Seldom-Used Words

[AllardChardon]

Here is tidbit for all;

Apricot was changed from its more suggestive ancestor apricox. I will never suck on an apricot without thinking of the original name now.

[squarejohn]

Lubricious

[AllardChardon]

In looking up lubricious, I found;

lucerne - alfalfa

We have a brand of dairy products up here named Lucerne, who knew it meant alfalfa.

[squarejohn]

virile

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

In looking up lubricious, I found;

lucerne - alfalfa

We have a brand of dairy products up here named Lucerne, who knew it meant alfalfa.

Lucerne is also the English name of the Swiss city of Luzern.

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by squarejohn

virile

Squarejohn, I don't think 'virile' is that seldom used. And, if you check the posts here, I think you'll also find that the word is defined (or linked to an extended definition) rather than just stated.

[AllardChardon]

Good morning, everyone.

The word du jour;

saltation - the act of leaping or jumping; dancing; an abrupt change

I have never read this or heard it used, that I can recall.

[oggbashan]

Headlong Hall, Chapter 2...

quadripartite, myrmidon, vinous, equipoise, supernal, heterodox, dogmatical, regimen, auricula, retrograde, frugivorous, anatomist, remonstrances, inexorable...

Another four-page chapter.

Og

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Good morning, everyone.

The word du jour;

saltation - the act of leaping or jumping; dancing; an abrupt change

I have never read this or heard it used, that I can recall.

Saltation is one of the characteristics of a dance Henry VIII performed - La Volta.

Og

[squarejohn]

hemidemisemiquaver

[Handley_Page]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Here is tidbit for all;

Apricot was changed from its more suggestive ancestor apricox. I will never suck on an apricot without thinking of the original name now.

I thought it was a french word !


superlucrate
Make a profit

[AllardChardon]

All wonderful entries, I love you guys!

versifier- a maker of verses, one that versifies

What a versifier
the ole Bard truly was!

[Xelebes]

Looking up Icelandic and Old Norse words. There is some real interesting rare words that one find in Scot and Northern England.

Blae - Blue-black or midnight blue.
Blate - Shy, timid

And also finding some interesting words hat might have some altered meaning in English.

Hnúskr (Knot like that found in a bed) => Knosk (bed-knotting?)

[AllardChardon]

In keeping with the latest entry;

Vanir- a race of Gods in Norse mythology

[AllardChardon]

In honor of Mother's Day, I submit;

mother wit - a natural wit or intelligence

[AllardChardon]

While researching P.T. Barnum and his freak show of 1857 in New York City for my second novel in the triology of the adventures of Madam Gigi, I came across the bearded lady. Her son was as hirsute as his mother.

hirsute - roughly hairy, esp. pubescent with coarse stiff hairs

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

While researching P.T. Barnum and his freak show of 1857 in New York City for my second novel in the triology of the adventures of Madam Gigi, I came across the bearded lady. Her son was as hirsute as his mother.

hirsute - roughly hairy, esp. pubescent with coarse stiff hairs

egress for exit was coined by Barnum as a way to move people out of his show. He put a sign over a door that said "This way to the egress;" when people went through it expecting a fabulous sight such as a half-eagle-half-tigress, they found themselves in the street.

[AllardChardon]

Yes, Tio, I read that, too. The most interesting act in his freak show besides the Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, were the American proportional dwarfs, like Lavinia Warren and her even smaller sister, Minnie. Fascinating reading when you add in Zip the Pinhead. I just love Phineas Taylor Barnum, he was a real character.

[trysail]

September, 2009

OPHIDIOPHOBIA

I have an established route for my run. Living, as I do, within a couple of miles of where I was born and raised and within several hundred yards of where my father was born ( quite literally, in his mother's bed ), I know the area and its topography well. I've walked, run, driven and ridden these roads and paths my whole life. I know who used to live in which houses, I know where they went to school, I knew their parents and I know where most of my schoolchums are even to this day. The woods and streams of my youth lie within the watershed in which I now reside.

My running route follows an abandoned railroad right of way. It passes a lake that was originally dammed to create a reservoir, then the site of an old gunpowder mill. Most of the rail has been removed from the roadbed and all that remains to mark it are crossties ( sleepers, for you Brits ) and ballast. The route continues upstream alongside one of the reservoir's feeder streams eventually crossing the stream on a wood trestle and reaching my turnaround point. A series of planks have been professionally laid and affixed across the wood trestle to permit a safe and easy transit by hikers and runners.

Two days ago, as I approached the trestle, I noticed a young man and woman staring at the outer section of the bridge. Usually when I reach the crossing, anyone who's standing on it makes an effort to clear a path. This time, however, the pair pointed and the guy said, "There's a snake there and I don't want you to get bitten." Those words were, of course, more than enough to stop me dead in my tracks. There's little in this world I hate and fear more than snakes.

I slowly approached the fellow and followed the direction of his finger. Sure enough, there in the hollowed end of a rotting timber, was a goddamned snake... and it was a fairly big one, too. As it was balled up, all I could easily and safely see was a fairly thick part of mid-section; it was a mottled brown and black and I guess it had a 2-3" circumference. I asked if they'd been able to identify the frickin' thing. At first they said it was a "garter snake" with an air of certainty, then they said "maybe it's a water snake" and finally they admitted they didn't have any idea what it was. I couldn't see its head and I was damned if I was going to get anywhere near enough to the thing to place myself within the fartherest imagineable striking distance.

It was a lovely cloudless day and I was running well. I wanted to continue my run but I was having visions of flashing fangs, timber rattlers and four puncture wounds. I considered that continuation meant running this particular gauntlet not just once— but twice. I was wrestling with all the nightmares I get whenever I encounter snakes. Lest there be any doubt remaining, let it be known that I really, really loathe the damn things.

I backed off a few steps and began considering alternatives. Would it be possible to leave the planked section in order to hop from timber to timber on the far side of the trestle, thus remaining well out of striking range? That would maximize the distance but I was also hearing potential snickering... "Hey, d'jou hear about that damned idiot fool ____; he fell off the bridge across the _____ while he was out running. The dope was trying to avoid a snake and damn near managed to kill his'self."

After at least a minute or two of considering all sorts of things, I started to get angry with myself. The odds of the thing striking me if I ran past the spot quickly really weren't all that high. I did have to admit that there was a small possibility that the snake had already been alarmed by the two others and might feel threatened. I reasoned that if I took a running start and sprinted, the odds were that— even if it was in "fight" mode— a strike would likely miss. I made my mind up; that's what I'd do. I'd just deal with a return crossing on the way back.

Fortifying my resolve with a minute's worth of nervous pacing, I asked the young woman to make way telling her that I intended to sprint past. I closed my eyes, put my head down and ran like bloody hell. With my heart pounding and adrenalin flowing, I ran past the spot as fast as I could. To my immense relief, I passed safely over.

On my return trip, I never even hesitated, reasoning that the best strategy was to pass by as quickly as possible with the least possible warning to my potential assassin.

The unfortunate truth is that I'm never going to be able to run across that damn bridge again without thinking about the possible presence of snakes.

[AllardChardon]

Trysail, that was priceless! What an entertaining writer you are. Thank you so much. I used this next one to curtains in book two.

schoolmarm - a woman schoolteacher in a rustic or rural school; a woman who exhibits characteristics like pedantry or priggishness

[oggbashan]

Chapter Three. (three and a half pages)

rapturous, capabilities (of scenery), convolvulus, craniological, mollifying, multitudinous, versifer, generalissimo, *dilettante, indefatigable, compounder, astronomical, metaphysical, meteorological, physiological, galvanistical, bibliographical,* clumping, proposition, perambulation.

Note: From * to * are all in one sentence.

Og

[AllardChardon]

I would surmise, Ogg dear, that these are rather long sentences with a fair share of commas and such.

eye candy - newer slang. I first heard it as a compliment several years ago at the Monterey Jazz Festival and had never heard it before then. I wonder who coined this one.

[mynameisben]

Seldom used words: You're welcome.

Have you noticed people increasingly respond with "thank you" when you say "thank you?" It's odd. It's as if the meaning of the phrase, "you're welcome" has become lost with time.

[AllardChardon]

Yes, I have noticed that odd habit. And the response I prefer when thanked by someone is, "My pleasure", shortened from "It is my pleasure".

[AllardChardon]

In thinking about the response, "You are welcome," to the customary "Thank you," I wondered how we got welcome in the first place.

It says it is either from wilcume, wilcuma or willicomo and all mean desired guest.

So we are really saying, "You are a desired guest," when we say "You are welcome."