Comments by abraxaszugzwang

  • Heya C_B! Congrats on the cub! I'll try to check in more often if you'll do the same.

    December 17, 2009

  • Hellooooooo.

    December 10, 2009

  • Thanks, John, and thanks for keeping the site going. It looks great!

    December 10, 2009

  • Oh man, pronunciations! This'll get me hooked again. Well, Excuuuuuuuse me, princess!

    December 10, 2009

  • Hey. Thanks for the comment. It's nice to be remembered. I'm happy to see you're still here!

    December 10, 2009

  • Thanks, guys. I'm going to try to check in more regularly now. Glad you're all still around. And Chained_Bear?

    December 10, 2009

  • Oh, a priest used to sing this song to us all the time when I was a kid. And the green grass grew all around, all around . . .

    November 29, 2009

  • Hey mate. I just reactivated my account, too. Good to see your name here.

    November 29, 2009

  • C_B! Hi! Thanks for the comment. I've been gone so long, I felt sure no one would remember me. Not sure why I go in such fits and spurts. I need to think about making a new list and getting back into the swing of things. Probably loads of people to meet too. Anyhoo, how're you doing?

    December 3, 2008

  • "Why is it that a woman always thinks the most savage thing she can say to a man is to impugn his cocksmanship?"

    "Well, I’m sorry I impugned your cocksmanship."

    November 11, 2007

  • "Who is Bellybongo? - Bellybongo is more than 1.000.000 yrs old! The runner of things is Magnus, I have no age at all! I am devoted to fleamarkets, but I search everywhere for that odd LP that bump me into some sort of change. I share mostly obscure stuff. Some scored cheap around my area (center of Sweden), others bought on eBay. I have recently grown tired of Exotica which was my obsession for several yrs and have sold off many records. the one I share today has Exotica touches, but is a record I never will part with. Besides running this great website, I am proud to have coined the term SHARITY which now is so common for vinyl shares. I wonder if SHARITY even will make it into English dictionaries?"

    I've been using this term in google searches for a while and, while I've been aware of bellybongo.com for probably 5 years, I never knew Magnus coined it.

    October 28, 2007

  • this is something kids at my school would claim to have to protect themselves from being jinxed. I never knew if it existed outside of my elementary school, and a google search turn up nada.

    October 28, 2007

  • "I can't smell anything. I've killed all my nosebuds."

    October 23, 2007

  • also used in Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions."

    October 8, 2007

  • Wow, first check-in in a while and I see "A_Z" on the front page. I gotta get back here more often!

    c_b! sniff sniff. You have been missed.

    October 7, 2007

  • Yes! I completely agree.

    September 21, 2007

  • Had a disagreement at work today over whether it's catty or kitty-cornered. He argues that since definition sites come up on google when catty-cornered is entered, catty must be correct. But I pointed out that kitty-cornered has 100,000 some odd more results, meaning it's more popular. He tried pulling argumentum ad populum saying that a lot of people using a word doesn't make it a word. He cited the OED as an authority on language.

    Language evolves. Numbers matter. Condesceding prick.

    September 20, 2007

  • Dude, he was going all nut ball and shit.

    August 9, 2007

  • a co-worker of mine said this today and I realized I hadn't heard it in approx. 15 years.

    August 6, 2007

  • Varelse (pronounced var-ELSS-uh) are strangers from another species who are not able to communicate with us. They are true aliens, completely incapable of common ground with humanity.

    August 3, 2007

  • Ramen (singular raman) are strangers from another species who are capable of communication and peaceful coexistence with humanity, even if they do not pursue the latter. We are able to exchange ideas with "ramen", but would have little or no common ground with them, at least not initially.

    August 3, 2007

  • Framlings are strangers who are of one's own species but who are from another world or culture. This is a person who is substantially similar, but significantly different from ourselves. For example, if one met another human who lived on Mars, this person would be a framling

    August 3, 2007

  • Utlannings are strangers of one's own species and one's own world (i.e. community or culture). An utlanning is a person who shares our own cultural identity. For example, if one were to meet a stranger who lived in another city, state, or province, this person would be considered utlanning.

    August 3, 2007

  • Hey guys! Yep, I'm still bazillions of time zones away. I check in here from time to time, but haven't commented much lately I spose. I notice C_B has been M.I.A. as well; where'd she go?

    slumry, where did you blast out from? 4,000 some odd words? How long have I been away? Anyhoo, pleased to meet you!

    u, *nod*

    July 13, 2007

  • Prestige, face, place, the pride-relationship the untranslatable and all-important principle of social authority on Karhide and all of Gethen.

    July 12, 2007

  • tell that to Ice-T

    June 18, 2007

  • Well, to be fair, the author did say it was an "ill-gotten confession." I simply don't believe it ever happened. But, yes, that would definitely defeat the purpose.

    May 18, 2007

  • I realize that internet friends are not always quite the same as in-person friends. So let me just say that some of my best friends are bla . . I mean Christian. But let me share this one other thing with you. I was reading a book called "Christ Plays in 10,000 Places" and this author was relating a childhood tale wherein he got his ass whooped for being a "Jesus Pansy." Well one day he snaps and attacks the kid telling him to "say uncle!" The bully refuses and then the author's Christianity kicks in. He tells the bully, "Say 'I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior!" The author claims he said it. I found that such a laughable and disgusting lie I had to put the book down.

    I think I'd get some reverse Grinch action going if someone tried to force me to say anything even remotely close to that. The strength of ten men! "NEEEEVAAAAHHH!"

    May 18, 2007

  • At least the Jesus Freak would find joy in being humiliated "IN JESUS NAME!"

    May 18, 2007

  • One could make that argument, but then one would be a Jesus Freak and be beat up.

    May 18, 2007

  • no, because Jesus in Jesus Freaks acts as an adjective. Not the same as, say, Hell's Angels where the angels belong to hell :)

    May 18, 2007

  • oh reesetee, I was annoyed by much more than the pronunciation.

    uselessness, we know it's not all of you. I watched the doc with an ex-Jehovah's Witness, a guy from Kentucky, and a gal from Kansas. We were all thoroughly disgusted and scared.

    But it was a pretty good documentary. I like that they tossed the radio guy in there so that it didn't become a promotion for brainwashing.

    May 18, 2007

  • Don't forget Deep Thought.

    May 17, 2007

  • Just watched the documentary "Jesus Camp." It really bothers me when people say "In Jesus name." Now, I don't care where you put the apostrophe; it can be "Jesus'" or "Jesus's" for all I care, but the possessive must be sounded out!

    May 17, 2007

  • 5% Dixie. Need help digging out of the snow?

    I love the "tonic" one. Answer: Massachusetts!

    May 15, 2007

  • Quit being all indie snob, U!

    May 11, 2007

  • "What a ma-roooooon"

    April 25, 2007

  • One of the most empty words I know.

    April 22, 2007

  • hoi-toider

    April 22, 2007

  • Your baby mings.

    April 22, 2007

  • Itnal! You should list that.

    April 18, 2007

  • is this just dislike or "fear of"?

    April 15, 2007

  • I had a cat by that name.

    April 13, 2007

  • pain in the ass?

    April 11, 2007

  • One who eats whatever is available.

    April 11, 2007

  • Thanks. That's my favorite too. I need to go back and get the tones right though.

    April 10, 2007

  • It doesn't matter. It's ok.

    April 10, 2007

  • To be in. Have connections.

    April 10, 2007

  • By mom says criminy, my dad says by george, and I say hogwarsh.

    April 10, 2007

  • Oh man, I have to hear them try parallelogram!

    April 10, 2007

  • Agreed. placid is weeeeeeak. In fact, I daresay anything that calls Ogden Nash to mind is hardly menacing . . . . though full of formic acid is pretty cool.

    April 10, 2007

  • wait a sec, don't we all?

    April 9, 2007

  • Hey BetaRish. I just made this list myself. It's called Tauromachy

    (and for some reason, even though my link is correct, it links right back to this list)

    April 2, 2007

  • The type of language produced by nonnative speakers in the process of learning a second language or foreign language.

    March 31, 2007

  • "A term widely used in Japan referring to victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese word translates literally to 'explosion-affected people.'"

    March 30, 2007

  • The owner of a latifundio.

    March 30, 2007

  • Blast! This has been on my list of lists to make for some time! I've just been dragging my feet on Wordie lately. Might have to make the list anyway someday :)

    March 30, 2007

  • "Chikan (痴漢, �?カン, or �?��?�ん) is a Japanese term meaning "molester" or "pervert." The term is frequently used to describe people, who take advantage of the crowded conditions on the public transit systems to touch people, primarily females, sexually."

    March 29, 2007

  • Zulu word for Unity.

    March 29, 2007

  • Merwin's an interesting guy . . . never was sure how I felt about him, but I like this one.

    March 29, 2007

  • I'm with you on rural. What a terrible word.

    March 26, 2007

  • a great zinger when someone says something rather dull or pointless.

    March 26, 2007

  • see the chinese room for the Kids in the Hall usage.

    March 26, 2007

  • aposiopesis and indefatigable are two of my favoritest words to say, hoo hoo hoo hoo. And Gloucester isn't bad if you say it right. Same with Worcester.

    March 26, 2007

  • Dave: We're closed.

    Scott: Hello? I want you to tell me where a shoe store is because I want to look for a pair of shoes and buy 'em.

    Dave: I'm sorry. I'd love to be of assistance to you but I'm afraid I speak no English.

    Scott: Pardon?

    Dave: Ah. I see by the expression on your face that you are confused by my statement. Perhaps you doubt its veracity, but let me assure you, I speak not a word of English.

    Scott: What are you talking about, huh?

    Dave: You see, everything that I am saying to you I have learned to speak phonetically. As to the meanings of the individual words or the percumbant rules of syntax, I haven't a clue.

    Scott: Why don't you just shut up and tell me where the shoe store is, you jerk?

    Dave: Allow me to reiterate, I speak no English. Perhaps this will wash the confusion from your face, my friend. My apparent fluency is the result of constant repetition. As you can imagine, I have been through this speech many times before, in fact ,I could repeat it for you in any one of seven different languages. Yet oddly enough , I've never learned to speak it in my own, which is fine since over the years I have forgotten how to speak my own language.

    Scott: Just shut up and tell me where the show store is, huh?

    Dave: Thank you, would you like to fight me now or are you a coward?

    Scott punches Dave in the stomach.

    Scott: Don't die.

    Dave: I don't know what you're saying.

    Scott: I just wanted to buy a pair of shoes, huh?

    Dave: No habla espanol, senor.

    Scott: Just got feet, don't got shoes.

    Dave: Nein sprechen sie deutsch.

    March 22, 2007

  • I don't approve of bullfighting, but it intrigues me nonetheless. The book was poorly written. Very disappointing for Hemingway. Here's the passage that nearly made me put it down forever:

    The public had been wild about Antonio in a part of the country where Luis Miguel had a tremendous following and had always been considered the number one bullfighter and the rivalry between Antonio and Luis Miguel was now launched on an international basis with photographers and reporters from French and other European illustrated papers arriving in Madrid to see his next fight.

    March 21, 2007

  • sea foam

    March 21, 2007

  • I might be calling him Falkor, like the dragon in The NeverEnding Story.

    March 20, 2007

  • A Colbertism.

    March 20, 2007

  • Keep your meta-comments to yourself :)

    Cocoa Krispies

    March 17, 2007

  • As in where the paper factory is located in The Office? Not bad actually. We'll have to see if it works. Thanks.

    March 17, 2007

  • Ok, so I got a 4 year old Himalayan. His name is "Shanti," which clearly cannot remain. He needs a suitable nickname to take over full time. I'm sure one will arise naturally, but if people have thoughts . . . I'm not making this a Democracie because - would you let strangers name your kid? But suggestions are welcome.

    March 17, 2007

  • I think it is fluffernutter. I'll add it to the N.E. list.

    March 15, 2007

  • what's that?

    March 14, 2007

  • I refuse to add that on the grounds that it is awful and a recent development in N.E. and I hope it dies! It is, however, already on my Rubbies list.

    March 14, 2007

  • for a cigarette, my old man says cigabutt.

    March 14, 2007

  • Let me know if any of these are used outside of N.E. I found a list online and disagree with some. Others I encounter all the time. Just yesterday, for instance, I realized that very few people outside of New England know what Fluff is, never mind a Fluff-a-nutter. Frappe is another that no one seems to know.

    March 14, 2007

  • ß

    March 13, 2007

  • also called nunc-millennialism.

    March 13, 2007

  • if this were pronounced more like persimmon, I would like it.

    March 13, 2007

  • Ocracoke Island lingo for piazza.

    March 13, 2007

  • Ocracoke Island lingo for "to bother."

    March 13, 2007

  • Ocracoke Island lingo for "a piece of something."

    March 13, 2007

  • Ocracoke Island lingo for "sick or uneasy."

    March 13, 2007

  • A name for the locals of Ocracoke Island (which is off the coast of North Carolina), for the way that they pronounce "high tide."

    March 13, 2007

  • "There is no such thing as a natural death. Nothing that happens to Man is ever natural, since his presence calls the whole world into question. All men must die, but for every man his death is an accident. And even if he knows it and consents to it, an unjustifiable violation." - J.R.R. Tolkien

    March 13, 2007

  • Are you familiar with the Italian comic book Dylan Dog?

    March 13, 2007

  • Do you mean Alfred E. Neuman?

    March 13, 2007

  • I'm particularly fond of Slartibartfast.

    March 13, 2007

  • momma had a baby and her head (*pop*) popped off.

    March 12, 2007

  • Calves drink milk. Gimme whiskey.

    March 11, 2007

  • with you on the wind instrument, wuss.

    March 11, 2007

  • Anyone else have a clavicle fetish? No? Anyone?

    March 11, 2007

  • Sad news, eh? My mom had tickets for an upcoming Beatlejuice show :(

    March 11, 2007

  • just went to noraebang again and it said wiggity or, perhaps, wiggady. If I weren't so tired and emotional, I might remember better.

    March 10, 2007

  • ceci n'est pas une comment?

    March 10, 2007

  • I can't remember who had the wine list, but in Australia, goon is the slang for bottom-of-the-barrel cask wine.

    March 9, 2007

  • I like this one. Thanks for making it a list.

    March 9, 2007

  • it was an ugly fugly, and yet seemly, yellow polka dot burqini.

    March 9, 2007

  • see clouds

    March 9, 2007

  • Chorea sancti viti (Latin for "St. Vitus' dance") is an abnormal involuntary movement disorder, one of a group of neurological disorders called dyskinesias. The term chorea is derived from a Greek word khoreia (a kind of dance, see chorea), as the quick movements of the feet or hands are vaguely comparable to dancing or piano playing.

    March 9, 2007

  • Ah, see my first comment. there's always that little aside when using the mnemonic.

    March 9, 2007

  • I take issue with some of these names. To call Mr. Stay Puft a villain is a stretch. He's just a happy go lucky marshmallow sailer. He only gets pissed when they shoot at him, if I remember.

    Frankenstein's monster? You're just as bad as Dr. Frankenstein.

    King Kong has no place on this list of "Baddies."

    March 8, 2007

  • Wasn't just dresses :) I grew up just outside of Boston.

    March 8, 2007

  • I used to pick my nose and wipe it on the most expensive dresses I came across. Also, I hid in the carousels and pretended to be a sniper or spy.

    March 8, 2007

  • Oh My God, I thought this was going to be a word for what happens to a kid forced to wait around in Fabric Stores. I mean, I used to be hauled all over the joint by my mom and she would spend hours in Department Stores. I used to get headaches and my stomach would hurt and no amount of pleading affected her. It was truly horrific.

    March 8, 2007

  • sionnach, I can't get totally behind the word either; so, you're not alone. I love the meaning of the word and I love the word cosmonaut, but non-plussed is on my Rubbies list. Not even sure why; I've just never liked that word.

    March 8, 2007

  • This is really an amazing collection of stories. A very abstract set of narratives from the perspective and p.o.v. of a shapeless being, named Qfwfq, who witnesses the creation of the universe and its continual changes. I was listening to the Arcade Fire's song "Ocean of Noise" while reading the story with Ayl and think there's a fairly strong connection:

    In an ocean of noise

    I first heard your voice

    Ringing like a bell

    As if I had a choice, oh well!

    Left in the morning

    While you were fast asleep

    Into an ocean of violence

    A world of empty streets

    You've got your reasons

    And me I've got mine

    But all the reasons I gave

    Were just lies to buy myself some time

    In an ocean of noise

    I first heard your voice

    Now who hear among us

    Still believes in choice?

    Not I!

    No way of knowing

    What any man will do

    An ocean of violence

    Between me and you

    You've got your reasons

    And me I've got mine

    But all the reasons I gave

    Were just lies to buy myself some time

    I'm gonna work it out

    Cause time wont work it out

    I'm gonna work it out

    Cause time wont work it our for you

    I'm gonna work it on out

    March 8, 2007

  • my grandfather's nickname. my cousin couldn't say grampy, so he said bampy, and that was that.

    March 8, 2007

  • A poetic name for Japan, used by Marco Polo.

    March 8, 2007

  • apparently, the Dutch equivalent of babe.

    March 8, 2007

  • :(

    March 8, 2007

  • I don't want your blood mo-oo-ney.

    But you might as well take it. We think that you should.

    March 7, 2007

  • The compound substance Batman releases from his utility belt to confound the Scarecrow.

    March 7, 2007

  • Oh, eat your animal crackers

    'Cause my mother told me so long ago,

    "If you eat your animal crackers,

    The children in Europe won't starve anymore".

    Ha ha hahaha hahaha.

    Oh, once I went on a diet,

    A carbohydrate diet ain't nice

    'Cause you can't eat animal crackers.

    So, I'm gonna stay a fatty for all of my life,

    Ha ha hahaha hahahaha.

    But some people think that fatties are nice, yeah.

    I love eating icecream,

    Chocolate, vanilla and butter pecan,

    But I best love animal crackers

    'Cause I love helping my fellow man.

    Yeah, I really do.

    Did you ever hear of Alice's restaurant?

    I eat at Alice's restaurant year after year.

    She makes an animal cracker pizza, ha

    And she gives animal crackers out free with the beer.

    Oh, let's give Alice a great big cheer.

    She knows the age of the animal cracker is here.

    Ah, animal crackers are in this year!

    Ha ha hahaha.

    Oh, lalalalala lala lala

    March 7, 2007

  • I always thought so too, Lampane.

    March 7, 2007

  • "Yearly on the first weekend of May (on Saturday) and on the 19th September amazement spreads through Naples Cathedral. There one can marvel at how the blood of the beheaded San Gennaro liquifies in its ampoule."

    March 7, 2007

  • vote goes to crayfish and thanks, trivet, for not being a a democrat in name only (ahem*uselesness)

    March 7, 2007

  • You love us both :)

    March 6, 2007

  • Tunie is just too happy sounding a word for this song. Even Dirgie is too chipper.

    March 6, 2007

  • What about Don Cheadle's "This situation has a high potentiality for the common motherfucker to bitch out"? That was adlibbed.

    March 6, 2007

  • Still need to add Pbert Pberd

    March 6, 2007

  • Of course, movies are not the only things with scripts. And what about ad libbing, or am I just being difficult?

    March 6, 2007

  • well, if you don't like marriage, how about mirage?

    March 6, 2007

  • googlewhackery. Highlight that shit.

    March 6, 2007

  • I cannot find "senectuous" as in "my senectuous bribee" page 235, Ishmael, Bantam/Turner trade paperback edition, in any dictionary. Please tell me what it means, and your authority.

    ...and the response from Daniel Quinn:

    "Senectuous" is a synonym for "elderly." It's formed from the word "senectitude" ("elderliness") in the same general way that "multitudinous" is formed from the word "multitude." There was a time when you couldn't find the word "chortle" in dictionaries; this is because didn't exist until Lewis Carroll invented it in 1872. You won't find "senectuous" in any dictionary for the same reason. It's a word I invented (a liberty taken by many authors).

    March 6, 2007

  • suffrage, outrage, page, rage, cage, sage (do you want those itsy bitsy ones?) Hmmm, Power outage? seepage (gross), luggage, cabbage, ravage

    March 6, 2007

  • Two from my list: shrinkage and vagabondage.

    then, of course, there's just regular bondage. And baggage.

    March 6, 2007

  • Thanks, u.

    March 6, 2007

  • c_b, can you change your name to powder_bear?

    March 6, 2007

  • oooh, oh God. This is terrible! Makes my . . . oh God!

    March 5, 2007

  • yeah yeah, great list. I just added "I am the Walrus." It added it twice and now I can't access either! Meanwhile, peeps be adding Tunies left and right! Waaaah.

    March 5, 2007

  • added, and fantabulous word!

    March 5, 2007

  • was it invented on Wordie?

    March 5, 2007

  • cross that bridge when I come to it.

    March 5, 2007

  • Oh, I hadn't planned on singing, but then something let loose and now, evidently, I'm "karaoke king."

    March 5, 2007

  • Korean Karaoke. A private room for you and your friends.

    March 5, 2007

  • it's noraebang, a private room just for friends. I wouldn't want to do it in front of strangers.

    March 5, 2007

  • probably better than I. I should know this too, cause it was just sung at karaoke.

    March 5, 2007

  • cross question is the same as examine, but a different phrase.

    cross out, cross section, crosswalk, crossway

    March 5, 2007

  • suuuure, by accident. You'll own this list in no time.

    March 5, 2007

  • it's a wiggitywiggitywiggitywiggitywiggitywiggity whack!

    also, blue cross, red cross, dot your i's and cross your t's, cross eyes, cross fingers

    March 5, 2007

  • It damn well better. Get to inventin' people!

    March 5, 2007

  • re-reading it, it does have a faintly surreal quality. What's weirder is that, when you type "mepose balki" into google, it doesn't always give you the same "Did you mean:"

    I've also discovered that if you post your googlewhacks here, they're googlewhacks no longer.

    March 5, 2007

  • Thanks c_b. Until I get some background on some of those words, I guess I'll have to wait to add them. But I'll send word home to Squiggy that his nickname made your list!

    March 5, 2007

  • Levante and Poniente

    March 5, 2007

  • Should this be triumvirate?

    March 5, 2007

  • Thanks. Wombastic is added, but I'm not convinced fauxtatoes is a product of Wordie.

    March 5, 2007

  • From Peter Jackson's "Braindead," a.k.a. "Dead Alive."

    March 5, 2007

  • evil asymmetrical scar-like white line up his face, a terrorist in his youth, but not a kitler.

    March 5, 2007

  • Dwight, did you move the water cooler again just for the scuttlebutt?

    March 5, 2007

  • Someone else named Thumbkin?

    March 5, 2007

  • Indeed it is. I've yet to read anything by him, but really want to read Snow Crash.

    March 5, 2007

  • chained_bear's creation

    March 5, 2007

  • You know what u, I want amongmid on the list too! A friend of mine adds mid to a lot of stuff, so it's getting my support too.

    March 5, 2007

  • there's a gutteral stop in my throat.

    there's a gutteral stop in my throat.

    the wind comes in from far and wide.

    sands blow.

    grains collide.

    i'm changing inside.

    and there's a gutteral stop in my throat.

    ~The Extra Glenns

    March 5, 2007

  • Remember the candy from Nabisco? There were always those weird ads in comic books. Man, I loved the strawberry ones.

    March 5, 2007

  • Cryptonomicon is a book by Neal Stephenson.

    March 5, 2007

  • We'll be glad to have you on our side when we overthrow you.

    March 5, 2007

  • "Where is Thumbkin? Where is Thumbkin?"

    "Here I am. Here I am."

    "How are you today sir?"

    "Very well I say sir."

    "Run away."

    "Run away."

    I never understood why they ran away.

    March 5, 2007

  • smack dab as well. Quit trying to keep us down, u, or there will be a revolt.

    March 5, 2007

  • Qu'est-ce que c'est?

    March 4, 2007

  • U, we've been over this. we just don't want the same things.

    March 4, 2007

  • that's the best little aside I've read in a long time, true or not.

    March 4, 2007

  • pornographic lit

    March 4, 2007

  • when you celebrate something that's not on the calendar

    March 4, 2007

  • to walk on your toes like a dog or a cat

    March 4, 2007

  • Moonshine (sometimes known as Poteen, mooney, hooch, mountain dew, or white lightning) is a common slang term for home-distilled alcohol, especially in places where this production is illegal.

    The name is often assumed to be derived from the fact that moonshine producers and smugglers would often work at night (i.e. under the light of the moon) to avoid arrest for producing illegal liquor. The 1811 edition of the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose, defines "moonshine" as follows: "A matter or mouthful of moonshine; a trifle, nothing. The white brandy smuggled on the coasts of Kent and Sussex, and the gin in the north of Yorkshire, are also called moonshine." 1 It has been suggested that the term might derive from smugglers' explaining away their boxes and barrels as "mere moonshine" (that is, nothing). (Jonathon Green, American Dialect Society Mailing List, 31 Oct 2001)

    The Armenian name for moonshine is aragh (the word comes from Arabic araq عرق, meaning "sweat" or "juice")

    March 4, 2007

  • I can see my comment list fine, but when I click on "See comments made by others," it has been freezing or going to an error screen. Is anyone else having this problem?

    March 4, 2007

  • I love the pronunciation of this word. I can't get it out of my head.

    March 4, 2007

  • Can't believe I'm a skinflint.

    March 4, 2007

  • "and we can make sandwiches"

    March 4, 2007

  • A truly awful cult horror movie.

    March 4, 2007

  • I think I smell a new list.

    (you know it's bad when the boo preempts the remark)

    March 4, 2007

  • You know, that makes so much sense that I actually checked it out again thinking maybe I had missed a really obvious joke.

    March 4, 2007

  • Hey, a woman's got to learn life ain't all ice cream and midwives.

    March 4, 2007

  • how's about porn, term, specs (for spectacles), rad, non trad, bull, sim

    March 4, 2007

  • Does it bother you when, in the Matrix, Neo sees a cat pass twice and he says, "whoa, déjà vu"? It bothers me, because that's not really déjà vu.

    March 4, 2007

  • Use & Users:

    Junkies – heroin addicts

    Mainlining – injecting heroin into a vein

    Skin-popping – injecting heroin just below the skin's surface

    Chasing the Dragon – heating the drug until it begins to smoke, and inhaling the smoke through a straw

    Speedballing – injecting heroin combined with cocaine

    Crisscrossing – snorting heroin along with cocaine

    Shabanging – sniffing liquefied heroin from nasal spray bottle

    The Works / Outfit / Rig – a heroin user's set of tools and paraphernalia used for injection

    Tie-off – used to tie around the arm (to constrict blood flow) in order to make a vein protrude

    March 4, 2007

  • Great Title

    March 4, 2007

  • chained_bear and Ambrose Bierce sittin' in a tree . . .

    March 4, 2007

  • thingamajig or whatchmacallit

    March 3, 2007

  • An expression of surprise

    March 3, 2007

  • to cry like a cowboy

    March 3, 2007

  • a person who deals in second-hand books.

    March 3, 2007

  • a droning, humming, or buzzing

    March 3, 2007

  • Gray; bluish gray.

    This word is good for me as I often have trouble distinguishing between these colors.

    March 3, 2007

  • The Canadian one dollar coin.

    March 3, 2007

  • Also spelled twonie and twoonie. This is a commonly accepted term for the Canadian 2 dollar coin. The one dollar coin is called a loonie because it features a loon on one side.

    Sorry Canadians, but this is just a terrible name for the 2 dollar coin.

    March 3, 2007

  • when you (not I) try to fart but a little bit of shit comes out.

    March 3, 2007

  • Many Koreans believe that if you sleep with a fan on in a closed room, you will die of Fan Death. Check out the wiki page for more info.

    March 3, 2007

  • probably one of the best one liners I've ever heard.

    March 3, 2007

  • I know there are a lot of portmanteau fans here. This one means, "something that wants to be grand, but is only bland."

    March 3, 2007

  • masterful violence

    March 3, 2007

  • The heart wants to feel. The heart wants to hold. The heart takes past Subway, past Stop and Shop, past Beal’s, and calls it “coming home.�? The heart wants a trail away from “alone,�? so the heart turns a sale into a well-worn milestone towards hard-won soft furniture, fought-for fast food, defended end table that holds paperbacks and back U.S. News. The mind turns an itch into a bruise, and the hands start to twitch when they’re feeling ill-used. And you’re almost back now, you can see by the signs; from the bank you tell the temperature and then the time, and the billboard reads some headlines. The head wants to turn, to avert both its eyes, but the mind wants to learn of some truth that might be inside reported crimes. So they found a lieutenant who killed a village of kids. After finishing off the wives, he wiped off his knife and that’s what he did. And they’re not claiming that there’s any excusing it; that was thirty years back, and they just get paid for the facts the way they got them in. Now he’s rising and not denying. His hands are shaking, but he’s not crying. And he’s saying “How did I climb out of a life so boring into that moment? Please stop ignoring the heart inside, oh you readers at home! While you gasp at my bloody crimes, please take the time to make your heart my home: where I’m forgiven by time, where I’m cushioned by hope, where I’m numbed by long drives, where I’m talked off or doped. Does the heart wants to atone? Oh, I believe that it’s so, because if I could climb back through time, I’d restore their lives and then give back my own: tens of times now its size on a far distant road in a far distant time where every night I’m still crying, entirely alone.�? But the news today always fades away as you drive by, until at dinnertime when you look into her eyes, lit by evening sun - that, as usual, comes from above that straight, unbroken line, the horizon - its rising is a given, just like your living. Your heart’s warm and kind. Your mind is your own. Our blood-spattered criminal is inscrutable; don’t worry, he won’t rise up behind your eyes and take wild control. He’s not of this time, he fell out of a hole.

    March 3, 2007

  • The Critic

    March 3, 2007

  • "the state or quality of being a tard." ~ uselessness

    not cool, u.

    March 3, 2007

  • Reading Hemingway's "The Dangerous Summer," and there is a severe lack of comma usage; it's driving me crazy.

    March 3, 2007

  • I just have to cast my vote in favor of using the Oxford Comma. It's the only way people!

    p.s. bring it c_b.

    March 3, 2007

  • whoa, another chin music! And from a bostonian no less!

    March 3, 2007

  • Well then, you have a lot more grossness ahead of you!

    March 3, 2007

  • That occurred to me, but I stifled the thought so as not to . . . pluke. SoG, you're full of grossness tonight.

    March 3, 2007

  • cause I'm the nu . . . family jewels!

    March 3, 2007

  • this word is so gross.

    March 3, 2007

  • I can't find a name for it, but in Madrid they say there's a wind that will kill a man, but not blow out a candle.

    March 3, 2007

  • "Pea . . . . tear . . . . griffin. Peter Griffin"

    March 3, 2007

  • Batman's boomerang.

    March 3, 2007

  • like the Watusi, but done Batman style.

    March 3, 2007

  • Warner Bros. cartoon about history.

    March 3, 2007

  • "There is no Dana, only Zuul."

    March 3, 2007

  • the cat, that is

    March 3, 2007

  • the 13th month. From a misprint in the Springfield Elementary School calendar.

    March 3, 2007

  • How in the name of Papa Smurf did smurf you later replace see you later?

    March 3, 2007

  • reason as you will; it's still just plain awful.

    March 3, 2007

  • good one reesetee. I second by adding.

    March 3, 2007

  • half tomato and half tobacco

    March 2, 2007

  • I never even read the from line, but I just did and found Fanni Miracle.

    March 2, 2007

  • Don't tell me a literary work is important. Don't do it.

    Sometimes I am my old man.

    March 2, 2007

  • I always just want this to be shambles, no a!

    March 2, 2007

  • That's one theory. Another is that a really great collarbone is so deep is could be used as a soapdish.

    March 2, 2007

  • Portuguese for soap holder AND collarbone.

    March 2, 2007

  • Sorry kid, that's just too much to ask.

    March 2, 2007

  • Every time I read this, my heart alters course. Those last two lines . . .

    March 2, 2007

  • Thanks guys. Never heard of crap around though c_b :)

    "Someone has crapped in, on, or about the coats."

    March 2, 2007

  • Growing old together.

    What a nice word. Thanks reesetee!

    March 2, 2007

  • Thanks ressetee. I just love how scence words sound.

    March 2, 2007

  • w00t used to bother me, but I've come around. I'm a cantankerous old man at the keyboard.

    March 2, 2007

  • I think it would be helpful to have a "comment search" function. Sometimes I want to find my way back to a particular comment or conversation, but just can't remember which word started all the hubbub.

    Happy you violated all your rules too, uselessness.

    March 2, 2007

  • Accepted, mate. I just started feeling attacked. The internet is a tricky place and it's not always easy to know a person's tone of voice. I've pretty much had it with internet trolls/flamers - to the point where I rarely join forums anymore. Sorry if I'm a bit touchy.

    March 2, 2007

  • I used dreamt and am a big fan of the Oxford Comma.

    March 2, 2007

  • Hey sionnach, are you familiar with John Gabriel's "Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory"?

    http://www.boingboing.net/2007/02/21/flame_first_think_la.html

    I mean, is this list really hurting anyone? I got a kick out of the names in this book, that's all. What's with all the rancor?

    March 2, 2007

  • And here I thought this was a made up word in Salman Rushdie's "Haroun and the Sea of Stories." He did make up a bunch of words for that book, if I'm not mistaken. Someone must have a list.

    March 1, 2007

  • S. Korean currency.

    March 1, 2007

  • Oh, a Wordie challenge! I have a couple already posted on two of my lists. Maybe those'll get answered too.

    March 1, 2007

  • I use coinkydink on this site a lot.

    But there must be a word for when a recently learned word begins popping up everywhere.

    March 1, 2007

  • sounds like a meat foetus.

    If God didn't want us to eat fetuses, why are they made out of meat?

    March 1, 2007

  • cool. and cause of this word, I found meatus!

    March 1, 2007

  • A body opening or passage, such as the opening of the ear or the urethral canal.

    March 1, 2007

  • inexplicable? Wha . . . you're not from around here, are you?

    March 1, 2007

  • Someone had to do it. How's it feel to be that someone, U?

    March 1, 2007

  • granted.

    March 1, 2007

  • amo-eba, sub-po-ena, what else?

    March 1, 2007

  • "I was in the pool!"

    March 1, 2007

  • Oh reesetee, I hate when anything which should be plural is referred to as product. In fact, product is going on my Rubbies list! Retail!

    I have a friend who thinks I'm uptight over the whole comic book book thing. But I feel it gives the wrong impression. She might say, "I read 20 books this weekend," and I'm all impressed when what she meant was that she read 20 comics (sorry c_b, I refer to them as comics. Sunday comics are either comics or [funnies).

    March 1, 2007

  • Just the n and 0, reesetee. I guess those are common. I still haven't had any luck with the t and d.

    March 1, 2007

  • Does anyone else hate it when people refer to comic books just as books?

    March 1, 2007

  • thanks, U

    March 1, 2007

  • Look at this list. How many people do you think will be adding these words? And I want to add the names as they appeared in the book.

    March 1, 2007

  • How can you tell what number it is?

    March 1, 2007

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