Help expand our volcabulary with any new words you have seen or learnt I saw this word in an Irish newspaper "Gurrier" definition in these song lyrics:
quote:
He's a loser, a boozer, a me and you user A raider, a trader, a people police hater So lonely and only, what you'd call a gurrier Still now, Danny Farrell, he's a man
Looks like the historical origin could be French?( poss Breton) anyone care to check? Googles language tools cannot translate it ************************************************************************* 08-22-03, 07:49 PM cattywampus Here's a couple my girlfriend thought up:
Gastronominie - bad tummy ache
American Ambassidie - Assistant, maybe?
Verdanzen Like forbidden, only you can do it twice.
If I wrote down the new words I have learned from this site (like "abend," "discoverly" and "temperation") I could fill a book!
Catty Big Grin ************************************************************************* 08-23-03, 03:29 AM FredPuli 'Gurrier', Bedstor? Wouldn't you be after knowing it's from the Irish ? It is derived from Gaelic 'gur' a boil. So he's 'like a boil on yer bum '! Smile ************************************************************************* 08-23-03, 08:31 AM bedstor Oooooo that Smarts!! Eek SO Thats the Irish for Pain in the arse Eh! Red Face Thanks Fred! I lived for 2 years in Ireland But never bothered to learn the language (Only know a few basic words without referring to a book) ************************************************************************* 08-23-03, 02:42 PM stampeding turtles A word I saw recently in print is:
"Garage Mahal"
....which is apparently a large,opulent parking structure that is becoming common in many large cities. I understand it has been used in car racing circles for some time. ************************************************************************* 08-23-03, 04:03 PM FredPuli Since boyhood I've loved the sound of 'zugzwang' ( 'tsoog-tsvang', roughly).Isn't that a good sound? It's a dead useful word too, though it's not in M-W above. It's a term in chess for a position where the player cannot make any move without making his position worse.It deserves to be more widely known and more widely applied; it applies to all 'no-win situations' but is subtle in that it does not mean the player must inevitably lose the game but only that matters are certain to get worse whatever move is made immediately. The player is 'in zugzwang'.
As for new finds, how about: 'jobation' ( joe-bation) and the verb 'jobe'? To jobe is to rebuke in a long and tedious harangue; so a jobation is the tedious telling off itself ! Had a few of those but I never had the word for them ! Smile
and there's 'battology' which is the continual repetition of the same words or phrases in speaking or writing ( battering you with them, perhaps)
or 'barmecide' an insincere , apparent benefactor, someone who offers illusory benefits( from a character in the Arabian Nights who presented a sumptuous 'feast' in gold tureens and servers all of which proved to be empty)
or 'quakebuttock' for a coward ( wonder why?)
or 'greking'( rhymes with 'creaking') which is daybreak , when some of us are creaking ( rhymes with 'greking') Big Grin ************************************************************************* 08-23-03, 05:08 PM maiku The word Zugzwang is already a legitimate word in German. It is compounded from Zug and Zwang, which mean, respectively, move and constraint (or force) in that language.
It is indeed applied in chess, as you say, Fred, though it can be used in German more widely for any forced move. If I "put the ball in your court," for example, I'm placing you under Zugzwang, according to the Germans.
I like the word sinistrose, myself, for the left-handed sugar opposite to dextrose. Much better than levulose, I think. I also like avogadroes as an adjectival noun for a really, really big quantity of something, like, say, avogadroes of industrial pollutants. I use the word Volstead to designate a quantity of alcohol, myself, as for example in, "But ossifer, I only had three Volsteads." ************************************************************************* 08-23-03, 05:39 PM cattywampus Fascinating, Fred! Those are all great words. Here's a few I've come upon receently:
encephalomalacia softening of brain tissue masseter muscle located at the angle of the jaw leiomyofibroma benign tumor of smooth muscles lymphadenopathy disease of lymph gland
And those are the short ones!
Catty Eek ************************************************************************* 08-23-03, 10:07 PM honilov I was watching Judge Larry Joe, on Texas Justice recently, and he used the word 'chunk', in which he meant 'throw'.
I know chunk is a word, but I never knew it meant to throw. I thought it was a noun like a 'chunk' of wood or 'chunk' of chocolate. Maybe it's just a country term used by a good ole Texas boy. ************************************************************************* 08-23-03, 10:33 PM cattywampus If I'm not mistaken, "chunk" may be a corruption of "chuck," - to "toss or throw" according to my dictionary. Of course Texans have their own language, I have often been assured. What do you think, methos/maiku/juan?
Catty Razz ************************************************************************* 08-24-03, 02:48 AM FredPuli The Oxford English Dictionary gives 'chunk' as 'US colloquial' for 'hit with a missile;throw a missile at' and it dates from the mid-C19. It is apparently an alteration or 'chuck', they say. Chuck is from Old French chuquer'to knock or bump'. The nouns 'chunk' and 'chuck' have the same origin. The link between verb and noun is that both concern a lump, either itself or being used as something to throw. ************************************************************************* 08-24-03, 01:22 PM maiku Where I live, the verb for throwing something is always "chuck," never "chunk." The latter is widespread throughout the southern part of the U.S., though, and I've heard it used in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida many times. I've never heard it used in Texas before, but then I always avoid Texas as much as possible anyway. It is almost certainly an alteration of "chuck," reinforced by the much earlier noun "chunk," as Fred reports.
The Century Dictionary reports a use of a word chunk for a game played by American Indians which one might suppose to be related, but which probably is not. The game of chunk (more correctly chunke was played by rolling a stone disk along a prepared course, and then, while it was still in motion, hurling a stick after it. The player whose disk and stick landed closest together won. Sort of an Amerindian variant of shuffleboard or bocce, I guess. The place where this game was played was called a chunkyard. Now, you don't suppose those mean, junkyard dogs they talk about were originally ones who interferred in this sport by chasing the disk or the stick, do you? Nah! ************************************************************************* 08-24-03, 01:41 PM cattywampus Dear Maiku -
Please allow me to join you in avoiding Texas.
Catty Big Grin ************************************************************************* 08-24-03, 04:32 PM maiku Shhh, catty! Certain prominent Texans might be looking in at this thread! I never meant to bash the entire state with anything I said above, may I point out. Only most of it. Do you always concentrate on things I say only in subordinate clauses? If the AP convention were to be held in Texas, I might consider compromising my principles to the extent of actually going there.
Meanwhile, of course there is no likelihood that I will ever be invited to Bush's ranch in Crawford. Are those that are invited to be distinguished by a certain "Crawfordability" in their politics? To be fair, I must say I never much liked Lyndon Johnson, either, and certainly would have been, for my anti-war activities at the time, persona non grata at his Perdanales spread. He certainly did display a lot of perdanalaciousness in his stubborness about "Veetnam," though, didn't he?
You've heard the word toxicolgy, of course. I propose the word Texacology for the special study of the toxins that have accumulated notably over that state ever since GWB was its governor. (And which his national policies have done nothing to ameliorate).
The noun Enron has, of course, already been made into a verb. I suggest, though, that we could say not only that Bush's good friend Kenneth Lay enroned us all, but that he in fact "layed" us all. And do you suppose that the Bush-Cheney "halliburtoning" of Iraq might be part of the problem there, not part of the solution? ************************************************************************* 08-24-03, 06:42 PM cattywampus Right ON, maiku! You've really got hold of it now. I think we should cede Texas back to Mexico and then they could call their food "Mex-Mex!"
Heard a good one today: some guy said the cat leapt off the shelf and pancaked itself to his face. It's amazing how many nouns make wonderful, colorful verbs, isn't it?
Catty Big Grin ************************************************************************* 08-25-03, 04:03 AM Ewood27 Catty, "pancake" is obsolete British Royal Air Force radio verbal shorthand for landing an aircraft. "Red 4, you're clear to pancake on the runway". Why on earth they couldn't just say "land" I don't know, except that "pancake" could also cover the non-standard landings that followed being shot at and damaged.
Your cat story carries the same mental image - "Splat"!
As for Texas, the only thing I know that won't alienate too many of my AP friends is the "Texas shuffle" at cards. You drop them on the floor and it "Texas" ages to gather them up. ************************************************************************* 08-25-03, 08:11 AM cattywampus LOLOL @ Ewood!
Catty Big Grin ************************************************************************* 08-25-03, 08:17 AM FredPuli Oh , I don't think 'pancake' is just any landing Ewood, certainly not now, anyway ! Strictly,it's when you stall the plane just a few feet above the ground and it does an inelegant and damaging 'belly-flop'just like a pancake landing back in the pan on Shrove Tuesday. You are supposed to fly the thing all the way down with just enough airspeed for it to keep in the air, not abandon it to gravity! Stalling close to the ground is dreaded because it is usually fatal. However it causes a degree of shocked amusement, if very, very low; a true pancake.
On stalling the wing(s) are suddenly giving no lift, the plane cannot be flown and falls out of the sky, so this is best avoided unless you have, say, 1200 feet to play with so you can fly it out of the stall or spin when it picks up speed in falling.
The RAF came to apply the word to any inelegant landing where a damaged plane limped in and just made it down safely . This often meant that it had lost the use of its undercarriage landing-gear so no wheels were available; a noisy 'pancake' style landing ensued. It was also for those, by no means rare cases, where the pilot forgot to put it down or someone forgot that on this model it needed a lot more turns of the crank to crank it to fully down than on the last model...... ! Oops!
Of course a sarcastic air-controller might refer to anybody's landing, as judged from experience, as 'a pancake' even in advance of the event ! Big Grin ************************************************************************* 08-25-03, 11:23 AM Ewood27 You could well be right, Fred, about a pancake landing being "wheels-up", whether forced or in error. It's not a term that's used much these days though. I never heard it in my 30-odd years as a pilot.
We used to say that there are two kinds of pilots, those who have landed wheels-up and those who are going to. Strangely, those who have never do it again!
The same applies to those who raise the landing gear instead of retracting the wing flaps after landing. That can happen too, if the safety system fails. ************************************************************************* 08-26-03, 10:57 AM FredPuli Thirty years experience , eh, Ewood ? I hope I got the bit about stalling right! Smile About all I can remember about first lessons on a glider was this " Now you are up here try to remember that a glider,though having no engine, is not supposed to be quiet, peaceful,floating like a silent bird. If it goes dead quiet try panic; because it means the 'plane ain't flying no more!" You land one of those in a steep fast, 'diving' approach and pull out of it in the last seconds, such is the fear of stalling; believe me at first you envy the power fliers because it's dead scary!No pancake though. Big Grin ************************************************************************* 08-26-03, 02:37 PM Ewood27 Have you learnt a New word lately? share it here Oh, an excellent description of stalling, Fred, and a good explanation of why "low and slow" is a good place not to be, even in a powered aircraft.
They used to try to teach "3-point landings" (maybe still do) on main wheels and tail-wheel simultaneously, which is in effect a deliberate stall from about six inches. My fellow students and I all said "Yeah, yeah" and did it when we had to, but flew the thing on whenever we weren't being checked. In jets you have to fly it on.
Do you get the feeling we've strayed from the question? ************************************************************************* 08-26-03, 05:57 PM FredPuli Oh, that's all right ; we can catch up with the others later. Smile
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