Seldom-Used Words

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Good day, everyone. It is a busy one for me. Back to the backward Ps;

pre'cis - noun a concise summary of essential points, statements, or facts
 
Good day, everyone. It is a busy one for me. Back to the backward Ps;

pre'cis - noun a concise summary of essential points, statements, or facts

EXCELLENT word. One of my own personal favorites.

So, while we're talking about Frankish influences on our Germanic language, here's another:

rapport: relation; connection, especially harmonious or sympathetic relation: a teacher trying to establish close rapport with students. From the French "rapporter" which is literally to bring back, or report (perhaps with a precis!).

I love the word rapport. I use it a lot.
 
Good day, everyone. It is a busy one for me. Back to the backward Ps;

precis - noun a concise summary of essential points, statements, or facts

Precis was one of the standard tools of my English studies at school in England and Australia. My first attempts were at age 9 or 10, because precis was a required element of the examinations I had to take at age 11. When I took a post-graduate examination, one of the English papers required me to do a precis of three 1500 word articles, reducing each to no more than 100 words. A part of the French language paper required a precis of 2500 words of French text down to 200 words in English.

I haven't lost that skill. It helps with my fifty-word stories.
 
...and one of my methodology labs for students was "The Shorter Forms of Writing: Notes, Precis, Abstract, and Annotation." Nomore than 100 words for the precis and 250 for the abstract. For annotations, no more than one sentence which, in concert with the bibliographic entry, would tell you everything you needed to know about the cited source. I used an old National Lampoon spoof as an exemplar for this assignment. The spoof was entitled "Cliffs Notes Notes," or notes for people who don't have time to read the notes. A number of major works were reduced to single sentences. The Metamophosis - A man turns into a cockroach and his family gets annoyed. Crime and Punishment - A man kills a woman and feels guilty afterwards. Moby Dick - A whale bites off a man's leg and he can't forget about it. The Bible - God creates man and everything man does gets him angry.
 


gisant n., a sculptured representation of a dead person in a recumbent position, usually as part of a sepulchral monument.

Etymology: French, noun use of present participle of gésir to lie, Latin jacēre.






What a wonderful word! How many times have I gazed upon gisants in the cathedrals of Europe and wondered how accurate the representation was?


Ina Caro used the word in her book Paris To The Past: Traveling Through French History by Train.



 
Thank you All for posting, while I as away. I love to return after a day's grocery shopping and find informative posts to read. So you know, I live in the mountains an hour away from the stores that have good prices and shop for food every two weeks, so it is an all day affair.

pre'cieux or pre'cieuse - adj extremely or excessively refined: AFFECTED
 
That is a good one and it goes along with my last one, Tio.

precentor - noun a leader of the singing of a choir or congregation
 
People don't use the word "forsooth" nearly enough these days. I think I'll make it a goal for today to slip it seamlessly into conversation.
 
Ben, the hard part will be the seamlessly bit, but good luck, anyway. Methinks might go well with that, especially in a past century.

prebendary - noun 1. clergyman receiving a prebend for officiating and serving in the church 2. an honorary canon
 
Tio, you are probably right. I have always thought wives were prostitutes without the freedom to roam. But then, my marriage was not a happy one.

prebend - noun 1.a. an endowment held by a cathedral or collegiate church for the maintenance of a prebendary b. the stipend paid from this endowment 2. PREBENDARY
 
Welcome, Emily. That is a very nice word you posted. Thanks.

preachment - noun 1. the act or practice of preaching 2. SERMON, EXHORTATION; specif: a tedious or unwelcome exhortation

No bolding or italics, again, for now.
 
Check to see if Jav asc ript is turned on; you need it for the bold and italics buttons in the editor to work.
..........................^^^ extra spaces added because ********** is censored.
 
Thanks, Harold, but Java Script has been the problem and several techies have not been able to help me fix it, yet. I am not giving up easily.

I will use this word the next chance I get;

preachify - vi to preach ineptly or tediously
 
Those are some great words, Emily, thanks for posting them.

I never thought nidge meant to copulate, Safficus, that is very interesting, indeed. Of course, it is not in my dictionary, but this word is;

nidget - noun archaic IDIOT, FOOL
 
Those are some great words, Emily, thanks for posting them.

I never thought nidge meant to copulate, Safficus, that is very interesting, indeed. Of course, it is not in my dictionary, but this word is;

nidget - noun archaic IDIOT, FOOL
neat, thanks for sharing
 
Sapphicus,(sorry about misspelling your name earlier) my dictionary said nidget is a shortening of "an idiot". Funny, huh?

praxis - noun 1. exercise or practice of an art, science, or skill 2. customary practice or conduct
 
aardvark - noun - African mammal sustained on ants, termites, etc.; slang verb - to partake in intercourse
 
Sapphicus,(sorry about misspelling your name earlier) my dictionary said nidget is a shortening of "an idiot". Funny, huh?

praxis - noun 1. exercise or practice of an art, science, or skill 2. customary practice or conduct

your dictionary most likely is correct. i work to find the not so common and culturally usurpation of language - particularly of the sexual nature.
 
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