Seldom-Used Words

[RjThoughts]

Either way, it describes a certain mentality that pervades government issues these days.

Petrine - adj of, relating to, or characteristic of the apostle Peter or the doctrines associated with his name

Oh, that's a good word.

When my son complains about his college course, he's serving us Petrine whine. LOL

He's a Peter LOL

 

[AllardChardon]

Here I am, once again, carrying on with the Ps;

Petrarchan sonnet - noun [Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) 1374 Italian poet) ITALIAN SONNET

 

[oggbashan]

Here I am, once again, carrying on with the Ps;

Petrarchan sonnet - noun [Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) 1374 Italian poet) ITALIAN SONNET

The Petrarchan Sonnet is rather complex and difficult to produce effectively in English, although of course some poets have.

 

[AllardChardon]

I know I sound repetitious, but thank you so much, Og, for posting that link to The Petarchan Sonnet. The example by William Wordsworth was very interesting and educational. I recently watched a movie called Anonymous about the real authorship of the Shakespearean plays, with the focus on Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, instead of Sir Francis Bacon, as the possible true author. This caused a resurgance of interest in all the plays of so-called William Shakespeare, and this last entry was delightful because of it.

petit-maitre - noun DANDY, FOP

 

[CarlusMagnus]

Peth

peth, a well; a word not very urgently required, but which, if accepted, would be useful to poets, to add to the very few rhymes to 'death' and 'breath'.

Source: Lost Beauties of the English Language, Charles Mackay, LL.D. (Originally published—by an unknown publisher—in 1874, reissued by Bibliophile Books, London, 1987. The book's been sitting, very little read, on my bookshelf for about ten years. I'd forgotten I have it.)

 

[Handley_Page]

petit-maitre - noun DANDY, FOP

Literally "Little Master".
The deputy of a superior rank or position.

 

[AllardChardon]

Carlus, I looked up peth in my dictionary and it is not there, so it really is lost in some respects. Thanks for sharing it and any other words from your same source, when you have the time.

Handley, I do love the French words and that is a good one.

petitio principil - noun a logical fallacy in which a premise is assumed to be true without warrant or in which what is to be proved is implicitly taken for granted

 

[trysail]

evert transitive v., to turn inside out or outward.


ORIGIN:
Back-formation from Middle English everted, turned upside down, from Latin vertus, past participle of vertere, to overturn : -, ex-, ex- + vertere, to turn; see wer in Indo-European roots.






I ran across the word in a brief story written by Willis Eschenbach. Eschenbach is an autodidactic polymath and noted catastrophic anthropogenic global warming skeptic. He has led an extraordinary life— one that rivals any adventurer you care to name. He writes occasional pieces for the blog What's Up With That ( http://wattsupwiththat.com/ ).

In this particular piece, he describes the defense mechanism of the beche-de-mer (known to some as a sea cucumber— a sea creature resembling a large slug) which is commercially gathered in the Solomon Islands atoll of Ontong Java:

...For self-defense, when you pick them up, beche-de-mer turn themselves inside out and evert their own intestines all over your hands...


http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/04/the-man-who-mistook-his-wife-for-a-beche-de-mer/

 

[AllardChardon]

Evert actually sounds like what it means, I suppose that is how we ended up with invert. Thanks for sharing it, Trysail.

petit four - noun a small frosted and oranmented cake cut from pound or sponge cake

 

[AllardChardon]

A pleasant Monday to you, posters.

Here is an entry I found to be interesting, and one I had never heard of;

Peter's pence - noun 1. an annual tribute of a penny formerly paid by each householder in England to the papal see 2. a voluntary annual contribution made by Roman Catholics to the pope

 

[oggbashan]

A pleasant Monday to you, posters.

Here is an entry I found to be interesting, and one I had never heard of;

Peter's pence - noun 1. an annual tribute of a penny formerly paid by each householder in England to the papal see 2. a voluntary annual contribution made by Roman Catholics to the pope

As Henry VIII I stopped that. Paying taxes without representation?

Only I could permit my subjects to do that.

I had a much better use for that money - me!

 

[AllardChardon]

Og, the origin and history of taxation is something I must take time to investigate. How far back does this practice go, anyway?

peter - vi 1. to diminish gradually and come to an end: give out [stream ~s out] 2. to become exhausted - usually used with out

 

[oggbashan]

Og, the origin and history of taxation is something I must take time to investigate. How far back does this practice go, anyway?

peter - vi 1. to diminish gradually and come to an end: give out [stream ~s out] 2. to become exhausted - usually used with out

Taxes? Way back to the laws of the Medes and Persians.

Once humans began building towns and villages, someone had to pay for the upkeep of communal facilities such as streets and water supply.

The taxman was the second profession, after prostitution.

Peter? That is another word for penis. Taken with your definition above, a man's peter peters out, sooner or later, when the peter is engulfed by a woman.

 

[AllardChardon]

How funny, Og, I thought the same thing. A man's peter peters out, the deluge slowing to a tickle. LOL Here's another;

pet cock - noun a small cock, faucet, or valve for letting out air, releasing compession, or draining

 

[oggbashan]

pet cock - noun a small cock, faucet, or valve for letting out air, releasing compession, or draining

The pet cock on a railway steam locomotive is used to check that the water gauge is working properly, and more importantly, to provide boiling water for the driver's tea.

During WW2, after the evacuation of Dunkirk, many of the soldiers came back in a very dirty unwashed state. There was a queue for the washroom at Dover Station. One of the soldiers, a former engine driver, got permission from the train engineer to use the pet cock on the engine.

He was the only soldier to have hot water to wash with - and tea!

 

[AllardChardon]

Inside knowledge can be the key to comfort, indeed. The water must have been boiling hot, though, so I suppose he either let it cool down or mixed it with a little cold water to wash with, yes?

petasos or petasus - noun a broad-brimmed low-crowned hat worn by ancient Greeks and Romans; esp: the winged hat of Hermes

 

[oggbashan]

Inside knowledge can be the key to comfort, indeed. The water must have been boiling hot, though, so I suppose he either let it cool down or mixed it with a little cold water to wash with, yes?

...

Cold water comes from the pet cock on the engine's tender...

 

[AllardChardon]

Og, hot and cold water, now that is living.

We have discussed "hoist by your own petard" and the definition for petard before, but I never noticed its origins in my dictionary until now;

petard - noun (French peter to break wind and pet expulsion of intesinal gas, Latin peditum, peditus, and pedere to break wind; akin to Greek bdein to break wind) 1. a case containing an explosive to break down a door or gate or breach a wall 2. a firework that explodes with a loud report

So, usage takes the verb for farting and makes into a noun for explosives. How funny.

 

[trysail]

Og, the origin and history of taxation is something I must take time to investigate. How far back does this practice go, anyway?

peter - vi 1. to diminish gradually and come to an end: give out [stream ~s out] 2. to become exhausted - usually used with out

How 'bout "The Blue Peter?"

(I'll bet Og knows all about it)

 

[AllardChardon]

I decided to add this to the previous discussion;

TAX HISTORY CHRONOLOGY

EGYPT

During the various reins of the Egyptian Pharaohs tax collectors were known as scribes. During one period the scribes imposed a tax on cooking oil. To insure that citizens were not avoiding the cooking oil tax scribes would audit households to insure that appropriate amounts of cooking oil were consumed and that citizens were not using leavings generated by other cooking processes as a substitute for the taxed oil.

GREECE

In times of war the Athenians imposed a tax referred to as eisphora. No one was exempt from the tax which was used to pay for special wartime expenditures. The Greeks are one of the few societies that were able to rescind the tax once the emergency was over. When additional resources were gained by the war effort the resources were used to refund the tax.

Athenians imposed a monthly poll tax on foreigners, people who did not have both an Athenian Mother and Father, of one drachma for men and a half drachma for women. The tax was referred to as metoikion.

ROMAN EMPIRE

The earliest taxes in Rome were customs duties on imports and exports called portoria.

Caesar Augustus was consider by many to be the most brilliant tax strategist of the Roman Empire. During his reign as "First Citizen" the publicani were virtually eliminated as tax collectors for the central government. During this period cities were given the responsibility for collecting taxes. Caesar Augustus instituted an inheritance tax to provide retirement funds for the military. The tax was 5 percent on all inheritances except gifts to children and spouses. The English and Dutch referred to the inheritance tax of Augustus in developing their own inheritance taxes.

During the time of Julius Caesar a 1 percent sales tax was imposed. During the time of Caesar Augustus the sales tax was 4 percent for slaves and 1 percent for everything else.

Saint Matthew was a publican (tax collector) from Capernaum during Caesar Augustus reign. He was not of the old publicani but hired by the local government to collect taxes.

In 60 A.D. Boadicea, queen of East Anglia led a revolt that can be attributed to corrupt tax collectors in the British Isles. Her revolt allegedly killed all Roman soldiers within 100 miles; seized London; and it is said that over 80,000 people were killed during the revolt. The Queen was able to raise an army of 230,000. The revolt was crushed by Emperor Nero and resulted in the appointment of new administrators for the British Isles.

 

[oggbashan]

...

Petard

So, usage takes the verb for farting and makes into a noun for explosives. How funny.

I might have linked to this performer before:
Le Petomane

and this Christmas Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKvWaRukfnQ

 

[CarlusMagnus]

Og, hot and cold water, now that is living.

We have discussed "hoist by your own petard" and the definition for petard before, but I never noticed its origins in my dictionary until now;

petard - noun (French peter to break wind and pet expulsion of intesinal gas, Latin peditum, peditus, and pedere to break wind; akin to Greek bdein to break wind) 1. a case containing an explosive to break down a door or gate or breach a wall 2. a firework that explodes with a loud report

So, usage takes the verb for farting and makes into a noun for explosives. How funny.

In Shakespeare's time, explosives consisted of black powder, and fuses were notoriously erratic. A petard (first meaning) had to be placed by a soldier, who had then to light the fuse and put as much space as possible between himself and the petard very quickly. Sometimes, the fuse burned much too hastily, blowing the poor guy up along with the gate he'd been sent to destroy. Hence the phrase hoist with his own petard, (And Shakespeare used "with"—not "by". As I know to my sorrow—because, many years ago, I lost a bet on the question.)

 

[trysail]

arenaceous adj., 1. Geology, Petrology (of rocks) sandlike; sandy.

2. Botany. growing in sand.


Origin:
1640–50; Latin arēnaceus.




The word is likely quite familiar to and frequently used by geologists but for the rest of us...

I stumbled upon the word in a press release from the Brazilian energy company Petroleo Brasileiro, S.A. (popularly known as Petrobras) describing its most recent discovery in ~5,500' deep waters of the offshore Campos Basin.

...The accumulation is located in Eocene-age arenaceous reservoirs...

http://www.investidorpetrobras.com....y-in-post-salt-of-marlim-sul-campos-basin.htm

 

[AllardChardon]

Very funny, Og, both links, but I like the first one better.

Carlus, yes, "hoist with his own petard". I do see it quoted both ways, though, and I am sorry the confusion put you at a loss, but knowledge of the truth can be powerful and profitable.

Trysail, there are so many technical words in the dictionary, I sort of pick and chose which ones to post. Thanks for the word you added. I love fine dirt-free sand, especially on seasides, the castles that wash away.

There are five entries for pet, the first three are common. It is the last two I decided to post;

pet(4) - noun a fit of peevishness, sulkiness, or anger

pet(5) - vi to take offense; SULK

 

[Handley_Page]

[/off topic]

I decided to add this to the previous discussion;

TAX HISTORY CHRONOLOGY

EGYPT

During the various reins of the Egyptian Pharaohs tax collectors were known as scribes. During one period the scribes imposed a tax on cooking oil. To insure that citizens were not avoiding the cooking oil tax scribes would audit households to insure that appropriate amounts of cooking oil were consumed and that citizens were not using leavings generated by other cooking processes as a substitute for the taxed oil.

That's a little too vague, I fear.
You see, ALL clerks and the educated made it to scribe; it simply meant you'd learned your letters and could write. It was up to Pharaoh or her administration to decide where you were employed.
BTW, which period [the cooking oil] are we talking about ?

I might have linked to this performer before:
Le Petomane

and this Christmas Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKvWaRukfnQ

Kinda reminds me of the "Farting contests" that occasionally took place in the 1960s, when I was young and stupid. The best one was on a record and it was constructed like the commentary for a Boxing Match. We all thought it hysterical!

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