Seldom-Used Words

[AllardChardon]

Does anyone know if this next word is describing a four way stop in a cross design or four roads meeting at a point like an apex?

quadrivial - adj 1. of or relating to the quadrivium 2. having four ways or roads meeting in a point

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Does anyone know if this next word is describing a four way stop in a cross design or four roads meeting at a point like an apex?

quadrivial - adj 1. of or relating to the quadrivium 2. having four ways or roads meeting in a point

Quadrivium Noun, historical, a medieval university course involving the 'mathematical arts' of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music.

Origin: Latin, literally 'the place where four roads meet'. In late Latin 'the four branches of mathematics' from quadri - four, and via - road.

New Oxford Dictionary of English 1998

[AllardChardon]

Og, in my mind I see a crossroads, which is the correct visualization in this case, I think. I read the same definitions in my dictionary, but was not sure about the way the crossroads would actually appear. Thanks for your input.

I can't remember if I posted this one before, so if I did, please excuse me, but this word always brings up memories of Ben-Hur;

quadriga - noun a chariot drawn by four horses abreast

[RjThoughts]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Does anyone know if this next word is describing a four way stop in a cross design or four roads meeting at a point like an apex?

quadrivial - adj 1. of or relating to the quadrivium 2. having four ways or roads meeting in a point

Here in upstate New York, we call a quadrivial a "Place that confuses new drivers, learning drivers, and blondes." They don't know who goes first LOL

[AllardChardon]

Rj, in California, when two cars arrive at a four-way stop at the same time, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right. That is easy enough to deal with. It is those circle things that drive me crazy, especially in a new town. I have to do the whole circle, before I know which one I am supposed to turn right on. What city planner came up with that idea, anyways? I know it goes way back, and has probably been annoying other drivers for hundreds of years, but I have never investigated how far.

quadrature - noun 1. the process of finding a square equal in area to a given area 2.a. a configuration in which two celestial bodies have a separation of 90 degrees b. either of two points on an orbit in a middle position between the syzygies

[trysail]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Rj, in California, when two cars arrive at a four-way stop at the same time, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right. That is easy enough to deal with. It is those circle things that drive me crazy, especially in a new town. I have to do the whole circle, before I know which one I am supposed to turn right on. What city planner came up with that idea, anyways? I know it goes way back, and has probably been annoying other drivers for hundreds of years, but I have never investigated how far.

quadrature - noun 1. the process of finding a square equal in area to a given area 2.a. a configuration in which two celestial bodies have a separation of 90 degrees b. either of two points on an orbit in a middle position between the syzygies

I spent last week dealing with roundabouts where they drive on the left hand side of the road!

Actually, once you get used to them— in the right place— they can be a tremendous improvement over a traffic light.

[CarlusMagnus]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

Quadrivium Noun, historical, a medieval university course involving the 'mathematical arts' of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music.

Complemented by the trivium, consisting of grammar, rhetoric, and logic.

[Pelaco]

I used perspicacious the other day in relation to an athlete

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by trysail

I spent last week dealing with roundabouts where they drive on the left hand side of the road!

Actually, once you get used to them— in the right place— they can be a tremendous improvement over a traffic light.

Roundabouts in the UK, driving on the left, are fairly easy:

You give way to anyone already on the roundabout AND to anyone approaching from your right.

If you are taking the first exit, or going straight ahead, keep to the left hand lane. If you taking the first exit, signal a left turn as you enter the roundabout. If you are going straight ahead or to an exit beyond the first, signal a left turn after you have passed the exit before yours.

If you are taking the third, or last exit, signal for a right turn, take the lane closest to the centre of the roundabout and after the exit before yours, move left, over to the outside lane while signalling a left turn.

As with all driving anywhere, watch out for large vehicles that can't turn as tightly as a car, and assume that every other driver will do something stupid.

In France, driving on the right, when approaching a roundabout, the lane you are in will be signed, almost always, "Ceder le passage" = Give Way. You let vehicles on the roundabout pass before entering. Elsewhere, "Priorité a Droite" is usual - traffic coming from your right even if on a minor road, has the right of way.

[AllardChardon]

Og, once again you have informed of matters that I know nothing about because I have yet to leave the U.S. beyond Victoria Island in Canada and Rosarita Beach in Mexico, as a driving adult. Roundabout sounds better than circle things, by far.

quadrate(3) - vi AGREE, CORRESPOND

[Handley_Page]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

Rj, in California, when two cars arrive at a four-way stop at the same time, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right. That is easy enough to deal with. It is those circle things that drive me crazy, especially in a new town. I have to do the whole circle, before I know which one I am supposed to turn right on. What city planner came up with that idea, anyways? I know it goes way back, and has probably been annoying other drivers for hundreds of years, but I have never investigated how far.

quadrature - noun 1. the process of finding a square equal in area to a given area 2.a. a configuration in which two celestial bodies have a separation of 90 degrees b. either of two points on an orbit in a middle position between the syzygies

Oh dear; another roundabout worry. They really are very simple and can speed up the traffic far better than lights.

[AllardChardon]

Yes, Handley, I can see the logic behind roundabouts. California is just late to the game, that way, anyway.

I had to look up this word;

syzygy - noun the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (as the sun, moon, and earth during a lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system

[oggbashan]

Even locals find Colchester's 'Magic' Roundabout confusing.

It is a two-way roundabout. You can go round it clockwise or anticlockwise, and each of the five mini-roundabouts is its own traffic system.

Try to work out how you could get from bottom left to top right, first going clockwise, and then going anticlockwise.

Using my post above, then work out where you should position your vehicle on each lane of each mini-roundabout, and when you should signal, and which way.

Don't try to do it for real in a Colchester rush-hour. The local commuters know what they are doing and pass through this system at speed.

[CarlusMagnus]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

Even locals find Colchester's 'Magic' Roundabout confusing.

It is a two-way roundabout. You can go round it clockwise or anticlockwise, and each of the five mini-roundabouts is its own traffic system.

Try to work out how you could get from bottom left to top right, first going clockwise, and then going anticlockwise.

Using my post above, then work out where you should position your vehicle on each lane of each mini-roundabout, and when you should signal, and which way.

Don't try to do it for real in a Colchester rush-hour. The local commuters know what they are doing and pass through this system at speed.

It would be a lot easier if you Brits knew which side of the street to drive on.

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by CarlusMagnus

It would be a lot easier if you Brits knew which side of the street to drive on.

We do. We've been driving on the left since before the Romans came...

[patrick1]

Which side we drive on is one of those bizarre things I've been interested in for a long time. I know, I know, I should get out more.

Mostly people allege it's about swordsmen, or, how one drives one's horses way back when.

Here's one set of theories: http://users.telenet.be/worldstandar...ft.htm#history

Patrick

[AllardChardon]

Og, a picture is worth a thousand words. When I visit your country someday, I will opt to be a passenger and leave the driving to the locals, I do believe.

Patrick, Thanks for that great article on right and left hand driving practices worldwide. Very interesting reading.

quacksalver - noun obsolete CHARLATAN, QUACK

[CarlusMagnus]

Originally Posted by oggbashan

We do. We've been driving on the left since before the Romans came...

I don't know. There's something, well, sinister, about driving on the left…

And, as your sovereigns say: Dieu et mon droit!

[AllardChardon]

Back to that right vs left, good vs evil side-thread, I see. I have never driven on the left, so sinister in that respect, I cannot be. hehe

quack(3) - noun [short from quacksalver (kwakzalver)] 1. a pretender to medical skill 2. CHARLATAN

[Handley_Page]

Originally Posted by CarlusMagnus

It would be a lot easier if you Brits knew which side of the street to drive on.

We invented it.
Blame Napoleon for the other side of the road. . . . . .

[AllardChardon]

Whichever side of life you drive on, please do it with care for your sake, as well as ours.

And now, I am off into the end of the Ps;

pythoness - noun 1. a woman believed to have a spirit of divination 2. a priestess of Apollo held to have prophetic powers

[AllardChardon]

Hello, good people. Here is today's offering;

Pythia - noun a priestess and prophetess of Apollo at Delphi

Pythiad - noun the four year period between celebrations of the Pythian games at Delphi

Pythian - adj 1. of or relating to the ancient Greek god Apollo esp. as patron deity of Delphi 2. of or relating to the games celebrated at Delphi every four years

[oggbashan]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

...

Pythia - noun a priestess and prophetess of Apollo at Delphi

The Pythia was supposed to have sat on a tripod (three-legged stool) over a hole through which intoxicating gases passed and therefore she gave her prophecies while under the influence of the God Apollo.

While that might have been true for some prophecies, too many of them were obviously politically inspired rather than god-inspired, so many scholars then and later think that the Pythia could choose to enter a trance, or could pretend to enter a trance.

Of course, the actual words of the Pythia had to be interpreted by her attendants, so there was scope for judicious editing by them as well and the interpretation of the more baffling predictions seemed better with hindsight than they did when first made.

As with many prophets then and now, bullshit can be made to seem plausible - AFTER the event has occurred.

[JackLuis]

AC thank you for this thread. I'm learning a lot, though I may not be able to use it right now, I keep looking.

Driving on the left is tricky, I did it a few times and English roads are not exactly easy to navigate, the freeways aren't too bad but the country lanes are sometimes only a half a lane paved! Thank God for maps.

Jack

[Atavist]

Lethiferous

a. 1. Deadly; bringing death or destruction.

gotta thank Clark Ashton Smith for that one