GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Algot Runeman]

mandarin definition 1

/ˈmand(ə)rɪn/
noun

1 mass noun The standard literary and official form of Chinese, spoken by over 730 million people.
2 An official in any of the nine top grades of the former imperial Chinese civil service.
2.1 as modifier (of clothing) characteristic of a former Chinese mandarin.
2.2 A porcelain ornament consisting of a nodding figure in traditional Chinese costume.
2.3 mass noun Porcelain decorated with Chinese figures dressed as mandarins.
3 A powerful official or senior bureaucrat, especially one perceived as reactionary and secretive.

Origin
Late 16th century (denoting a Chinese official): from Portuguese mandarim, via Malay from Hindi mantrī ‘counsellor’.

-==-==-==-

"Clothes make the man", a common aphorism, never more true than regarding mandarin officials.

[Algot Runeman]

globular

/ˈɡlɒbjʊlə/
adjective
1. roughly spherical in shape.
1.1 comprising globules.
noun
A globular cluster


-=-===-=-

When we get together, we try to do it in a globular cluster. We're a spaced out group.

[Algot Runeman]

Amidah

/əˈmiːdə/
noun
Judaism
A prayer consisting of a varying number of blessings recited while the worshippers stand.

Origin
Late 19th century: Hebrew, literally ‘standing’.

---==---==---

Saul stood silent during the Amidah while those around him spoke the blessings. He wasn't feeling particularly blessed.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

globular

For the Flemish (and the Dutch too, I guess) a Mandarin usually means a slightly flattened, globular citrus fruit.

(Clementines are a somewhat larger sort of Mandarins) Click on the image!

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

E.P.S., you have redefined the meaning of a segmented post! Great job handling the slightly squashed globular shape of the juicy mandarin orange and cousin Clemetine.

[Algot Runeman]

Pog

/pɒɡ/
noun
1 A cardboard or plastic disc printed with a design or picture, collected or swapped by children or used in games.
1.1 Pogs A children's game in which players strike a pile of Pogs with an implement, winning any that land face upwards when they fall.

Origin

1990s: from POG (acronym from the initial letters of passion fruit, orange, guava), a trademark for a juice drink originally made by a dairy on Maui, Hawaii: the lids of the drink provided the first game disks.

-=-=-=-

Patrick pounced on the Pog as it rolled toward the sewer grate. It was his favorite. He shuddered to think of it getting lost.

[Algot Runeman]

condemnatory

/ˌkɒndəmˈneɪt(ə)ri/
adjective
Expressing strong disapproval; censorious.

---==---==---

"He did it," Joel said in a condemnatory tone. Bob didn't deny it.

[Algot Runeman]

senex

/ˈsɛnɛks/
noun
(in literature, especially comedy) an old man as a stock figure.

Origin
From Latin, ‘old man’.

-=-=-=-=-

Marty realized that he was playing the senex by sharing the jogging path with all the young people as he walked slowly through the park.

[voralfred]

I know I deserve condemnatory reproaches for intervening so rarely. Being a senex myself is a poor excuse, considering I believe I am still slightly younger than the two main participants.

[Algot Runeman]

Some of us, though old enough to remember...What was that again?

Let's see...Right. Recriminations for a senex wannabe.

I suggest we skip that. More than anything, we want company in our mild obsession with a word each day. Recriminations are negative. "We" want to be open and positive.

[Algot Runeman]

inextricable

/ɪnˈɛkstrɪkəb(ə)l//ˌɪnɪkˈstrɪkəb(ə)l/
adjective
1 Impossible to disentangle or separate.
1.1 Impossible to escape from.

Origin
Mid 16th century: from Latin inextricabilis, from in- ‘not’ + extricare ‘unravel’ (see extricate).

-=-=-=-=-

In the end, the wad of yarn proved to be inextricable. Removing the cat required careful cutting through many of the strands.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

inextricable

It's certainly easier to say "Curiosity killed the cat" than to say "Inextricability killed the cat".

[voralfred]

In fact, it is the inextricable entanglement of quantum states that kept Schrödinger's cat at least alive while simultaneously dead...

[Algot Runeman]

philately

/fɪˈlat(ə)li/
noun
mass noun
The collection and study of postage stamps.

Origin
Mid 19th century: from French philatélie, from philo- ‘loving’ + Greek ateleia ‘exemption from payment’ (from a- ‘not’ + telos ‘toll, tax’), used to mean a franking mark or postage stamp exempting the recipient from payment.

-=-=-=-=-

Joe had not intended to do a collection, but got started with philately because he managed to not use up any of the stamps he ever bought.

[Algot Runeman]

meander

/mɪˈandə/
verb
1 no object, with adverbial of direction (of a river or road) follow a winding course.
1.1 Wander at random.
1.2 no object (of language, thought, etc.) proceed aimlessly or with little purpose.
noun
usually meanders
1 A winding curve or bend of a river or road.
1.1 in singular An indirect or aimless journey.
1.2 An ornamental pattern of winding or interlocking lines.

Origin
Late 16th century (as a noun): from Latin maeander, from Greek Maiandros, the name of a river (see Menderes).

---===---===---
Bob was sorry that his meandering pattern didn't seem to be more than a doodle.



[There's a very minor oddity with today's word. ODO suggested solander, but it had been used before. When I went to another source, Wordnik, it suggested today's word, a swap of me for sol].

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

meander

As meander carried your preference over solander, it was the colander.

(Or should I spell it co-lander?)

[Algot Runeman]

contemporary

/kənˈtɛmp(ə)r(ər)i/
adjective
1 Living or occurring at the same time.
1.1 Dating from the same time.
2 Belonging to or occurring in the present.
2.1 Following modern ideas in style or design.
noun
1 A person or thing living or existing at the same time as another.
1.1 A person of roughly the same age as another.

Origin
Mid 17th century: from medieval Latin contemporarius, from con- ‘together with’ + tempus, tempor- ‘time’ (on the pattern of Latin contemporaneus and late Latin contemporalis).

-=-=-=-=-

Simply being someone's contemporary does not necessarily mean you have a connection. Six degrees of separation is usually a significant distance.

[Algot Runeman]

fango

/ˈfaŋɡəʊ/
noun
mass noun, usually as modifier Mud from thermal springs in Italy, used in curative treatment at spas and health farms.

Origin
Early 20th century: Italian, literally ‘mud’.

-=-=-=-

Francesca played in any mud she could find, but she preferred fango, as any true connoisseur would.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

fango

I doubt my grandma would have partaken in a fango festival.

She loved skinny-dipping but she hated having her natural fur soiled with mud, be it fango or Yellowstone mud or any kind.

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

babblative

/ˈbablətɪv/
adjective
Given to babbling; loquacious, prattling. Also: characterized by an excess of talk; verbose, bombastic. Now somewhat archaic.

Origin
Late 16th century; earliest use found in Thomas Newton (d. 1607), translator and Church of England clergyman. From babble + -ative.

-=-=-=-=-

Bernice was babblative before, but with a cellphone she doesn't have to actually be with her friends or tethered to the kitchen wall phone. She carries three backup battery chargers.

[Algot Runeman]

recluse

/rɪˈkluːs/
noun
A person who lives a solitary life and tends to avoid other people.
adjective
archaic
Favouring a solitary life.

Origin
Middle English: from Old French reclus, past participle of reclure, from Latin recludere ‘enclose’, from re- ‘again’ + claudere ‘to shut’.

-=-....-=-....-=-

Visiting routinely through social media was the only thing that kept Marty from being a functional recluse. He got his electronics via FedEx and he even had his groceries delivered.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

recluse

I do live a solitary life but I do NOT tend to avoid other people.

Am I then a semi- or pseudo-recluse? A wannabe Diogenes?

Spoiler: show

[Algot Runeman]

A wannabe Diogenes?

Did Diogenes have scuffed-up knees.
I truly, need the answer, please.
I'll gladly send a wedge of cheese
And a hanky if you sneeze.

--Pseudo recluse, drinking juice

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

sexfoil

I am getting old.

All my modest attempts at sex are foiled.

Of course there's also my medication with an incompetence side effect.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

floccinaucinihilipilification
Here's a WotD for you!

Had Mary Poppins gone into politics, floccinaucinihilipilification would have been ascribed to her.