GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Friday May 6, 2005

frisson \free-SOHN\, noun: A moment of intense excitement; a shudder; an emotional thrill.

When we think a story hasn't been invented, there's an extra frisson in reading it.
--"Too true," Independent, April 12, 1998

As every parent knows, children have a love-hate relationship with stories about monsters. They love the frisson of hearing about such terrifying creatures as the Cyclops -- but hate to think about what they might do if they bumped into one.
--"Strange but true: One in the eye for all those Homer-phobes," Daily Telegraph, June 21, 1998

When we stopped in traffic at the Plaza de la Cibeles on the Paseo del Prado, where a grandiose 18th-century statue of the goddess of fertility poised on a chariot seemed to be waiting for the light to change, a little frisson of pleasure jolted through me, because this part of Madrid reminded me of Paris.
--"Counting Pesetas in Madrid," New York Times, March 17, 1996

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Frisson comes from the French, from Old French friçon, "a trembling," ultimately from Latin frigere, "to be cold."

[Darb]

Having finally retired for the night, after a long evening of revelry following their vows of joining, Eric Frigson, and his betrothed, Seglinda, settled down to the process of consummation. Undressing in their private dining alcove, Seglinda experienced a frisson of frigson-induced pleasure as the latter slipped his arms around her, lifted her onto the table, and languidly slipped a freshly halved fig between her waiting lips ... triggering yet another frission of pleasure and they gave free reign to their pent up degustatory desires.

Eric reached for a large gourd, as Seglind's eyes widened ...

[felonius]

Good Lord. There's a lot going on in that paragraph.

[Darb]

Good Lord. There's a lot going on in that paragraph.

Brother, you don't know the halved-fig of it.

[laurie]

I'm still experiencing a frisson from thinking about my claque of Hugh Jackman clones ...

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Monday May 9, 2005

aver \uh-VUR\,transitive verb; Inflected forms: averred; averring:
1. To affirm with confidence; to declare in a positive manner, as in confidence of asserting the truth. 2. (Law) To assert, claim, or declare as a fact.

Between us and the bottom of the sea was less than an inch of wood. And yet, I aver it, and I aver it again, I was unafraid.
--Jack London, The Sea-Wolf

Although it was not quite true, as he liked to aver, that almost forty years passed between his departure for Germany and his eventual return to Austria, he did not hurry back to Vienna after emigrating to the United States.
--Patrick McGilligan, Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast

Many companies aver that the most expedient path to bigger market share or an expanded product portfolio is through a merger or acquisition.
--Megan Santosus, "Arranged Marriage," CIO Enterprise, July 15, 1999


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Aver is from Old French-Medieval French averer, from Medieval Latin adverare, to confirm as authentic, from Latin ad-, ad- + Medieval Latin verare, from Latin verus, true. Other words deriving from verus are very, which sometimes has the sense of "true"; verify, to prove the truth of; and verdict, a decision or judgment, literally a "true-saying" (verus + dictum, saying).

[laurie]

Aver and Avow - the two most-used NY Times Sunday Crossword answers - and I aver that they have almost the same defintion. Quite confusing if you only have the "A" and "V" filled in.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Tuesday May 10, 2005

wayworn \WAY-worn\, adjective: Wearied by traveling.

The wayworn Battalions halt in the Avenue: they have, for the present, no wish so pressing as that of shelter and rest.
--Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution

These beautiful and verdant recesses, running through and softening the rugged mountains, were cheering and refreshing to the wayworn travellers.
--Washington Irving, Astoria

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Wayworn is way (from Old English weg) + worn (from Old English werian).

[laurie]

Ugh, another toughie...

My favorite jeans are more wayworn than I am; I haven't traveled a lot lately, but they've been worn way too often.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Wednesday May 11, 2005

ameliorate \uh-MEEL-yuh-rayt\, transitive verb: To make better; to improve.

intransitive verb: To grow better.

Among the pressures provoking these distresses were a father's financial inadequacy and a growing awareness that, by finding employment himself, he could ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances.
--Terence Brown, The Life of W. B. Yeats: A Critical Biography

In the socially fluid and (until the crash of 1837) economically expansive 1830s, the legislature frequently appropriated public money to investigate social problems, forestall dependency, and ameliorate human suffering.
--Elisabeth Gitter, The Imprisoned Guest

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Ameliorate is derived from Latin ad + meliorare, "to make better," from melior, "better."


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BONUS Word of the Day
exiguous \ig-ZIG-yoo-us\, adjective: Extremely scanty; meager.

They are entering the market, setting up stalls on snowy streets, moonlighting to supplement exiguous incomes.
--Michael Ignatieff, "Rebirth of a Nation: An Anatomy of Russia," New Statesman, February 6, 1998

Among the pressures provoking these distresses were a father's financial inadequacy and a growing awareness that, by finding employment himself, he could ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances.
--Terence Brown, The Life of W. B. Yeats: A Critical Biography

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Exiguous comes from Latin exiguus, "strictly weighed; too strictly weighed," hence "scanty, meager," from exigere, "to determine; to decide; to weigh."

[laurie]

Among the pressures provoking these distresses were a father's financial inadequacy and a growing awareness that, by finding employment himself, he could ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances.
--Terence Brown, The Life of W. B. Yeats: A Critical Biography

So he became a poet to make money????

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Thursday May 12, 2005

concomitant \kuhn-KOM-uh-tuhnt\, adjective: Accompanying; attendant; occurring or existing concurrently.

noun: Something that accompanies or is collaterally connected with something else; an accompaniment.

For a filmmaker so obsessed with these issues, it is a sad irony that his fear of things going wrong--and his concomitant mania for clockwork control--should have been a major reason for the failure of . . . his final film.
--Michiko Kakutani, "A Connoisseur of Cool Tries to Raise the Temperature," New York Times, July 18, 1999

In short, the inevitable concomitant of autocracy . . . is aggression and imperialism.
--Martin Malia, Russia Under Western Eyes

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Concomitant comes from the present participle of Latin concomitari, "to accompany," from com- (used intensively) + comitari, "to accompany," from comes, comit-, "a companion."

[laurie]

Concomitant with Ghost's WOTD is Laurie's ALOTD.*



*ALOTD - Ad-Lib Of The Day

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Friday May 13, 2005

triskaidekaphobia \tris-ky-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\, noun: A morbid fear of the number 13 or the date Friday the 13th.

Thirteen people, pledged to eliminate triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13, today tried to reassure American sufferers by renting a 13 ft plot of land in Brooklyn for 13 cents . . . a month.
--Daily Telegraph, January 14, 1967

Past disasters linked to the number 13 hardly help triskaidekaphobics overcome their affliction. The most famous is the Apollo 13 mission, launched on April 11, 1970 (the sum of 4, 11 and 70 equals 85 - which when added together comes to 13), from Pad 39 (three times 13) at 13:13 local time, and struck by an explosion on April 13.
--"It's just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday," Electronic Telegraph, September 8, 1996

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Triskaidekaphobia is a fairly new word (first found in print in 1911) formed from Greek treiskaideka, triskaideka, "thirteen" (treis, "three" + kai, "and" + deka, "ten") + phobos, "fear." The adjective form is triskaidekaphobic. One who fears the number 13 is a triskaidekaphobe or triskaidekaphobic.

There are many theories about the origin of triskaidekaphobia. In medieval Christian countries the number 13 came to be considered unlucky because there were 13 persons at the Last Supper of Christ. Fridays are also unlucky, because the Crucifixion was on a Friday. Hence a Friday falling on the thirteenth day would be regarded as especially unlucky.

Some famous triskaidekaphobes:
Napoleon
Herbert Hoover
Mark Twain
Richard Wagner
Franklin Roosevelt

[SIDE NOTE] In Chile it is Tuesday the 7th which is unlucky; in fact the Friday the Thirtieth movies were all renamed Tuesday the seventh. And if you are going to be a cat don’t be one in Chile – you only get seven lives.

[Darb]

Ahem ... "triskaidekaphilia (lucky 13)" has been sitting in my profile for the better part of a year.

/me elbows Murphy's ghost in the face.

[laurie]

Well, I spilled two glasses of water and a slice of chocolate cream pie all over myself during the course of today, so it's not "lucky 13" for me.

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Monday May 16, 2005

camarilla \kam-uh-RIL-uh; -REE-yuh\, noun: A group of secret and often scheming advisers, as of a king; a cabal or clique.

Mr Kiselev likened Yeltsin's entourage to a "camarilla" . . . which would turn Russia "into a gigantic banana republic corrupted from top to bottom by a rotten clique of demagogues".
--Marcus Warren, "Moguls at war over control of Kremlin," Daily Telegraph, July 23, 1999

The arrest in October 1976 of Mao's radical camarilla, the so-called Gang of Four, led by his maniacal widow, Jiang Qing, was the second "liberation," delivering the Chinese from the most extreme forms of ideological conditioning.
--Willem Van Kemenade, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Inc.

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Camarilla comes from Spanish, literally, "a small room," from Late Latin camera, "chamber" ("vault; arched roof" in Latin), from Greek kamara, "vault."

[laurie]

Are we Kilty's camarilla?

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Tuesday May 17, 2005

ablution \uh-BLOO-shun\, noun: 1. The act of washing or cleansing; specifically, the washing of the body, or some part of it (as in a religious rite). 2. The water used in cleansing.

Worshipers, who have performed their ablutions in the basement before entering the prayer hall, individually prepare themselves for participation in the communal worship.
--Jane I. Smith, Islam in America

There is . . . a large fountain in the center, beneath an opening in the roof through which the sun streams down to meet the rising water, so that ablutions required of worshipers before they pray can be performed inside the building.
--Mary Lee Settle, "A Sacred Spa Where Sultans Led an Empire," New York Times, July 8, 1990

He went straight to the loo to begin his usual ablutions, soaping his cheeks and neck.
--Brooks Hansen, Perlman's Ordeal

In fact, writing -- more exactly, composing in your head -- formal poetry may be recommended in solitary confinement as a kind of therapy, alongside pushups and cold ablutions.
--Joseph Brodsky, "The Writer in Prison," New York Times, October 13, 1996

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Ablution comes from Latin ablutio, from abluere, "to wash, to remove by washing, to wash away," from ab-, "away from" + luere, "to wash."

[felonius]

Didn't we already touch on ablution back in this thread in relation to washroom activities and theology?

Excuse me - nature calls.

[laurie]

Just make sure you remember your ablutions afterwards, Felon. With SOAP

[Darb]

Just make sure you remember your ablutions afterwards, Felon. With SOAP

Ain't gonna happen. Felon only bathes once a month, in accordance with his religious beliefs. In other words, the abolutions were abolished by the aboriginal abolitionists at his very own ashram.

[laurie]

ROFLMAO

[Ghost]

Word of the Day for Wednesday May 18, 2005

untoward \uhn-TORD\, adjective: 1. Not favorable or fortunate; adverse. 2. Improper; unseemly. 3. Hard to guide, work with, or control; unruly.

If a candidate drug outperforms a placebo in two independent studies, and if it does so without untoward side effects, the FDA will approve it for use.
--Gary Greenberg, "Is it prozac? Or placebo?" Mother Jones, November/December 2003

During the trip, I was virtually alone with my unarmed driver for long stretches in places where officials in the capital of Sana'a had told me abductions were likely. Yet nothing untoward happened.
--Robert D Kaplan, "'Get me to Vukovar,"' Columbia Journalism Review, September/October 2004

For the vast majority of untoward behaviors labeled as mental illness, Szasz contends that they are freely chosen behaviors for which the agent must take responsibility; psychiatry tends to ascribe responsibility for only socially-approved actions.
--Richard E. Vatz, "The quandary over mental illness," USA Today, November 1, 2004

And despite your indignant protestations to the contrary, there was nothing unethical, unsafe or otherwise untoward about Gordon's pass.
--Lee Spencer, "No reason to see red over pass on yellow," Sporting News, July 7, 2003

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Untoward comes from un- + Middle English toward, from Old English toweard, "facing, imminent," from to, "to" + -weard, "-ward."

[felonius]

I prefer wayward myself.