Seldom-Used Words

[Handley_Page]

Originally Posted by driphoney

chiropodist

The more common version is podiatrist.

not in the UK

[Xelebes]

Toponymic - named for it's place amongst other places. Dublin is toponymic, referring to the black pool it was founded around.

[bronzeage]

This is from Wiki

A tosher is someone who scavenges in the sewers, especially in London during the Victorian period. This activity began around the time of the construction of the London sewerage system, designed by Joseph Bazalgette.
The toshers decided to cut out the middle man and it was a common sight in 19th Century Wapping for whole families to whip off a manhole cover and go down into the sewers, where they would find rich pickings.
As most toshers would reek of the sewers, they were not popular with the neighbours. The word tosher was also used to describe the thieves who stripped valuable copper from the hulls of ships moored along the Thames.

I am not sure what things of value people found in the London sewers. I imagine the invention of the flush toilet was a boon to the toshing business.

The word has modern usage in my neighborhood. A tosher is a person who scavenges through dumpsters and trash cans, looking for old stuff to sell to antique dealers. The work is not very lucrative.

[AllardChardon]

saucebox- a saucy impudent person, I know a few of those.

[jomar]

I remain partial to the "c" words:

caterwaul

catawampus/cattywampus

[AllardChardon]

And I seem to be partial to the pa words today. One more and is an all time favorite;

paladin - a champion of a medieval prince, an outstanding protagonist of a cause

Does anyone out there remember the TV show, Paladin? Also a favorite of mine.

[Darkniciad]

*Laugh* I've actually used "vouchsafe" in a story on here before.

Anybody who writes fantasy and has read Eddings probably either has used it, or seriously considered it. Mandorallen is hard to resist borrowing from.

I knew I was trapped, so I put on my best Mandorallen lofty nobility and responded, “Surely it doth weigh heavily upon mine own heart to consider the peril that a woman wouldst face alone upon the long, harsh journey to fair Kol, and I cannot in good conscience allow this to come to pass so long as I do possess the strength to lift mine sword, your Majesty. I do vouchsafe that the fair lady shall meet no misfortune so long as she doth travel at my side, though the foulest of monsters and creatures of the dark do beset us in our grand journey to the safe environs of fair Kol.”

[TE999]

Edgar Allan Poe used the word 'tintinnabulation' in a poem about bells. I think it's close to onamonapaetic...it means the ringing of bells...taken from the word 'tintinnabulum' meaning 'bell'.

Sources credit Poe for coining this word.

[AllardChardon]

sophistry - deceptively subtle reasoning or argumentation.

This is the root of sophisticate - to alter deceptively, adulterate

That is all for tonight, folks.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

And I seem to be partial to the pa words today. One more and is an all time favorite;

paladin - a champion of a medieval prince, an outstanding protagonist of a cause

Does anyone out there remember the TV show, Paladin? Also a favorite of mine.

Then you'll get a kick out of this word: palilalia

To repeat words over and over again in speaking.


Ex: And she was gone, gone, gone.

[ishtat]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Truly, hul gil is a name not a word, but I found it so interesting I felt compelled to include it, against my own limits, so feel free to add any odd words to the mix.

Back to the thread; ne'er-do-well - an idle worthless person

Hul gil as you previously described it is a word because Sumerian is an agglutanative language which formed words through the combination of other smaller words.

Another good example is En-hedu-ana which is variously translated as lady ornament of Ana or more practically as high pristess of Ana

En-hedu-ana herself can be accurately dated to 2285 BCE because she was the daughter of the Akkadian King Sargon. She is also the first author ever whose name we know, her best known work being the nin-me-sara (hymns to the goddess Innana)

[squarejohn]

ratiocination The process of exact thinking. Reasoning.

Not the same thing as rationalizing.

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Yes, patina is used in the antique market. I was thinking of it for a vampire-like description; His skin was a pale patina color, imperceptibly green and yet translucent at the same time.

How about;

patronymic - a name derived from the father's last name with the addition of a suffix, like John Jacob Astor, the early American opium smuggler, who called his mansion, "Astoria". The Astors were from Waldorf, Germany, of course.

There's also...

teknonym

...a name derived from the child, rather than the parent. In some cultures, a person isn't considered an adult until they have a child, and so the teknonym becomes the sign of full civil status. In Western societies, we commonly use teknonyms when we're very young: notice how pre-schoolers identify their friends parents as "Susan's Dad" or "Jimmy's Mom."

[AllardChardon]

teknonym - thanks for this one. I have been Gabe's Mom, Ben's Mom, Julia's Mom and Nick's Mom over the years and still laugh when I meet these grown friends on the street and they call me by these names. Will I ever be Glenna, again, I wonder?

Today's entry -

long-winded - amicus

LOL twice!

[oggbashan]

ablutionary - ceremonial washroom "Pardon me while I visit the ablutionary"

abomasum - the fourth stomach of a ruminent

accoutre - equip, especially with a special outfit "are you accoutred for BDSM?"

Og

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by ishtat

Hul gil as you previously described it is a word because Sumerian is an agglutanative language which formed words through the combination of other smaller words.

Another good example is En-hedu-ana which is variously translated as lady ornament of Ana or more practically as high pristess of Ana

En-hedu-ana herself can be accurately dated to 2285 BCE because she was the daughter of the Akkadian King Sargon. She is also the first author ever whose name we know, her best known work being the nin-me-sara (hymns to the goddess Innana)

And I would be delighted to be Innana's Dumuzi, "growing like lettuce by the river" and filling her "wondrous vulva" with my "bull milk."
It's little wonder that Enki gave her all the gifts, including knowledge and wisdom.

[AllardChardon]

putsch - a secretly plotted and suddenly executed attempt to overthrow a government

Do we need one of these? We had one at Bay of Pigs but that did not turn out very well.

Somehow, this thread is writerly and political at the same time. hehehe

Oh Severus, where for art thou?

[driphoney]

Originally Posted by Handley_Page

not in the UK

Pardon me. I stand corrected. Twice.

Most Americans would not be familiar with that version. I'm sure there are many other such words. I had it on a vocab test in high school. Haven't heard it since.

[AllardChardon]

Can someone explain this one to me?

warm spot - a cutaneous sensory end organ that is stimulated by an increase in temperature

Sounds sexual...

Now, I have to look up cutaneous!

[Zeb_Carter]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Can someone explain this one to me?

warm spot - a cutaneous sensory end organ that is stimulated by an increase in temperature

Sounds sexual...

Now, I have to look up cutaneous!

Well if sub-cutaneous means under the skin then cutaneous must me above the skin.

[oggbashan]

pedagogy and pedagogics - the science of teaching.

It is fairly common for German-speaking students to use these words in English but in the UK we don't because:

pedagogue - 1. archaic a teacher; 2 usually strict or pedantic teacher

and

pedant - 1. a person who insists on strict adherence to formal rules or literal meaning at the expense of a wider view; 2. a person who rates academic learning or technical knowledge above everything, hence pedantic.

So pedagogy in UK English is an abusive term for the science of teaching that ignores the real practice in classroom situations. A pedagogue would be a bad teacher.

Og

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by Zeb_Carter

Well if sub-cutaneous means under the skin then cutaneous must me above the skin.

ON the surface of the skin.

Og

[stephen55]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

ON the surface of the skin.

Og

In the skin.

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by stephen55

In the skin.

According to my Compact Oxford Dictionary "Of the skin"

Og

[Zeb_Carter]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

According to my Compact Oxford Dictionary "Of the skin"

Og

In, on, above, hardly a difference to quibble about.

cu·ta·ne·ous   [kyoo-tey-nee-uhs]
adjective

of, pertaining to, or affecting the skin.

sub·cu·ta·ne·ous   [suhb-kyoo-tey-nee-uhs]
adjective
1. situated or lying under the skin, as tissue.
2. performed or introduced under the skin, as an injection by a syringe.
3. living below the several layers of the skin, as certain parasites.