Seldom-used words - M to A

[Handley_Page]

Good day, posters.

logical positivism - noun (1931) a 20th century philosophical movement holding that all meaningful statements are either analytic or conclusively verifiable or at least confirmable by observation and experiment and that metaphysical theories are therefore strictly meaningless - called also logical empiricism

Reminds me of Stan Freeberg. (see here ).
"Just gimme the facts, Ma'am, just the facts".

 

[AllardChardon]

Very nice, Handley, thanks for contributing it.

Well, folks, I am off to LA to celebrate my youngest niece's nuptials and will be gone for a week. Please, feel free to post anything that tickles your fancy. I'll miss your company and look forward to catching up when I get back.

loggia - noun (1742) a roofed open gallery esp. at an upper story overlooking an open court

 

[Handley_Page]

Very nice, Handley, thanks for contributing it.

Well, folks, I am off to LA to celebrate my youngest niece's nuptials and will be gone for a week. Please, feel free to post anything that tickles your fancy. I'll miss your company and look forward to catching up when I get back.

loggia - noun (1742) a roofed open gallery esp. at an upper story overlooking an open court

I wonder what they called it in earlier centuries ?

 

[AllardChardon]

I have returned and I am glad to be back.

Handley, I am not sure what they called it before, but I bet Og does.

loggerhead - noun (1588) 1. chiefly dial a. blockhead b. head; especially: a disproportionately large head 2.a. a very large chiefly carnivorous sea turtle (Caretta caretta) of subtropical and temperate waters b. ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE 3. an iron tool consisting of a long handle terminating in a ball or bulb that is heated and used to melt tar or to heat liquids — at loggerheads: in or into a state of quarrelsome disagreement

 

[oggbashan]

loggia - noun (1742) a roofed open gallery esp. at an upper story overlooking an open court

I wonder what they called it in earlier centuries ?

I have returned and I am glad to be back.

Handley, I am not sure what they called it before, but I bet Og does.

The distinctive feature of a loggia was that it was only accessible from inside the building. Some were like large balconies. It was a feature of C17th grand Italian architecture.

The earlier feature was a peristyle, some of which were at the entrance or ground floor front of a building, and some were internal as in Roman houses where the peristyle surrounded the internal courtyard or Atrium, usually with a water feature at the centre - the impluvium.

This is a peristyle from Pompeii:

https://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/140/flashcards/270140/png/peristyle_of_house_of_thevettii1350003695967.png

There were earlier peristyles from Ancient Greece and Egypt but they are usually described as peristyles which was a later term.

Some monastic houses had cloisters which were only accessible from inside the monastery buildings. A few had two tier cloisters. The upper cloister could be a loggia. But cloisters were modelled on Roman peristyles, not loggias.

This is a two-tier cloister from Lisbon, Portugal. The upper level could be called a loggia.

http://cdn3.vtourist.com/19/6380344-The_Great_Cloister_Lisbon.jpg?version=2

 

[AllardChardon]

Wonderful pictures, Og. Thank you for posting them and answering Handley's question at the same time.

logaoedic - adj (1844) marked by the mixture of several meters; specif: having a rhythm that uses both dactyls and trochees or anapests and iambs

 

[AllardChardon]

Hello, posters. I have become an Ancient Aliens addict and cannot seem to tear myself away. Ah, the wonders of television programming.

loess - noun (1833) an unstratified usually buff to yellowish brown loamy deposit found in No. America, Europe, and Asia and believed to be chiefly deposited by the wind

 

[JackLuis]

Hello, posters. I have become an Ancient Aliens addict and cannot seem to tear myself away. Ah, the wonders of television programming.

loess - noun (1833) an unstratified usually buff to yellowish brown loamy deposit found in No. America, Europe, and Asia and believed to be chiefly deposited by the wind

Here is a site you might like, an article on Concubines, so Laural doesn't get strappy. If you look thru the site there is a lot of actual factual info on ancient civilizations history, cultures and stuff.

I was in China during the windy season and the air was filled with loess and coal smoke. It was worse than LA in the '70's.

 

[AllardChardon]

JackLuis, thank you very much for posting that interesting link to ancient concubines.

lode-stone also load-stone - noun (ca.1515) 1. magnetite possessing polarity 2. something that strongly attracts

 

[ishtat]

Loess again

There are vast deposits of Loess in Northern China and Inner Mongolia. When it rains, millions of tons are washed down China's rivers forming the huge fertile (rice) plains. The Huang Ho(river) is called the Yellow river in English because of the discolouration caused by loess sediment in the water.

Arguably Loess is responsible for the existence of 1 billion Chinese people because without this soil resource it would not be possible to feed them.

 

[Handley_Page]

Glass of something refreshing, People ?

 

[AllardChardon]

ishtat, thank you for joining us and providing that interesting information about loess and the rice paddies of China. It makes sense.

It does not surprise me this word is as old as it is;

lode-star also load-star - noun (14c) 1. archaic: a star that leads or guides; esp: NORTH STAR 2. one that serves as an inspiration, model, or guide

 

[CarlusMagnus]

ishtat, thank you for joining us and providing that interesting information about loess and the rice paddies of China. It makes sense.

It does not surprise me this word is as old as it is;

lode-star also load-star - noun (14c) 1. archaic: a star that leads or guides; esp: NORTH STAR 2. one that serves as an inspiration, model, or guide

The first syllable is interesting, appearing as it does in other English words—notably lodestone.

My on-line dictionary contains little we don't already know regarding the meaning of lode, except maybe for "a rich vein of metal," in which sense the word is hardly seldom-used. But it gives this in addition to the definition:

lode |lōd|

ORIGIN Old English lād ‘way, course,’ variant of load. The term denoted a watercourse in late Middle English and a lodestone in the early 16th cent. The current sense dates from the early 17th cent.

 

[oggbashan]

The first syllable is interesting, appearing as it does in other English words—notably lodestone.

My on-line dictionary contains little we don't already know regarding the meaning of lode, except maybe for "a rich vein of metal," in which sense the word is hardly seldom-used. But it gives this in addition to the definition:

lode |lōd|

ORIGIN Old English lād ‘way, course,’ variant of load. The term denoted a watercourse in late Middle English and a lodestone in the early 16th cent. The current sense dates from the early 17th cent.

<An aside>: The origin shown by Carlus shows one of the pitfalls of writing historic fiction. If you are writing about the Vikings for example then it is known that some of them used suspended lodestones as a magnetic compass.

BUT they wouldn't/couldn't have called it a lodestone because the word didn't exist (and they weren't speaking English anyway!).

I have had a couple of troll comments to the effect that the characters wouldn't have spoken like that then. While true, if I wrote as if I was of that era and recording a current event, very few people would understand my story.

I can accept comments about obvious anachronisms such as the striking clock in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, or my mention of a DVD in a story written apparently set in the 1960s (now corrected).

In my historic stories I try to make my conversations understandable and not obviously modern. Georgette Heyer is my ideal historic author. If she uses an unusual slang word during the Regency period that word was in current use at the time the story was set, and she could prove it by references. Yet she didn't write as a Regency author would have done because that would restrict her fiction to an audience of a few academics.

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are difficult to read in the original but that is possible. Earlier writings need specialist knowledge but that shouldn't stop us writing about the Anglo-Saxons or even the Stone Age.

<End of aside>.

 

[AllardChardon]

Carlus, my dictionary also says lode was a waterway in England. I found that interesting, thanks for elaborating.

Og, I have spent hours and hours trying to make sure my vocabulary usage for 1857 is correct. It can be rather hard to track down, so reading authors from the time helps me a lot. Thanks for sharing your informative aside.

loden - noun (1911) 1. a thick woolen cloth used for outer clothing 2. a variable color averaging a dull grayish green

 

[oggbashan]

Carlus, my dictionary also says lode was a waterway in England. I found that interesting, thanks for elaborating.

Og, I have spent hours and hours trying to make sure my vocabulary usage for 1857 is correct. It can be rather hard to track down, so reading authors from the time helps me a lot. Thanks for sharing your informative aside.

loden - noun (1911) 1. a thick woolen cloth used for outer clothing 2. a variable color averaging a dull grayish green

Loden is native to Austria, and the best loden garments still come from Austria:

Loden cloth is a water-resistant, light and warm fabric created in the Middle Ages by Tyrolese monks and first introduced to the nobility by the Emperor Franz Josef of Austria.

http://www.lodenhaus.com.ar/?lng=en

http://www.austria.info/us/passion-for-tradition/schladming-loden-1612059.html

https://img1.etsystatic.com/000/0/5511624/il_570xN.90471049.jpg

 

[AllardChardon]

Og, and to think I almost did not post loden, much older than my dictionary indicated. I learn so much from your posts and links, thank you ever so much.

I must add this one for LIT's sake;

locution - noun 1. a particular form of expression or a peculiarity of phrasing; esp: a word or expression characteristic of a region, group, or cultural level 2. style of discourse: PHRASEOLOGY

 

[oggbashan]

Og, and to think I almost did not post loden, much older than my dictionary indicated. I learn so much from your posts and links, thank you ever so much.

I must add this one for LIT's sake;

locution - noun 1. a particular form of expression or a peculiarity of phrasing; esp: a word or expression characteristic of a region, group, or cultural level 2. style of discourse: PHRASEOLOGY

The more usual form is elocution - the precise way of delivering a speech.

The Victorian and Edwardian styles of elocution in the UK were very stylised, requiring specific gestures to accompany particular words e.g. any reference to God or Heaven should be said with the right index finger pointing upwards.

 

[Handley_Page]

I think we might mention circumlocution.

Expression of meaning indirectly or in more words than necessary; evasive talk; an instance of this, a roundabout expression.


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Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary
Copyright © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

[AllardChardon]

Og, I am surprised by mandatory hand gestures to accompany certain words, but I do remember seeing them in action. I thought it was a personal preference instead of requirement. Thanks for telling me the truth.

Handley, what a lovely addition, thank you for posting it.

This is news to me;

locust bean - noun (1847) CAROB

 

[oggbashan]

Og, I am surprised by mandatory hand gestures to accompany certain words, but I do remember seeing them in action. I thought it was a personal preference instead of requirement. Thanks for telling me the truth.

...

There is even an App for it:

http://www.concordia.ca/cunews/main...try-with-help-of-19th-century-iphone-app.html

Here's a few comic versions of The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj2xG6e218E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3vHlFu3yRM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__R1VoGrTdI

Notice that many of the gestures are standard.

Many years ago I used to perform this.

 

[oggbashan]

...

This is news to me;

locust bean - noun (1847) CAROB

We Brits weren't satisfied with the local words for food, hence locust bean.

We used to say that peanuts were ground-nuts, and that peanut butter was that confusing compound: 'ground ground-nuts'.

Our post war socialist government lost a lot of cash in a failed scheme to grow ground-nuts in Africa. It was such a colossal failure that they changed the British usage to peanuts, to try to hide the truth of their ground-nut failure.

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

 

[Handley_Page]

That had me in tears of laughter.
Thank you

And, typical of a Governmental fcuk-up, they stamped on reporting about it.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

Our post war socialist government lost a lot of cash in a failed scheme to grow ground-nuts in Africa. It was such a colossal failure that they changed the British usage to peanuts, to try to hide the truth of their ground-nut failure.

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

Probably because they were afraid of the scorn they would face.

It was certainly a well-grounded fear.

 

[AllardChardon]

Og, I agree with Handley, that was very funny. Which part did you play, the reciter or the hand gesturer? Ground ground-nuts, huh? Won't grow in Tanganyika? Peanuts do so well in our hot and humid South. Handley and Carlus are probably right about telling on themselves to avoid being exposed.

locus coeruleus also locus ceruleus - noun [NL, lit., dark blue place] (1858) a bluish area of the brain stem with many norepinephrine-containing neurons