GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Algot Runeman]

benefactor

a person who gives money or other help to a person or cause


Basher Eyre on geograph.org.uk

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Give, donate, share. Benefactors don't need to be rich, just have something to give.

[voralfred]

Algot, you are undoubtedly the benefactor of this thread, giving it so much time and energy!

[Algot Runeman]

clinker

noun
[mass noun]
the stony residue from burnt coal or from a furnace.
(also clinker brick)[count noun] a brick with a vitrified surface.
Origin:
mid 17th century: from obsolete Dutch klinckaerd (earlier form of klinker), from klinken 'to clink'



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When I was a kid, one of my jobs was pulling the glowing clinkers out of the coal-fired furnace. We put them in a wash tub to cool and then hauled them out to the back of our garden. I never felt the need to visit a live volcano.

[voralfred]

When I was a kid, we also had a coal-fired furnace. But it did not produce clinker. Instead, the coal burned on a sort of grate, and when it was burnt, there remained just a rather fluffy, almost white ash, that went through the openings of the grate (too small for unburnt or burning coal) and down into a drawer that we could just take out, and throw away this already cold ash. Must have been a different quality of coal.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

clinker
...
mid 17th century: from obsolete Dutch klinckaerd (earlier form of klinker), from klinken 'to clink'

In the Netherlands and Flanders many villages have roads paved with "klinkers" (= unvitrified clinker bricks). My dictionary mentions: (Dutch) brick paving, (Dutch) clinker (brick) paving. It causes a very singular noise inside cars driving over it. A rather melodious sound actually, quite distinct from the tearing scream produced by blacktop, the tackadap-tackadap of concrete slabs or the racket of cobblestones.

Until your post, Algot, I always thought that those bricks are called "klinkers" precisely because they cause that typical sound.

My erroneous conclusion (arrived at in my father's car when I was very young) was quite logical though:
Klinker =
1. a vowel
2. a brick for road paving
3. a generic designation for something that produces sound
4. a loud fart

[Algot Runeman]

oater

noun
informal , chiefly US
a western film.
Origin:
1950s: from oat, with allusion to horse feed; compare with the synonym horse opera



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Though "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was more star filled than a typical oater, cowboy movies defined the worldwide view many had of the US in the mid 20th century.

[Algot Runeman]

infer

verb (infers, -fer·ring, inferred)
[with object]
deduce or conclude (information) from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements:
[with clause]
from these facts we can infer that crime has been increasing


Mirror (UK) (Photo having nothing to do with the word of the day...just my choice...I suspect I'm "in fer" some criticism...see below.)
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Judy and her biddy buddies burbled at the bubbler [water cooler], "John came in at 9:07 this morning. He was wet through, no raincoat or umbrella." (Judy leads me to infer that John was late, as usual, but this time had the excuse of bad weather, even though he always parks in a covered garage under the building where he works. Hence, he is also a jerk for getting wet.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

infer

The adjective infernal infers a hellish situation, extreme heat or a raging forest fire.
Heavy rainfall infers extinguishing that fire.

So a dousing downpour does not infer infernal weather, does it?

[Algot Runeman]

couture

noun
the design and manufacture of fashionable clothes to a client's specific requirements and measurements. See also haute couture
fashionable made-to-measure clothes: they were dressed in size eight printed-silk couture

Origin:
1920s: French,'sewing, dressmaking'



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One of my mother's favorite descriptions for her wardrobe was that she'd hired Omar the Tentmaker to do her couture.

[Algot Runeman]

pari-mutuel

noun
[often as modifier]
a form of betting in which those backing the first three places divide the losers‘ stakes (less the operator’s commission): pari-mutuel betting

Origin:
French, literally 'mutual stake'


Susie Blackmon on Flickr
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I think I shall let the image show my opinion of pari-mutuel betting. There are always many more losers than winners, but the "house" always takes it's cut. This sounds vaguely like the stock market, too.

The first of May always makes me think of the French "M'aidez, m'aidez" from which we have Mayday or perhaps May Day! Help Me. I cannot stop.

[Algot Runeman]

Bah

Today's official word of the day (gently carried to this forum from the Oxford Dictionaries Online source) is "brannigan." I am taking the step to simply ignore it. Today, therefore, the unofficial word is bah, an expressive noise representing disgust and made famous by Charles Dickens character Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. In the past there has been a verbal brannigan (as recently as August 2010) when a word was repeated as part of this "game." I'll apologize ahead of time if I make the mistake of reusing a word in the future, but for today, the horror of reuse has been averted.

As to an illustration...

Temple of Shiva near the Indian city of Bah. (http://bateshwar.com/images/ghate.jpg)

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Living in central Kansas, Colonel Joe Brockman felt satisfied with his Basic Allotment for Housing (BAH).

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

Bah

For millennia Bah has been not the WoTD, but the Word of Every Day for shepherds. Countless numbers of them switched to a different profession because they were driven crazy by the incessant 24/7/365 Bah's of their sheep. Most took up fishing.

[Algot Runeman]

misspeak

verb (past misspoke; past participle misspoken)
[no object] chiefly US
express oneself in an insufficiently clear or accurate way


Nakanampucha!
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No more misspeaking! I intend to Mr. Speak from now on.

[Algot Runeman]

mungo

noun
[mass noun]
cloth made from recycled woven or felted material.

Origin:
mid 19th century: of unknown origin


ingermaaike2 on Flickr
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I wonder if my father-in-law would like the term mungo, as "low quality wool," applied to the material he made. He was the owner of a garnetting mill in Massachusetts. The resulting fiber was baled and sent to be used making various products. Now, I know that virgin wool has longer fibers, than reprocessed wool, but it was the gradual consumer love affair with artificial fibers which eventually doomed his business.

For years I wore high quality wool socks manufactured using his wool. I still wear wool socks, exclusively, but have no way to tell if garnetted wool is in them.

[Algot Runeman]

earwitness

noun
chiefly North American
a witness whose testimony is based on what they personally heard.


Hans_van_Rijnberk on Flickr
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Jason made a poor earwitness because he attended a rave at least once a week.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

earwitness

After his F1 accident, Niki Lauda would have made a poor earwitness ...

[Algot Runeman]

Now, I begin to wonder if a bloodhound should be considered a "nosewitness."

What about food critics and editors being "tonguewitnesses"?

These thoughts actually may qualify me as a "brainwitless."
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Hasta mañana! And happy Cinco de Mayo for those who celebrate.
No soy de Mexico. But I only missed by 12 miles.

[Algot Runeman]

salchow

noun
a jump in figure skating from the backward inside edge of one skate to the backward outside edge of the other , with one or more full turns in the air.

Origin:
early 20th century: named after Ulrich Salchow (1877–1949), Swedish skater



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The less than famous skateboarder Salchow "Flipoff" Lutz is best known for his falls down the steps of several court buildings after his many "desecration of monuments" trials.

[Algot Runeman]

gaffe


an unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator; a blunder



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Whoa! It's Sunday.
Why is Saturday's WotD at the top of this post?
Somebody went to a Saturday conference and forgot to post. Big gaffe. In the words of Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!"

[Algot Runeman]

ampelographer

noun
an expert in the study and classification of cultivated varieties of grape.

Derivatives
ampelography
noun

Origin:
late 19th century: via French from Greek ampelos 'vine' + -grapher


Bernt Rostad

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I would not qualify as an ampelographer because I am not cultivated enough. Wild grapes are another thing, though.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

gaffe

The Gaffophone

When Gaston Lagaffe designed and built his Gaffophone, he fervently but vainly hoped to follow in the footsteps of Adolphe Sax.

Gaston Lagaffe and Gaffophone are © by André Franquin, one of the grand masters of the European comic strip.

[Algot Runeman]

neep

noun
Scottish & Northern English
a turnip.

Origin:
Old English nǣp, from Latin napus


niznoz on Flickr

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This neep image is neat.
Eating them is a treat.
Slice and dice.
Add some spice.
Eat 'em up with lamb and rice.

[Algot Runeman]

husbandry

noun
1 the care, cultivation, and breeding of crops and animals:crop husbandry
2 management and conservation of resources.

Origin:
Middle English: from husband in the obsolete sense 'farmer' + -ry; compare with husbandman


ceridwen at geograph.org.uk

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Nature, the wild type, deserves the husbandry of mankind. Instead, we are merely consumers, not seeing the limits or providing needed care.

[Algot Runeman]

yang

noun
(in Chinese philosophy) the active male principle of the universe, characterized as male and creative and associated with heaven, heat, and light. Contrasted with yin

Origin:
from Chinese yáng 'male genitals', 'sun', 'positive'


ClayOgre on openclipart.org

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I hesitate to comment on yang. I have no yen to be in trouble. Young will be giggling, at least.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

yang

I hesitate to comment on yang.

To pin yang in your comment, may I suggest you write it in Pinyin?