[Blind Sapper]

A buffle-humping stumpledumpagus!

[Blind Sapper]

Sorry for the misunderstanding, everyone...I thought that I had put up an "I'm kidding" post, but it seems I haven't.

Of course I am continuing this thread, I only posted what I did because I had missed the deadline again. I was sure that I had said "I'm joking"...but that is the past. Sorry for the inconvenience. Keep posting words, more on wednesday!

[worry]

Do you know another word for "betrayal"?

[Blind Sapper]

Synonyms for betrayal: treachery, perfidy, treason, a display of disloyalty, a judas' kiss, a brutus' knife...one who performs one of these may be called a turncloak, a Judas Iscariot, a Brutus or Cassius, a Benedict Arnold.

Also...synonyms for apology: concession, atonement, mitigation, restitution...latin: "mea culpa", American vernacular: "my bad".

 bone.jpg (6.87K)
Number of downloads: 0

[Gust Hubb]

High tongue from DnD:

Prestidigitation: magic tricks performed as entertainment

[Blind Sapper]

I've always wondered what a "prestidigitorium" was, ever since I watched The Sword in the Stone.

Saying "please" is a common way to be polite when requesting something. It has lost some baggage over the years, however. The original saying was "If it please(s) you". It was eventually ground down (as many words are) into a nice, quick, "please".

This makes me wonder how much nonsense we are speaking when we say things.

[worry]

Well for me, I'd estimate the percentage somewhere in the high 90s.

[Geer]

Not quite the Bargast's shoulder bones in flames, but interesting nonetheless, I think:

haruspex\huh-RUSS-peks\



noun



: a diviner in ancient Rome basing his predictions oninspection of the entrails of sacrificial animals



The haruspex declared that the outcome of the battlewould be favorable.



"Haruspex" was formed in Latin by thecombination of "haru-" (which is akin to "chordē," theGreek word for "gut") and "-spex" (from the verb"specere," meaning "to look"). Appropriately,"haruspex" can be roughly defined as "one who looks atguts." The ancient Romans had a number of ways of determining whether thegods approved of a particular course of action. Such divination was called"augury," and a haruspex was a type of "augur," an officialdiviner of ancient Rome. (Other augurs divined the will of the gods throughslightly less gruesome means, such as observing the behavior of birds ortracking celestial phenomena.) "Haruspex," like "augur,"has developed a general sense of "one who prophesies," but this useis somewhat rare.

[Gust Hubb]

Sounds like modern day surgeons...

[Blind Sapper]

I have heard the word "augury" used in relating to a premonition or method ofclairvoyance, almost always involving birds...particularly ravens.
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Word of the Week: 3/28/2012: Catharsis: n, the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.

Victor liked to let off steam by pretending to conduct "Thus Spake Zarathustra" in his head; this catharsis was the only way he tolerated his career as a lowly shoeshiner.

Catharsis: Etymology: 1803, from Latinized form of Gk. katharsis "purging, cleansing," from kathairein "to purify, purge," from katharos "pure, clear of dirt, clean, spotless; open, free; clear of shame or guilt; purified," with most of the extended senses now found in Modern English clear, clean, pure, of unknown origin. Originally medical in English; of emotions from 1872; psychotherapy sense first recorded 1909, in Brill's translation of Freud
Shamelessly copy/pasted from etymonline.com



Catharsis was an important part ofAncient Greek life; even in Athens, a city of hard-working, intellectual people, there were a few days set aside for riotous pleasure and general shenanigans, in which great comedies and tragedi were displayedupon the stage. Here, in the festival of Dionysus, God of wine and merriment, emotional cleansing(catharsis) was found.


Etymology of an Idiom: A special request by our very own Gust Hubb: "To bone up" for something: To rigorously study or prepare for something, often a test or examination.
There are two chief theories as to the origin of this phrase. One is that it derives from the practise of using bones to polish leather. So, to 'bone up' on a subject was to polish or refine one's knowledge. The second theory relates to the Victorian bookseller Henry George Bohn (1796-1884). He produced a large catalogue of books, including many study texts.

Early citations of the phrase in print, of which there are very few, don't support either idea. Bone was used as a verb meaning 'to study' from the early 19th century onward. The first known citation that explicitly use 'bone up' is in Tenting on Plains by Elizabeth Custer (wife of General George Custer), 1887:

"I have known the General to 'bone-up', as his West Point phrase expressed it, on the smallest details of some question at issue."

The Bohn story has the feel of something retro-fitted to the facts. If it really were true we might expect to find some 19th century reference that linked Bohn name with the phrase, or some example of 'Bohn up' in print. Nevertheless, the term must have come from somewhere, so the polishing with bone seems the most probable. Without further evidence the origin remains uncertain.



Quote:

You have a cough? Go home tonight, eat a whole box of Ex-Lax, tomorrow you'll be afraid to cough." - Pearl Williams

This post has been edited by TheBlindSapper: 29 March 2012 - 02:48 AM

[Ain't_It_Just_]

Prosody: The stress, rhythm and intonation of speech. Found it in Dickens' "Hard Times".

[Blind Sapper]

I wish there was some way that the ancient civilizations of the world could have accurately documented the prosody of their speech. Then dead languages could be spoken properly.
=============================================================================================================

Agamogenesis: n, Reproduction by non-sexual means; asexual reproduction

Bob-Dude, I was playing pokemon the other day, and I started wondering if it’s even possible for some of them to reproduce. I mean, I’m pretty sure two rocks cannot make babies.

Bub-It probably all happens through agamogenesis.

Etymology of: “Not my cup of tea” : Not to my liking, not in my taste

If something isn't your cup of tea then you don't like it.

It's often used with 'really' which acts as a softener.

- It's not my cup of tea = I don't like it

- It's not really my cup of tea = I don't like it very much



In the early 20th century, a 'cup of tea' was such a synonym for acceptability that it became the name given to a favoured friend, especially one with a boisterous, life-enhancing nature. William de Morgan, the Edwardian artist and novelist, used the phrase in the novel Somehow Good, 1908, and went on to explain its meaning:



"He may be a bit hot-tempered and impulsive... otherwise, it's simply impossible to help liking him." To which Sally replied, borrowing an expression from Ann the housemaid, that Fenwick was a cup of tea. It was metaphorical and descriptive of invigoration.





People or things with which one felt an affinity began to be called 'my cup of tea' in the 1930s. Nancy Mitford appears to be the first to record that term in print, in the comic novel Christmas Pudding, 1932:



I'm not at all sure I wouldn't rather marry Aunt Loudie. She's even more my cup of tea in many ways.



In keeping with the high regard for tea, most of the early references to 'a cup of tea' as a description of an acquaintance are positive ones, i.e. 'nice', 'good', 'strong' etc. The expression is more often used in the 'not my cup of tea' form these days. This negative usage began in WWII. An early example of it is found in Hal Boyle's Leaves From a War Correspondent's Notebook column, which described English life and manners for an American audience. The column provided the American counterpart to Alister Cooke's Letter from America and was syndicated in various US papers. In 1944, he wrote:



[In England] You don't say someone gives you a pain in the neck. You just remark "He's not my cup of tea."



The change from the earlier positive 'my cup of tea' phrase, to the dismissive 'not my cup of tea' doesn't reflect the national taste for the drink itself. – taken from www.phrases.org/uk

I was also quite surprised to find that there was a North American equivalent to this expression: “Not my bucket of fish”. I, personally, have never heard this particular expression before. Maybe it is used in Canada, or a different region of the U.S. than I live in. Has anyone from N. America ever heard this expression used?


Quote: "I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me."

Fred Allen

[JLV]

Fred Allen is a nice man.

[worry]

I love Fred Allen, given my limited exposure to him through black and white panel game shows that the Game Show Network used to show before it turned into a crapfest.

[Geer]

Perhaps this applies to Tool and the Imass, in the present age of Wu.

And by the way, some chickens, it seems, can actually have teeth.
atavism\AT-uh-viz-um\



noun



1 a : recurrence in an organism of a trait or charactertypical of an ancestral form and usually due to genetic recombination



b: recurrence of or reversion to a past style, manner,outlook, approach, or activity



2 : one that manifests atavism : throwback



"Examples of atavisms in animals include theappearance of reptilian teeth in a mutant chicken or vestigial hind legs in awhale." — From Kate Rheaume-Bleue's 2011 book Vitamin K2 and the CalciumParadox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life





"Atavism" derives via French from Latin"atavus," meaning "ancestor." "Avus" in Latinmeans "grandfather," and it's believed that the "at" isrelated to "atta," a word for "daddy." "Atavism"is a term rooted in evolutionary study, referring to instances when an organismpossesses traits closer to a more remote ancestor, rather than its own parents.That sense dates to the early part of the 19th century. The word's figurativesense is a more recent development. These days one might describe a buildingthat looks like it's from an earlier era as an atavism, or (though some peoplemight cringe at this) apply the word to activities like reading actual paperbooks in the age of electronics.

[Blind Sapper]

Chickens with teeth...thats some nightmare fuel right there. I suppose the human equivalent would be "skin of the teeth?"

[Use Of Weapons]

Human atavistic characteristics include babies with vestigial tails, extra large teeth (including canines, which could potentially have given rise to vampire myths), and extra nipples.

[Use Of Weapons]

Weird word: zemblanity, n. -- antonym of serendipity, hence the faculty of making unhappy, unlucky and expected discoveries by design

[Watcherinthewater]

Tergiversate
Ter-giv-er-sate
:To use evasions or ambiguities; equivocate
:To change sides; apostatize

[Lady Bliss]

Damnit. I forgot I said I would do this. Clearly I got drunk and forgot, and then Studly (who was SUPPOSED TO REMIND ME) got drunk and forgot to remind me. Therefore I shall take the easiest option to rectify the situation:




Fucktard: (n), a person of unbelievable, inexcusable, and indescribable stupidity.

In a sentence: That fucktard really made you look like you don't know jack about theoretical sub-atomic particle physics.

Quote: "Oh dear, what is the propper protocol to answer this type of accusation? I believe I have to call you a fucktard!." ~D'riss (Lady Bliss)

This post has been edited by Lady Bliss: 14 April 2012 - 01:02 PM