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Seldom-Used Words

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Yes, Handley, I read the definition before and find it very interesting that it used to be; ut, re, me, fa, so, la, ti, ut.

Doesn't sound right to me, but I am a modern girl.

From Deadwood;

pernicious - 1. highly destructive or injurious: DEADLY 2. WICKED
 
trysail said:


From today's National Public Radio "Morning Edition":




http://www.npr.org/templates/story/...mmentKey:30493ddb-5591-405f-9c85-1d97eea0c5b9
Click to expand...

In the UK, and I suspect in the US as well, 19th Century newspapers assumed that their readers would like to be educated and would probably have access to a dictionary, if only in the local public library.

The extensive vocabulary used then, even in popular newspapers aimed at the newly educated masses, was far greater than even a quality newspaper would consider using today.

If I compare a UK tabloid newspaper's vocabulary with television news reports, the newspaper aimed at the largest common denominator uses a much wider range of words than a television news channel.

The crossword puzzles in the Daily Mirror or The Sun expect a reasonable vocabulary.

Og
 
It is a fine line to walk, whether to use archaic words and stretch my reader vocabulary or keep it at grammar schools levels. Often, I use the word of my choice and immediately define it with commas or the like.

One such case is the description of my heroine's black velvet evening dress.

"Her décolleté, or strapless dress with plunging neckline, allowed her silken shoulders to be seen and admired.

What is an intelligent girl to do, I ask you?
 
I just ran across this word today

Olm

It's a sightless, flesh-colored salamander from Europe that can go for years without eating..

That's a good number of revoltin' characteristics for only three letters, eh?
 
Speaking only for myself, mind you

I'd suggest you keep displaying both your decollete as well as your intellect. They are both quite sexy.

AllardChardon said:
It is a fine line to walk, whether to use archaic words and stretch my reader vocabulary or keep it at grammar schools levels. Often, I use the word of my choice and immediately define it with commas or the like.

One such case is the description of my heroine's black velvet evening dress.

"Her décolleté, or strapless dress with plunging neckline, allowed her silken shoulders to be seen and admired.

What is an intelligent girl to do, I ask you?
Click to expand...
 

benthic • adj., the benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living in this zone are called benthos.


 
braincum said:
Olm

It's a sightless, flesh-colored salamander from Europe that can go for years without eating..

That's a good number of revoltin' characteristics for only three letters, eh?
Click to expand...

Then you'd probably like the axolotl, a large salamander from the Valley of Mexico that reaches sexual maturity while retaining the external gills of the juvenile form.

The name comes from the Nahuatl, and, as Allard can attest from earlier in this thread, it is only one of many Nahuatl words that have found their way into European languages.
 
Tio_Narratore said:
Then you'd probably like the axolotl, a large salamander from the Valley of Mexico that reaches sexual maturity while retaining the external gills of the juvenile form.

The name comes from the Nahuatl, and, as Allard can attest from earlier in this thread, it is only one of many Nahuatl words that have found their way into European languages.
Click to expand...

And into Scrabble.

Og
 
First limn: I also had never heard or read this one. In looking it up for fun, I found that both of these later dictionary entries have nothing at all to do with limn.

limnetic and limnology have to do with bodies of fresh water

Second: challenging vocabulary

I was reading in Vanity Fair about Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and the creation of Time magazine. Time was ridiculed for its language, derisively called Time-ese and Time-style. But these are the words that Time invented, retrieved from obscurity or borrowed from foreign languages which have become enduring parts of modern English: tycoon, pundit, socialite and kudos.

Third: I will keep wearing low cut gowns for as long as I can get away from it. And thank you so much for noticing.
 
limn
1 v.t. & i. Illuminate (a manuscript etc.). Now rare.
2 v.t. Adorn or embellish with gold or bright colour; depict in gold etc.
3 v.t. & i. Paint (a picture or portrait); portray (a subject); fig. depict, make visible. Formerly spec., paint in watercolour or distemper.
4 v.t. Portray or represent (esp. a person) in words.

---------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary
 
Handley_Page said:
limn
1 v.t. & i. Illuminate (a manuscript etc.). Now rare.
2 v.t. Adorn or embellish with gold or bright colour; depict in gold etc.
3 v.t. & i. Paint (a picture or portrait); portray (a subject); fig. depict, make visible. Formerly spec., paint in watercolour or distemper.
4 v.t. Portray or represent (esp. a person) in words.

---------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary
Click to expand...

limners were itinerant portrait painters in the 18th and early 19th century, mostly put out of business by the emergence of the early forms of photography. They'd spend their winters painting dressed bodies in house settings, and then add faces (and necessary adjustments) when they'd get a commission while they made their rounds. They also painted signs and anythings else in their efforts to make a living.
 
Very illuminating, Tio and Handley. hehehe

From my anti-bellum research;

chattel - 1. an item of tangible movable or immovable property except real estate, freehold, and the things which are parcel of it 2. SLAVE, BONDSMAN
 
AllardChardon said:
Very illuminating, Tio and Handley. hehehe

From my anti-bellum research;

chattel - 1. an item of tangible movable or immovable property except real estate, freehold, and the things which are parcel of it 2. SLAVE, BONDSMAN
Click to expand...

Chattels is a term still in common use in Canadian law. Specifically it refers to personal property that is tangible and movable, which is different from choses in action which are intangible rights that are legally enforceable claims and things. Examples of choses in action whould be cheques and promissory notes.
 
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AllardChardon said:
Very illuminating, Tio and Handley. hehehe

From my anti-bellum research;

chattel - 1. an item of tangible movable or immovable property except real estate, freehold, and the things which are parcel of it 2. SLAVE, BONDSMAN
Click to expand...

Real estate used to include land and property of the landlord not leased or rented to a tenant. Deer and game were considered real property as well as land because they were not rented or leased to the tenant but remained the property of the land owner and sometimes even the crown.

One part of my family has been freehold farmers in the west of England since at least the 1490's and we have an original will dated about 1540 which specifically refers to the deceased's wife as one of his chattels and who incidentally he disposed into the care of his eldest son 'with the real property.' :)
 
Tio_Narratore said:
limners were itinerant portrait painters in the 18th and early 19th century, mostly put out of business by the emergence of the early forms of photography. They'd spend their winters painting dressed bodies in house settings, and then add faces (and necessary adjustments) when they'd get a commission while they made their rounds. They also painted signs and anythings else in their efforts to make a living.
Click to expand...

Not to be confused with a limmer which was a rogue generally female, a jade, hussey or minx.
 
Very enlightening, indeed. I love it when I find explanations for words and their usage across the English speaking planet.

slattern - an untidy slovenly woman: SLUT, PROSTITUTE

slattern (vt) - FRITTER, WASTE
 
One more from this mornings steamboating chapter;

texas - a structure on the awning or hurricane deck of a steamer containing the officers' cabins and having the pilothouse in front or on top

A 'texas tender' was a black waiter on the floating palaces.
 
And again,

doggerel - loosely styled and irregular in measure esp. for burlesque or comic effect

Doggerel verse is the noun form.
 
And riffing on that:

poetaster - an awful poet.

parasitaster - a false parasite or a false sycophant.

musicaster - an awful musician.
 
How could you forget my favorite?

disaster: 1. an unfavorable aspect of a planet or star 2. a sudden or great misfortune, like calamity, catastrophy and cataclysm

What great C words.
 
In my research into New Orleans I found this;

assignation house - a house in which appointments for sexual intercourse are fulfilled

These houses differed from brothels and bordellos in that they were not open to the public at large and required an appointment. Homosexual interactions were very popular with these houses, due to their secrecy.
 
AllardChardon said:
In my research into New Orleans I found this;

assignation house - a house in which appointments for sexual intercourse are fulfilled

These houses differed from brothels and bordellos in that they were not open to the public at large and required an appointment. Homosexual interactions were very popular with these houses, due to their secrecy.
Click to expand...

Referred to in Victorian times as a "House of Assignation".
But you've cleared that up nicely, thanks
 
Here is my favorite new word to use;

highfalutin - 1. PRETENTIOUS 2. expressed in or marked by the use of high-flown bombastic language: POMPOUS

I can't decide whether I like the word or the definition better!
 
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