Seldom-used words - M to A

[AllardChardon]

My local public broadcasting station, PBS, is playing a history of the Greeks. In episode 2, the ancient galley, called a trireme, which included illustrations, was featured. What a fantastic naval weapon. So, I digress temporarily;

trireme - noun (1600) an ancient galley having three banks of oars

Trireme is obviously much older than its dictionary entry.

 

[Handley_Page]

My local public broadcasting station, PBS, is playing a history of the Greeks. In episode 2, the ancient galley, called a trireme, which included illustrations, was featured. What a fantastic naval weapon. So, I digress temporarily;

trireme - noun (1600) an ancient galley having three banks of oars

Trireme is obviously much older than its dictionary entry.

There were similar vessels with more or fewer ranks of oars.
"Quinquimarine from Nineveh
by famous Ophir" (or something.it had five blokes on the oars, or so I was told.
'Cargoes' by John Masefield

The Persians under Xerxes had a a great many of the warrior Triremes, but they proved to have problems in Rough Seas.

 

[oggbashan]

My local public broadcasting station, PBS, is playing a history of the Greeks. In episode 2, the ancient galley, called a trireme, which included illustrations, was featured. What a fantastic naval weapon. So, I digress temporarily;

trireme - noun (1600) an ancient galley having three banks of oars

Trireme is obviously much older than its dictionary entry.

Triremes, equipped with massive bronze rams, were used in sea battles between the Roman Republic and Carthage. At the site of an ancient sea battle some of the bronze rams have been found. The Carthaginian rams were inscribed with invocations to the Gods. The Roman ones had details of which politician ordered and paid for them. Politicians have always wanted credit for their spending of public money!

 

[AllardChardon]

Thanks, Handley and Og, for the additional info on these ancient ships. Lately, the older the information, the more interesting it is to me.

This next word reminds me of Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi".

leadsman - noun (ca. 1841) a man who uses a sounding lead to determine depth of water

 

[Handley_Page]

Thanks, Handley and Og, for the additional info on these ancient ships. Lately, the older the information, the more interesting it is to me.

This next word reminds me of Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi".

leadsman - noun (ca. 1841) a man who uses a sounding lead to determine depth of water

The leadsman was a very important man when entering an islet or strange harbour.
The lead had a piece of wax, tallow or similar in the recess at the bottom, so that a small sample could be examined, in addition to the primary function of depth of water under the keel.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

The leadsman was a very important man when entering an islet or strange harbour.
The lead had a piece of way…

"…a piece of wax," that is.

 

[oggbashan]

"Swinging the lead" was a highly skilled task. Getting it right when a ship was still under way involved throwing the lead just far enough that the weight hit the bottom when the line was vertical.

"Swinging the lead" was also a euphemism for not working hard. A skilled leadsman was a valuable seaman who was usually exempt from some of the more unpleasant seamen's duties.

In some waters unpleasant things could come up with the lead line causing severe rashes on the leadsman's hands making him unfit for duty, so 'swinging the lead' could also mean pretending to be sick.

Although leadsmen were essential in unfamiliar coastal waters many of their fellow seamen didn't understand how skilled and how important the leadsman's task was.

 

[Handley_Page]

"…a piece of wax," that is.

Thank you.
And I've added the rest of the hitherto invisible text. . . .

 

[NaokoSmith]

There were similar vessels with more or fewer ranks of oars.
"Quinquimarine from Nineveh
by famous Ophir" (or something.it had five blokes on the oars, or so I was told.
'Cargoes' by John Masefield

The Persians under Xerxes had a a great many of the warrior Triremes, but they proved to have problems in Rough Seas.

I love that poem, full of exotic words - like 'moidores' (which I expect was done when you did 'M's.)

I've been watching Pride and Prejudice, the 1980 version scripted by Fay Weldon - which is my favourite adaptation. ("It is a truth universally acknowledged that Fay Weldon's five-part adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is the most faithful screen version to date of Jane Austen's original novel." as the BFI put it.) Also the 2005 film, and I have even been reading the book version by someone called Jane Austen . So I have been coming across lots of seldom used words recently. I'll try to make a note as I go along so I can bring some back in here.

 

[Handley_Page]

I love that poem, full of exotic words - like 'moidores' (which I expect was done when you did 'M's.)

I've been watching Pride and Prejudice, the 1980 version scripted by Fay Weldon - which is my favourite adaptation. ("It is a truth universally acknowledged that Fay Weldon's five-part adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is the most faithful screen version to date of Jane Austen's original novel." as the BFI put it.) Also the 2005 film, and I have even been reading the book version by someone called Jane Austen . So I have been coming across lots of seldom used words recently. I'll try to make a note as I go along so I can bring some back in here.

Welcome Back, Duchess

 

[AllardChardon]

Handley, Og, and Carlus, the additional information you gentlemen add to the entries I post make the words mean so much more and I thank you for that. The part about bringing up a sample of the earth I found especially interesting.

Naoko, it looks like you already brought a new word - moidore, which I will post below. It's lovely to have you drop by and I have always loved Pride and Prejudice immensely. I was a very proud young lady myself, so I could relate.

moidore - noun a gold coin of Portugal and Brazil that was minted from about 1640 to 1732 and contained 4.93 grams of fine gold; also: a corresponding unit of value

 

[oggbashan]

Handley, Og, and Carlus, the additional information you gentlemen add to the entries I post make the words mean so much more and I thank you for that. The part about bringing up a sample of the earth I found especially interesting.

Naoko, it looks like you already brought a new word - moidore, which I will post below. It's lovely to have you drop by and I have always loved Pride and Prejudice immensely. I was a very proud young lady myself, so I could relate.

moidore - noun a gold coin of Portugal and Brazil that was minted from about 1640 to 1732 and contained 4.93 grams of fine gold; also: a corresponding unit of value

The most significant coin in early American history was the Spanish Pieces of Eight - a silver coin worth 8 reals - which was the world's most used currency in the 18th Century. The US silver dollar was based on the value of a Spanish Piece of Eight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_dollar

 

[Tio_Narratore]

The most significant coin in early American history was the Spanish Pieces of Eight - a silver coin worth 8 reals - which was the world's most used currency in the 18th Century. The US silver dollar was based on the value of a Spanish Piece of Eight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_dollar

and since it was commonly cut into eight pieces to make smaller denomination, a "quarter" was "two bits."

 

[NaokoSmith]

I'm so pleased that I did bring a word in after all

And to get that useful information about money. I love it in Pirates of the Caribbean when there are 'nine pieces of eight', there are a lot of silly yet hilarious jokes like that in the films.

I've started watching the 1995 Pride and Prejudice now, lots of the speech has been modernised in that one but I'm sure there must be a word or two thrown in for period feel.

I'll just bring in one of my favourite poems for today: 'This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison'. I so like the image of the humble-bee singing in the bean flower. In fact I like it so much that I planted some beans this year in my vegetable patch, but sadly the slugs found them and ate the tops off them so they are not growing properly any more. There was one little red flower on it! but before I could take a photo of it, the slugs ate that too

 

[Handley_Page]

I'm so pleased that I did bring a word in after all

And to get that useful information about money. I love it in Pirates of the Caribbean when there are 'nine pieces of eight', there are a lot of silly yet hilarious jokes like that in the films.

I've started watching the 1995 Pride and Prejudice now, lots of the speech has been modernised in that one but I'm sure there must be a word or two thrown in for period feel.

I'll just bring in one of my favourite poems for today: 'This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison'. I so like the image of the humble-bee singing in the bean flower. In fact I like it so much that I planted some beans this year in my vegetable patch, but sadly the slugs found them and ate the tops off them so they are not growing properly any more. There was one little red flower on it! but before I could take a photo of it, the slugs ate that too

I believe one can get slug pellets which do not harm cats /pets.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

I believe one can get slug pellets which do not harm cats /pets.

Slugs are pretty much like your standard pub crawlers: put out a beer and they'll drown themselves in it. (A small pet bowl with sides the slugs can climb works well).

 

[NaokoSmith]

You can get copper rings too - apparently slugs hate copper as it does something to their slime (ugh!). Unfortunately I have to save up for some other things so I can't get the copper rings this year, but next year I will.

I lost my faith in the beer method one year when we had some leftover Welsh beer that was so vile even the Fella wouldn't drink it. I had a great idea, and I put it out as a slug trap! But even the slugs wouldn't drink it! (Brains S.A. for those who want to avoid it.) Thankfully Welsh beer has dramatically improved since those days.

Have you had lodestar and lodestone yet? Presumably they derive from the same origins - as they are both things which draw others on. Lodestone is apparently a magnetised stone, and the word has become used for something which attracts people, as in this quote from Mark Twain:
But the most gratifying thing of all was, that chance strangers, passing through, who had not heard of my picture, were not only drawn to it, as by a lodestone, the moment they entered the gallery, but always took it for a "Turner."

 

[oggbashan]

You can get copper rings too - apparently slugs hate copper as it does something to their slime (ugh!). Unfortunately I have to save up for some other things so I can't get the copper rings this year, but next year I will.

Copper tape to put around plant pots shouldn't be that expensive, but HP's suggestion of pet friendly slug pellets is probably more effective.

I lost my faith in the beer method one year when we had some leftover Welsh beer that was so vile even the Fella wouldn't drink it. I had a great idea, and I put it out as a slug trap! But even the slugs wouldn't drink it! (Brains S.A. for those who want to avoid it.) Thankfully Welsh beer has dramatically improved since those days.

Brains S.A. - no wonder the slugs rejected it. That was the brewery that made Welsh Beer a byword for stomach upsets.

Have you had lodestar and lodestone yet? Presumably they derive from the same origins - as they are both things which draw others on. Lodestone is apparently a magnetised stone, and the word has become used for something which attracts people, as in this quote from Mark Twain:
But the most gratifying thing of all was, that chance strangers, passing through, who had not heard of my picture, were not only drawn to it, as by a lodestone, the moment they entered the gallery, but always took it for a "Turner."

lodestone was used by some Viking sailors. They didn't know how to make magnets but they could use suspended lodestone to make a crude compass to point to Magnetic North.

lodestar is usually Polaris - the North Star to which a lodestone will (or should) point. Polaris is a better indicator of North than a lodestone, but not always visible. The meaning of lodestar was extended to mean ANY star used for navigation, but a lodestone will only point to Polaris.

 

[Weird Harold]

Copper tape to put around plant pots shouldn't be that expensive, but HP's suggestion of pet friendly slug pellets is probably more effective.

Any sort of copper wire is probable even cheaper; it would just take a little effort to strip the insulation and expose the wire. Short lengths might even be available for free around any construction site.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Or I could do like a lot of people do round here and trespass on the railway lines to nick some! causing the signalling to break down and trains to be backed up from here to Londinium.

I will think about all those things next year. Sadly this year it's too late for my beans and cauliflowers and even the two little pea plants They were doing so well *sigh*.

I'm thinking about raised beds too. Raised beds look so professional and rustic, and I believe they give the slugs a little more pause for thought.

 

[oggbashan]

...

I'm thinking about raised beds too. Raised beds look so professional and rustic, and I believe they give the slugs a little more pause for thought.

It didn't work for us. The snails and slugs treated the raised beds like a smorgasbord - until we used pet-friendly slug pellets. I removed over 100 dead snails from the raised beds.

Back to lodestone - Rudyard Kipling used one in his book Puck of Pook's Hill - The Knights of the Joyous Venture.

 

[Handley_Page]

Duchess,
What size copper wire rings do you need?

 

[oggbashan]

Duchess,
What size copper wire rings do you need?

Apparently copper wire doesn't work and copper tape isn't very effective:

http://www.gardenmyths.com/how-to-get-rid-slugs-with-copper/

 

[Handley_Page]

Apparently copper wire doesn't work and copper tape isn't very effective:

http://www.gardenmyths.com/how-to-get-rid-slugs-with-copper/

Ah well, back to the chemistry, then. . . .

 

[beachbum1958]

Ah well, back to the chemistry, then. . . .

wrong thread, apologies