Seldom-Used Words

[oggbashan]

Good day. Here is one I have never seen or heard, but I bet my nautical friends on here have.

popple(2) - noun 1. a heaving of water (as from boiling) 2. a choppy sea

Oxford Shorter 1962:

1. popple now dialect and US = poplar tree.

2. popple 1. = cockle; 2. extended to the Corn Poppy, Charlock etc. and their seeds 1855. Quote: That malicious one did sow popple among the good wheat. 1644

3. popple [Goes with next] An act or condition of poppling; a rolling or tossing of water in short tumultuous waves; a strong ripple. Hence Popply adjective broken, choppy, ripply.

4. popple To roll or tumble about; to bubble up; to toss to and fro in short waves.

The last time I saw water poppling was at St Winifrides Well at Holywell in North Wales. The water was poppling from the spring.

 

[litfan10]

I'm going with the opposite for a post as already today I've been hit more times than I can count with this as an over-used word:

Awesome.

No, it is not inspiring awe, it was slightly better than the norm but not Earth shattering. I HATE the misuse of this word. Now when things truly are awesome and we describe it as such it becomes such a mundane description. I feel that the word has been taken from my vocabulary.

And don't even get me started on pronouncing it. Awe-sum. Not Awwwwww sum!

GAH!

 

[oggbashan]

A word much overused during the BBC's commentary on the Jubilee River Pageant:

Iconic

It was used too many times to describe so many features of the riverside.

 

[AllardChardon]

Og, I cannot thank you enough for the wonderful information on St. Winifrides' Well. Now, I want to go there, but not to get pregnant. hehe Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip are amazing monarchs that have a great amount to be proud of in this day and age, and that is saying something.

Welcome, litfan10, and I totally agree with you about awesome and have stated as much here before. Misuse of words is worse than overuse, but both are noxious.

I first heard this one in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie;

poppet - noun 1. chiefly Brit: DEAR 2.a. Midland: DOLL b. obs: MARIONETTE 3.a. an upright support or guide of a machine that is fastened at the bottom only b. a value that rises perpendicularly to or from its seat 4. any of the small pieces of wood on a boat's gunwale supporting or forming the rowlocks

 

[oggbashan]

...

poppet - noun 1. chiefly Brit: DEAR 2.a. Midland: DOLL b. obs: MARIONETTE 3.a. an upright support or guide of a machine that is fastened at the bottom only b. a valve that rises perpendicularly to or from its seat 4. any of the small pieces of wood on a boat's gunwale supporting or forming the rowlocks

poppet is also an affectionate term for a small child but sometimes it can be ironic if the child shows early Shirley Temple movie characteristics.

I have corrected your spelling of 'valve'. Poppet valves are used as safety devices on steam engines and are the valves in many automobile engines.

 

[oggbashan]

Og, I cannot thank you enough for the wonderful information on St. Winifrides' Well. Now, I want to go there, but not to get pregnant. ...

St Winifride is a major character in Ellis Peter's Cadfael novels.

Although her beheading and resurrection are now seen as apocryphal rather than a realistic account, St Winifride was a real person and a significant spiritual leader in Welsh Christianity. The processions at St Winifride's Well attract thousands of pilgrims each year, mainly, but not all, Roman Catholics.

I was impressed by the buildings at the well but many of the souvenirs on sale were the worst form of kitsch.

 

[AllardChardon]

Thank you, Og, for being a better proofreader than I. Value and valve are quite different, indeed. I wonder if anyone has ever written a book about the kinds of souveniers sold at historical events through the ages. Do you know of such a book, Og, O Knower of so many things I cannot keep track? Seriously.

pop off - vi 1.a. to leave suddenly b. to die unexpectedly 2. to talk thoughtlessly and often loudly or angrily

pop-off - noun one who talks loosely or loudly

 

[Handley_Page]

Thank you, Og, for being a better proofreader than I. Value and valve are quite different, indeed. I wonder if anyone has ever written a book about the kinds of souveniers sold at historical events through the ages. Do you know of such a book, Og, O Knower of so many things I cannot keep track? Seriously.

pop off - vi 1.a. to leave suddenly b. to die unexpectedly 2. to talk thoughtlessly and often loudly or angrily

pop-off - noun one who talks loosely or loudly

Many of the historical mysteries I find myself reading of late comment about the sheer junk (medals cast in lead, etc.) by way of memento of a visit.
For years I had a small medal of decent quality of my visit to a the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, till I changed my wallet and filed it "somewhere safe"..

 

[SamScribble]

Henry Moore, the sculptor, once suggested that we tend to notice what interests us. He reckoned that if you are walking along a pebbly beach, and you have an interest in square shapes, then it is the squarer pebbles that will catch your attention. I’m starting to think that his theory may also hold true for words.

Godwottery (an affectedly archaic or elaborate speech or writing; an affected or over-elaborate style of gardening or attitude towards gardens) is a word that I probably haven’t seen since the late 1970s. And yet this past weekend I have come across it four times. Is godwottery becoming more popular? Or is it simply one of my current ‘square pebbles’?

 

[CarlusMagnus]

I'm going with the opposite for a post as already today I've been hit more times than I can count with this as an over-used word:

Awesome.

No, it is not inspiring awe, it was slightly better than the norm but not Earth shattering. I HATE the misuse of this word. Now when things truly are awesome and we describe it as such it becomes such a mundane description. I feel that the word has been taken from my vocabulary.

And don't even get me started on pronouncing it. Awe-sum. Not Awwwwww sum!

GAH!

I think your attitude is just…ummm…awesome!

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Og, I cannot thank you enough for the wonderful information on St. Winifrides' Well. Now, I want to go there, but not to get pregnant. hehe Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip are amazing monarchs that have a pieces of wood on a boat's gunwale supporting or forming the rowlocks

Just a point, Elizabeth is the monarch and Philip is the monarch's consort. Us uncivilised colonials don't appreciate the nuances of the aristocracy.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Just a point, Elizabeth is the monarch and Philip is the monarch's consort. Us uncivilised colonials don't appreciate the nuances of the aristocracy.

And to think, at her age and rank going around consorting with men! Shameful hussy, I'd say!

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Thank you, Og, for being a better proofreader than I. Value and valve are quite different, indeed. I wonder if anyone has ever written a book about the kinds of souveniers sold at historical events through the ages. Do you know of such a book, Og, O Knower of so many things I cannot keep track? Seriously.

<giggle> The etymologyy of 'valve' suggests it comes from 'vulva'. What more 'value' could you ask for?

 

[elfin_odalisque]

And to think, at her age and rank going around consorting with men! Shameful hussy, I'd say!

Exactly! Probably why they've lasted so long.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

<giggle> The etymologyy of 'valve' suggests it comes from 'vulva'. What more 'value' could you ask for?

That gives an interesting slant to the wide variety of Valve-Cocks!

 

[oggbashan]

Thank you, Og, for being a better proofreader than I. Value and valve are quite different, indeed. I wonder if anyone has ever written a book about the kinds of souveniers sold at historical events through the ages. Do you know of such a book, Og, O Knower of so many things I cannot keep track? Seriously.

pop off - vi 1.a. to leave suddenly b. to die unexpectedly 2. to talk thoughtlessly and often loudly or angrily

pop-off - noun one who talks loosely or loudly

Admiral Popoff (or Popov) of the Imperial Russian Navy designed circular battleships as stable gun platforms. They were disasters! One of their faults was that they had six separate engines driving six separate screws and it was an engineer's nightmare trying to coordinate the thrust. When the guns fired, the ship would spin!

Pilgrim Badges were sold to pilgrims at various religious sites in Europe. They are frequently found in the mud of the Thames.

One of my friends is writing a book about souvenirs sold at British Piers. Most were small china objects e.g. Goss Crested China but some were plates or cups decorated with pictures of the relevant Pier.

Victorian Fairings were prizes at stalls or sold at fairs throughout the UK. Several books detail the types of fairings made and sold.

 

[AllardChardon]

I apologize if I offended anyone by calling Prince Phillip a monarch. You are right, Elfin, the nuances of the aristocracy confound me.

Hi, Tio, long time no see or hear. Glad to see you are alive and kicking.

Og, what fascinating reading this morning. I learned so much, thanks to you and the wonderful links you provide for everyone's education. You are priceless. Does the word pop off come from those strange circular battleships and the man that designed them?

pop-in-jay - noun 1. obs: PARROT 2. a strutting supercilious person

 

[oggbashan]

... Does the word pop off come from those strange circular battleships and the man that designed them?

No. Pop off is recorded in the 16th Century.

pop-in-jay - noun 1. obs: PARROT 2. a strutting supercilious person

popinjay (no hyphens) according to the Shorter Oxford has 6 meanings:

1. A parrot. Middle English (obsolete)
2. A representation of a parrot; especially as a heraldic charge or bearing. Middle English.
3. The figure of a parrot fixed on a pole as a mark to shoot at. (obsolete) 1548
4. Figurative - Taken as a type of vanity or empty conceit, and thus applied contemptuously to a person. 1528 [So pestered with a popinjay - Shakespeare King Henry VI Part 1]
5. The prevailing colour of the green parrot; a shade of green. up to 1865
6. A local name of the green woodpecker. 1833

 

[AllardChardon]

Og, thanks for the additional information on popinjay from your new Shorter. I really want one of those, now. Here is an entry I was surprised by;

poor white - noun a member of an inferior or underprivileged white social group - often taken to be offensive

 

[oggbashan]

I can't really add anything to "poor white".

It is a US-specific usage that also became used in South Africa.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

I can't really add anything to "poor white".

It is a US-specific usage that also became used in South Africa.

I'll add something:

In the US, poor white is probably most frequently used as part of the phrase poor white trash.

 

[AllardChardon]

Sad, but true. Poor white trash, or sometimes trailer trash are common degrogatory American terms for people of limited means, which should be the majority of us, here, about now. It must come from the days of slavery, though, to denote the difference between poor whites and poorer blacks.

Poor Clare - noun a nun of an order founded early in the 13th century at Assisi by St. Clare under the direction of St. Francis

 

[oggbashan]

...

Poor Clare - noun a nun of an order founded early in the 13th century at Assisi by St. Clare under the direction of St. Francis

Poor Clares, unlike other orders, originally agreed to own nothing and relied wholly on donations from the public for their food and accommodation. They were mendicants = beggars.

Other orders e.g. Dominican, became wealthy and built substantial structures for monasteries and nunneries (until in England they were suppressed by Henry VIII).

There were White Friars (Carmelites); Black Friars (Dominicans); Austin Friars who also wore black; and the Grey Friars were Franciscans. The Franciscans wore unbleached tunics hence 'grey'. A railway station in the City of London is called Blackfriars because the Dominican Monastery was there.

Later the Franciscans changed their rules so that the order could own money and property not required for immediate use.

More useless information:

The City of Canterbury in Kent still has three monastic buildings: Greyfriars, Blackfriars and the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey. Greyfriars now houses a modern group of Anglican monks. Blackfriars is privately owned and used as a public hall for musical events, music examinations and as a Boy Scout hall. St Augustine's Abbey, once nearly as large as Canterbury Cathedral and the original burial place of St Augustine and the Kings of Kent, was suppressed by Henry VIII. Part of the ruins are now run by English Heritage and open to the public. Surviving buildings were incorporated into a training college for religious studies but now are part of Canterbury Christ Church University.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Og, thanks for the additional information on popinjay from your new Shorter. I really want one of those, now. Here is an entry I was surprised by;

poor white - noun a member of an inferior or underprivileged white social group - often taken to be offensive

...and then there's the Powhite Parkway in central Virginia...

(Yes, I know it's not Southern dialect for "Poor [Po'] White," but we can still have fun with it).

 

[AllardChardon]

Good day, everyone.

Og, I will never say that the information you share is useless. I learn more in a day with you than most teachers I had. Thank you so much for your time and effort. I really appreciate it. I had never heard of the Poor Clares.

Here are two funny ones;

pooh-bah - noun (often in caps) 1. one holding many private or public offices 2. one in high position

pooh-pooh - verb to express contempt or impatience