GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by **clong** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 9:18 am

Who can forget Mrs. Malaprop, from Sheridan's 1775 restoration comedy The Rivals, utterer of things like this:

"Make no delusions to the past."
"Oh! It gives me the hydrostatics to such a degree!"
"I have interceded another letter from the fellow."
"Few gentlemen now-a-days know how to value the ineffectual qualities in a woman!"

Post by **Ghost** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:03 am

Word of the Day for Tuesday April 12, 2005

redoubt \rih-DOWT\, noun: 1. A small and usually temporary defensive fortification. 2. A defended position or protective barrier. 3. A secure place of refuge or defense; a stronghold.

Evicting the intruders from their mountain redoubts with ground forces alone was beginning to look like a protracted and expensive task.
--"Kashmir's violent spring," The Economist, May 29, 1999

First, Milosevic himself will be absent, apparently fearful of leaving his redoubt in Belgrade.
--"Lessons of Balkans Applied to Kosovo," New York Times, February 1, 1999

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Redoubt derives from French redoute, from Italian ridotto, from Latin reductus, "a refuge, a retreat," from reducere, "to lead or draw back," from re-, "back" + ducere, "to lead."

/me don't doubt that

Post by **laurie** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:10 pm

Ghost wrote:/me don't doubt that

You may not, but I have doubts and redoubts about that.

Post by **Ghost** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 8:29 am

Word of the Day for Wednesday April 13, 2005

detritus \dih-TRY-tuhs\, noun; plural detritus: 1. Loose material that is worn away from rocks. 2. Hence, any fragments separated from the body to which they belonged; any product of disintegration; debris.

The water was smooth and brown, with detritus swirling in the eddies from the increasing current.
--Gordon Chaplin, Dark Wind: A Survivor's Tale of Love and Loss

If they [flying cars] were easy to produce, we'd be walking around wearing helmets to protect us from the detritus of flying car crashes.
--Gail Collins, "Grounded for 2000," New York Times, December 7, 1999

The loose detritus of thought, washed down to us through long ages.
--H. Rogers, Essays

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Detritus derives from the past participle of Latin deterere, "to rub away, to wear out," from de-, "from" + terere, "to rub." It is related to detriment, at root "a rubbing away, a wearing away," hence "damage, harm."

Post by **Kvetch** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:45 am

and also a certain rocky Watchman.

felonius · Post by **felonius** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 11:19 am

Detritus debris? No, can't - that's two nouns.

Post by **Ghost** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 12:15 pm

The Panglossian and malapropos assault slowed to a snail's crawl on the redoubtâ€™s slippery detritus; the maudlin attackers blinded and defenseless, their deaths supervene.

How's that for a recap.

Post by **Darb** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 12:55 pm

Spoken like a true flaneur, Ghost.

Post by **Ghost** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 4:30 pm

Bonus Word of the Day

flaneur \flah-NUR\, noun: One who strolls about aimlessly; a lounger; a loafer.

Burrows and Wallace show how New York embraced the idea of the flaneur--of the disinterested, artistically inclined wanderer in the city, of what they call "city watching."
--Jed Perl, "The Adolescent City," New Republic, January 22, 2001

The restricted hotel lobby has replaced the square or piazza as a public meeting place, and our boulevards, such as they are, are not avenues for the parade and observation of personality, or for perusal by the flaneur, but conveyor belts to the stores, where we can buy everything but human understanding.
--Anatole Broyard, "In Praise of Contact," New York Times, June 27, 1982

Baudelaire saw the writer as a detached flaneur, a mocking dandy in the big-city crowd, alienated, isolated, anonymous, aristocratic, melancholic.
--Ian Buruma, "The Romance of Exile," New Republic, February 12, 2001

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Flaneur comes from French, from flÃ¢ner, "to saunter; to stroll; to lounge about."

Post by **laurie** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:37 pm

Ghost wrote:The Panglossian and malapropos assault slowed to a snail's crawl on the redoubtâ€™s slippery detritus; the maudlin attackers blinded and defenseless, their deaths supervene.

How's that for a recap.

You have tidied up the detritus of the past week quite nicely !

Post by **Ghost** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 8:25 am

Word of the Day for Thursday April 14, 2005

obloquy \OB-luh-kwee\, noun: 1. Strongly condemnatory or abusive language or utterance. 2. The condition of disgrace suffered as a result of public blame, abuse, or condemnation; ill repute.

There he remained, weeping indignantly at her stream of obloquy, bitterly ashamed of his tears, until it was time for supper.
--Jonathan Keates, Stendhal

Once installed in office he earned near-universal obloquy by pushing through the biggest tax increase in the state's history.
--Dan Seligman, "The Taxophiliacs," Forbes, February 5, 2001

For Britain to have made a last imperial stand on the shores of the South China Sea would have risked local calamity and international obloquy.
--Christopher Patten, East and West

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Obloquy derives from Latin obloqui, "to speak against," from ob-, "against" + loqui, "to speak."

ChoChiyo · Post by **ChoChiyo** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 9:56 am

That would be a good name for a mean character in a story!

Post by **Ghost** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 8:12 am

Word of the Day for Friday April 15, 2005

extant \EK-stunt; ek-STANT\, adjective: Still existing; not destroyed, lost, or extinct.

Why, then, did the joint House-Senate committee insert a maximum? The lack of extant records of the committee's deliberations requires us to speculate.
--Akhil Reed Amar, The Bill of Rights

The fossil record shows clearly that ancient life was very different from extant life.
--Paul Davies, The Fifth Miracle

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Extant comes from Latin exstare, "to stand out, to project, hence to be prominent, to be visible, to exist," from ex-, "out" + stare, "to stand."

To extant or to extinct?
That is the question.

Post by **laurie** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 7:32 pm

Don't fret, Judge. You're quite extant - for a Ghost, that is.

Aunflin · Post by **Aunflin** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 7:55 pm

The obloquy remark uttered by Aunflin at work remains extant to all the lazy ass employees at work--and everywhere else, for that matter.

Lazy people get on my nerves!

Post by **Ghost** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:28 am

Word of the Day for Monday April 18, 2005

masticate \MAS-tih-kayt\, transitive verb: 1. To grind or crush with or as if with the teeth in preparation for swallowing and digestion; to chew; as, "to masticate food." 2. To crush or knead (rubber, for example) into a pulp.

intransitive verb: To chew food.

Honestly, folks, the people at the next table ordered the same dish, and I watched as a young couple tried in vain to masticate those fossilized pieces of "toast."
--Pat Bruno, "Hits and misses," Chicago Sun-Times, June 2002

Their powerful jaws allow hyenas to masticate not only flesh and entrails, but bones, horns, and even the teeth of their prey.
--Sam Tauschek, "A Hyena is no laughing matter," Sports Afield, May 2001

In 1820, Thomas Hancock invented a machine that could masticate, mix and soften rubber.
--Rikki Lamba, "Effect of carbon black on dynamic properties," Rubber World, April 1, 2000

At restaurants the Hamnelier (swine server) would bring out your entree, cut your first bite using special tongs and a pig sticker (sorry) and proffer it to your lips. You would sniff, suck, masticate, savor and swallow.
--Baxter Black, "'The Other White Meat' Develops Snob Appeal," Denver Rocky Mountain News, September 20, 1998

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Masticate comes from the past participle of Late Latin masticare, "to chew," from Greek mastichan, "to gnash the teeth." The noun form is mastication.

felonius · Post by **felonius** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:39 am

GENRE: Soho District Performance Art, NYC

"Get a load of this," Kev murmured, elbowing me in the ribs as the lights onstage came up. "This next guy can masticate and defecate at the same time."

Post by **Darb** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 11:29 am

GENRE: Soho District Performance Art, NYC (cont'd)

[gross-out humor alert]

Spoiler: show

/me holds aloft lighter at the chorus of groans.

Post by **Ghost** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 8:06 am

Word of the Day for Tuesday April 19, 2005

fettle \FET-l\, noun: A state or condition of fitness or order; state of mind; spirits -- often used in the phrase "in fine fettle."

Aside from the problems with her voice . . . Miss Garland was in fine fettle last night.
--Vincent Canby, "Judy Garland Sets the Palace Alight," New York Times, August 1, 1967

Back in 1987, the Conservatives won a thumping majority in a June general election, primarily because the economy was seen by grateful voters to be in fine fettle.
--Larry Elliott, "Danger of a recurring nightmare," The Guardian, June 18, 2001

Many of the nuns were in fine fettle, even into their 80s and 90s.
--John McCrone, "Sisters of mercy," The Guardian, August 18, 2001

He seems in fine fettle when we meet, and happy to discuss the film that gave him his break.
--Charlotte O'Sullivan, "Naked ambition," The Guardian, February 7, 1999

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Fettle is from Middle English fetlen, "to set in order," originally "to gird up," from Old English fetel, "a girdle."

Post by **Darb** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 2:39 pm

As far as it was possible for a deceased and discorporated ex-Republican to do so, Mr. Boo was feeling quite fettlesome for a change.

He mentally chalked it up to the psychic equivalent of a good bowel movement - even though his bowels were nestled snugly back in his graveside, and the only thing moving in THEM were maggots ... who, in turn, were in an equally fine fettle.

Post by **clong** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 3:21 pm

With high hearts they headed away
along footpaths and trails through the fields,
roads that they knew, each of them wrestling
with the head they were carrying from the lakeside cliff,
men kingly in their courage and capable
of difficult work. It was a task for four
to hoist Grendel's head on a spear
and bear it under strain to the bright hall.
But soon enough they neared the place,
fourteen Geats in fine fettle,
striding across the outlying ground
in a delighted throng around their leader.

In he came then, the thane's commander,
the arch-warrior, to address Hrothgar:
his courage was proven, his glory was secure.
Grendel's head was hauled by the hair,
dragged across the floor where the people were drinking,
a horror for both queen and company to behold.
They stared in awe. It was an astonishing sight.

Beowulf, Seamus Heaney translation, ll. 1632-1650.

Post by **Darb** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 3:44 pm

In a fine fettle fugue of detached contentment, Brad (after a brief cackle with his old friend, Mr. Grackle) nods fancifully as his fellow fora polyglots flounder about happily in their fettle fetid fen of a virtual literary wallow.

Post by **Ghost** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:17 am

Word of the Day for Wednesday April 20, 2005

cavalcade \kav-uhl-KAYD; KAV-uhl-kayd\, noun: 1. A procession of riders or horse-drawn carriages. 2. Any procession. 3. A sequence; a series.

Behind him he sensed the progress of the cavalcade as one by one the carriages wheeled off the Dublin road.
--Stella Tillyard, Citizen Lord: The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, Irish Revolutionary

Last week, Seoul pleaded for immediate financial assistance from the United States and Japan, following a cavalcade of bad economic news.
--Steven Butler and Jack Egan, "No magic won for Korea," U.S. News, December 22, 1997

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Cavalcade derives from Old Italian cavalcata, from cavalcare, "to go on horseback," from Late Latin caballicare, from Latin caballus, "horse."

Post by **laurie** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:27 pm

What, no cavalcade of quips from the Peanut Gallery today?

Post by **Ghost** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:16 am

Word of the Day for Thursday April 21, 2005

enervate \EN-ur-vayt\, transitive verb: 1. To deprive of vigor, force, or strength; to render feeble; to weaken. 2. To reduce the moral or mental vigor of.

Beatriz de Ahumada soldiered on to produce nine more children, a tour of duty that left her enervated and worn.
--Cathleen Medwick, Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul

In countries like India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria and Ghana I have always felt enervated by the slightest physical or mental exertion, whereas in the UK, France, Germany or the US I have always felt reinforced and stimulated by the temperate climate, not only during long stays, but even during brief travels.
--David S. Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations

The tendency of abstract thought . . . to enervate the will is one of the real dangers of the highest education.
--Mark Pattison, Suggestions on Academical Organisation

The conquerors were enervated by luxury.
--Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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Enervate is from the past participle of Latin enervare, "to remove the sinews from, to weaken," from e-, ex-, "out of, from" + nervus, "sinew."

The IBDoF posters were enervated by thier reading and the expected cavalcade of comically comments never commenced.