservoir interval to be treated, causing a vertical fracture to open. The wings of the fracture extend away from the wellbore in opposing directions according to the natural stresses within the formation. Proppant, such as grains of sand of a particular size, is mixed with the treatment fluid to keep the fracture open when the treatment is complete. Hydraulic fracturing creates high-conductivity communication with a large area of formation and bypasses any damage that may exist in the near-wellbore area.

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It is frequently observed that English is among the world's most plastic languages. Here's an example. Hydraulic fracturing is a technique that's been around for many, many years. Within the last decade, it has been applied to what were theretofore uneconomic geological stratigraphies known as "shales" to improve the recovery of natural gas. This novel application transformed large reservoirs of natural gas from "useless" to "economic" and made their development possible.

I suspect that the words "fraccing"/"fracking" ( a standard spelling has yet to be agreed upon; I see both appear ) have yet to make an appearance in dictionaries and, thus— for the moment, remain slang. I am partial to spelling the word as "fraccing."



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http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=agWzfIr5Wqe8
N.Y. Senate Approves Drilling Halt on Natural Gas From Shale
By Jim Efstathiou Jr.

Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- New York moved a step closer to a temporary state ban on drilling for natural gas from shale that would delay companies led by Chesapeake Energy Corp.

The state Senate approved a measure late yesterday that would suspend drilling until May 15 in the New York portion of the Marcellus Shale formation pending further environmental studies. The moratorium passed 48-9. The Assembly has yet to take up the measure.

To extract gas from shale, companies use hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which water, sand and chemicals are injected deep underground to break up rock and allow gas to flow. The New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council says greater safeguards are needed to ensure that fracking chemicals don’t contaminate drinking water.

“Not only did they pass it but it passed overwhelmingly,” Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, a Democrat from Suffolk County who sponsored his chamber’s version of the bill, said in an interview. “That opens the way for us to do to the bill in the Assembly where I would expect it to pass with similar overwhelming numbers.”

Drilling for gas using fracking has proven to be environmentally safe, said Brad Gill, executive director of the Hamburg, New York-based Independent Oil and Gas Association, which includes Chesapeake Energy and Talisman Energy Inc. New York will miss out on new jobs, tax revenue and drilling fees if the suspension is approved, Gill said.

“It would be irresponsible to see lawmakers cave to scare tactics of radical opponents,” Gill said in a statement. “It would be a slap in the face to landowners, New York taxpayers, all the people of the Southern Tier.”

Drilling Revenue
The measure would postpone a potential revenue source for the state. Drilling revenue in New York could reach $1.9 billion in 2015, according to a study from Laramie, Wyoming-based Natural Resource Economics Inc.

Chesapeake of Oklahoma City, Talisman of Calgary and closely held Vertical Resources Inc., based in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania, have filed a combined 58 applications for drilling permits in New York. The proposals are on hold while the state Department of Environmental Conservation reviews guidelines for gas drillers.

In April, the state agency said it would offer guidelines for drilling in the watersheds for New York City and Syracuse that are tougher than planned for the rest of the state. Water feeding both cities is so clear it is exempt from federal filtering requirements.

Doubling Reserves
Since 2007, discoveries of unconventional gas including shale gas have more than doubled the estimate of North American reserves to 3,000 trillion cubic feet, enough to meet 100 years of demand, according to energy consultant IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Marcellus Shale formation, which extends from West Virginia through Pennsylvania and into New York, may contain 50 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Revenue from Marcellus Shale lease payments, royalties, taxes and pipeline and plant construction in Pennsylvania and West Virginia totaled $5.8 billion in 2009, according to the July 14 study prepared for the American Petroleum Institute, a Washington-based group that represents oil companies.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said drilling in the portions of the Marcellus Shale beneath the city’s watershed “must be treated differently.”

The most-populous U.S. city receives 1.3 billion gallons (4.9 billion liters) a day of water through a network of gravity-fed aqueducts from 19 reservoirs as far away as 125 miles (200 kilometers). It’s the largest unfiltered water- delivery system in the U.S.

Bloomberg is the majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.
 
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Here's an odd one;

tenesmus - a distressing but ineffectual urge to evacuate the bladder or rectum
 
Trysail, would holy language include 'speaking in tongues'? I have a girlfriend who does that on rare occasions.

hearse - 1. a. triangular candelabrum for 15 candles used esp. at Tenebrae b. an elaborate framework erected over a coffin or tomb to which memorial verses or epitaphs are attached 2. a. coffin b.bier 3. a vehicle for conveying the dead to the grave


Speaking of obscure words,

• Tenebrae (Latin for 'shadows' or 'darkness') is a Christian religious service celebrated by the Western Church on the evening before or early morning of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, which are the last three days of Holy Week. ...


 
Yes, in looking up Tenebrae, I found the other word similar to incontinence.

incontinence - the quality or state of being incontinent: as a: failure to restrain sexual appetite, unchastity b: inability of the body to control the evacuative functions
 
luxe - the quality or state of being sumptuous; luxury

deluxe - notably luxurious or elegant
 

gallimaufry n, odds and ends: a motley assortment of things


 
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