Seldom-Used Words

[Svenskaflicka]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Today's entry -

long-winded - amicus

Careful! We have a proverb in Swedish, "If you speak of the trolls, they'll appear in your hallway."

[Handley_Page]

Originally Posted by Zeb_Carter

Well if sub-cutaneous means under the skin then cutaneous must me above the skin.

cutaneous: Of, pertaining to, or affecting the skin.
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Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary
Copyright © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[Handley_Page]

Originally Posted by Darkniciad

*Laugh* I've actually used "vouchsafe" in a story on here before.

Terry Pratchett has used vouchsafed a few times (usually by a Dwarf).

"Edgar Allan Poe used the word 'tintinnabulation' in a poem about bells."

As I understand it, tintinnabulation refers to the sound of small bells; as one might find with wind chimes, for example.

[AllardChardon]

Yes I looked up cutaneous too but what did the definition for warm spot mean exactly?

warm spot - a cutaneous sensory end organ that is stimulated by an increase in temperature

Sounds like a penis to me... am I the only one who thinks so?

[Zeb_Carter]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Yes I looked up cutaneous too but what did the definition for warm spot mean exactly?

warm spot - a cutaneous sensory end organ that is stimulated by an increase in temperature

Sounds like a penis to me... am I the only one who thinks so?

As warm spot is a phrase containing two separate words, I will have to assume what they mean is a nerve ending in the skin that reacts to heat.

Although to me a warm spot is anywhere it is not cold.

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by Handley_Page

Terry Pratchett has used vouchsafed a few times (usually by a Dwarf).

"Edgar Allan Poe used the word 'tintinnabulation' in a poem about bells."

As I understand it, tintinnabulation refers to the sound of small bells; as one might find with wind chimes, for example.

Poe used it (perhaps coined it) to refer only to the tinkling of silver sleigh bells; they are the only bells in his poem of that name whose sound is referred to as tintinnabulation.

[AllardChardon]

I have a nice warm spot, don't you?

If not, how about a nice mantle or cloak?

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

I have a nice warm spot, don't you?

If not, how about a nice mantle or cloak?

And if you're not too cold, you could try a lace mantilla;

that might be appropriate garb for a bluestocking like yourself.

[AllardChardon]

bluestocking is a GREAT word - from The Bluestocking Clubs which were 18th century literary clubs - a woman having intellectual or literary interests.

That's me all over!

Here's mine;

grass widow - a discarded mistress, a woman who has had an illegitimate child, a woman divorced or separated from her husband, a woman whose husband is temporarily away from her.

The difference in connotation from the first definition to the last is quite a discrepancy. Use with care, I guess, huh?

[trysail]

Ecdysiast

[AllardChardon]

Ecdysiast- a stripteaser, who would have thought that is what it meant? And what happened to the definitions, friends?

One of my other favs;

vainglorious - boastful, proud, in case the name didn't spell it out! LOL

[oggbashan]

pognophobia

[AllardChardon]

Ogg,

That one is not in my dictionary, what does pognophobia mean? I do get phobia , of course, but am lost on the pogno part...

Gigi

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Ogg,

That one is not in my dictionary, what does pognophobia mean? I do get phobia , of course, but am lost on the pogno part...

Gigi

Fear of beards

Og

[AllardChardon]

Does that include bearded clams? LOL

[CharleyH]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

A Writerly Thread: I agree AH could discuss topics that are more pertinent to writers than politics, so here is my addition.

Feel welcome to post your favorite obscure word, whether archaic or not and we can all expand our vocabularies at the same time.

Here is my entry from my research into the two Opium Wars of the 1800's;

stupefacient - n. bringing about a stupor: stupefying, narcotic from Webster's 7th Collegiate Dictionary

Fascinating thread, Allard. I was (2 hours ago) thinking about words, specifically foreign ones that are hard to translate into English. This made me think ... are there any English words that are hard to translate into other languages, or are English words too universal?

[AllardChardon]

Thanks, Charley

I didn't have knowledge know about the podiatrist difference in England until this thread.

The English have different slang words that we have heard, like lift for elevator and fag for cigarette, of course.

The Aussies say arse instead of ass and rarely use pussy to describe a vagina when cunt will do. No offense intended.

I love learning these variations and therefore welcome international input on this thread.

Today's offering -

poison-pen - written with malice and spite, (usually anonymously) as in "Does JBJ have the poison-pen syndrome or what? hehehe

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by CharleyH

Fascinating thread, Allard. I was (2 hours ago) thinking about words, specifically foreign ones that are hard to translate into English. This made me think ... are there any English words that are hard to translate into other languages, or are English words too universal?

There must be.

The Oxford English Dictionary in its complete form is massive.

Few other languages have so many possible words.

Og

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Thanks, Charley

I didn't have knowledge know about the podiatrist difference in England until this thread.

The English have different slang words that we have heard, like lift for elevator and fag for cigarette, of course.

The Aussies say arse instead of ass and rarely use pussy to describe a vagina when cunt will do. No offense intended.

I love learning these variations and therefore welcome international input on this thread.

Today's offering -

poison-pen - written with malice and spite, (usually anonymously) as in "Does JBJ have the poison-pen syndrome or what? hehehe

The UK usage is arse, too. An ass is to be ridden on.

"Lift" is not slang. It is the British English equivalent of US elevator.

There are many more differences e.g about cars:

UK/US
Bonnet/Hood
Boot/Trunk
Bumper/Fender
Windscreen/Windshield
Tyre/Tire
Gear stick/Shift stick
Changing gear/Shifting

Pavement/Sidewalk
Roundabout/ ?
Motorway/Freeway


Og

[CharleyH]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

There must be.

The Oxford English Dictionary in its complete form is massive.

Few other languages have so many possible words.

Og

And yet, dear Og, so many other languages have words that cannot succinctly translate into English. A Portuguese word I learned today: Saudade. It cannot be translated into English and mean the same thing. I guess I was referring to English words that are so English specific that a translator (any language) would have a hard time translating that word in a foreign language. Are there any words like that in the English language?

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by CharleyH

And yet, dear Og, so many other languages have words that cannot succinctly translate into English. A Portuguese word I learned today: Saudade. It cannot be translated into English and mean the same thing. I guess I was referring to English words that are so English specific that a translator (any language) would have a hard time translating that word in a foreign language. Are there any words like that in the English language?

I'm not sure but how about these:

Trait
Imply
Infer
Little Englander
Morris Dancer

Get
Put (put the thingamyjig in the wotsit under there)
The several uses of "bastard", "cunt" and "fuck" that vary according to context and intonation.

Og

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

The UK usage is arse, too. An ass is to be ridden on.

"Lift" is not slang. It is the British English equivalent of US elevator.

There are many more differences e.g about cars:

UK/US
Bonnet/Hood
Boot/Trunk
Bumper/Fender
Windscreen/Windshield
Tyre/Tire
Gear stick/Shift stick
Changing gear/Shifting

Pavement/Sidewalk
Roundabout/ ?
Motorway/Freeway


Og

Canada

Hood
Trunk
Bumper
Windscreen
Tire
Gear Stick
Both

Sidewalk
Traffic Circle
Freeway

[oggbashan]

Translation - there may not be equivalent single words but the meaning can usually be conveyed by a phrase.

The apocryphal test for translating from English to Russian and back again is:

"out of sight, out of mind" which is supposed to come back as "invisible idiot".

Try translating onamatopeia into another language with a single word.

Og

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

Try translating onamatopeia into another language with a single word.

Og

German: Lautmalerei

Anglicised: Loud-painting

[CharleyH]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

I'm not sure but how about these:

Trait
Imply
Infer
Little Englander
Morris Dancer

Get
Put (put the thingamyjig in the wotsit under there)
The several uses of "bastard", "cunt" and "fuck" that vary according to context and intonation.

Og

I understand where you are coming from, but idioms like Little Englander and Morris Dancer obviously don't apply because they're idioms. Every language has a word for bastard, cunt and fuck - or many words for them. All of them can be replaced by one word or another that will convey the exact same meaning. No matter what context you use the word "bastard", for example, it can always be translated. What I'm asking about, is a word in English that cannot be fully understood in a translation in any other language. The word "saudade" in Portuguese, as example, cannot be understood in English without a lengthy explanation. There is no one word in English that can convey all that that word means in Portuguese.