Seldom-Used Words

[trysail]

It's a shame there's no easy way to produce a word index.

Total Posts: 4,325 

User Name            Posts 
AllardChardon        1,628 
oggbashan              541 
Handley_Page           345 
Tio_Narratore          336 
trysail                286 
Xelebes                166 
CarlusMagnus           141 
Weird Harold            80

[Handley_Page]

I recorded another programme about the finding of Richard 3 the other day and watched it last night.
His Flag is the same design as Trysail.

[oggbashan]

Recently there has been some correspondence in The Times about inappropriate legal language and the difficulty some people have understanding it. Today's bottom right letters are an example:

"So, you are the defendant in this case?" growled the judge.

"Oh no, sir," stammered the man, pointing at his lawyer. "He is the defendant. I am just the one that did it."

The next letter is about Lord Monboddo, an 18th Century judge, who was explaining the nature of speaking the truth to a child that was not able to swear the oath:

"If you tell an untruth, you will involve yourself in a concatenation of circumstances, extrication from which will be difficult, if not well-nigh impossible."

[AllardChardon]

Well-nigh is a wonderful word that I must remind myself to use in my latest novel, but concatenation needs some more research;

concatenate(1) - adj linked together

concatenate(2) - vt to link together in a series or chain

[Handley_Page]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Well-nigh is a wonderful word that I must remind myself to use in my latest novel, but concatenation needs some more research;

concatenate(1) - adj linked together

concatenate(2) - vt to link together in a series or chain

It's also a technique in writing computer programmes.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Well-nigh is a wonderful word that I must remind myself to use in my latest novel, but concatenation needs some more research;

concatenate(1) - adj linked together

concatenate(2) - vt to link together in a series or chain

If you use spreadsheets or program databases enough, you will likely find the need to concatenate. The CONCATENATE function is terribly useful.

[Handley_Page]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

If you use spreadsheets or program databases enough, you will likely find the need to concatenate. The CONCATENATE function is terribly useful.

defined:
CONCATENATE: See concatenate.

[AllardChardon]

A Happy Sunday wish for you all. I really liked this next unknown entry to me, and decided to share it;

Pelagian - noun a follower of Pelagius who denied original sin and held that man has perfect freedom of will

[CarlusMagnus]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Well-nigh is a wonderful word that I must remind myself to use in my latest novel, but concatenation needs some more research;

concatenate(1) - adj linked together

concatenate(2) - vt to link together in a series or chain

The root word is catena, which is Latin for chain. A related word is the word catenary, which is the name of the curve formed by a chain that hangs suspended from two points.

[NaokoSmith]

More chains! Og, I do hope you are going to write that local government erotic story in which two officials emerge wearing the wrong chains of office.

What lovely words above. I love the word pellucid. You get that light in the small Welsh coastal area where we go to stay in a caravan in the summer (I'm not allowed to reveal where this is in case everyone in the world realises how beautiful it is and moves there). Holidaying in a caravan sounds very rustic, doesn't it, but in fact they're extremely well appointed with central heating and satellite tv. We rented one once which had a power shower; I had great difficulty getting the Fella to leave it and come home as we have a horrible shower which he suffers in a speaking silence.

The one thing they don't have is mobile reception or internet access. Bliss! The only time in the year the Fella can't access his work emails. We went on holiday in Turkey once, Piglet and I had a fabulous time but on the fourth day I noticed the Fella looking miserable; he said: "A journal rejected my paper." Then he had to pretend he'd found out before we left but I KNEW he'd been accessing his email on his *expletive* iphone.

Pithecanthropus
The scientific definition is an extinct hominid postulated from bones found in Java in 1891 and originally designated Pithecanthropus erectus because it was thought to represent a species evolutionarily between apes and humans. Pithecanthropus is now classified as Homo erectus. Also called Java man.

I remember the word fondly as being one of the names Captain Haddock would scream at fools he didn't suffer lightly in the Tintin books.

[CarlusMagnus]

Originally Posted by NaokoSmith

... the small Welsh coastal area where we go to stay in a caravan in the summer (I'm not allowed to reveal where this is in case everyone in the world realises how beautiful it is and moves there).

We spend time every now and then a place on the Gulf Coast of Florida. I am allowed to divulge its location.

But I have to shoot anyone I tell.

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by CarlusMagnus

The root word is catena, which is Latin for chain. A related word is the word catenary, which is the name of the curve formed by a chain that hangs suspended from two points.

And catenary is the overhead power line for electric locomotives...

[CarlusMagnus]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

And catenary is the overhead power line for electric locomotives...

It's also what you would have gotten if the cat who ate the canary had impregnated it, instead.

[AllardChardon]

Naoko, here is another word along those same lines;

Peking man - noun an extinct Pleistocene man that is known from skeletal and cultural remains in cave deposits at Choukoutien, China and that is more advanced in some details than Java man but nearer to him than to other fossil hominids or to recent man

[Tio_Narratore]

Yes, also H. erectus as is Java Man. Discovered by the Canadian palaeoanthropologist, Davidson Black, it disappeared after the Japanese invasion of China and has never been found. Fortunately, Black made detailed casts of all his fossils before the invasion, and Peking Man is now known only through the original description and the casts.

[AllardChardon]

I am going to list this next word for my own edification. I have trouble with this one, for some reason.

pejorative - adj having a tendency to make or become worse: DEPRECIATORY, DISPARAGING

[mynameisben]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

I am going to list this next word for my own edification. I have trouble with this one, for some reason.

pejorative - adj having a tendency to make or become worse: DEPRECIATORY, DISPARAGING

Not to be pejorative, but I think it's time to update the "Welcome, 2012" in your signature line.

[ishtat]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

A Happy Sunday wish for you all. I really liked this next unknown entry to me, and decided to share it;

Pelagian - noun a follower of Pelagius who denied original sin and held that man has perfect freedom of will

Pelagius 360-420 AD was an interesting guy, and one who influences us still today. He was an ascetic Celtic monk who was a contemporary of (St.) Augustine 354-430.

Pelagius took the established view that man had freedom of will to choose whether to sin or not and was directly accountable to God for his/her conduct

Augustine promoted the newer idea of original sin - that is, even a new born babe had inherited the original sin of Adam and Eve and as its corollary could only obtain forgiveness and redemption through God's Agency on earth - the Church.

The ideas of Augustine were supported by the church because they gave it great power as the entity that could grant forgiveness to sinners. It may also have been detrimental to the interests of the Church had the idea of the individual having a direct relationship with God (ie without the Church) prevailed.

Conversely the followers of Pelagius took the (freewill) view that the fate of men's souls was in their own conduct.

Augustines view prevailed within Church theology but interestingly Pelagius' is supported by secular law in that the law firstly requires us to take responsibility for our own actions and secondly accepts that children in their innocence have either no, or limited capacity to sin depending on their development.

Although Pelagius was held to be a heretic by the Western Church the Eastern (Orthodox) churches have never taken such a black and white view of Pelagius - indeed of theological issues generally.

As an aside, Pelagius' view of freewill was the same as the much older ideas of Zaerathustra (circa 1400 BC plus or minus 200)

Sorry I rambled on a bit but it's a good story.

[AllardChardon]

You are so right, Ben. I will attend to that right after this post. Thanks for mentioning it. I spend so much time in 1857, I forget all about now! LOL

Very interesting, Ishtat, thanks so much for the additonal information on a very interesting man.

peignoir - noun a woman's loose negligee or dressing gown

[CarlusMagnus]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

I am going to list this next word for my own edification. I have trouble with this one, for some reason.

pejorative - adj having a tendency to make or become worse: DEPRECIATORY, DISPARAGING

It may help to know that pejorative comes from the Latin root, peior,,sometimes spelled pejor, which means worse.

[AllardChardon]

Yes, Carlus, that does help.

Pegasus - noun 1. a winged horse that in Greek mythology caused Hippocrene to burst forth from Hount Helicon with a blow of his hoof 2. poetic inspiration 3. a northern consellation near the vernal equinoctial point

[AllardChardon]

A little more on the poetic inspiration of Pegaus;

Pegasus is one of the best known mythological creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine horse usually depicted as white in colour. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing when his mother Medusa was decapitated by Perseus.

In Greek mythology, Hippocrene was the name of a fountain on Mt. Helicon. It was sacred to the Muses and was formed by the hooves of Pegasus. Its name literally translates as "Horse's Fountain" and the water was supposed to bring forth poetic inspiration when imbibed.

[oggbashan]

The Hippocrene spring still exists on Mount Helicon. Presently the name of the spring is Kryopegadi ("cold fountain").

Perhaps, since we Europeans have apparently been eating horse without knowing it, there will be a new crop of European poets.

Just like kissing the Blarney Stone is supposed to give the gift of silver speech, drinking from the Hippocrene spring is supposed to produce poetry.

Personally I think both myths are a load of boloney Blarney.

[AllardChardon]

Where I live, there are naturally-occurring cold water sulfur springs that stink like rotten eggs. Before automobiles, the train would bring people up from the valley to collect this 'healing water' in bottles. Of course, no one cares to collect this stinky stuff anymore, now that the truth of it known, but it just goes to show how people love to make a big deal out of water that comes from a spring.

There is also a very healing spring nearby that almost no one knows about, except the ancient natives from here, and I intend on keeping it a secret, except for a few lucky people. I am not sure, but I would say the lithium content in this water is very high. After an hour's strenuous uphill hike to reach the source, you take one drink and you are completely refreshed, like you never hiked anywhere. If I had not experienced it myself, I might not have believed it. On one of these hikes I slipped and scraped my knee on the gravel. I had no other water but the spring water, and poured a little on it to clean the wound. All pain and discomfort disappeared for 20 minutes. I poured a little more on and I was good for another 20. It healed faster than any wound I ever had. Again, if I had not experienced it myself... This also goes to show that the native people knew way more than the whites.

peeress - noun 1. the wife or widow of a peer 2. a woman who holds in her own right the rank of peer

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Where I live, there are naturally-occurring cold water sulfur springs that stink like rotten eggs.

There are many healing springs and Holy Wells throughout England and Wales. One of the most famous is at Holywell, Flintshire, St Winefride's Well which is still a place of significant pilgrimage.

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

peeress - noun 1. the wife or widow of a peer 2. a woman who holds in her own right the rank of peer

Definition 2 is no longer correct. A woman who is a peer, is that. She is a peer, not a peeress. She will have a specific title such as Baroness Something but as a generic term she is one of the peers in the House of Lords.