GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Algot Runeman]

Who were the first?

My lawyers advise me not to answer that question.

I signed the equivalent of a Non Disclosure Agreement when I moved into Earth residence.

The first sentients are reluctant to disclose their nature because some of their less advanced relatives might be put under further threat.

It may have been saying too much to say humans are not the first Earth sentients. It is always possible that my superiors will seek to constrai

[Algot Runeman]

schlock

noun
informal
cheap or inferior goods or material; trash:they peddle their schlock to willing tourists[as modifier] :schlock journalism

Derivatives
schlocky
adjective

Origin:
early 20th century: apparently from Yiddish shlak 'an apoplectic stroke', shlog 'wretch, untidy person, apoplectic stroke'


Radio Wallah http://tabiwallah.com/radiowallah/sony/tr66/66a.html

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It is strange. Transistor radios from Japan in the 1950s competed with the ones from the US. They competed on price. They were considered cheap knockoffs by adults, but teens didn't care about that. The Sony transistor radios came in bright colors and were small, easy to carry anywhere. Teens didn't care if the sound was poor compared to the stereo at home. They were out. They didn't have to listen to Dad's choice of music. Schlock, perhaps, but the beginnings of musical freedom.

[Algot Runeman]

enervation

noun
[mass noun]
a feeling of being drained of energy or vitality; fatigue:a sense of enervation


Tambaco the Jaguar on flickr

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The primate reclined after his overly large dinner. The morning's gathering had been a large, high intensity crowd, too. He wasn't so much relaxed as he was enervated.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

enervation
noun
[mass noun]
a feeling of being drained of energy or vitality; fatigue:a sense of enervation

The primate reclined ...

Fortunately the picture clearly shows the subject of your comment.
Otherwise I might have thought you were describing the Vatican Conclave of Cardinals when these primates are electing a new pope.
Though I can imagine a Cardinal sticking out his tongue while scribbling his vote in Latin ...

[Algot Runeman]

"Oooo, Ooo, Cogito, ergo sum. I vote for JoJo."

Afrika Expeditionary Force on flickr

[Algot Runeman]

windlass

noun
a winch, especially one on a ship or in a harbour.

verb
[with object]
haul or lift (something) with a windlass.

Origin:
late Middle English: probably an alteration of obsolete windas, via Anglo-Norman French from Old Norse vindáss, literally 'winding pole'


fotu on flickr

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OK, This is a wind lass, a lass, or wench, in the wind. As far as I can tell, she is attempting to get a photo of the winch wenches turning the windlass for the anchor just beyond our view.


Tim Zim on flickr

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

windlass
noun
a winch, especially one on a ship or in a harbour.
verb
[with object]
haul or lift (something) with a windlass.
Origin:
late Middle English: probably an alteration of obsolete windas, via Anglo-Norman French from Old Norse vindáss, literally 'winding pole'

Windlass may be derived from windas which is modern Dutch.

A little history.

Back in 1802 the first proposal arose to build a Chunnel, but nothing came of it.
Much later (1920) Citroën built their famous halftracks, meant to be used for difficult jobs on rugged terrain.

A team of Flemish motorists used those cars as an alternate solution to reach England without getting their feet wet. They parked 5 halftracks on the top of Cap Gris Nez. Five cables were towed across the Channel to the White Cliffs of Dover, and anchored there. With the powerful windlasses on the cars they tried to winch England closer to Continental Europe. But sadly the attempt had to be cut short because a big chunk of Scotland threatened to tear off along the Great Glen Fault line Loch Ness - Loch Linnhe.

That's when the Chunnel was given the go.

[Algot Runeman]

decry

verb (decries, decrying, decried)
[with object]
publicly denounce: they decried human rights abuses

Derivatives
decrier
noun

Origin:
early 17th century (in the sense ‘decrease the value of coins by royal proclamation’): from de- ‘down’ + cry, on the pattern of French décrier 'cry down'


amy_b on flickr

"Can I give you a bag for your purchase?"
The store clerk always asks me if I want a bag to hold the single item I'm buying of something already wrapped.
I cry in frustration first and now formally decry the practice.

[Algot Runeman]

nudnik

noun
North American informal
a pestering, nagging, or irritating person; a bore.

Origin:
1940s: Yiddish, from Russian nudnyĭ 'tedious'


NatBat on flickr

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Never a nudnick be.
Nor should you bother me.
It's very easy to see.
I'd rather be vex free.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

nudnik
noun
North American informal
a pestering, nagging, or irritating person; a bore.

Is this the meaning of the syllable -nik?
Would the words sputnik and beatnik be derivatives?

The Soviet Sputnik satellites (remember spacemutt Laika?) surely must have been irritating to NASA. (*)

And beatniks, avant la lettre hippies, were the scourge of their less tolerant neighbours.

Or am I wrongly informed here?

(*) About Laika:

Before the launch, one of the scientists took Laika home to play with his children. In a book chronicling the story of Soviet space medicine, Dr. Vladimir Yazdovsky wrote, "I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live."

[MidasKnight]

North American?

Hrm. I have never heard of the word 'nudnik' before.

[Algot Runeman]

MidasKnight,

It may be either less common in California, where the sun always shines, or it may be the circles you are in (or out of).

There is no doubt, the US is too big to have one vocabulary. At best we are regional. In some cases terms are attached to cities, too.
Sandwiches on rolls are hoagies, heros, grinders, subs, Italians etc. and stand out as a common example of the vocab range.

Isn't that one of the reasons we love to play with these words? There's effectively no limit on the fun we can have.

Take a word and run with it, unless it is "scissors", right?

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

decry
verb (decries, decrying, decried)
[with object]
publicly denounce: they decried human rights abuses

My Irrepressible Grandma Decried

He'd been playing in the park with the other kids for a while when he returned to the bench where Grandma was sitting and asked her, 'Grandma, what's that called when two people sleep in the same room and one is on top of the other?'

She was a little taken aback, but she decided to just tell him the plain truth.

'It's called having sex, Darling.'

Little Tony just said, 'Oh, Okay.' and went to play with the other kids again.

A few minutes later he came back once more and said angrily, 'Grandma, it isn't called having sex. It's called Bunk Beds. And Jimmy's mommy wants to talk to you.'

[Algot Runeman]

E.P.S. No Bunk for you!

[Algot Runeman]

Webzine

noun
a magazine published electronically on the Internet.


[Blatant plug for science fiction. Shocking!]

-----------------------------------------

Recently gaining some traction and recognition is the open access journal PLoS. It actually is sort of an upscale webzine.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

E.P.S. No Bunk for you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4SyZYoWcFo

[Algot Runeman]

mumblety-peg

noun
a game in which each player in turn throws a knife or pointed stick from a series of positions , continuing until it fails to stick in the ground.

Origin:
early 17th century: also in the form mumble the peg, from mumble in the late 16th-century sense 'bite as if with toothless gums', from the requirement of the game that an unsuccessful player withdraw a peg from the ground using the mouth


bbum on flickr

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Though I never was good at it, we called the game "mumbley peg" without the T. We were ignorant kids, for sure, but the game mumblety-peg fit us to a T when we got our first pocket knives. We didn't pull the knives out with our teeth, either. I'm certain I couldn't beat the game-playing robot shown, either.

[Algot Runeman]

locomotion

noun
movement or the ability to move from one place to another: the muscles that are concerned with locomotion he preferred walking to other forms of locomotion

Origin:
mid 17th century: from Latin loco, ablative of locus 'place' + motion (see motion)


jalapenokitten on flickr

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Henry took the train to New York. He appreciated the aid of locomotion from the locomotive. A bus would have been the alternative because he doesn't own an automobile, and not even a driver's license. He's a confirmed city dweller. Hank hates buses. He doesn't know precisely why, but there it is.

[Ablative...in the origin section of the definition. I like that word, maybe more than locomotion. Shh! Don't tell. Loco, torn away from locus. Was it painful? How long was it, loco, crazy, all alone, until it got to get somewhere by coupling with motion?]

[MidasKnight]

MidasKnight,

It may be either less common in California, where the sun always shines, or it may be the circles you are in (or out of).

There is no doubt, the US is too big to have one vocabulary. At best we are regional. In some cases terms are attached to cities, too.
Sandwiches on rolls are hoagies, heros, grinders, subs, Italians etc. and stand out as a common example of the vocab range.

Isn't that one of the reasons we love to play with these words? There's effectively no limit on the fun we can have.

Take a word and run with it, unless it is "scissors", right?

Your point is well taken and appreciated.

[Algot Runeman]

panama

noun
a wide -brimmed hat of strawlike material, originally made from the leaves of a particular tropical palm tree, worn chiefly by men.

Origin:
mid 19th century: named after the country of Panama


lint01 on flickr

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Happy 4th of July to all who care. Off to the parade. Wish I had a Panama hat to keep out the sun.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

locomotion
noun
movement or the ability to move from one place to another: the muscles that are concerned with locomotion he preferred walking to other forms of locomotion

Somehow that reminds me of ... of ... yes, YES, that's it: Brownian Motion.

Already very long ago (much too long ago) I noticed this strange phenomenon.
As a student I regularly attended my commilitones' cantusses (*), to sing songs from the students' codex, copiously irrigated with beer to lubricate our singing voices.

By the end of the evening, many things like doorways, streetlamps and keyholes tended to have a random local motion, all by themselves without any visible power source. Some of my student friends who knew Spanish, claimed it was a gentle earthquake and called it a loco motion, but I doubted that because it happened almost exclusively at the end of cantusses. Anyway, these spontaneous locomotions and gyrations were harmless and gradually disappeared by the next day, without any damage to buildings.

However we students weren't the only ones to experience this. The song "The Loco-Motion" appeared in the American Top 5 three times – each time in a different decade. The earliest cover version was performed by Little Eva (A rendition with much better sound quality can be found here).

Of course you guys here were much too prim and prudish to have recognised or attended such immature events.

Or weren't you?


(*) commilito:
- fellow member in a students' fraternity; comrade in arms (hugged comrade, mostly female)
- commilito, -nis, m. A comrade, companion in war, fellow-soldier (in good prose; most freq. in the histt., esp. of the post-Aug. per.), * Cic. Deiot. 10, 28; Caesar ap. Suet. Caes. 67; August. ap. Suet. Aug. 25; C. Cassius ap. Quint. 6, 3, 90; Liv. 3, 50, 5 and 7; Vell. 2, 59, 4; Suet. Claud. 10; id. Galb. 20; id. Vit. 11; Flor. 2, 20, 2.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

panama
noun
a wide -brimmed hat of strawlike material, originally made from the leaves of a particular tropical palm tree, worn chiefly by men.

If ever you pass that way, there's also the similar Venetian Gondoleer's Hat.

[Algot Runeman]

E.P.S. thanks for the link to the Little Eva "Locomotion" video. Good memories.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

E.P.S. thanks for the link to the Little Eva "Locomotion" video. Good memories.

My pleasure. You're very welcome.
I'm glad it caught your fancy.

[Algot Runeman]

E.P.S. It not only caught my fancy, it caught my ordinary, too.