Seldom-Used Words

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Good to know, Trysail, thanks.

Weather is a funny thing, Naoko, and probably the reason people love to talk about it so much. I have a few surprise flowers that pop up every year, too. I suppose the birds planted them when I wasn't looking. LOL I would love to get away to an island by myself someday...

parget(2) - noun 1. plaster, whitewash, or roughcast for coating a wall 2. plasterwork esp. in raised ornamental figures on walls

LOL, getting away on my own is a bit of a distant dream for me too these days. I have two days coming up with the Fella still 'working' in Brisbane (last email complaining that it was raining so he couldn't go to the beach :rolleyes:), and the Piglet off camping with the school, I shall have to make hay best I can in the April showers :).

I read a lovely phrase in an Agatha Christie novel once: 'the many splendoured beauty of an English sky', I think it was. She was too lazy to find out where the quote had come from so she just had her character say she wasn't sure and maybe had made it up. We are on the coast here so we have many diverse splendours of sky and are never sure of much except that we will get to laugh heartily when anywhere else in Britain has a hosepipe ban instituted. In Wales it rains so much that we export water, LOL, to some of the big English cities. (The English don't put it quite like that - as then they might have to pay the Welsh for it :eek:.)
 
Good luck with your precious days by yourself, Naoko, in regards to the weather, of course. We have a similar water situation here, in that we get lots of rain and snow, and then the desert of southern California takes our lovely water for themselves without having to pay us directly for it, of course. If Northern California separated from the southern section, below Sacramento and San Francisco, we would be the wealthiest of the two, because of the water situation. I doubt it will ever happen, though, because there are more voters in the south, due to the big cities. I came from down there, Hollywood is where I was born, and still prefer my rural mountain town to L.A. every single day!

parfleche - noun 1. a rawhide soaked in lye to remove the hair and dried 2. an article made of parfleche
 
Good luck with your precious days by yourself, Naoko, in regards to the weather, of course. We have a similar water situation here, in that we get lots of rain and snow, and then the desert of southern California takes our lovely water for themselves without having to pay us directly for it, of course. If Northern California separated from the southern section, below Sacramento and San Francisco, we would be the wealthiest of the two, because of the water situation. I doubt it will ever happen, though, because there are more voters in the south, due to the big cities. I came from down there, Hollywood is where I was born, and still prefer my rural mountain town to L.A. every single day!

parfleche - noun 1. a rawhide soaked in lye to remove the hair and dried 2. an article made of parfleche

Thank you Allard. I was a bit bewildered at first how to use this precious time before the family all return bearing their lovely laundry loads. If the weather's nice I shall certainly go out into the garden. The roses are looking a lot tidier and appear to have survived my intemperate pruning.

I've found a great word here:

Pantaglossian Paradigm. It's been developed by Stephen J. Gould to describe how as science moves forward, creationism moves back:

"Master Pangloss taught the metaphysico-theologo-cosmolonigology. He could prove to admiration that there is no effect without a cause; and, that in this best of all possible worlds, the Baron's castle was the most magnificent of all castles, and My Lady the best of all possible baronesses."

(Pangloss being the character in Voltaire's Candide who took a naively optimistic view of the world.)
 
That is a really great word, Naoko, and a wonderful explanation of same. Thanks for sharing it.

pareve - noun made without milk, meat, or their derivatives
 
parget(2) - noun 1. plaster, whitewash, or roughcast for coating a wall 2. plasterwork esp. in raised ornamental figures on walls

There are many examples of pargetting in East Anglia.

The Ancient House, Ipswich:

Ipswich_Ancient_House.jpg


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Saffron Walden:

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That is a really great word, Naoko, and a wonderful explanation of same. Thanks for sharing it.

pareve - noun made without milk, meat, or their derivatives

What gorgeous piccies,Ogg, as ever.

I came across the term Pantaglossian Paradise too - being used to describe the academic world. It seems a mite tautological to say a Pantaglossian Paradise, but who's picking nits - oh, wait, we're talking about academics so it's necessary part of the job :rolleyes:.

How interesting that there is a word for things made without meat or milk. Does that include eggs? Is it a vegany word or religious in origin?
 
Og, I agree with Naoko, those are great pictures of pargetting. I was hoping you knew of some good examples and would post them, of course. You are so wonderful that way. Thanks, again.

Naoko, my dictionary says pareve is Yiddish in origin - parev - and I would assume it means without eggs too, but I really don't know for sure.

I read this today online in an article about Margaret Thatcher's expressed desire for a museum and library to be built in her honor;

hagiography - noun 1. biography of saints or venerated persons 2. idealizing or idolizing biography
 
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I read this today online in an article about Margaret Thatcher's expressed desire for a museum and library to be built in her honor;

hagiography - noun 1. biography of saints or venerated persons 2. idealizing or idolizing biography

I'm sure that Lady Thatcher wouldn't want a hagiography, but an accurate account of her achievements and failures.

A hagiography is usually a very biased, one-sided, partisan account, and some of the early biographies of saints were so ridiculous that the Catholic Church has rejected them.

It was said of early Welsh Saints that they "were nearly as numerous as Welsh sheep". That should not diminish the stature of real Welsh Saints such as Saint Winefride who founded and ran a religious order that did good works in Wales, even if some might doubt that she was beheaded and had her head stuck back on by another saint, Saint Beuno.

But Saint Winefride and Saint Beuno did exist and were venerated in their own times and later. They still are today, and Saint Winefride's Well is a major pilgrimage site for Catholics.

The hagiographies of both Saints probably did them a disservice by overstating the miraculous in their lives. Their real lives should have been, and were, enough for them to be remembered with affection and honour.

St Winefride (or St Winifred) (Welsh: Gwenffrewi; Medieval Latin: Winefrida) is usually shown with a red line marking the scar of her decapitation around her neck:



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Og, I should have quoted the article and now I will do so with the first paragraph only. It was in Forbes, by Eamonn Fingleton, published on 4 -14.

Thatcher's Last Wish: Another Clunker From The Iron Lady

"The news today is that a group of supporters of Margaret Thatcher are pushing a plan to build a museum and library as a permanent memorial to her. It is clear that the plan, which would establish a first in British politics, has been long in the making and that it not only had Thatcher’s approval but she herself largely instigated the idea. This is another clunker from the Iron Lady – a final terrible idea from a woman who, pace all current hagiography, will be remembered as one of the worst political leaders in modern British history."

paresthia - noun a sensation of prickling, tingling, or creeping on the skin without objective cause
 
A pleasant good day to you, all. I really don't know how often this word is used anymore, but I find it in my research into the 1850s and 60s.

paregoric - noun camphorated tincture of opium used to relieve pain
 
A pleasant good day to you, all. I really don't know how often this word is used anymore, but I find it in my research into the 1850s and 60s.

paregoric - noun camphorated tincture of opium used to relieve pain

The usual one sold in the UK was Collis-Browne's Mixture otherwise known as Chlorodyne.

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In the 1960s we knew that Collis-Browne, if taken in reasonable quantities, was a serious drug that led to hallucinations. It was cheap and available without prescription in our local High Street chemist's shop.

The current Collis-Browne is just a medicine. :(
 
Og, the good ole days have gone for good, darn it all. When I recall the freedoms we had as young adults for my own children, now young adults, they wish times were more like they were back then. Nostalgia at its finest.

parbuckle(1) - noun 1. a purchase for hoisting or lowering a cylindrical object by making fast the middle of a long rope aloft and looping both ends around the object which rests in the loops and rolls in them as the end are hauled up or paid out 2. a double sling made of a single rope for slinging a cask or gun
 
Hullo Allard. I've managed to make the most of my first day's 'holiday', which I've spent beginning the mammoth task of sifting through thirty years' of papers (baubles, bangles, squeaky cuddly toys) which were stacked up in my study. I did have a lovely coffee break in the Spring sunshine and took this photo which includes some of my Spring bulbs including a snakeshead fritillary (although not the mysterious grape hyacinth which wasn't planted by me to my knowledge).

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Palatinate

A pale violet colour associated with the County of Durham.
A 'county palatine' - area ruled by an hereditary nobleman in England or Ireland.
The county palatine of the Rhine.
 
Og, the good ole days have gone for good, darn it all. When I recall the freedoms we had as young adults for my own children, now young adults, they wish times were more like they were back then. Nostalgia at its finest.

Unfortunately, nostalgia isn't what is used to be...
 
That is a lovely pic, Naoko, and congrats on a great first day. I sincerely hope today has been just as nice for you. I overdid it in my gardens over the weekend, during the dandelion battles, and had to rest my back yesterday, whether I liked it or not! It is better today, thank goodness, I heal quickly, even at my age. I just may take another day off to make sure.

Somehow, I missed this one yesterday;

Parcae - noun pl the three Fates of Roman mythology
 
A pleasant good day to you, all. I really don't know how often this word is used anymore, but I find it in my research into the 1850s and 60s.

paregoric - noun camphorated tincture of opium used to relieve pain

It my younger days it was available as an OTC remedy for teething pain in infants. It certainly helped them sleep. In the 19th and early 20th century it was used as a general soother for babies, and had the additional "beneficial" side effect of causing a degree of constipation and thus reducing diapering.
 
Tio, so they hooked the babies early, huh? Makes one wonder if they ended up on laudanum later on.

paravane - noun a torpedo-shaped underwater protective device with serrate teeth in its forward end towed from the bow of a ship in mined areas to sever the moorings of mines
 
It my younger days it was available as an OTC remedy for teething pain in infants. It certainly helped them sleep. In the 19th and early 20th century it was used as a general soother for babies, and had the additional "beneficial" side effect of causing a degree of constipation and thus reducing diapering.

A cheaper medicine for colicky babies was Gin. Until the 1980s 'gripe water' sold in the UK for babies who had painful wind, had more alcohol than strong lager.

But the dosage was a spoonful.
 
...

paravane - noun a torpedo-shaped underwater protective device with serrate teeth in its forward end towed from the bow of a ship in mined areas to sever the moorings of mines

During the First World War both sides used extensive minefields in the English Channel.

The Dover Patrol of WW1 laid mines to deter German warships but used many small craft, equipped with paravanes, to sweep German-laid minefields. The Dover Patrol was in action from late 1914 to the end of 1919, although the war ended in 1918. The Dover Patrol protected troop and supply shipping from England to the Western Front but at a high cost in ships and men.

After the hostilities ended, the British and German mines still were a serious hazard for shipping and the minesweeping crews volunteered to continue working, and dying, to clear the Channel for peacetime shipping.

The Dover Patrol also bombarded the German gun emplacements in Belgium and the German-occupied French coasts, and carried out a famous raid on Zeebrugge.

In the 1920s the Dover Patrol was remembered by three identical memorial obelisks: One on the cliffs above St Margaret's Bay in Kent; one on Cap Griz Nez near Wimereux in France; and one in New York. Why three? The Dover Patrol was made up of British, French and later American ships.

In 1940 the Germans blew up the French obelisk. It was rebuilt exactly as before in the 1970s. So now there are three again, commemorating brave men in little ships.
 
Og, thank you for sharing the story of the Dover Patrol and the heros within. I was shocked to read they actually laid mines in the Channel, and, of course, there would be strays to deal with after it was over. Live and learn, I suppose, but usually at someone else's expense, unfortunately.

parataxis - noun the placing of clauses, phrases, or words one after another without coordinating or subordinating connectives
 
Og, thank you for sharing the story of the Dover Patrol and the heros within. I was shocked to read they actually laid mines in the Channel, and, of course, there would be strays to deal with after it was over. Live and learn, I suppose, but usually at someone else's expense, unfortunately.

...

A slight understatement! - strays.

The number of mines laid by the opposing forces between both sides of the English Channel and its approaches was several hundred thousand.

After the war had ended the Dover Patrol had tens of thousands of mines to remove. Many had shifted from where they were laid, and the records of their positions weren't that accurate anyway. Several ships and dozens of lives were lost in 1919.

There are still several hundred World War 1 mines in the English Channel. Sometimes they get snagged in fishing nets and have to be dealt with. Sometimes they get washed ashore.

During the Second World War many more mines were laid. They still turn up. One was found last month near the French coast.

Even today, people are advised not to approach any stray metal object on the Channel Beaches.

This week it was announced that surveys of the Channel have found drums of Nuclear Waste dumped in the 1950s. The Channel and North Sea have been used for dumping surplus ammunition and explosives since the 1920s.
 
A slight understatement! - strays.

This week it was announced that surveys of the Channel have found drums of Nuclear Waste dumped in the 1950s. The Channel and North Sea have been used for dumping surplus ammunition and explosives since the 1920s.


There's reputed to be a large quantity of nasty stuff (NBC) on a couple of shipwrecks in the deepest parts of the Irish Sea. Since several cables have been laid, the Authorities do not want to simply blow it up, but they don't mind the slow release of toxic stuff. :devil:
 
Og, I really did not realize that so many mines remained, that so many ships and men died in trying to remove them, and that people were crazy enough to do it again in WWII, or that the old mines are still a danger today. Thanks so much for taking the time to educate me, your ignorant American friend.

parasynthesis - noun the formation of words by adding a derivative ending and prefixing a particle (as in denationalize)
 
Og, I really did not realize that so many mines remained, that so many ships and men died in trying to remove them, and that people were crazy enough to do it again in WWII, or that the old mines are still a danger today. Thanks so much for taking the time to educate me, your ignorant American friend.

This Wiki article: Naval Mines shows that mines are still current weapons of war, even if the UK has decided not to stock or use them - at present.
 
Og, what an interesting read about the use of mines, by whom and when, as well as who is still using them, as in the US, of course. Somehow, that didn't surprise me, even though I knew nothing about the subject of mines, except for the pictures of victims I have seen. Say to say that when it comes to the U.S. Military, I almost don't want to know what they are up to. I know for certain, I am powerless to stop them, and knowing this only saddens me and makes me ashamed enough to want to leave this war-mongering nation I was born into.

paraselene - noun a luminous appearance seen in connection with lunar halos
 
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