Seldom-Used Words

[Handley_Page]

Have we reviewed "apposite" yet?


It's a very under-used but often appropriate word.


apposite /apzt/
[L appositus pa. pple of apponere apply, f. ad- AP-1 + ponere to place, put.]
A adj.
1 Well put or applied; appropriate, suitable.
2 Of a person: ready with apt remarks.
B n. Something placed beside or in apposition. rare.
appositely adv.
appositeness n.

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

And have we considered that useful word: "NICE" ?

 

[CarlusMagnus]

Have we reviewed "apposite" yet?

It's a very under-used but often appropriate word.

This is an apposite observation.

 

[AllardChardon]

Good day, everyone. This next one is noted as obsolete;

refel - vt REJECT, REPULSE

 

[Handley_Page]

Good day, everyone. This next one is noted as obsolete;

refel - vt REJECT, REPULSE

it also means CONFUTE (which was another new to me)

con·fute (kn-fyt)
tr.v. con·fut·ed, con·fut·ing, con·futes
1. To prove to be wrong or in error; refute decisively.
2. Obsolete To confound.
[Latin cnftre; see bhau- in Indo-European roots.]
con·futa·ble adj.
con·futa·tive (kn-fyt-tv) adj.
con·futer n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

 

[AllardChardon]

Handley, I do find it very interesting that I have never read or heard some of the words I post and they are often underlined for misspelling.

refect - vt to refresh with food or drink

refection - noun 1. refreshment of mind, spirit, or body; esp: NOURISHMENT 2.a. the taking of refreshment b. food and drink together: REPAST

refectory - noun a dining hall esp. in a monastery

 

[Handley_Page]

Handley, I do find it very interesting that I have never read or heard some of the words I post and they are often underlined for misspelling.

refect - vt to refresh with food or drink

refection - noun 1. refreshment of mind, spirit, or body; esp: NOURISHMENT 2.a. the taking of refreshment b. food and drink together: REPAST

refectory - noun a dining hall esp. in a monastery

[off topic]
I don't know about you, Allard, but I make sure I add them to me dictionary.
[on topic]

 

[oggbashan]

Victual - foodstuff

Victualling - supplying food and drink

Victualling Yard - Place that supplies food and drink (and clothing, kitchen equipment etc) to the Royal Navy.

Victualling Stores Officer - Civilian employee of the Admiralty responsible for some of victualling of the Royal Navy.

Samuel Pepys (he of the diaries) was responsible for the reform of victualling of the Royal Navy which had been done by lowest tenderer and was guilty of corrupt practices, even for that time.

My father was at one time in his long career a Victualling Stores Officer in charge of a large and important Victualling Yard. I just thought it was my large private playground. I liked the smell of the Rum Store.

 

[AllardChardon]

Og, you have an interesting family history and I thank you for sharing it here. I have heard of victuals before, but more often it is vittles, here in America. Now, I can see the two are related.

vittle - noun VICTUAL

 

[oggbashan]

Og, you have an interesting family history and I thank you for sharing it here. I have heard of victuals before, but more often it is vittles, here in America. Now, I can see the two are related.

vittle - noun VICTUAL

It just shows that Americans can't spell - or that we Brits hang on to ancient spellings long after the purpose has gone.

A keeper of a public house in the UK is officially a 'Licensed Victualler' and has a trade association of Licensed Victuallers.

Until recently I held a licence as a Victualler so that my pensioners' group could have Sherry with our Minced Pies at Christmas and Mulled Wine at New Year. One of the committee had to be licensed and I was volunteered to appear before our local magistrates as a 'fit and proper person' suitable for holding a licence.

Part of one of my father's tasks as a Victualling Stores Officer was to buy Sherry from Spain for the whole Royal Navy. In his career he bought over a million bottles and was very popular with the producers in Jerez. We even had private tours of the bodegas personally conducted by members of the owning families.

The Victualling posting in the West Indies was popular - that officer bought all the Rum for the Royal Navy.

The Victualling Officer on board a Royal Navy ship was known as the Purser, usually termed 'Pusser'. Pusser's Rum is supposed to be the closest to the real thing as supplied to the Royal Navy. It isn't. The thick treacly rum supplied to HM Ships had to be diluted even before it could be considered 'neat'.

 

[trysail]

It just shows that Americans can't spell - or that we Brits hang on to ancient spellings long after the purpose has gone.

A keeper of a public house in the UK is officially a 'Licensed Victualler' and has a trade association of Licensed Victuallers.

Until recently I held a licence as a Victualler so that my pensioners' group could have Sherry with our Minced Pies at Christmas and Mulled Wine at New Year. One of the committee had to be licensed and I was volunteered to appear before our local magistrates as a 'fit and proper person' suitable for holding a licence.

Part of one of my father's tasks as a Victualling Stores Officer was to buy Sherry from Spain for the whole Royal Navy. In his career he bought over a million bottles and was very popular with the producers in Jerez. We even had private tours of the bodegas personally conducted by members of the owning families.

The Victualling posting in the West Indies was popular - that officer bought all the Rum for the Royal Navy.

The Victualling Officer on board a Royal Navy ship was known as the Purser, usually termed 'Pusser'. Pusser's Rum is supposed to be the closest to the real thing as supplied to the Royal Navy. It isn't. The thick treacly rum supplied to HM Ships had to be diluted even before it could be considered 'neat'.

I've been a habitué of the Caribees for many years. It was on my 2nd or 3rd trip through West End of Tortola ( a/k/a Soper's Hole ) back in 1983 (?) that I first noticed what was to become the cornerstone of the modern day Pusser's empire. Soper's Hole is a deep, sheltered harbor. Ferries from the U.S. Virgin Islands disgorge hundreds of inter-island passengers at Soper's Hole daily and it is the natural port of entry for yachties arriving from the U.S. to request pratique and clear B.V.I. customs. Thus, it's a highly visible location with a great deal of traffic. When I was young, I had no idea what the word "Pusser's" meant and only remembered it because it was an unusual name ( with vaguely suggestive overtones ).


Over the years, I noticed additional locations in places like Roadtown. Only now— inspired by Og's riff— have I used the internet to sniff out the story behind the modern Pusser's. It turns out that an enterprising fellow by the name of Charles Tobias has built himself a nice little business empire trading on the name which he licensed ( lock, stock and barrel ) from the Admiralty Board of The Royal Navy. There are now retail locations in both the mainland U.S. and in continental Europe in addition to a very upscale hotel on the B.V.I.'s tiny Marina Cay.

Traditional Royal Navy Toasts - In the early days, up until about 1900, the officers also received rum. In the Ward Room of the Officers Quarters, the daily dinner ritual (at noon) was to toast the reigning monarch, which was then followed by the toast of the day. This ritual is still in effect. The toasts are:

Monday: Our ships at sea.
Tuesday:Our men.
Wednesday: Ourselves.
Thursday: A bloody war and quick promotion.
Friday: A willing soul and sea room.
Saturday: Sweethearts and wives, may they never meet.
Sunday: Absent friends and those at sea.

 

[trysail]

clochard • n., a vagrant, a tramp.






I stumbled across the word in Pat Conroy's My Reading Life. I've been a reader my whole life; how is it possible that I've never seen this word before?

...There were clochards of Paris— the winos, the dispossessed who lived beneath the bridges and in the metro stations. There were the injured, aggrieved men whom I would find sleeping on heated grates during rainstorms or throwing up on the benches of the metro stations. The vomit in the metro is always red, the color of table wine favored by the clochards. They are licensed by the city of Paris, and it must be a grim existential moment in a human life when you decide to register your name officially as a clochard...

 

[AllardChardon]

There are no words to express the appreciation I have for the contributors of this thread and the knowledge they impart. I truly enjoyed this mornings read, Og and Trysail. Pusser is a funny word for the position, I agree, and rum so thick it had to be diluted to be drinkable is truly amazing. I would like to try that sometime. And may we never be in a position to register as a clochard in any country.

I had to look this word up, Trysail;

pratique - noun clearance given an incoming ship by the health authority of a port

 

[oggbashan]

Purser/Pusser

A Purser is still a Merchant Navy position, usually the Officer who deals with bookings for the ship, and complaints from passengers.

A Pusser is the Royal Navy term for the Supply Officer and has several derived expressions. Here are some:

Pusser's Camel - A Wren (basic rank of the Women's Royal Naval Service)
Pusser's Crabfat - warship grey paint
Pusser's dabs - white plimsoll shoes
Pusser's dip - candle
Pusser's dirk - seaman's clasp knife
Pussers duck - Walrus aircraft (Shagbat) or a seagull
Pusser's dust - cheap instant coffee
Pusser's fix-all - WD-40
Pusser's leaf - rolled tobacco

Definitions courtesy of Jackspeak: The Pusser's Rum Guide to Royal Navy Slanguage by Rick Jolly, 1989.

There are other expressions that Jackspeak couldn't print...

 

[oggbashan]

I had to look this word up, Trysail;

pratique - noun clearance given an incoming ship by the health authority of a port

If a ship entering port had fever on board, they had to fly the "Yellow Jack" and would be quarantined before anyone was allowed ashore. The Yellow Jack gave the port authorities the opportunity to take precautions before boarding the ship and/or providing supplies. Pratique could not be given to a ship flying the Yellow Jack.

With modern communications, flying such a flag is unnecessary.

 

[AllardChardon]

Og, I can only imagine the other words Jackspeak could not include in that list. Slanguage is a great word on its own. Is its origin from the same book or was slanguage used before then? I also wonder why yellow was picked as the disease color. Was it because of yellow fever?

I looked up slang and found argot;

argot - noun 1. a special vocabulary and idiom used by a particular underworld group esp. as a means of private communication 2. the language of a particular social group or class

I would imagine Pig Latin, so popular when I was a kid, is considered an argot.

 

[oggbashan]

Og, I can only imagine the other words Jackspeak could not include in that list. Slanguage is a great word on its own. Is its origin from the same book or was slanguage used before then? I also wonder why yellow was picked as the disease color. Was it because of yellow fever?

...

I think that slanguage is older than that book but I don't have time to check before I go on holiday in a few minutes.

Yellow - yes, yellow fever. There is a whole language of naval flags. There is an international code, and navies used to use their own so that enemies couldn't read the signals.

A piece of nautical trivia: Nelson's signal at Trafalgar "England expects that every man will do his duty" was going to be "England confides..." until a signal lieutenant advised Nelson that 'expects' was one flag and 'confides' would be eight...

There are many ancient naval jokes about incorrectly sent or read signals. The most well-known one is:

Signal from Flagship to Malta Dockyard: "Send Admiral's woman urgently."

Malta Dockyard to Flagship: "Interrogative" (a single flag meaning "What?")

Flagship to Malta Dockyard: "Insert 'washer' between Admiral and Woman."

 

[Handley_Page]

From HMS Renown after beating off a determined attack from dive bombers: (An earlier signal had identified that they were under attack from 11 aircraft.)

"Seven dive bombers will not bat in second innings."

I really do wish I could lay my hands on a copy of this book:

http://graymonk.mu.nu/archives/2004/02/make_a_signal.html

 

[AllardChardon]

I must learn more about signal flags, because I find them so fascinating. Thanks, gentlemen, for the laugh this morning.

redemptioner - noun an immigrant to America in the 18th and 19th centuries obtaining passage by becoming an indentured servant

 

[Handley_Page]

I must learn more about signal flags, because I find them so fascinating. Thanks, gentlemen, for the laugh this morning.

redemptioner - noun an immigrant to America in the 18th and 19th centuries obtaining passage by becoming an indentured servant

See:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_maritime_signal_flags

Please note the Yellow Flag, "Q". (Quebec)
"My vessel is 'healthy' and I request free pratique."

 

[AllardChardon]

Thanks, Handley for the information on signal flags. I have heard many of those names for the letters spoken over the radio in war movies and did not know their origin.

recusancy - noun refusal to accept or obey established authority; specif: the refusal of Roman Catholics to attend services of the Church of England constituting a statutory offense from about 1570 to 1791

 

[bumblegrum]

I'm not sure whther this comes within the compass of this thread, but there are a number of words that attribute animal characteristics to humans. We all know "canine" and "feline" but there are others that might be useful.

I particularly like "lupine" (like a wolf) and "vulpine" (like a fox).

"The helpless maiden trembled as the sinister squire moved closer. 'Aha, me proud beauty, what will you sacrifice to save your brother's life,' he demanded as a lupine smirk crossed his evil face."

or

"The headmaster was hardly noticed as he slipped into the girls dormitory in a vulpine skulk."

And then there is "passerine" (like a sparrow) or "bovine", (like an ox).

"The small, delicate woman toyed with her food in a passerine manner while her companion sat, stolid and bovine."

And there are a bunch more.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

Handley Page: Strange, I have always believed that a “Blue Peter” was something entirely different.

Edward Teach: Hi, pirate. I’ve been busy being naturalized, a long drawn-out process which finally turned me into a new Canadian.

I lost my old avatar somewhere during the move, and feel positively naked without it. I’m still working on a stage, but now I share it with a small improvisational comedy troupe and get to keep my clothes on.

Vomitorium is a word one is likely to take wrong the first time one encounters it. It is taken from ancient Rome, and indicates an access passage in and out of a theater.

 

[Handley_Page]

Handley Page: Strange, I have always believed that a “Blue Peter” was something entirely different.

Vomitorium is a word one is likely to take wrong the first time one encounters it. It is taken from ancient Rome, and indicates an access passage in and out of a theater.

also reputed to be a place in a house where guests could vomit safely to make way for more food.

 

[AllardChardon]

bubblegrum, all words, seldom-used, archaic, obsolete and current, are fair game here.

Virtual B, it is nice to have another woman on board, although I do enjoy going it alone with these engaging gents, more often than not.

A bit more for the right/hand, left/hand discussion, for anyone who is interested;

recto - noun 1. the side of a leaf (as a manuscript) that is to be read first 2. a right-hand page - compare VERSO

 

[trysail]

Handley Page: Strange, I have always believed that a “Blue Peter” was something entirely different...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/ICS_Papa.svg/200px-ICS_Papa.svg.png​

I was unable to locate the beginning of a discussion about the "Blue Peter." While I am aware that Her Majesty's subjects may associate the phrase with a long running BBC program aimed at children, the traditional maritime usage is:"A blue signal flag with white square in the center, hoisted on the foremast by merchant vessels to indicate that the vessel is ready to sail."