Seldom-Used Words

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Og, there is a sentence in there somewhere. An occasional penster, but always a punster was he.

pensionary - noun PENSIONER; esp: HIRELING

pensioner - noun 1. a person who receives or lives on a pension 2. obs a. GENTLEMAN-AT-ARMS b. RETAINER c. MERCENARY, HIRELING

UK - 1908 Old Age Pensions Act - introduced first general old age pension paying a non-contributory amount of between 10p and 25p a week, from age 70, on a means-tested basis from January 1 1909 - "Pensions Day". This was introduced during the Liberal government of David Lloyd-George.

In the 1911 Census of England and Wales, some of my wife's ancestors and their relations proudly declared themselves as "Old Age Pensioner". Before that date, the only provision for indigent old people was the workhouse. Although old and infirm people were treated better in the workhouse than the able-bodied unemployed it was still a miserable place to be.

The few shillings a week that an Old Age Pensioner received meant that they could live with dignity - and they appreciated that.

PS. Our local workhouse, retitled a 'hospital' was accommodating elderly frail people until the late 1970s. The conditions had improved dramatically since the 1910s but it was still an unhappy place to be. I'm not sure that the conditions in many residential homes for the frail elderly are any better now than the former workhouse was in the 1970s.

[AllardChardon]

Og, once again, thank you for bringing British history to this thread. I, for one, really appreciate the information. Caring for elderly is a topic much closer to my heart, now that I am nearing that age group. It was a real struggle to find a good care center for my mother after her stroke in Tennessee. Fortunately, we were able to keep her in a private institution and her three children visited her often. The state facilities in Tennesee were horrible. California has much stricter rules on these things than most of the rest of the country, thanks to the baby boomer voters like me. No matter what, I would like to die at home in my own bed, if anyone is taking notes.

pensile - adj 1. HANGING, PENDANT 2. having or building a hanging nest

[CarlusMagnus]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

No matter what, I would like to die at home in my own bed, if anyone is taking notes.

I certainly hope that you aren't trying to arrange that for the near future!

[AllardChardon]

No, not at all, Carlus. I also plan on having sex and a cigarette afterwards on my 100th birthday. LOL

I decided to skip over the penny section and revisit it after this one that caught my eye;

pennoncel or penoncel - noun a small narrow flag or streamer borne esp. at the head of a lance in late medieval or Renaissance times

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

No, not at all, Carlus. I also plan on having sex and a cigarette afterwards on my 100th birthday. LOL

I decided to skip over the penny section and revisit it after this one that caught my eye;

pennoncel or penoncel - noun a small narrow flag or streamer borne esp. at the head of a lance in late medieval or Renaissance times

Pennant is the modern version, as used by many US universities.

The British Lancers (Cavalry) used them, often red so they wouldn't show too much of the blood of their enemies.

They kept using lances long after the weapon became impractible i.e. during the First World War.

The Prussian Uhlans were accused of using their lances on Belgian women and children - probably a propaganda lie, but an effective lie.

[ishtat]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

Pennant is the modern version, as used by many US universities.

The British Lancers (Cavalry) used them, often red so they wouldn't show too much of the blood of their enemies.

They kept using lances long after the weapon became impractible i.e. during the First World War.

The Prussian Uhlans were accused of using their lances on Belgian women and children - probably a propaganda lie, but an effective lie.

Not so much a lie Og, as an exaggerated truth. It's worth noting that in 2001 the German government issued a formal apology for the 674 civilians of Dinant who were killed in 1914. Most historians will agree on a minimum of 25,000 Belgian civilians illegally killed in 1914 - which by WWI standards was a modest total.

Unfortunately the absurd propagandizing and exaggeration by, particularly the British to popularize the war, led to the underlying truth being obscured.

[AllardChardon]

Thanks, Ishtat for clarification of the event and thanks, Og, for the additional information. The next entry in my dictionary says,

pennon - noun 1.a. a long usually triangular or swallow-tailed streamer typically attached to the head of a lance as an ensign b. PENNANT 2. a flag of any shape: BANNER 3. WING, PINION

and this one a bit further up;

pennant - noun 1.a. any of various nautical flags tapering usually to a point or swallowtail and used for identification or signaling b. a flag or banner longer in the fly than in the hoist; esp: one that tapers to a point 2. a flag emblematic of championship

A funny sentence sprang to my mind during the second entry: His banner was longer in the fly than in the hoist, and I'm not talking about pennants here, but it is naughtycal in nature. hehe

[CarlusMagnus]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

No, not at all, Carlus. I also plan on having sex and a cigarette afterwards on my 100th birthday.

Reminds me of a conversation between two young women:

First woman: Do you smoke after sex?

Second woman: I don't know. I've never looked.

[AllardChardon]

Very cute, Carlus.

I skipped over this next entry and even though it is not seldom-used, I learned about a wonderful use for it;

pennyroyal - noun 1. a European perrenial mint with small aromatic leaves 2. a similar American mint that yeilds oil used in folk medicine or to drive away mosquitos

I knew pennyroyal was good for getting rid of fleas, we have cats and dogs, but not MOSQUITOS! This year I am going to slather myself in the stuff!

[bzkkrbreat]

After swimming through the doldrums of January releases we when all is said make a suitable pic to reccomend on the LAMBScores. Lively Bodies is the pre-eminent film of 2013 to pass the 3-Lamb target and this week is featured surrounded by 2 other releases. Take Up Guys and Bullet to the Well-spring both piece practised actors, but were you impressed? Encounter away from on earth and don’t forget to reckon your reviews for the sake of the next number of the LAMBScores.

[AllardChardon]

I know of this next word as King Arthur's last name, but never dreamed it was a dictonary entry, not captitalized;

pendragon - noun head of all the chiefs among the ancient Britons: KING

[NaokoSmith]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

No, not at all, Carlus. I also plan on having sex and a cigarette afterwards on my 100th birthday. LOL

I always find inspiration in here, thank you, Allard, from the heart of my bottom. As I'm only 50 I hope for a lot more sex, although I have given up smoking (last time I looked, Carlus).

Pendragon must surely be HP, while the word (or rather phrase) which I've found must be you, Allard:

Pocket Venus
I found it in an Agatha Christie novel. I thought it sounded so beautifully evocative, but I've never managed to use it in a story - perhaps someone-else can adopt it?

BTW, the daffodils are coming up in our garden. I used to have a card with a painting of daffodils that said: Expect a miracle every day.

(I was expecting the builders to come back and finish the front of our house but perhaps that's too much to ask.)

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by NaokoSmith

Pocket Venus
I found it in an Agatha Christie novel. I thought it sounded so beautifully evocative, but I've never managed to use it in a story - perhaps someone-else can adopt it?

Several women have been described as a Pocket Venus. They are generally Rubenesque women who are barely five feet tall: One was Samantha Fox:




Another was Barbara Windsor in her performances for the Carry-On series of films:



A third, less well known, was Trisha (aka Patsy Ann) Noble, also in Carry-On Camping:

[AllardChardon]

At 5'5" I am a little too tall to be called a "pocket venus", Naoko, but I appreciate the compliment. Until Og posted those lovely women and the defintion of the word, I was not sure what a pocket venus was. I agree, it is a great word and I may be able to use it at some point.

I don't know how much this word is used worldwide, but I love it and use it whenever I can;

penchant - noun a strong leaning: LIKING

[Tio_Narratore]

As in "Allard Chardon has a penchant for seldom-used words and other varieties of naughtiness."

[AllardChardon]

I went a little further on that pendragon entry, because it took me by surprise; and I wanted to know more.

From Wiki:

Pendragon or Pen Draig (pronounced Thriag), meaning in Welsh "head dragon" or "chief dragon" (a figurative title referring to status as a leader), is the name of several traditional Kings of the Britons:

Ambrosius Aurelianus, son of Constantine II of Britain, called "Pendragon" in the Vulgate Cycle

Uther, brother of Aurelius and father of King Arthur, is called Uther Pendragon because he was inspired by a dragon-shaped comet (In the Vulgate, he took the name from his brother)

King Arthur, son of Uther

Maelgwn of Gwynedd, described by Gildas as the "dragon of the island"

In the Historia Regum Britanniae, one of the earliest texts of the Arthurian legend, only Uther is given the surname "Pendragon", which is explained as meaning "dragon's head". In the prose version of Robert de Boron's Merlin, the name of Uther's elder brother Ambrosius is given as "Pendragon", while Uter (Uther) changes his name after his brother's death to "Uterpendragon".

The use of "Pendragon" to refer to Arthur, rather than to Uther or his brother, is of much more recent vintage. In literature, one of its earliest uses to refer to Arthur is in Alfred Tennyson's poem Lancelot and Elaine, where, however, it appears as a title of Arthur rather than as a surname, following contemporary speculation that "pendragon" had been a term for an ancient British war-chief.

The term "Pen Dragon" also is a Fennian (Ephraimite) form meaning, Pen "child(ren) of" Ap "Son of" combined with "Dargon" or "Dragon" the symbol of the Tuatha de Dannon (Danites) who were warriors that married the Irish widows, hence the Gaullo term Welch (Ue Lach) or "woman of a warrior."

[oggbashan]

In the last book of C S Lewis' Fantasy Trilogy, That Hideous Strength, the Pendragon is the current magical ruler of Logres (Britain). Although the Pendragon has no earthly power he is faced with a crisis caused by uncontrolled scientific research.

He calls upon Merlin, who has been in suspended animation since King Arthur's time, for assistance in contacting the ancient Gods. Merlin has to obey the Pendragon...

[ishtat]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

UK - 1908 Old Age Pensions Act - introduced first general old age pension paying a non-contributory amount of between 10p and 25p a week, from age 70, on a means-tested basis from January 1 1909 - "Pensions Day". This was introduced during the Liberal government of David Lloyd-George.

In the 1911 Census of England and Wales, some of my wife's ancestors and their relations proudly declared themselves as "Old Age Pensioner". Before that date, the only provision for indigent old people was the workhouse. Although old and infirm people were treated better in the workhouse than the able-bodied unemployed it was still a miserable place to be.

The few shillings a week that an Old Age Pensioner received meant that they could live with dignity - and they appreciated that.

PS. Our local workhouse, retitled a 'hospital' was accommodating elderly frail people until the late 1970s. The conditions had improved dramatically since the 1910s but it was still an unhappy place to be. I'm not sure that the conditions in many residential homes for the frail elderly are any better now than the former workhouse was in the 1970s.

One of my great-grandfathers was a Chairman of a 'Board of Guardians', the local organisation which administered the poor law and Workhouse in a small town in Gloucestershire, between about 1888 and 1922. I have a letter from the inmates thanking him one year for his Christmas 'generosity. ' Turkey and Christmas Pudding - not likely! He gave them extra rations of 224 pounds of Potatoes, 40 pounds of freshly rendered lard, and 40 gallons of rough cider.

Later he confided in my grandfather that he only gave them the cider (which as a farmer cost him nothing) to annoy the Methodist minister who was also on the Board!

The diet sounds awful but lard and bread, or lard and potatoes was a staple of both the rural and urban poor in the nineteenth century.

[ishtat]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

I went a little further on that pendragon entry, because it took me by surprise; and I wanted to know more.

"

Pen usually means head, as you have pointed out. It is Gaelic in origin and Pen words can be found in Cumbria (Pen y gent) Wales - Cymru (Penarth) and Cornwall (Penzance). There are many other examples.

There's one in Brittany called Pentreth and there may be more, though quite a lot of the Breton names have been frenchified a bit.

Incidentally Cumbria, Cymru, and Cornwall all have a common derivation.

[FfordPrefect]

I'm rather fond of the words plethora, cornucopia and verisimilitude and I have mentioned these three words in reducing order of frequency of potential usage in regular conversation.

[trysail]

bacronym (also backronym) n., (slang) [ portmanteau of back + acronym ] a word interpreted as an acronym that was not originally so intended; a meaning assigned to an acronym, after the acronym has already been established, that is different from its original meaning.






It's not an officially recognized word.

I stumbled across it on Wikipedia whilst looking at the entry for Widener Library and HOLLIS.

...An acronym is a word derived from the initial letters of the words of a phrase. For example, the word radar comes from Radio Detection and Ranging.

By contrast, a backronym is constructed by taking an existing word already in common usage, and creating a new phrase using the letters in the word as the initial letters of the words in the phrase. For example, the United States Department of Justice assigns to their Amber Alert program the meaning America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response although the term originally referred to Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old abducted and murdered in Texas in 1996...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym

...An eccentric Englishman, Thomas Hollis V of Lincoln's Inn, London, (great-nephew of one of the University's early benefactors), began shipping thousands of specially chosen volumes to the University Library. Hollis continued to send books regularly until his death in 1774 and he also bequeathed £500 for a fund to continue buying books. This became Harvard's first endowed book fund, and is still actively increasing the collections every year. HOLLIS, the bacronym for Harvard Library's online catalog, "Harvard On-Line Library Information System", is named after him...


Wikipedia

[mynameisben]

Originally Posted by NaokoSmith

I

Pocket Venus
I found it in an Agatha Christie novel. I thought it sounded so beautifully evocative, but I've never managed to use it in a story - perhaps someone-else can adopt it?

I always thought a Pocket Venus was a male sex toy. At least, umm...that's what I've read.

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by mynameisben

I always thought a Pocket Venus was a male sex toy. At least, umm...that's what I've read.

This is a pocket size statue of Venus from Verulamium (St Albans) but it was intended to be displayed in the entrance to your house, among the Lares and Penates, to bring you...



... Well? What you expect Venus to bring you?

[AllardChardon]

Very interesting reading this morning, posters, thank you all and welcome Ffordprefect.

So, which one came first, do you think, the title of pendragon or the surname?

pencel or pencil - noun PENNONCEL

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

...

So, which one came first, do you think, the title of pendragon or the surname?

The title predates the use of surnames. I think that King and Pendragon were the same person until the Norman Conquest. After that, the title Pendragon was the magical leader of the Britons, which William the Conqueror was not.