re: a pivotal vehicle in the murder case, from the mouth of the clueless owner thereof: "I thought someone had just buzzed off in it for a lark" (from a Marple episode; Body in the Library)
"'An absolute sitter came unstitched in the second race at Haydock Park,' said young Bingo, with some bitterness, 'and I dropped my entire month's allowance.'" (The Inimitable Jeeves)
"Hasn't got the nerve. Thinks you so much above him, don't you know. Looks on you as a sort of goddess. Worships the ground you tread on, but can't whack up the ginger to tell you so." (The Inimitable Jeeves)
Due to more varied immigration patterns in my neck of the woods, yearbook lists are getting more awesome every year. Honourable mention goes to Dragon Wei immediately followed by Zen Wilson (they only work in tandem, IMO)
the dehyphenated suggestion Wordnik gave parsed on first view as Shite Me, Game Gahit!--I like that one better (it is a brutal Tagalog game show in my...world of sexy fantasy?)
can't believe I forgot 'dilwala' (dil-wallah), lit. "heart-dude", meaning "loverman" or "he who is devoted to matters of the heart", immortalized in the 11-year-run but still shite mega-megahit Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge ("The 'dil-wallahs' will get the brides")
I thought hikikomori went way deeper than 'recluse', also that it specifically pertained to the young (whereas we associate reclusivity with older individuals?)
She was a redoubtable fighter, and strange cats were vanquished in one round. The fearless little spitfire would even attack dogs and rout them utterly.
so, there we were, my co-host and I, ready to interview AM for dinky community radio.
she has a remarkable psychosomatic capacity in relation to liquor; placebo effect all over the place.
in short, what's his face--the lead singer--held her hair back during the *ahem* ejective process the whole night while I listened to the rest of the band complain about how boring it was to go on tour (read: no groupies), but really they're very happy to have done so well for themselves, being a tiny little Strine band and all.
I hold it an eternal example of the success of the unconventional in achieving one's goals (my friend having been, needless to say, quite soppy about the fellow).
pronounced by Jennifer Paterson as 'yog-hort', two separate words, practically. to wit, "none of this nonsense about yoghurt instead of cream. yoghurt is not instead of cream"
flapping isn't connected to length. for example, Canadian English distinguishes 'riding' and 'writing' by length, the latter having a short /ai/, but they both have a flap where their 't' or 'd' ought to be. now, Hindi, besides flapping Ts and Ds, also does the N! it's a positive addiction.
moreover, I've found that the phonology of borrowings exhibits a strange combination of awareness and lack of awareness. In the form "chilLAY", the majority of speakers (or announcers, rather) seem to be more strongly aware of length than vowel quality. while /i/ is the vowel in the original country name, it is a short /i/, nigh impossible in Standard English--to this end, they have employed /I/, which satisfies the length component at the expense of the vowel. now, the question is, why should YOUR linguistic system feel the vowel quality is more important than length?
if the stress is on the 2nd syllable and it rhymes with 'delay', then it sounds like a good compromise between naturalness and authenticity. to me, there's nothing as American as the /ei/ used to approximate the pure /e/.
coined (perhaps?) by Cher Horowitz as a euphemism for menstruation, giving a faint scent of literariness to what is, after all, meant as a...*ahem* remake of Jane Austen's Emma
"It was very consoling, he thought, the way in which an act of kindness, in the fullness of time, returns to bless the benefactor. One gives a jolly-up to a girl in a ship. She goes her way, he goes his. He forgets; he has so many benefactions of the kind to his credit. But she remembers and then one day, when it is least expected, Fate drops into his lap the ripe fruit of his reward, this luscious creature waiting for him, all unaware, in the Malt House, Grantley Green."
"Basil had attended Sonia's levees (and there were three or four levees daily for, whenever she was at home, she was in bed) off and on for nearly ten yerars, since the days of her first, dazzling loveliness, when, almost alone among the chaste and daring brides of London, she had admitted mixed company to her bathroom."
"'My dear,' Ambrose had said, 'you can positively hear her imagination creaking, as she does them, like a pair of old, old corsets, my dear, on a harridan.'"
-Ambrose on the painteress Poppet, from Put Out More Flags
I'll do my best--this is hairy without LING terminology.
in an imaginary language with 5 consonants, say, you could have two different types of 't' and 3 different types of 'p', or, on the other end of the spectrum, each of the 5 in totally different places (e.g. one is bilabial, one is dental, one is velar, one is uvular and the last a totally different manner of articulation--non-pulmonic, such as a click). while the first situation describes a consonant class which is the most natural for our mouths to create, it's actually harder on the brain to contrast them with one another; a set with consonants which are very different from each other is easier. does that make sense? distinguishing 'pa' from 'ba' (which is, by the way, really hard for a lot of language groups) is more difficult than distinguishing, say, 'ta' from '!a'
there are different axes of ease and difficulty in the human linguistic process. something which is intuitive and simple on one level creates problems on another level, and vice versa.
I've seen certain Japanese-speaking students make their Ds like Ð; even more mysterious (in that asking why lent litle clarification). Very confusing to me personally, if not other teachers, in that Ð is a different phoneme in Bosnian
the human mouth is also naturally inclined toward contrastivity, though--it's necessary to reach outside the 'unmarked' places of articulation to make as many clear distinctions between sounds as possible, if that makes sense.
"Well", while correct, is so unnatural--in North American speech, at least--that I feel awkward teaching my students to say it in reply to "How are you?", going so far as to try to avoid the question altogether.
The incident of Canadian pair figure skaters Sale & Pelletier being "robbed" of Olympic gold by them wily Ruskis. After a LOT of palaver and too-close-for-comfort investigation into the judges' decisions, they released a second gold medal for pair skating that year. The old judging system was dumped and a new one instated after Skategate.
1) I thought it was chocha? Cho-cho is a hard-done-by literary heroine, innit?
2) This is a problem of the English language itself. There are no garden-variety words to describe genitalia--the elevator stops at the clinical, vulgar and ludicrous only.
I've been trying to dig for the name of the thing ever since, to no avail :{
you make light now, but a glimpse of the mustachioed WASP protagonist bulging out of his slacks is enough to turn one into a passionate advocate of sporing
the etymology, to boot (if wikipedia can be trusted) has nothing to with Hindi--deriving "from the Shoshone word 'tcaxxwal' or Cahuilla 'caxwal', transcribed by Spaniards as 'chacahuala'"
if pronunciation of "speak" is what we're going by, this applies to loads of language groups, though actually, not Spanish speakers, given 's' isn't acceptable word-initially in Spanish.
though I suppose one can't expect a high standard of linguistics in the field of racial prejudice.
According to my grammaticality judgement, both "The series were on for years before being cancelled" and "The series was on for years before being cancelled" check out fine
I'd really like to be hardcore enough to eat a bug, but the only way it's gonna happen is if they start cutting bread flour with ground crickets on the sly
PS: PU, I'm ganking that one for "Just because..."
in one of L.M. Montgomery's Anne volumes, the titular heroine fights a local battle, coaxing a fatcat out of painting an ad for some tonic or other onto the fence along the main road. so, the first wave of large-scale advertising is successfully beaten back. reading this scene from the 21st century is heartbreaking; little did she know just how ugly it would get :(
ow-->o before r in English; in fact, the other diphthongs turn to full vowels in this context as well (though you can articulate 'flour' and 'fire', say, as one-syllable words, producing a diphthong-r sequence--but that's another kettle of fish)
if I were named after great-granny A'lelia, I wouldn't marry a Bundles into the bargain. or maybe that would be the ultimate form of sticking it to the man.
looking at demonyms (if that's the word) like aleman and chinee next to ones like european and japanese, one wonders if these are two separate semantic categories within botany
while appearing to be a precursor of 'renegade' in that precise old-timey "it used to be like this but now we spell it differently" way, it's a different word with a different etymology, according to my dabblings. hm!
"As a matter of fact, in the Southwest the Mexican and Indian population resort to the Nopal (that is, the flat-jointed sort of Opuntia) not only for the tuna fruit, as described in a previous chapter, but also for the succulent flesh of the stem, which may be made to do duty as a vegetable."
-from Useful Wild Plants Of The United States And Canada by Charles Francis Saunders
sorry, bilby--my inquiries re: hyeonmi have been fruitless. the literal meaning is 'puffy rice', but I can't quite figure out a slangy direction from there. 'dwenjang', for example (lit. 'soybean paste') means 'golddigger' or 'high-maintenance girlfriend' idiomatically, so you can see the connections are quite abstruse.
in my experience, a manouver wherein a drunken Korean major insists your boyfriend link arms with him in order for drinks to be mutually poured down throats
the decisive dish in a battle between Iron Chef French and the Californian challenger. much to everyone's surprise, the latter's bisque was superior. the shock the judging panel showed at this turn of events was intriguing, seeming to encode an initial assumption that the exquisiteness of such a dish was beyond the crude sensibility of an American. all parties showed face and dignity at this awkward cultural junction, the judges smiling through their disbelief, the victor managing despite clenched teeth to give the final interview, and the vanquished maintaing good-natured silence.
in short, the Bisque Battle remains one for the vaults for the cultural analyst.
I'm experimenting with the imaginary paradigm. 'umbragenous' sounds sort of disgusting whereas 'umbrageous' is a clean-sounding word. there's umbrager (sounds close to 'dowager'), tres umbragé, umbraglio &c &c
this is one of the lists that makes me lament the all-smallcaps Wordie entry restrictions. you just can't put on "SWEET STUFF FOR SALE" or "Winnie the Pooh TIE"
read twice before objecting, please! presumptuous umbrage on Wordie really ruins my day.
I don't like the thought, rolig, that while it may occur to you that I _might_ disdain bigots, there's always that 'evidence' that could turn the needle over to the other side.
I was going to include you in the list, reesetee--but I didn't want to be presumptuous.
-_- is not abstruse in my circles; it's a pretty standard pictorial representation of a headdesk or "oh, brother". let me also point out the phrase new word bandied around by bigots in the original comment.
it's sort of beneath any Wordie to consider it consistent with another Wordie's character to self-identify as a bigot...I hope.
do you--y'all--also object to fairly obvious sarcasm?
I make the bold suggestion that taking upon oneself the work of noting/policing (in a fairly low-key capacity, granted) offensive Wordie content can be an impediment to thorough reading comprehension.
new word bandied around by bigots on Youtube (yeah, I know--great place to follow 'discussion') to describe those pussies who are letting their country get taken over by the Islamic Agenda -_-
not to be confused with Bangor, a Welsh city that boasts mention in 2 works of literature I've read, and who knows how many more (this being, as far as I know, the only noteworthy thing about it)
I can no longer see this word without being reminded of Tambura Rasa, the excellent gypsy band from Vancity...even though the band name is gimicky and sort of lame
lit. flower-powder, Korean for 'pollen'. this is notable as 'garu' is a common suffix in cuisine (e.g. flour as we know it is 'mil-garu' ie. 'wheat-powder'; pepper is 'huchu-garu' ie. 'pepper-powder')
immediately this jumped out to me to mean "a grid that is rad". seeing 'rad' as a legitimate adjective--despite oneself--marks one as a casualty of high school
such a pity. though I did find that in Hong Kong, there was plenty of savoury bread, and also the sweet stuff wasn't so wretchedly bad (boribbang excepted; it's delicious)
you'd know, I warrant. I heard a word on a Dubliners track that sounds like 'falooran' or 'felorrin', meaning 'masculine virility' (re: old man a young woman has married out of necessity, "He's got no feloorin" so then she sleeps with this handsome young man). Google, however, is convinced it doesn't exist. you know what this word is?
past verb, diminutive form of 'srao'--"shat". Balasevic sings, in an anti-Milosevic satire, kud si srljo, nisi gledo: "you weren't looking where you shat". then, he inverts the meaning--ti si srljo kud si gledo: "you shat as far as you could see"
I wonder if other languages have diminutive verbs.
the nastiest and most memorable seagull I ever came across was Fatty. we were at a bay, waiting for the ferry, tossing bits of fish&chips to the birds. Fatty comes by, manages to ward off the other gulls and eat their bits. when he got full, he kept shooing them off anyway, letting the food go uneaten out of sheer territorial spite. hmph!
'lewd conduct with minor' is defined in Idaho as such. considering the number of juvenile sex offenders (legally speaking) in the Idaho registry (named here rather than the registry of another state because it has a handy-dandy 'juvenile' search function), the term starts to drive one mad with curiosity. what's the range of acts we're talking about here? if a teenager is spotted groping a teenager, will said teenager be registered? sex laws abound with mystery.
it's not esoteric, just awkward (which I suspect the teacher tried to find a high-falutin' synonym for and failed). I can't see a justified use of puissant in any paper after the 18th century.
ubiquitous term on Korean packaging and cookbooks (the English version thereof, I mean). one of the many evils of the aspirational 50s American vocabulary that the early education system was weaned on.
the kind you just take home and eat, no cooking, just a little hot sauce (not just the silken stuff, either). in certain places, you can get it warm, straight out of the...whatever it's made in. the Korean soybean is something else. it gives tofu a deep, slightly nutty flavour; you can smell it on the cutting board.
the longer I live here, the more awake I am to the delights of the uncooked--fish, garlic, squid, tofu...
in French it's used for putting the extra bit of cabaret passion on a chanson (e.g. Piaf's il me l'a dit, l'a jure POUR LA VIIIIUUUUHHH), which is pretty awesome. and let's not forget Yogi Bear's schwa-epenthesis! in Hindi, you can shove a schwa into lots of consonant clusters, making learners grateful they don't have to pronounce 'ndh' and the like. how could anyone hate such a useful vowel?
the Korean counterpart to the Chinese Guan Yin, goddess of mercy and compassion. in Korea, this is a male deity, but the body shape and attire are totally unchanged. the only addition is an awful, thin little green moustache, which jars ludicrously with the soft curves and flowing robes of the Goddess of Mercy.
the five-colour pattern used to decorate Korean temples (and other edifices, though no other type of building has such intricate and dizzying use of this pattern). see here
floating celestial female musician, numerously engraved on every temple bell and painted onto ceiling panels.
it`s said that the apsara derives from the gandharva and kinnara figures, subsequently feminized and beautified in the passage of Buddhism to Korea through China (the influence of seductive Daoist sky maidens with the long hair ribbons).
Korean term for 'monk', regardless of gender. I still like to call the female ones nuns, though. There is a very clear gender division and tension between male and female monks in Korea, due to fairly sexist interpretations of the text and the influence of Korean society, historically misogynist.
this gave me deja-vu for a second, but then I realized I was just remembering a similar concept from this review: "He holds the film like a can of beer in a paper bag -- the cool sip of salvation on a blistering day -- until it is revealed as a Molotov cocktail." (review of Do the Right Thing)
"'I'd not like to sleep with that wife of yours. She's too athletic. It'd be like sleeping with a bundle of faggots. I suppose though you're a pair of turtle doves...'"
we're going to write some letters to the mayor about this, as they're technically illegal
dog consumption has the worst effect on animal-human relations that I've seen here. horses and cows, for example, are treated well and people are fond of them. however, The Edible Dog (known as 'shit dog'), as if to force the natural affection people have towards dogs out of their system, is maltreated and reviled, and specifically put into a different conceptual category from The Pet Dog (and different spatial category, ie. it's continually chained).
this, combined the fact that dogs are incredibly difficult to keep caged up (I doubt whether a farmowner is even able to sleep on premises), howling and barking ceaselessly, I mean ceaselessly, makes it a totally inadvisable meat.
to make this relevant to language--I've noticed that in the vocabularies of my students, "dog" and "puppy" are different animals, the latter being the official designation of the Pet Dog (largely lapdogs and fluffballs from foreign).
the original word has 4 syllables, whereas the English borrowing has 2. this looks odd to my eyes because I'm so used to seeing English borrowings in Korean attain extra syllables (e.g. stand has 3 in the K version; 'ice cream' has 5)
somewhat connected to Imma let you finish. Kanye establishes confusing race dichotomy by implying Beyonce--the palest you can get short of Jelly Roll Morton--was robbed of the award because of blackness. it's not that B's internalized racism isn't proof of the injustice of the media, but she's bad evidence for a case like this, given that her stardom and pallor have increased exponentially over the last 10 years (also see Jessica Alba). in short, Beyonce is exactly pale (and consequently, beloved) enough to win awards among any number of white competitors--and has.
apparently a cockamamie sort of cure, believed "useful for ailments of the spleen, due to the spleen-shaped sori on the backs of the fronds" according to Wiki
I'm going to look for the CANNOT EXPLODE guarantee on the package of the next cleaning product I buy. seems like half that shit can and will explode as soon as you shake it!
the lost meaning of this verb pops up sometimes, making things suddenly clearer. Fergie's "the boys, they wanna sex me" really spoke to my confusion about her(?) sex (and species, for that matter)
and all foods for which the word has been borrowed when there is already a word there.
for example, in Korean there is 'dak'-"chicken", and 'chickin', the former being just dandy and the latter THE junkest of stomach-caving, sauce-drowned, non-food junk. the message is clear: chickin ≠ chicken.
sad to say, Slackman lives up to his name by failure to explicitly connect what's happening to the trash now with the racist government policy that played into the swine cull. there's a more interesting story underneath this mild denunciation of the government's poor bureaucracy.
the most harrowing interruption to pastoral beauty. as it turns out, they've got to shove them quite deep in the idyllic countryside because the howling that comes from the cages can be heard for miles :(
what Mexican fishermen call the Humboldt squid, because of the red-white colour changes the squid exhibit when struggling with the nets (at up to 2m in length, one can imagine the force)
is anyone else disillusioned with the flavour of pheasant? one imagines a feast of kings, 'fat swan roasted whole' and the like...but it's sort of turkeyish
I'm trying to imagine what the process of the encasement looks like. do you slap thin slices of salami all around? do you fork out the gooey stuffing from a raw sausage and paste it on?
the kind with visible mouth stitches, an ambiguous space around the circumference of the eye, the wrong angle for the limbs--the stuff of nightmares.
so, the guy's in there with his horror animals, but I didn't think anyone would actually BUY any of them. then I came across a misguided dentist's office with a really dead-looking turtle in the window :(
besides describing two things that are found in Jeju, the name of a restaurant. this is one of many examples of the deplorable abbreviation "sandwich" has received in Korean ad culture.
one would do well to pass the cold greasy brains (which I'm going to steal, thank you kindly). word is, brains are inhabited by bacteria that don't die in the cooking process (though 18 hours--who knows?)
myself, I never had an eye I didn't like.
Prolagus, hernesheir's anecdote ought to be placed within the annals
American 'r' is problematic for almost everyone (being unique or at any rate extremely rare in world phonology). It's just that, say, French and German speakers replace it with their 'r', which sounds to our ears more r-like than, say, the Japanese 'r'.
it's a real pity that only such small details from Li are available online; the larger stuff is really arresting--especially bird portraits. Lingnan painters seem to be in love with birds.
"So, if Gov. Mitt Romney ever wins the White House and gives a speech to a joint session of Congress, and an unknown Democratic congresswoman shouts 'Eat me!' from the back row, the only acceptable Republican response is: 'God bless America and our beautiful First Amendment.'"
there are such multitudes of carp in Hong Kong's various ponds and gardens that they teach one the unique pleasure of watching the serene yet vivid piscine ballet.
a 20th century school of Chinese nature painting that plays with Western techniques and concepts in order to view archetypal subjects with a different eye.
some details from paintings by Li Fuhong, a fairly recent Lingnan master here, here and here.
some pieces by older master Gao Jianfu here, Ju Chao here and Chen Shu Ren here
a ferry ride through the tiny archipelago off Sai Kung, the western fishing town, shows the archetypal, ideally beautiful Chinese landscape: mists dividing each island into a distinct groove of faded dream blue. but the sky is flecked not with the graceful silhouettes of long-legged birds, but thick, jagged black outlines of swooping raptors.
there are sections of Hong Kong still inhabited largely by aristocratic (or rich) Westerners--cozy, dozy, expensive beachside outskirts.
it was my first experience with vestigial colonialism, and the air was thick with it. the mere restaurant names felt (coming out of the clatter of Hong Kong streets) appalling and surreal--"Fish&Chips"; "Burger Shack"; "Steaks--Curries--Asian Dishes".
a female Golden Pheasant decided to ditch her mate and make eyes at the distinctly mauvais sujet Lady Amherst's Pheasant next door, leading to altercations between her male and the aforesaid every five minutes, no less the violent for the wire netting between them.
a small slice of the problems of breeding in captivity.
the public aviaries in HK feature many different species of exotic pigeon, including the handsome white one with blue eye-bands, and the big slow one with what looks like a miniature peacock's tail on its head.
the Daoist temple experience is so different from anything I've seen yet. a dim, brassy, cluttered, incredibly potent space; oodles of gods in every niche staring grotesquely from behind the flames and incense smoke, not caring a whit that it's a full 37 degrees in there, with little room to breathe besides.
a year in Korea conditioned me so extensively to the sight of fully armoured sun protection that in HK, I was gaping at people--in the summer sun--bare-headed--no sleeves--shirtless--brown! more the wonder, wearing swimwear on the beach
a lot of noodle-houses have all their offal braising together in the front window on a big fat barrel-like object, getting browner and more sizzling as the day goes on. I believe the contiguous method promotes a richer flavour; certainly the best tendon I've ever had was in just such a place.
the ugliness is really the ugliness of what modern English pronunciation does to the simple sound system of Latin. say it in a Spanish accent--instantly prettier
there's no shame, bilbers; WeirdNet is on your side. your uncle probably had some kind of tube lined with epithelial cells, right?
the plural form being identical in Italian and Croatian, the singular is bastardized to 'panin' (which entered Croatian vocab--I warrant, due to the proximity of the countries--earlier, hence means what it does in the Italian--'roll').
Korean. 'i-mom', lit. "tooth-body", meaning "gums". the image search doesn't give me anything resembling gums, so this may be part of Jeju vocabulary rather than standard Korean.
han. this is most national of syllables, being the 'Han' in 'Han Guk' (Korea), and looks like a cubist portrait of the archetypal Korean grandpa, with his bristly brows and his grim smile. the effect is heightened in the calligraphy style which makes the circle and the horizontal line of ㅎ touch.
there is an annual 'festival' held at the central city temple, which concludes with a 'musical performance'. this year it featured--among other truly inappropriate acts--a diabolical 80s wash-up outfitted like Hedwig doing Magica DeSpell, whose backing vocals sounded (due to amp issues or something) like an emergence from the abyss.
Buddha statues have that subtle facial expression that can shift according to circumstance. and indeed, the giant Jijeng Bosal, who had the misfortune of having the stage set up next to him, went through a range of emotions that night, including "heaven give me patience" (the chanteuse belting out Fly Me to the Moon as if it were a Celine Dion ballad), "zzzz" (tepid hegum and bass guitar duo making Arirang even more boring than it is), "are you kidding?!" (the karaoke monk subsumed beneath dry ice) and "ahh...silence".
kim, the clan that is remembered in the form of 18,925,949 citizens today. Also means 'crunchy, seasoned, roasted seaweed' (is English bereft of seaweed specificity or what?)
ɔm. Like many surname syllables, it looks like a face, in this case a guy who's been on the computer all night.
The square at the bottom resembling a mouth is not at all a coincidence; the Han Gŭl square representing the 'm' sound derives from the Chinese character for 'mouth' (�?�).
this isn't as nutty as it sounds. in the Korean alphabet, each syllable which begins with a vowel is given an 'empty' consonant (ㅇ), which retains the LOOK of a consonant-vowel structure even when there is no consonant pronounced. my friends tell me the transliterations "Woo" and "Lee" for 'u' and 'i' follow that pattern.
i, usually transliterated 'Lee', which causes no end of trouble, though I've recently been told that the "l" is tacked on because Koreans hate to see a naked vowel.
this is one of the three ancestral surnames of Jeju (belonging to the three progenitors who sprang from the earth in what is now a museum site so cordoned off that the three mythic holes are not visible); the others are 고 and 양
would it not do better to spend one's choler by entering Wordie members as divers unpleasantries on UD itself? it seems a well-established tradition, and so much nicer for Wordie comment pages
etymology riddles. for example, the word 'hippopotamus' comes from the Greek, meaning literally "river horse". the literal meaning is what we put into the word list, and the real word must be guessed in the comments.
the most common type of Jeju spider. these guys weave enormous and tremendously strong webs (the island being famously windy), sometimes two feet in diameter.
actually, I often find a fine sprinkling of eye shadow on my eye whites even during the most careful maquillage.
it's great fun, if males are present, to wipe it off manually without flinching. the cringing and general sissy horror thereby evinced can make one's day.
there's also the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Philippine guerilla group
I find the currency of the term MILF (in the standard porn-category sense), among other things, tremendously ironic. Isn't the sexual distinction between nubile young 'unmarried girls' and ho-hum mothers something societies make BEFORE they discover feminism?
oh, I don't doubt it. it's just hard to conjure the same sort of deli and soccer cafe vision in Australia that one sees in the rest of the West. one is so much more aware of the other populations.
means 'cheek' in SBC, and lends itself to the adjective bezobrazan, whose root meaning is "without cheek" and the actual meaning "impudent" or "brazen". cf. the English what cheek! or cheeky; the opposite metaphor for the concept.
c_b, I think you're confusing wog and wop. wog is an anti-Asian (in the British sense, meaning East Indian immigrants) slur. the Mauritius extraction in the Australian origins of wogball fits the term, as Mauritius has a large Hindi population.
often portrayed as gay, if the stress is on the second syllable. reveals the pop perception of an association between homosexuality and-culture upper-class (often continental) pretensions.
an American jock and (usually, by extension) an ethically as well as intellectually lacking sort of guy (with monosyllabic friends, e.g. Bud, Bruce, Jake)
a name (which sounds) originally male, forcibly converted to the feminine, denoting, for obvious reasons, a masculine, aristocratic woman. Honoria Glossop is an example of this pattern.
in pop culture, often a respectable black man (also Clarence and the like, in line with the concept of the slave name) or an unglamorous white fuddy-duddy
almost inevitably a policeman, in the Bollywood universe. he's righteous and up-standing, though not a leading man (cf. the actual mythic Ram, who was THE leading man)
"Jane and I have been doing a bit of sleuthing" was a line from the Marple TV program...though of course they were investigating a real murder. "I'm sleuthing for my keys", say, is irksome indeed.
if you're not a filthy yod-dropper, this word represents a unique s-initial onset cluster in English, one that isn't str/l-, skr/l- or spr/l-
"At present, man applies to nature but half his force. He works on the world with his understanding alone. He lives in it, and masters it by a penny-wisdom; and he that works most in it, is but a half-man, and whilst his arms are strong and his digestion good, his mind is imbruted, and he is a selfish savage. "
-except from Ch. VII of Emerson's Nature (not a font of enlightenment so much as quaint phrasing)
all this "Obama hates whitey! Obama said that thing was stupid! Obama supports affirmative action! Obama's dad isn't a real American!" is so much beating around the bush; they've yet to launch the bomb that'll sink, irrevocably, their own ship.
one day these...people, for lack of a better word, will just come fully out and scream, "HUSSEIN, people! It's a n***** named HUSSEIN, for God's sake!"
while you're right about the root, in Yugo, we use 'izbjegnuti' to mean 'avoid' (as opposed to, say, 'pobjegnuti'--'escape'). it struck me particularly that it should be 'izbjeglica' and not 'pobjeglica', you know what I'm sayin?
the genus name for the praying mantis. it shows the down-to-earth, humorous, imagistic nature of taxonomical terminology, which is often portrayed as abstruse and clinical.
I don't know how foreign you wanna make this. ot is the Korean suffix pertaining to clothing, and one of the traditional persimmon-dyed peasant garments is called garot (갈옷)
I always envisioned the path straight from 'chooseday' to 'tooseday', actually. or is fusion one way of solving the Cj cluster and yod-dropping another?
the slow but inevitable process in English of 'oo' replacing 'you' sounds in words such as mature, Tuesday, during, etc. in some examples the yod has so totally dropped that their original form sounds bizarre (e.g. super); others feel totally wrong with the yod off (e.g. cupidity). cumin is a big fence-maker.
this is what happens to sweaty-ass Europeans during the Korean rainy season (it hasn't rained more than twice, either...just steadily exuded thick winds of monstrous moisture). JESUS
I'd cite it but I've got Dance to the Music of Time in three-novel volumes; quite a bit of leafing. the character who says it is Howard Bagshaw, I believe--a drunken publisher.
it's as if they named him to echo the rap-like z in Wentz. the layers of wigger irony keep on piling. is it so racist it falls over the other side into progressive?
it's a cliche to say it, but the sanitized steak in plastic wrap has separated the North American imagination from what meat is, from the gruesomeness of muscle. strangely, blood, when it's cooked, loses its scary aspect; it congeals into the form of a piece of liver.
hence the "unexpected" component of the list title. one of the desserts you sometimes get after barbecue is a cool, clear, sweet, distinctly cinnamony liquid (with a few pine nuts for garnish). it's drunk just like juice.
this reminds me of kosher law, which is said to have arisen as a prohibition against the popular Egyptian dish of calf cooked in its mother's milk. it's ALL cultural; I've seen Koreans, who enjoy lots of live seafood--the highest mark of freshness being a fish, filleted, whose gills are still working when it's placed on the table--make a retching face at the notion of Portuguese salted cod eye on toast. the sense of the yuck is full of contradictions instilled by one's cultural environment. I mean, are cow muscles and cow blood so very different?
a thick, sputtering, garlicky chili paste-and-anchovy concoction, used as a dipping (or rather, smothering) sauce for fatty pork.
oh, fatty pork! this is verily Pork Island, and if it ain't fatty they don't want it NEAR the kitchen. apparently mainlanders don't like pork fatting up their clear soups; Jejunes welcome that glistening top layer.
here, one takes watermelons home from the store in strong plastic mesh with very large holes. a cat quickly develops a taste for auto-bondage, with occasional human assistance.
hard to gather material for, mostly. and it's shameful to have a second-best list. anyway, teeth lives on in the conversations lists; the definition will not go unnoticed.
English also features l- and n-coloured vowels. of all the inappropriate orthographies...
My students exhibit a lot of phonologically confusing r-colouring. In Korean, r-like consonants are assigned to the beginning of the syllable and l-like ones to the end. So what in the world is causing them to infuse 'doll' and 'wall' with such heaps of r-ness?
I love the implication, in the definition "someone who cooks food", that there are lots of other things to cook.
the French literally means 'boss' (akin to 'chief'), which is how it's used in SBC (spelled šef).
I believe there is a similar aesthetic sensibility (and conceptual system) to the French and Japanese. in Japanese, the chef in the kitchen is also 'boss': taisho.
Used as a synonym for 'cuckold' in Dance to the Music of Time: "I wondered whether Jean trompé'd him with the gauchos, or whatever it was of the most tempting to ladies in that country" (p.97, Books Do Furnish a Room)
the oddest false antecedents; surely there are non-nomadic cultures available to invent a 5-foot iron grill? this is the popular name for teppanyaki, a Japanese cooking style.
a.k.a. Mokugyo-Daruma. It may, like Iron Mouse, be an invention of Toriyama Sekien; it seems a bit kooky to have furnished actual horror stories and myths.
It's likely this creature was invented by illustrator Toriyama Sekien, though we also see it (among other, better-known Japanese demons) in the work of sculptor Kaiyôdô (here), who seems pretty recent. There doesn't seem to be a lot of other info on the Iron Mouse, though, so Kaiyôdô may just be doing an homage to Toriyama.
'perculate' (ie. dance) appeared in a few hip-hop songs and sort of replaced 'percolate' (strikingly evident in the UD entry), despite the fact it means something quite different (though the authors of the word may have wanted to invoke the percolation metaphor).
"nude" has somehow come to mean "inside out" in Korea. most kim bap rolls have seaweed on the outside; those with seaweed on the inside and rice on the outside are called "nude kimbap". Crunky Balls are covered with chocolate and filled with rice crispy objects; Nude Crunky Balls the reverse.
Korean. lit. "barley bread", though this is deceiving, as boribbang is definitely a confection item. as far as I can tell, bread is a sort of cake in the Korean thought process and manner of eating. the Western-style breads in bakeries, with the exception of the baguette, all contain higher amounts of sugar than their counterparts in the West. also, bread is not eaten as a staple but on its own, between meals, shared with company. children often say, "my favourite food is bread" (and I have NEVER heard a child say, "my favourite food is rice"), which marks it as a special category.
SBC. the root is '�?up'--'tuft', so these are 'tufties', squares of sponge dipped in chocolate, dredged in coconut flakes. apparently there is an Australian cake of this description with a different name.
"šipak" is literally "rosehip", but for some reason its colloquial meaning is 'zilch' or 'no way'; "kum" is "godfather". this phrase--"rosehips, godfather!"--means 'nothing doing' or 'nothing came out of it'. it's extremely common, at least in Bosnia.
Ants corral aphids onto plant stems, guarding fiercely against unwelcome guests. The aphids glut themselves round the clock and the ants diligently 'harvest' their sugar-laden poop (called honeydew by creepy biologists).
I saw it on the Planet Earth series or possibly Blue Planet (David Attenborough's mournful commentary, at any rate). I'll rifle through my files and try and get the exact episode.
PR makes a tremendous amount of difference in both directions. them durn bonnet-wearing banana-chompers on TV inspired loads of loaded dimbulbs to get themselves a chimp, I bet, while leagues of parents would not under any circumstances allow for a pet rat in the house.
it pierces the larva of a gall wasp and lays its own egg within it, so that its larva feeds on the body of the gall wasp larva as well as the nutrients of the oak (or other) tree.
there are lot of instances (esp. among wasps) of eggs laid within other species' larvae, but this parasite-within-a-parasite situation is especially striking.
as long as students keep copping out and plunking whole paragraphs of text into an online translator, we'll get 'phrases' like these. I would like to make this the by-word for the practice, abbreviated to Maul Rat: "jesus, 5 students pulled a Maul Rat on the essay assignment".
for those who are curious, this arose from a recipe for spicy rice cakes (떡볶�?�); the original sentence is maul ratiocination eggs life.
a culinary principle. the fat content of food is hidden in strange emulsions (e.g. the creature called 'salad dressing'; 'breaded' meat mixture), rather than openly displayed, ie. drizzled onto things and sticking an inch out of the side of a pork chop (overt fat).
a language which nobody speaks (or writes) any longer (not something like Latin, which is very much alive in text form). if there still some non-native speakers of the language it's moribund.
the phenomenon does depress people tremendously, though I've always found it heartening that new dialects and creoles are being constantly created; these are the seeds of new languages. moreover, the stats are deceiving at face value, giving the impression of homology when that is not at all the case. for example, it is listed that 885 million people speak Mandarin, but within this, there are thousands and thousands of varieties, each reflecting specific group identity.
the emergence of orthography has done a lot of damage to the thousands of oral languages that were out there, but text does a lot to preserve languages as well. Old English--Old anything, for that matter--might be extinct by now.
in short, there's a lot to balance language extinction.
actually--M-W cites a "chiefly British" use of it as a transitive verb meaning roughly 'murder' (here). If we could get some British corroboration I'd like to restore it to the homicide list.
Comments by madmouth
Show previous 200 comments...
madmouth commented on the word went absconding
oh, it made me cry alright, the more so for the hilarious headline (a Waughsian effect, of sorts)
August 7, 2010
madmouth commented on the word silky cuscus
here it is
August 7, 2010
madmouth commented on the word an absolute sitter
ah so; makes more sense this way
August 7, 2010
madmouth commented on the word lack thereof
Not mine; my dick in your lack thereof was actually coined by a dear friend
August 6, 2010
madmouth commented on the list the-collected-poems-of-w-h-auden
Colleen, wordie of such eminence, where are you already?
August 4, 2010
madmouth commented on the word went absconding
synonym for AWOL heard in this news piece
July 30, 2010
madmouth commented on the word galenious
I'm saving that beautiful piece of philological storytelling in my private files!
July 26, 2010
madmouth commented on the list favourite-etymologies
walnut might apply.
July 26, 2010
madmouth commented on the word God's teeth!
With the Rockies themselves, I bet
July 21, 2010
madmouth commented on the list shades-of-humiliation
Thanks, ruzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzu! (ruzzers?)
July 21, 2010
madmouth commented on the word zib
"It seemed impossible to rouse the poor zib to a sense of his position" (The Inimitable Jeeves).
July 20, 2010
madmouth commented on the word in the fungus
Wodehousian phrase denoting beardedness (e.g. "Few people have ever looked fouler than young Bingo in the fungus")
July 20, 2010
madmouth commented on the word blue round the edges
A disaster; "From the moment he invited himself I felt that the thing was going to be blue round the edges, and it was." (The Inimitable Jeeves)
July 20, 2010
madmouth commented on the word fed to the gills
Angry, as in "He'll be fed to the gills if he finds out you're the fellow who ragged him in the Park" (The Inimitable Jeeves).
July 20, 2010
madmouth commented on the list the-many-names-of-chub-chub
I like 'em both
July 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word heterological
okay, so does THIS describe something like pulchritudinous (or matinal crepuscule)?
July 17, 2010
madmouth commented on the word squanch
it gives me the cringies
July 17, 2010
madmouth commented on the word buzz off
re: a pivotal vehicle in the murder case, from the mouth of the clueless owner thereof: "I thought someone had just buzzed off in it for a lark" (from a Marple episode; Body in the Library)
July 17, 2010
madmouth commented on the word topping
"Besides this, the weather continued topping to a degree" (The Inimitable Jeeves)
July 16, 2010
madmouth commented on the word an absolute sitter
dud horse, if I'm reading it correctly.
"'An absolute sitter came unstitched in the second race at Haydock Park,' said young Bingo, with some bitterness, 'and I dropped my entire month's allowance.'" (The Inimitable Jeeves)
July 16, 2010
madmouth commented on the word whack up the ginger
"Hasn't got the nerve. Thinks you so much above him, don't you know. Looks on you as a sort of goddess. Worships the ground you tread on, but can't whack up the ginger to tell you so." (The Inimitable Jeeves)
July 16, 2010
madmouth commented on the word get off the dime
is it equivalent to haul ass?
July 16, 2010
madmouth commented on the list descriptives-from-the-fantasy-novel-little-big-by-john-crowley
This is the second time Crowley's come up in so many days. *determined to read*
July 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word crostatina
Is what I had for breakfast every day during that long-ago sojourn in Italy. They also come in chocolate.
July 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word auletrides
flute-girl sounds like a more cultivated alternative to 'lady-boy' (see skin flute)
July 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word whorenithology
Coined by a birding friend when I showed him bilby's The Porn Birds
July 13, 2010
madmouth commented on the list a-dram-too-many
George Eliot lends us splashed up to the chin
July 13, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Anselmus Hendrawan
There is an Alfonsus by the same surname as well :D (emoticon denoting extreme happiness in the saying rather than derision, lest confusion arise)
July 12, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Toscanny Pandu-Oesman
Due to more varied immigration patterns in my neck of the woods, yearbook lists are getting more awesome every year. Honourable mention goes to Dragon Wei immediately followed by Zen Wilson (they only work in tandem, IMO)
July 12, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Moon Park
Thank you, Facebook.
July 6, 2010
madmouth commented on the list futurama
They sling such magnificent phrases on the show; I was surprised it was the first of its kind (there is one called Bender Bending Rodriguez, though).
July 2, 2010
madmouth commented on the word how to hide the like button
it's listed and selected in "preferences", but it doesn't show up in the "open blockable items" list. just gonna employ my selective vision
June 17, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Myfanwy
it might just be Welsh, though
June 17, 2010
madmouth commented on the word how to hide the like button
I followed ze instructions. It's still there T.T
June 11, 2010
madmouth commented on the word better banger campaign
In conjunction with BBC Food's celebration of British Sausage Week 0.0
June 10, 2010
madmouth commented on the word boocoo
"Course they making boocoos of money, say Shug."
-The Color Purple
May 28, 2010
madmouth commented on the list names-for-female-strippers-pursuing-their-graduate-degrees
Sphinx? Rosh Hosanna? Emperatriz? Izanami? Lysistrata?
May 24, 2010
madmouth commented on the list archaic-occupations
I wouldn't call them dreadful, just...not very fun to read (though authorities assure me there's a very good reason for that?)
May 24, 2010
madmouth commented on the word scrivener
"...
But in our amours amorists discern
Such fluctuations that their scrivening
Is breathless to attend each quirky turn
..."
-Wallace Stevens, fr. Monocle de Mon Oncle
May 24, 2010
madmouth commented on the word yesty
there's a 'tweet' and 'like' button on them now :{
May 24, 2010
madmouth commented on the word troilism
What is it?
May 15, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Shite Mega-Megahit
the dehyphenated suggestion Wordnik gave parsed on first view as Shite Me, Game Gahit!--I like that one better (it is a brutal Tagalog game show in my...world of sexy fantasy?)
May 8, 2010
madmouth commented on the word boxwallah
Naipaul defines them as "the business executives of foreign, mostly British, firms" (An Area of Darkness, p.61)
May 7, 2010
madmouth commented on the list wallah
can't believe I forgot 'dilwala' (dil-wallah), lit. "heart-dude", meaning "loverman" or "he who is devoted to matters of the heart", immortalized in the 11-year-run but still shite mega-megahit Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge ("The 'dil-wallahs' will get the brides")
May 7, 2010
madmouth commented on the word suggestions
The "edit comment" feature seems to cut off all but the 2-3 visible lines of text; I can't scroll down to the bottom of a long comment to fix it up :{
April 29, 2010
madmouth commented on the word he who smelt it dealt it
" ...
Dwight: Dude. Who whipped an egger?
Cubert: He who smelt it, dealt it.
Dwight: Yeah? Well, he who denied it, supplied it.
Cubert: Well, he who articulated it, particulated it.
Dwight: Well, he who refuted it, tooted it.
Cubert: Stalemate.
... "
-Futurama, Infosphere
April 29, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Amish nuttle
:D :D :D
April 29, 2010
madmouth commented on the word females ain't made for sufferin'
that's not what the Old Testament said :/
April 29, 2010
madmouth commented on the word trema
in SBC, it means "stage fright", presumably from the root meaning whence the Italian also comes.
you are probably having an, "oh, Wordnet!" moment there
April 26, 2010
madmouth commented on the word cilantrophobe
with a bit of hard cilantrophobe grated over top?
April 26, 2010
madmouth commented on the list butter-beans-and-snaps
beautiful! I'm ganking tons of these for LAK if you don't mind
April 26, 2010
madmouth commented on the word massausage
"I was a massausage in her masseur's grip"
-Professor Steve (see here)
April 26, 2010
madmouth commented on the word cilantrophobe
*thumbs up*
I have made several curries which inspired the remark, "This is, like...all cilantro" (by no means in a displeased tone of voice, either).
April 26, 2010
madmouth commented on the word coin slot cover
SEE HERE :0
April 25, 2010
madmouth commented on the list quaintnesses
thanks! it's almost reaching son-of-groucho levels of magnitude
April 16, 2010
madmouth commented on the word faggot of herbs
the obvious potential for misunderstanding is what I love about this phrase
April 16, 2010
madmouth commented on the word faigula
what is it?
April 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word contrastive stress
like, "I preSENT my PREsent to you"?
April 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word oo
Were you looking for op and Oö
nice!
April 12, 2010
madmouth commented on the word If you pass on the West you fail on the test
"...even if your chest is a boob Oktoberfest"
-Fug Girls as Kanye
April 7, 2010
madmouth commented on the word hikikomori
I thought hikikomori went way deeper than 'recluse', also that it specifically pertained to the young (whereas we associate reclusivity with older individuals?)
March 29, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Saucy Sal
She was a redoubtable fighter, and strange cats were vanquished in one round. The fearless little spitfire would even attack dogs and rout them utterly.
-"Emily of New Moon", L.M. Montgomery
March 20, 2010
madmouth commented on the word one crowded hour
Glenn Richards a.k.a. Colonel Helpchunder
March 20, 2010
madmouth commented on the word fruit fly sperm
aand they couldn't resist a wink-wink title. I grimace-grinned
March 20, 2010
madmouth commented on the word one crowded hour
he sounds like a barrel of laughs.
so, there we were, my co-host and I, ready to interview AM for dinky community radio.
she has a remarkable psychosomatic capacity in relation to liquor; placebo effect all over the place.
in short, what's his face--the lead singer--held her hair back during the *ahem* ejective process the whole night while I listened to the rest of the band complain about how boring it was to go on tour (read: no groupies), but really they're very happy to have done so well for themselves, being a tiny little Strine band and all.
I hold it an eternal example of the success of the unconventional in achieving one's goals (my friend having been, needless to say, quite soppy about the fellow).
glamorous, eh?
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word ɷ
exactly!
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word one crowded hour
0.0
:{
Pokus?!
brain overload; will tell later
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word zmeu
cf. zmay or zmaj
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Bathtub Shitter
this one's also sort of a fun concept...you got your toilet shitters, your balcony shitters, and your bathtub shitters--the sickest mofos of all.
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word one crowded hour
...would lead to my wreck and ruin
I have a fun story involving Aggie Match
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word short'nin' bread
It's Louie, man! You haven't heard that marvelous song?
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the list shoyu-weenie-here-to-see-you
Has the unique advantage of being 100% indistinguishable from, say, Imaginary Japanese Band Names
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word downy
wiki: "Often overlooked, downy spells its name with a lower-case "D". This helps to distinguish it from like-named bands, such as Downy Mildew."
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word The Elephant of Music
They're not kidding
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Uverworld
who keep right on trucking with the album titles. to wit, Proglution and Bugright
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word weapons of mammary distraction
What is the word for this class of hilarious mishearing, of which mathematics of wonton burrito meals is an additional example?
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word short'nin' bread
Lazybones sleepin' in the shade
How you gonna get yo' cornmeal made?
What cornmeal, man?I like nothin' but short'nin' bread!
March 19, 2010
madmouth commented on the word yoghurt
pronounced by Jennifer Paterson as 'yog-hort', two separate words, practically. to wit, "none of this nonsense about yoghurt instead of cream. yoghurt is not instead of cream"
March 17, 2010
madmouth commented on the word walid jumblatt
he looks like a Jumblatt
March 13, 2010
madmouth commented on the word be careful! The razor is razor-sharp.
cf. the ship's in ship-shape shape
March 10, 2010
madmouth commented on the word faggot of herbs
the far more delightful English equivalent of bouquet garni
March 7, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Chile
flapping isn't connected to length. for example, Canadian English distinguishes 'riding' and 'writing' by length, the latter having a short /ai/, but they both have a flap where their 't' or 'd' ought to be. now, Hindi, besides flapping Ts and Ds, also does the N! it's a positive addiction.
/off-topic
March 6, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Chile
moreover, I've found that the phonology of borrowings exhibits a strange combination of awareness and lack of awareness. In the form "chilLAY", the majority of speakers (or announcers, rather) seem to be more strongly aware of length than vowel quality. while /i/ is the vowel in the original country name, it is a short /i/, nigh impossible in Standard English--to this end, they have employed /I/, which satisfies the length component at the expense of the vowel. now, the question is, why should YOUR linguistic system feel the vowel quality is more important than length?
March 6, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Chile
if the stress is on the 2nd syllable and it rhymes with 'delay', then it sounds like a good compromise between naturalness and authenticity. to me, there's nothing as American as the /ei/ used to approximate the pure /e/.
March 6, 2010
madmouth commented on the word duwajiggyjiggycumjiggyju
a...word, I guess you'd call it, coined by a largely white 90s R&B band in the height of jiggy fever, bless their evanescent hearts.
the full text is:
duwajiggyjiggycumjiggyju
I just wanna drink Cristal wit' you
moreover, this is not the only mention of 'jiggy' in that particular song.
March 6, 2010
madmouth commented on the word taravana
really cool people get taravana, not the bends
March 5, 2010
madmouth commented on the word owl
let's compromise with at awl
March 5, 2010
madmouth commented on the word holy mackerel
I like the way you think
March 4, 2010
madmouth commented on the word crimson tide
coined (perhaps?) by Cher Horowitz as a euphemism for menstruation, giving a faint scent of literariness to what is, after all, meant as a...*ahem* remake of Jane Austen's Emma
anyway, the association to 'wave' is fairly clear
March 4, 2010
madmouth commented on the word owl
I'm not crazy--they're crazy. I swear!
March 4, 2010
madmouth commented on the word jean dimmock
prosody?
March 4, 2010
madmouth commented on the word jean dimmock
Aubrey Beardsley
March 4, 2010
madmouth commented on the word owl
the turning around kind?
March 4, 2010
madmouth commented on the word deadpan
today itself I ran across this meaning of 'pan' in the Canterbury Tales!
"...'who shall yeve a lovere any lawe?'
Love is a gretter lawe, by my pan" (1164-65)
March 4, 2010
madmouth commented on the word naked
ah, equine eroticism--where would classical poetry be without you?
March 4, 2010
madmouth commented on the word owl
It has been my long-held opinion that owls need to make some other face AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. this sort of thing verges on the obscene.
March 4, 2010
madmouth commented on the word Mozzarella
What an uncharitable view of eyeballs!
February 26, 2010
madmouth commented on the word paw-paw
"The fruit on the island, thought Miss Marple, was rather disappointing. It seemed always to be paw-paw."
February 16, 2010
madmouth commented on the user feedback
or 16! It could be an exponential sequence (if I've got that right)
February 16, 2010
madmouth commented on the word crinkum-crankum
a VERY fine find, if I do say so myself
January 18, 2010
madmouth commented on the list clothing-for-a-postracial-era
it's a sartorial sweet tooth fairy!
January 17, 2010
madmouth commented on the word repeats so
Fanny Cradock used this to mean "it's so fattening"
January 16, 2010
madmouth commented on the word vrhnje
SBC for 'cream', the root being vrh (meaning "top"), so--"the stuff on top".
January 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word jolly-up
"It was very consoling, he thought, the way in which an act of kindness, in the fullness of time, returns to bless the benefactor. One gives a jolly-up to a girl in a ship. She goes her way, he goes his. He forgets; he has so many benefactions of the kind to his credit. But she remembers and then one day, when it is least expected, Fate drops into his lap the ripe fruit of his reward, this luscious creature waiting for him, all unaware, in the Malt House, Grantley Green."
-from Put Out More Flags
January 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word levee
"Basil had attended Sonia's levees (and there were three or four levees daily for, whenever she was at home, she was in bed) off and on for nearly ten yerars, since the days of her first, dazzling loveliness, when, almost alone among the chaste and daring brides of London, she had admitted mixed company to her bathroom."
-from Put Out More Flags
January 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word old queen
"'My dear,' Ambrose had said, 'you can positively hear her imagination creaking, as she does them, like a pair of old, old corsets, my dear, on a harridan.'"
-Ambrose on the painteress Poppet, from Put Out More Flags
January 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word cicala
"In a sea-side house to the farther south,
Where the baked cicalas die of drouth,
And one sharp tree--'tis a cypress--stands,
By the many hundred years red-rusted,
Rough iron-spiked, ripe fruit-o'er-crusted,
My sentinel to guard the sands
To the water's edge. ..."
-from De Gustibus--
January 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word bespangle
"Get up, sweet slug-a-bed, and see
The dew bespangling herb and tree."
-from Corinna's Going A-Maying
January 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word fredaine
"'Sailors' wives may grumble, but the spark stays alight and besides, it's very easy for them to indulge a fredaine if they want.'"
-from The Fatal Gift
January 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word fecalith
just once it's been listed? once?!
January 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word punchable nun
I warrant it relies on the meaning of "punch" which is rather "poke" than "hit"
January 14, 2010
madmouth commented on the word freak out squres
oops! it was supposed to be freak out squares. John, howdya delete a variant?
January 8, 2010
madmouth commented on the word yo-yo
I'd thought the top was
January 3, 2010
madmouth commented on the word ballet
'bally' is a British pronunciation of extreme quaintness
December 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word unfavorite
Internet--couldn't we do any better than this?
December 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word paper made from elephant dung
I'm gonna meditate on that and make some steps toward enlightenment. dude
December 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word meatza
right here
December 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word polka
In SBC the root for the country name is 'polj-', whereas 'half' is 'pol-'. So, this makes sense.
December 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word lousy with rocks
what today we'd call blinged out
December 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word give the time
"I was personally acquainted with two girls he gave the time to."
(Caulfield on Stradlater, Catcher in the Rye)
December 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the list wilfred-j--funks--ten-most-beautiful-words-in-the-english-language--1932--1933
I nominate Wilfred J. Funk for the most beautiful word in the English language
December 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word TMI
lowercase 'tmi' is a valid word-initial syllable in SBC (e.g. tmina - gloom)
December 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 圖
it is now!
December 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 圖
your (cranky, full-lipped penguin) robot
December 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word busuuti
not to be confused with bzooty, though of course they are known to go together rather well.
December 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word classic patriarchal rape-incest
a quadruple-whammy from Phyllis Chesler's big facepalm of a dissertation, Women & Madness.
December 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ǃʼOǃKung
I'll do my best--this is hairy without LING terminology.
in an imaginary language with 5 consonants, say, you could have two different types of 't' and 3 different types of 'p', or, on the other end of the spectrum, each of the 5 in totally different places (e.g. one is bilabial, one is dental, one is velar, one is uvular and the last a totally different manner of articulation--non-pulmonic, such as a click). while the first situation describes a consonant class which is the most natural for our mouths to create, it's actually harder on the brain to contrast them with one another; a set with consonants which are very different from each other is easier. does that make sense? distinguishing 'pa' from 'ba' (which is, by the way, really hard for a lot of language groups) is more difficult than distinguishing, say, 'ta' from '!a'
there are different axes of ease and difficulty in the human linguistic process. something which is intuitive and simple on one level creates problems on another level, and vice versa.
December 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ð
I've seen certain Japanese-speaking students make their Ds like Ð; even more mysterious (in that asking why lent litle clarification). Very confusing to me personally, if not other teachers, in that Ð is a different phoneme in Bosnian
December 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ǃʼOǃKung
the human mouth is also naturally inclined toward contrastivity, though--it's necessary to reach outside the 'unmarked' places of articulation to make as many clear distinctions between sounds as possible, if that makes sense.
December 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ophyron
my ophyron is a little hollow. is that normal?
December 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word freshly laundered cheese
One of the pitfalls to avoid when making paneer. Recipes stress the necessity of a purely washed cloth for straining purposes.
December 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the user ruzuzu
why, thank you! some of the more consonant soupy SBC words look horrific to the English eye and need to be heard to be salvaged.
so, are you another Euroslavian?
December 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word veni vidi vici
or Wenty, Witty, Wiki?
December 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chump one's style
"When sucka MCs try to chump my style
I let them know I'm versatile"
December 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word racist
JEsus
I mean, seriously--JEsus CHRIST
*reason fails, mind implodes, Satan's kingdom upon the earth &c.*
December 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bajingo
"I hope you don’t mind the off color lingo
But is that a pee spot atop your bajingo?"
-Pooh the Piglet, via Go Fug Yourself, addressing Pam Anderson
December 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word c is for cookie
questionable transcription
December 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tansy
a word more beautiful than what it describes (as far as flowers go, anyway)
December 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word passion purpura
looking up purpura separately, though, is distinctly unromantic
December 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word maudlin
by far my favourite emotion, in fact it runs through Yugo veins--nay, gallops
December 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word squamish
then you'd have access to some of this panty bicycle/queen-shitting? with photos?
December 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word squamish
the eye flies to "panty bicycle; naked girls from squamish" in the sole text example. congratulations, Wordnik--you've justified yourself to me!!
December 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word kayageum
how sweet you sound, and how attractive you make everyone who plays you.
there's no beating floor lyres for aesthetic impact.
December 15, 2009
madmouth commented on the word all over
ie. covered with, e.g. "I'm all over spots". very British
December 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word good
"Well", while correct, is so unnatural--in North American speech, at least--that I feel awkward teaching my students to say it in reply to "How are you?", going so far as to try to avoid the question altogether.
December 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word skategate
The incident of Canadian pair figure skaters Sale & Pelletier being "robbed" of Olympic gold by them wily Ruskis. After a LOT of palaver and too-close-for-comfort investigation into the judges' decisions, they released a second gold medal for pair skating that year. The old judging system was dumped and a new one instated after Skategate.
December 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word serpigo
after 'serpent', connected by the Greek motorway to "herpes"?
December 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bisexual tiny person
Tila Tequila's job title
December 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cho-cho
1) I thought it was chocha? Cho-cho is a hard-done-by literary heroine, innit?
2) This is a problem of the English language itself. There are no garden-variety words to describe genitalia--the elevator stops at the clinical, vulgar and ludicrous only.
December 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word Kon Crete
in all of character map, I couldn't find ONE thumbs-up squiggle.
December 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word faskinating
Popeye was here
December 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word just a teensy bit...y know
I've been trying to dig for the name of the thing ever since, to no avail :{
you make light now, but a glimpse of the mustachioed WASP protagonist bulging out of his slacks is enough to turn one into a passionate advocate of sporing
December 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chuckwalla
...and she is come to bring the jest full circle
*heads solemnly bowed*
December 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word just a teensy bit...y know
best/worst euphemism for pregnancy ever, heard on a rotten 70s Canadian (!!) sex farce
December 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chuckwalla
who's to say that isn't exactly what they call, say, club bouncers on the subcontinent, though?
December 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chuckwalla
the etymology, to boot (if wikipedia can be trusted) has nothing to with Hindi--deriving "from the Shoshone word 'tcaxxwal' or Cahuilla 'caxwal', transcribed by Spaniards as 'chacahuala'"
December 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word African glass
ie. diamonds
December 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word to the gravy
"If you hadn't done what you did we'd be a thousand dollars to the gravy right now!"
-Castor Oyl
December 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word oyster fruit
ie. pearls
December 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word force-meat
excellent name for a Shakespeare clown
December 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the word albumina
the text example implies this is the plural of 'albumen'--can anyone corroborate?
December 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the word murder
It was in Auchtermuchty, wannit?
December 8, 2009
madmouth commented on the word paqtaqawa'q
god made it funky
December 8, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spaghetti
absolutely right. ramyun is where it's at
December 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word erottery
erotica + pottery? Internet putrescence, I rather think. Happy Breastmas!
December 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word give the eye
Grinches are in season right about now
December 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spic
if pronunciation of "speak" is what we're going by, this applies to loads of language groups, though actually, not Spanish speakers, given 's' isn't acceptable word-initially in Spanish.
though I suppose one can't expect a high standard of linguistics in the field of racial prejudice.
December 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word caramel
I've heard "car mull" more often than "car a mull"
December 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word subji
an interesting romanization of what I have heretofore seen as sabzi
December 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word give the eye
I'm sure they're very nummy, but then Marilyn is, too--try 'er out
December 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wordnik
Speaking of which, what happened to the profile link that allows us to view a user's comments?
December 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word vegemite virgin
this conversation makes vegemite sound intriguing, exciting even
December 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word give the eye
you haven't seen Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?!
FOR SHAME
December 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word give the eye
"bye-bye, baby
remember you're my baby
when they give you the eye
though I know you care
won't you write and declare
that though on the loose
you are still on the square?"
December 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word va j-j visor
while T-T's tears are blinding, j-j bawls with its eyes wide open to the horror
December 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tobaccy
according to the other verses, it might be "huggee and kissee nice" :{
December 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word INCIST
a local business school thought this would be a good acronym for its internship program o.0
December 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tobaccy
...Back in Nagasaki
Where the fellers chew tobaccy
And the women wicky-wacky-woo
-Dixon & Warren, "Nagasaki"
December 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word seegars
a fatcat always smokes a fat seegar
December 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spaghetti
The character of spaghetti is compromised by cutting, it seems to me. There are plenty of short pastas out there, after all--why not eat those?
December 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word stold
also stoled
December 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word smacked 'em permanent
"You sure smacked 'em permanent, Popeye!"
"I always smacks 'em pernament"
December 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ain't gotta crust
'has no scruples'. this usage shows up in Grease: "You got your crust, I'm no object of lust--I'm just plain Sandra Dee"
December 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word stow the razberries
ie. shut your filthy clam
December 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word give the air
to turn down. also give the gate (to)
December 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word shipshape
"The ship's in shipshape shape"
-from Some Like it Hot
December 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tell the army
meaning, "I don't give a rat's clacker" (which latter is still one of the most disgusting-hypnotic phrases I've seen)
December 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word in bad with the law
not to be confused with in bed with the law
December 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word by cracky!
surely the most thematic exclamation in Popeye comics
December 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word onct
as in "onct I crack 'em, they stay cracked" (referring to a sock upon yer button)
December 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the list place-names-of-distinction
I passed by Chuckanut Dr. near the US-Canada border
December 1, 2009
madmouth commented on the word series
According to my grammaticality judgement, both "The series were on for years before being cancelled" and "The series was on for years before being cancelled" check out fine
December 1, 2009
madmouth commented on the word merkin
AAAND it's back from the 16th century, everyone!
November 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fuckle
cf. fuckler, a demon from the brain of Babycakes
November 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word NIIGGA
I thought Assniiga was the 800-hour oral epic of the Lappish foothills
November 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word giant toasted ants
nutty and bacon-like? that's a bit of an overload
I'd really like to be hardcore enough to eat a bug, but the only way it's gonna happen is if they start cutting bread flour with ground crickets on the sly
PS: PU, I'm ganking that one for "Just because..."
November 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word morular
in one of L.M. Montgomery's Anne volumes, the titular heroine fights a local battle, coaxing a fatcat out of painting an ad for some tonic or other onto the fence along the main road. so, the first wave of large-scale advertising is successfully beaten back. reading this scene from the 21st century is heartbreaking; little did she know just how ugly it would get :(
November 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word morular
sometimes I can't help but conclude that the advertising universe is run and staffed by more advanced amoebozoa
November 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word frankingcense
at first glance I thought it was frinking cheese. d'oh
November 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cuttlefish
unctious ochre
November 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word whatcher
Castor Oyl: Why POPEYE! I thought you were SHOT!!!
P: Whatcher think these is, button holes?
November 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word go'ner
gonna for the quainter set
November 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bags of liberty
that is, cashola
November 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word matching python panties
to say the least!
November 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the user bilby
hey--have you been to Regretsy? Oddery foddery, man (lemonade cow, anyone? Jesus' feet and shroud, with tiny stigmata dimples?)
November 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word matching python panties
As seen here, sweet dear Jesus
November 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word a few under the hat
"She may be a brainy bird, but I've got a few under the hat myself"
-Castor Oyl
November 26, 2009
madmouth commented on the word beauregard
ow-->o before r in English; in fact, the other diphthongs turn to full vowels in this context as well (though you can articulate 'flour' and 'fire', say, as one-syllable words, producing a diphthong-r sequence--but that's another kettle of fish)
November 26, 2009
madmouth commented on the word i lick my cheese
you'd think someone who had it in them to steal would also be capable of eating others' lickings.
November 26, 2009
madmouth commented on the word e for brick
"heave a brick"?
"ether brick"? :/
"Eva Brück"?
I'm stuck on this one.
November 26, 2009
madmouth commented on the word eebree
I call spoof
November 26, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cheese
that cheese and Gs should both be AAVE colloquialisms for money is one of my favourite coincidences
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word a'lelia bundles
if I were named after great-granny A'lelia, I wouldn't marry a Bundles into the bargain. or maybe that would be the ultimate form of sticking it to the man.
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word suttee
an innapropriate sort of romanization, in that it makes what ought never to sound...cute (like a diminutive item of furniture or perhaps a dessert)
I had hoped it was just Naipaul being creative, but plenty of precedent for this form exists, as it turns out.
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word nit
it was Vulturo--whose name just came back to me--and I like to think he means far worse than 'nitwit'
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the list pests
looking at demonyms (if that's the word) like aleman and chinee next to ones like european and japanese, one wonders if these are two separate semantic categories within botany
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word paladin
All her harvest buttoned in
All her ornaments untried
Waiting for the paladin
Prosperous and ocean-eyed
Who shall rub her secrets out
And behold the hinted bride
-from "The Anniad"
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word conshit
Ctrl + F and all will be revealed
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sterky
a dirty word not yet defined on Urban Dictionary...intriguing
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word love filth
"Caca was very popular. It was almost as popular as the graveyard"
-from Brad Neely's "Bible History #1"
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word nit
"I was in Zurich last week, you nit!"
-Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
It's a pity this corollary to the "louse" insult didn't come in til the 21st century. I, for one, plan to use it at the earliest opportunity.
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the list 4q2009
"fork you, 2009!" is the marquee in my brain (because IR no good at numerico-abbreviation puzzles)
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word runagate
while appearing to be a precursor of 'renegade' in that precise old-timey "it used to be like this but now we spell it differently" way, it's a different word with a different etymology, according to my dabblings. hm!
November 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word clearmeat
the more intuitive compound would be meatclear, I somehow think
November 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word na vrh brda vrba mrda
SBC: "the willow shakes upon the hill".
November 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word otou-san
ha! the literary and the banal follow close upon each other's heels
November 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the list tonguetwisters-from-around-the-world
I need that second one from the top erased :(
November 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word otou-san
my first reading is invariably 'Vani she done', a la "Mistah Kurtz, he dead"--even after a year on Wordie
that is to say, it's not as undistinguished as all that
November 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sachet d'epices
ohh
November 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ở
diacritic SOUP! I don't think I've ever yet slain me so hard
November 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sachet d'epices
It's not working
November 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sachet d'epices
French, lit. "wee bag o'spices". The mystery ingredient in Phở stock; imperceptible but absolutely crucial.
On a side note, how do we bracket nowadays?
November 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tuna fruit
"As a matter of fact, in the Southwest the Mexican and Indian population resort to the Nopal (that is, the flat-jointed sort of Opuntia) not only for the tuna fruit, as described in a previous chapter, but also for the succulent flesh of the stem, which may be made to do duty as a vegetable."
-from Useful Wild Plants Of The United States And Canada by Charles Francis Saunders
November 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pot-herb
Not as Drug-Related as They Sound
November 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sorrel mare
but of course. I noted yours long ago
November 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sorrel mare
at any rate, Anne of Green Gables led me to believe this is a legitimate animal name
November 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word partridge
Sounds like a fine fate
November 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word partridge
Of 'that little coquette Katrina':
"She was a blooming lass of fresh eighteen; plump as a patridge; ripe and melting and rosy-cheeked as one of her father's peaches"
-Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
I'm intrigued by the 'one ass, two chairs' approach to metaphors of objectification here. A patridge--ie. game--AND a neatly domesticated fruit!
November 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word we've got a black president, people
Lady Gaga's custom coda of self-justification (as seen here). I'm not wrong, I'm free also tickles the humerus
November 15, 2009
madmouth commented on the word checkerberry
If Chubby and Chuck got married, they wouldn't need a hyphen for the surname
November 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word a-utterin'
I enjoy this coinage for its delightful disregard for the CV liaison purpose of the a- prefix
November 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word Caribbee
'...
And I sez to meself as the ship she rolled,
"O Caribbee! O Barbaree!
O shores of South Amerikee!
O, never go there: if the truth be told,
You'll get more kicks than Spanish gold."'
-excerpt from "Spanish Gold", within The Magic Pudding
November 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spankies
a.k.a. spanky pants
November 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the user bilby
sorry, bilby--my inquiries re: hyeonmi have been fruitless. the literal meaning is 'puffy rice', but I can't quite figure out a slangy direction from there. 'dwenjang', for example (lit. 'soybean paste') means 'golddigger' or 'high-maintenance girlfriend' idiomatically, so you can see the connections are quite abstruse.
November 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word love shot
in my experience, a manouver wherein a drunken Korean major insists your boyfriend link arms with him in order for drinks to be mutually poured down throats
but I bet it has a wider application
October 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 爸
It's gonna make you d'oh when the truth is out is all I'm gonna say.
October 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word gulab
intrigué!
October 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the list take-five
huzzah
October 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word regurgitalite
is it anything like regurgitalith?
October 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chank
according to image search, it's also "The Elvis of Fonts"
October 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word gulab
Hindi: "rose". from it is derived gulabi, meaning "pink". it's the same in SBC: "rose" is ruža and "pink" is ruži�?asto
I wonder how many other languages have this derivation scheme
October 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word jiggery pokery
they say it's a variant of joukery pawkery
October 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word gauche
I once heard it pronounced "goach", which is the goachest thing one can do
October 30, 2009
madmouth commented on the word capgras’s syndrome
is there an umbrella term for these delusions having to do with duplication? a lot of the conditions on the list are variations on a theme
October 30, 2009
madmouth commented on the word reduplicative paramnesia
"Dear Diary,
We are complicated things."
-Babycakes
October 30, 2009
madmouth commented on the word trichotillomania
one of the scariest compulsions, with its nightmarish image of swollen, be-plucked eyelids
October 30, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bisque
the decisive dish in a battle between Iron Chef French and the Californian challenger. much to everyone's surprise, the latter's bisque was superior. the shock the judging panel showed at this turn of events was intriguing, seeming to encode an initial assumption that the exquisiteness of such a dish was beyond the crude sensibility of an American. all parties showed face and dignity at this awkward cultural junction, the judges smiling through their disbelief, the victor managing despite clenched teeth to give the final interview, and the vanquished maintaing good-natured silence.
in short, the Bisque Battle remains one for the vaults for the cultural analyst.
October 30, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dogloo
with a small enough dog, it could probably be both (potty and igloo, that is). I hear the tiny yappy kinds are very hard to house-train
October 30, 2009
madmouth commented on the list take-five
I like the strangely meaningful sequences that emerge from this list. "flood plain...fiber optic...false alarm", for example, has a certain poetry
October 30, 2009
madmouth commented on the word umbragenous
heh--mucilagenous was the one it sounded closest to to me (e.g. "I've got an umbragenous growth on the brain")
if umbragella is the shield in an umbraglio, what's the weapon? will a hearty umbreugneu do?
perhaps we can contrast the phony umbraglio with a genuine call to umbrage
October 30, 2009
madmouth commented on the word profound self-entitlement
the precise "no, I want you to pet me here, not that other place 30cm away" brand being in evidence this evening -_-
October 30, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bumbo
image search suggests the meaning has changed somewhat
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word umbragenous
I'm experimenting with the imaginary paradigm. 'umbragenous' sounds sort of disgusting whereas 'umbrageous' is a clean-sounding word. there's umbrager (sounds close to 'dowager'), tres umbragé, umbraglio &c &c
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the list craigslist-stuff-for-sale
this is one of the lists that makes me lament the all-smallcaps Wordie entry restrictions. you just can't put on "SWEET STUFF FOR SALE" or "Winnie the Pooh TIE"
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wanted firecrackers
at least twice as expensive as firecrackers with no criminal record
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dogloo
some poor chump paid 130 bucks for this thing
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word "free" weightlifting weights
I scratched my head at least twice on this one
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word single pain sliding doors
this could be a new Sailormoon attack under favourable circumstances
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ethnomasochism
'So the one-legged jockey says--'
'What'd he say?'
'So the one-legged jockey says, "Don't worry about me, baby--I ride side-saddle!"'
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word intersex awareness day
Interawareness Sex Day might also be good
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word zoutch
it's also a verb! how delightful--"Hold on, I gotta zoutch. I'll call you back"
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ethnomasochism
read twice before objecting, please! presumptuous umbrage on Wordie really ruins my day.
I don't like the thought, rolig, that while it may occur to you that I _might_ disdain bigots, there's always that 'evidence' that could turn the needle over to the other side.
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ethnomasochism
I was going to include you in the list, reesetee--but I didn't want to be presumptuous.
-_- is not abstruse in my circles; it's a pretty standard pictorial representation of a headdesk or "oh, brother". let me also point out the phrase new word bandied around by bigots in the original comment.
it's sort of beneath any Wordie to consider it consistent with another Wordie's character to self-identify as a bigot...I hope.
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ethnomasochism
I ought to put it into quotation marks next time for the c_bs and roligs of the world, eh?
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word catamite
the etymology lends a bizarre significance to The Ganymede Club for gentlemen's personal gentlemen
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the cunt stakes
hee
October 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ethnomasochism
do you--y'all--also object to fairly obvious sarcasm?
I make the bold suggestion that taking upon oneself the work of noting/policing (in a fairly low-key capacity, granted) offensive Wordie content can be an impediment to thorough reading comprehension.
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ethnomasochism
new word bandied around by bigots on Youtube (yeah, I know--great place to follow 'discussion') to describe those pussies who are letting their country get taken over by the Islamic Agenda -_-
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word gravlax
More Delicious Than They Sound
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word soused mouse
*favorited*
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word huskily evocative
re: cardamom ("Both Scandinavian and Middle Eastern at the same time")
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word netizen
never went anywhere, poor thing. there should be a place we dump Extreme Slang Failures
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word newspapery
hah!
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wabble
and would Dweebles dwabble?
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hoick
ah so--the NZ equivalent of hork
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word shog
'shog along, then--buncha hooligans'
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word two-fork chinese waiter crispy duck trick
one of her terms for deft carving, a talent she does not in the least possess ("I do it just by mauling")
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word creamy sludge
also velvety sludge (perh. a fictional music genre?)
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word syllabub
also sillibub
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word galangal
well, aren't you speedy with the bon-bon mots
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tangor
if they really wanna get the tourism going, they should plant some tangor in Bangor
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pistareen
hee hee
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word boyzillian
why would there be two 'l's
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word feague
in my world of sexy fantasy, this rhymes with 'ague'
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fabulous
very sad that this word can no longer be used to mean "of or relating to fables"
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tangor
not to be confused with Bangor, a Welsh city that boasts mention in 2 works of literature I've read, and who knows how many more (this being, as far as I know, the only noteworthy thing about it)
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word galangal
I always have trouble restraining the syllables when saying this one; my tongue wants to go galangalangalangalanga
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ayodhya
Rama's birthplace
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word rutaceous
like the rutabaga?
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word agrume
what is it?
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word buchu
cf. huchu, Korean for 'black pepper'. I wonder how many other -uchu words there are
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word everlastingness
"without her teeth she looked decrepit, but there was about her decrepitude a quality of everlastingness."
-Mr. Biswas on Mrs. Tulsi, from Naipaul's House for Mr. Biswas
This one really cracked me up
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the list words-with-four-consecutive-vowels
aa is a terrible romanization, too--the actual word has two consonants and two vowels
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mr justice trousers
I like it!
October 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pug-zu
jeez...can you imagine the nasal dysfunction?!
October 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pug-zu
Pug/Shih-Tzu hybrid, apparently (as seen on craigslist)
October 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word kerékpár
whoa...it looks like an obscure Melanesian tonal language or something
October 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tabula rasa
I can no longer see this word without being reminded of Tambura Rasa, the excellent gypsy band from Vancity...even though the band name is gimicky and sort of lame
October 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fernickety
hmmm...finickety?
October 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word squid n peanuts
with a little mayo on the side, THE bar snack
October 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fernickety
either a coined phrase after persnickety, or a legitimate variant of the same
October 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word gallow-bird
cf. gallows tree; jailbird
October 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spermine
hah!
October 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hamlin cuddly
Hamlin claims to be somehow affiliated with the dental industry 0.o
October 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the list looks-like-a-digraph-but-isn-t
in Hindi the 'kh' also stands--ostensibly--for the aspirated k, though one does hear it realized as the velar fricative quite often.
October 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word severed head offers few answers
I can't parse it in the sensible way!
October 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mmorpg
could almost be pronounced as-is in Serbo-Croatian
October 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word thirty-twelve
cf. schfifty-five
October 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word merdivorous
will take earliest opportunity to call someone an absquatulent merdivore
October 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word home canning
home caning is a less pleasant alternative
October 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word rainin' men
Hallelujah!
October 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word concupiscence
the Concupiscene: a geological epoch the lusty magnitude of which is yet to be matched
October 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word intermammary sulcus
more commonly known as cleavage
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the list dewey-cheatham-and-howe
lists like this are great for displaying regional accent
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dubious swedo-norwegian scientists
the Nobel Prize panel, they say
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word free-swimming stalkless crinoid
crinoids are scary enough WITH the stem 0.0
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ppeppero
though we already KNEW you're a poet
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word kkotgaru
lit. flower-powder, Korean for 'pollen'. this is notable as 'garu' is a common suffix in cuisine (e.g. flour as we know it is 'mil-garu' ie. 'wheat-powder'; pepper is 'huchu-garu' ie. 'pepper-powder')
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word rudin's law
there's a law for how my boyfriend cleans the house!
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word clitic doubling
"mr youse neednt be so spry
concernin questions arty
each has his tastes but as for i
i likes a certain party
gimme the he-mans solid bliss
for youse ideas ill match youse
a pretty girl who naked is
is worth a million statues"
-e.e. cummings
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the list nabokov-vocabulary
Bokovulary has a ring of the fertility clinic
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word crystal jelly
It has three meanings I've found so far:
-the clear stuff at the bottom of bubble tea
-Aequorea victoria
-a variety of what the Texan legislature calls obscene device
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word star jelly
cf. crystal jelly
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word radgrid
immediately this jumped out to me to mean "a grid that is rad". seeing 'rad' as a legitimate adjective--despite oneself--marks one as a casualty of high school
October 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tt�?k
see here. the (superior, in my opinion) Korean equivalent of mochi, also known as 'ddeok' in that hateful vowel-flinging modern romanization
October 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ppeppero
the Korean Pocky, having one up on the latter due to its own holiday
October 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word livermush
I was just thinking, "I'd eat it if there was chili oil involved"
October 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word no homo
ack!
the world is too much with us
October 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the list the-fantastical-repertoire-of-captain-haddock
French counterpart here
October 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tadago pie
there should be a list wherein we compete to re-dub the tadago pie in the most gruesome/evocative way (e.g. Meaty Miscarriage)
October 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the list the-gods-must-be-crazy
how'd I miss this wonderful monster?
October 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the word meat ant the new weapon against cane toads!
'twas the inspiration :)
October 8, 2009
madmouth commented on the word meat ant the new weapon against cane toads!
see?
October 8, 2009
madmouth commented on the word manlio
I'm told it's a male Italian name, though not sure how common.
October 8, 2009
madmouth commented on the word carapace
Care Apache, the king of the hippies
October 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fika
according to them, it means "coffee and cake", that is, a whole branch of cuisine
October 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word u-shaped course of development
refers to a second-language learning process wherein skill level temporarily regresses, then goes forward again
October 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word grocery rustle
the sound of mother going through the bags and possibly pulling out a box of cookies
pets also respond to this sound
October 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pentimento
the final stage in the life cycle of a palimpsest?
October 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chout
not to be confused with Choate
October 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word musique concrète
yarb, this is the first time I've heard someone besides myself and friends use 'wanky' in this sense. is it Van city or astral affinity?
October 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ordo ab chao
really sounds like Esperanto
October 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the list i-murdered-i-you-say
grisly. though BC's batting pretty well--only 2 famous serial killers in the 20th century
October 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the user sionnach
thank you, sir. the final -m got the Google back in action, and it's a Dubliners coinage, from the looks of it.
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word boribbang
such a pity. though I did find that in Hong Kong, there was plenty of savoury bread, and also the sweet stuff wasn't so wretchedly bad (boribbang excepted; it's delicious)
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the user sionnach
you'd know, I warrant. I heard a word on a Dubliners track that sounds like 'falooran' or 'felorrin', meaning 'masculine virility' (re: old man a young woman has married out of necessity, "He's got no feloorin" so then she sleeps with this handsome young man). Google, however, is convinced it doesn't exist. you know what this word is?
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ecozone
includes the odd-sounding Palearctic and the ineffably funky Afrotropic
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word rotten public art
though I so often find this phrase redundant
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word stripping flesh
yer a smart cookie
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word epicaricacy
doesn't sound at all like its meaning. what IS the word for the quality of sounding like its meaning, anyway?
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word s�?n
禪, originally ध�?यान
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word jogye-jong
the largest Buddhist order in Korea and, perhaps not coincidentally, the one with the best-looking temples.
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word namu amitabul
the meditation chant. Amitabul is the Korean version of the Sanskrit Amitabha Buddha
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bosalim
a laywoman residing at a temple who manages the kitchen and grounds. the word seems to derive from bosal, the Korean term for bodhisattva.
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word �?�よ�?�よ
no later than yesterday was I wondering whether there are languages that articulate the chirping sound without a rhotic!
September 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word peacock mantis shrimp
yeah...it's got three things on its thing and I'm pretty sure there should only be two things there
September 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word peacock mantis shrimp
a picture, not for the weak of browser
September 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word srljo
past verb, diminutive form of 'srao'--"shat". Balasevic sings, in an anti-Milosevic satire, kud si srljo, nisi gledo: "you weren't looking where you shat". then, he inverts the meaning--ti si srljo kud si gledo: "you shat as far as you could see"
I wonder if other languages have diminutive verbs.
September 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hock a loogy
also hork a loogie
September 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word t.u.l.i.p.
it's the U part that really makes a jackass
September 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pentateuch
I always mix this one up with the pentatonic
September 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word seagull
the nastiest and most memorable seagull I ever came across was Fatty. we were at a bay, waiting for the ferry, tossing bits of fish&chips to the birds. Fatty comes by, manages to ward off the other gulls and eat their bits. when he got full, he kept shooing them off anyway, letting the food go uneaten out of sheer territorial spite. hmph!
September 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word piss fox
check!
September 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word thrice accursed yesterday
from Constance Barrett's translation of Crime and Punishment
September 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word rhaphidophoridae
anyway, the bats do alright
September 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word rhaphidophoridae
a.k.a. cave cricket
September 26, 2009
madmouth commented on the word irish queer
see alcohol
September 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word lewd conduct
'lewd conduct with minor' is defined in Idaho as such. considering the number of juvenile sex offenders (legally speaking) in the Idaho registry (named here rather than the registry of another state because it has a handy-dandy 'juvenile' search function), the term starts to drive one mad with curiosity. what's the range of acts we're talking about here? if a teenager is spotted groping a teenager, will said teenager be registered? sex laws abound with mystery.
September 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word orgasm tofu
well, it is quite mysterious. perhaps the warm stuff has Slurm-like origins?
September 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word obscene device
sex toy, as described by the Texas Penal Code (and others, I imagine).
September 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word booty
cf. junk in the trunk, an inverse metaphor of the original booty
September 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word puissant
it's not esoteric, just awkward (which I suspect the teacher tried to find a high-falutin' synonym for and failed). I can't see a justified use of puissant in any paper after the 18th century.
September 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word orgasm tofu
no, no--this a technical term. it literally gives you orgasms.
September 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word parboiled
my mother's favourite, ie. the choice of one brought up in a region where rice is very rarely consumed :(
I don't know when the 'rice is hard to cook' myth began, but it is holding America by the ears.
September 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word glutinous rice
ubiquitous term on Korean packaging and cookbooks (the English version thereof, I mean). one of the many evils of the aspirational 50s American vocabulary that the early education system was weaned on.
September 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dementor's kiss and tell
good one
September 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word orgasm tofu
the kind you just take home and eat, no cooking, just a little hot sauce (not just the silken stuff, either). in certain places, you can get it warm, straight out of the...whatever it's made in. the Korean soybean is something else. it gives tofu a deep, slightly nutty flavour; you can smell it on the cutting board.
the longer I live here, the more awake I am to the delights of the uncooked--fish, garlic, squid, tofu...
September 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chicken is boring
mackerel
legumes
Korean orgasm tofu
September 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word schwa
oh, but it does so much more!
in French it's used for putting the extra bit of cabaret passion on a chanson (e.g. Piaf's il me l'a dit, l'a jure POUR LA VIIIIUUUUHHH), which is pretty awesome. and let's not forget Yogi Bear's schwa-epenthesis! in Hindi, you can shove a schwa into lots of consonant clusters, making learners grateful they don't have to pronounce 'ndh' and the like. how could anyone hate such a useful vowel?
September 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word gwanŭm
the Korean counterpart to the Chinese Guan Yin, goddess of mercy and compassion. in Korea, this is a male deity, but the body shape and attire are totally unchanged. the only addition is an awful, thin little green moustache, which jars ludicrously with the soft curves and flowing robes of the Goddess of Mercy.
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word danch�?ng
the five-colour pattern used to decorate Korean temples (and other edifices, though no other type of building has such intricate and dizzying use of this pattern). see here
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word apsara
floating celestial female musician, numerously engraved on every temple bell and painted onto ceiling panels.
it`s said that the apsara derives from the gandharva and kinnara figures, subsequently feminized and beautified in the passage of Buddhism to Korea through China (the influence of seductive Daoist sky maidens with the long hair ribbons).
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sŭnim
Korean term for 'monk', regardless of gender. I still like to call the female ones nuns, though. There is a very clear gender division and tension between male and female monks in Korea, due to fairly sexist interpretations of the text and the influence of Korean society, historically misogynist.
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bhikshu
mentioned in the Diamond Sutra, a.k.a. bhikkhu. Sanskrit: a fully ordained male monk (fem. being bhikkhuni.
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word kumbum
I can't believe nobody's plonked it onto their naughty-sounding lists yet
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sandfood
Pholisma sonorae, no relation to Sand n Food
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pholisma
see sandfood
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sagamore
take me to your sagamore!
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word booby-trapped empanadas
this gave me deja-vu for a second, but then I realized I was just remembering a similar concept from this review: "He holds the film like a can of beer in a paper bag -- the cool sip of salvation on a blistering day -- until it is revealed as a Molotov cocktail." (review of Do the Right Thing)
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word nadia
Nadia Wadia, you'll go fardia
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the rock
:0
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wapping
this could've stayed innocuous if the internet hadn't happened
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word shoreditch
does "boozer" not refer to a person in Aussie vocabulary? it does in North America, and the image is considerably more delicious thereby
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the list intriguing-places
we got 'armorica' twice
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tooting
it's a place :D
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the list from-the-algonquin-et-al
Q: what do Dorothy Parker, Margaret Atwood and L.M. Montgomery have in common (besides a vagina)?
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the list from-the-algonquin-et-al
the one that really threw me is 'geoduck'
September 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mesclun
I find the term young lettuces surprisingly sensuous
September 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word brant
but not this year
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word humpty dance
excerpt:
"...
My name is Humpty, pronounced with a Umpty.
Yo ladies, oh how I like to hump thee.
..."
thus marking the greatest usage of archaic pronouns ever
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word faggot
Mark Tietjens to brother Chris:
"'I'd not like to sleep with that wife of yours. She's too athletic. It'd be like sleeping with a bundle of faggots. I suppose though you're a pair of turtle doves...'"
Ford Maddox Ford, Parade's End, p.219
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word braicon
no, is good. also, points for alternate pronunciation & meaning
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word nom de porn
courtesy of Perfect Stars forum
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word terrapin
Kuniyoshi's take
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word aerosolized pig brains
source, courtesy of chained_bear via kuru (not as cute as it sounds)
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word donald trump and beyonce's rump
they don't call it shaking your moneymaker for nothing
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dog farms
apparently most of those are in Jeju D:
we're going to write some letters to the mayor about this, as they're technically illegal
dog consumption has the worst effect on animal-human relations that I've seen here. horses and cows, for example, are treated well and people are fond of them. however, The Edible Dog (known as 'shit dog'), as if to force the natural affection people have towards dogs out of their system, is maltreated and reviled, and specifically put into a different conceptual category from The Pet Dog (and different spatial category, ie. it's continually chained).
this, combined the fact that dogs are incredibly difficult to keep caged up (I doubt whether a farmowner is even able to sleep on premises), howling and barking ceaselessly, I mean ceaselessly, makes it a totally inadvisable meat.
to make this relevant to language--I've noticed that in the vocabularies of my students, "dog" and "puppy" are different animals, the latter being the official designation of the Pet Dog (largely lapdogs and fluffballs from foreign).
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word like beyonce isn't white!
maybe I'm overanalyzing
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the theoretical chin of her boobs
the larger quote being "like a soul patch on the theoretical chin of her boobs" (source)
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word muumuu
the original word has 4 syllables, whereas the English borrowing has 2. this looks odd to my eyes because I'm so used to seeing English borrowings in Korean attain extra syllables (e.g. stand has 3 in the K version; 'ice cream' has 5)
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word like beyonce isn't white!
somewhat connected to Imma let you finish. Kanye establishes confusing race dichotomy by implying Beyonce--the palest you can get short of Jelly Roll Morton--was robbed of the award because of blackness. it's not that B's internalized racism isn't proof of the injustice of the media, but she's bad evidence for a case like this, given that her stardom and pallor have increased exponentially over the last 10 years (also see Jessica Alba). in short, Beyonce is exactly pale (and consequently, beloved) enough to win awards among any number of white competitors--and has.
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word summer farewell
also farewell summer
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word scurvy-grass
a.k.a. spoonwort
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word croomia
could be the heroine of a forgotten 19th-century novel, like Gryphoemia
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hairysheath lovegrass
ho ho ho!
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word naked ladies
it's remarkable that any flowers at all came up in the image search, especially given the profusion of naked ladies for every other search word 0.0
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word juba's bush
and so much depends on which Juba we're talking about (man or woman, that is)
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the list ponderable-plant-names
also, this is the best list in recent memory! hours of delight
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the list •-de-rerum-natura
*favorited*
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spleenwort
apparently a cockamamie sort of cure, believed "useful for ailments of the spleen, due to the spleen-shaped sori on the backs of the fronds" according to Wiki
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word nostrils inside of nostrils!
check it OUT
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hoonoomaun
presumably after Hanuman?
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word exploding stove pixies!
I'm going to look for the CANNOT EXPLODE guarantee on the package of the next cleaning product I buy. seems like half that shit can and will explode as soon as you shake it!
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word it's hard to sex people on the internet!
I mean literally--it's hard to identify their sex
the lost meaning of this verb pops up sometimes, making things suddenly clearer. Fergie's "the boys, they wanna sex me" really spoke to my confusion about her(?) sex (and species, for that matter)
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word beware of chickin!
and all foods for which the word has been borrowed when there is already a word there.
for example, in Korean there is 'dak'-"chicken", and 'chickin', the former being just dandy and the latter THE junkest of stomach-caving, sauce-drowned, non-food junk. the message is clear: chickin ≠ chicken.
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cumshaw
heh. I'll try my luck with wanky young Vancouver waiters
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dog farms
Alex supposes dog farmers die by 60, from drink, due to the psychological strain
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fresh fodder
how quirky
September 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the list not-quite-as-awful-as-they-sound
*ahem* cumshaw
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word quean
"...
I'll be reveng'd you saucy Quean
(Replys the disapointed Dean)
I'll so describe your dressing room
The very Irish shall not come.
..."
-Lady Montague, The Reasons that Induced Dr S to Write a Poem Call'd the Lady's Dressing Room
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chunky pandey
no
that's the Chunky mystique, I guess
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chunky pandey
a comedy actor in Bollywood.
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word salmon louse
you know big burly eastern Europeans shun articles. noun should be naked!
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word vaginosis
not to be confused with vagignosis--the omniscient powers of the female generative organs
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word zabaleen
sad to say, Slackman lives up to his name by failure to explicitly connect what's happening to the trash now with the racist government policy that played into the swine cull. there's a more interesting story underneath this mild denunciation of the government's poor bureaucracy.
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dog farms
the most harrowing interruption to pastoral beauty. as it turns out, they've got to shove them quite deep in the idyllic countryside because the howling that comes from the cages can be heard for miles :(
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word juba ii
the second, that is. a king.
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spurge
ah! "So called from the plant's purgative properties" (see OE)
this word fascinates me @-@
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word akoko
Hawaiian term for the spurges. tremendous improvement, I think. (source)
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the list animal-identity-crisis
one wishes the hog plum (see here) could be counted a 'creature'
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word salmon louse
d'oh!
but maybe it's cousin of your Slavic accent, eh? eh?
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word candlenut
also candleberry
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word blue-eyed mary
cf. black-eyed Susan
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word balaban
also a guy
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the list ponderable-plant-names
I found Jamaican navel spurge at the neat sea-bean website you linked to.
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word serial mom
source. dubious coffee table book aside, what a sordid term (or else there's a joke I'm not getting)
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word salmon louse
so named because it prays on salmon (also called sea louse)
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word diablos rojos
what Mexican fishermen call the Humboldt squid, because of the red-white colour changes the squid exhibit when struggling with the nets (at up to 2m in length, one can imagine the force)
September 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fliff!
it's gotta be in triplicate (see here)
September 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pheasant
is anyone else disillusioned with the flavour of pheasant? one imagines a feast of kings, 'fat swan roasted whole' and the like...but it's sort of turkeyish
September 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word daduk
anything like baduk?
September 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fliff
money that is thrown around in an extravagant fashion (copyright Brad Neely). it's more an exclamation than a noun, really
September 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dhal
I always wondered whether this spelling wasn't an overcompensation. as far as I know, the Hindi is 'dal' with no aspiration on the 'd'
September 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word damozel
cf. mamzel
September 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word parvenu
Wharton! oh goody!
September 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ahorse
look, Ma! I'm ahorse!
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the list fun-menu-items
I humbly submit golden stomach, one from the steaming offal-pot
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word scotch egg
I'm trying to imagine what the process of the encasement looks like. do you slap thin slices of salami all around? do you fork out the gooey stuffing from a raw sausage and paste it on?
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word heat activated urinal billboard
makes me glad to be a woman.
I wonder if HAUB generates a spray of surprise
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bad taxidermy
the kind with visible mouth stitches, an ambiguous space around the circumference of the eye, the wrong angle for the limbs--the stuff of nightmares.
so, the guy's in there with his horror animals, but I didn't think anyone would actually BUY any of them. then I came across a misguided dentist's office with a really dead-looking turtle in the window :(
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word madmoutha foetida
one had better shut one's mouth after eating lots of daal?
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word slender scratchdaisy
uncomfortable flashback to Ginsberg's "Pull my daisy"
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hogpeanut
next pet I have is going to be named this
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word asafoetida
a.k.a. devil's dung
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sewervine
foetida is a brilliant suffix to anything
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chillax
there are places on this earth untainted by the dread chillax?! you learn something new every day
hint: a simple portmanteau. unpack and enjoy?
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the list via-i-poplollies-bellibones-i
how did I live so long without seeing this list?
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spookrijder
one fears the traffic situation in a land where this warrants its own term
September 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sand n food
besides describing two things that are found in Jeju, the name of a restaurant. this is one of many examples of the deplorable abbreviation "sandwich" has received in Korean ad culture.
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word thwarterous
and if you put an Emeril accent on it, rhymes with Tartarus. how many words can claim that privilege?
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spoon worm
institutionalized Bobbittry
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hrast
SBC: 'oak'
the 'r' is devoiced due to its proximity to the 'h', making a lovely whispering word out of this
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fice
is anyone else imagining a half-crazed Englishman hissing about his 'nervous belligerent little mongrel dog'? what a turn of phrase!
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word yong-ggot
lit. dragon flower, the Korean name for the lotus
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the stripper myth
copyright Chris Rock, namely "ain't no strippers in college", citing "how come I never got a smart lap dance?" as evidence.
I think it's a pretty succinct case.
we'd also do well to debunk the fugu myth.
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word regrettable fugu incident
hee hee
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the list i-murdered-i-you-say
yeah--'undone' works for me.
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mixen-burgh
some connections
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spurge nettle
see finger-rot
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word threebirds
Plant Identity Crisis
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word salt cod
one would do well to pass the cold greasy brains (which I'm going to steal, thank you kindly). word is, brains are inhabited by bacteria that don't die in the cooking process (though 18 hours--who knows?)
myself, I never had an eye I didn't like.
Prolagus, hernesheir's anecdote ought to be placed within the annals
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spoon worm
let me indulge your yuck a few steps more--these stay alive after being sliced, moving ever so slowly off the chopsticks.
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word you blunted artichoke
echoes of Capt Haddock
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word euphony
"At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply
..."
-Wallace Stevens
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word devoicing
English speakers devoice word-final obstruents all the time. Just listen carefully the next time someone says 'kid' or 'cab'
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pirates
American 'r' is problematic for almost everyone (being unique or at any rate extremely rare in world phonology). It's just that, say, French and German speakers replace it with their 'r', which sounds to our ears more r-like than, say, the Japanese 'r'.
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word morue fraîche
ha!
cuisine is where people are at their most hypocritical and narrow, or their most open-minded
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word salt cod
cf. bacalhau (in whose paradigm there exists the well-braised eyeball on toast)
September 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bro grabs
copyright Brad Neely
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word churva
also Hurva
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pharisee
cf. Perushim
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word red-winged blackbird
it's hard not to love a tiny thing yelling like it's king of the world
that's why we keep the cat
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cimbalom
the Gypsy Devils made it down here; Oz isn't such a far-fetched possibility (this is their fat man, considerably subdued for the photo)
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word lingnan school
it's a real pity that only such small details from Li are available online; the larger stuff is really arresting--especially bird portraits. Lingnan painters seem to be in love with birds.
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cimbalom
have you ever seen a fat, mad gypsy magician work the cimbalom a hundred miles an hour?
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sarod
most recently shredded by long-haired playboy Anupam Shobhakar.
I'm becoming increasingly convinced that old-fashioned virtuososo are the ones who give a real freakout, Dio be damned.
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bull fiddle
double bass, a.k.a. doghouse bass
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word eat me
linking up to the audacity of dope, an excerpt from this article:
"So, if Gov. Mitt Romney ever wins the White House and gives a speech to a joint session of Congress, and an unknown Democratic congresswoman shouts 'Eat me!' from the back row, the only acceptable Republican response is: 'God bless America and our beautiful First Amendment.'"
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word refined
"...
they speak whatever's on their mind
they do whatever's in their pants
the boys i mean are not refined
they shake the mountains when they dance"
e.e. cummings
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word red-winged blackbird
though tiny, these territorial punks proclaim their right at top volume given the slightest opportunity.
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word carp
there are such multitudes of carp in Hong Kong's various ponds and gardens that they teach one the unique pleasure of watching the serene yet vivid piscine ballet.
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word lingnan school
a 20th century school of Chinese nature painting that plays with Western techniques and concepts in order to view archetypal subjects with a different eye.
some details from paintings by Li Fuhong, a fairly recent Lingnan master here, here and here.
some pieces by older master Gao Jianfu here, Ju Chao here and Chen Shu Ren here
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word great art
I can't believe it wasn't listed!
Besides the fabulous classical landscape paintings at the museum of art, I caught two really eye-opening exhibits from the Lingnan School
September 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tamilok
it's one of my goals in life to become hardcore enough to eat that sort of thing with relish.
ETA: it's a clam. can do!
September 15, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pissoirée
a golden shower party, pardon the image
September 15, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cumber
how it minces! there should be a "Mincing words" list
September 15, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ass-muffin
what my friend called the gluteal endowment of figure skaters
September 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word socionics
sounds like an eerie cousin of dianetics
September 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word burnt toast and a slab of old cheddar
I'm with the bear on this one. tried the combo with a lightly sweetened herbal and it's fabulous
September 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hangover soup
yes!
"watch out, bro--I've got some hangover soup on the way"
September 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word burqini
while burqini is far the catchier option, hajibni would be more accurate.
also, WHA?!
also, you could totally sell this in Korea (maybe with an additional face-mask)
September 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word caseus
the great-grandfather of cheese
September 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word raptors and islets
a ferry ride through the tiny archipelago off Sai Kung, the western fishing town, shows the archetypal, ideally beautiful Chinese landscape: mists dividing each island into a distinct groove of faded dream blue. but the sky is flecked not with the graceful silhouettes of long-legged birds, but thick, jagged black outlines of swooping raptors.
(if you'll excuse my purpleness)
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word lamenty
a re-reading of the awful and ubiquitous Vita LEMON TEA. there's no excuse for Lamenty in a land where real lemons are so cheap.
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word colonial whiteness
there are sections of Hong Kong still inhabited largely by aristocratic (or rich) Westerners--cozy, dozy, expensive beachside outskirts.
it was my first experience with vestigial colonialism, and the air was thick with it. the mere restaurant names felt (coming out of the clatter of Hong Kong streets) appalling and surreal--"Fish&Chips"; "Burger Shack"; "Steaks--Curries--Asian Dishes".
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the travails of interspecies love
a female Golden Pheasant decided to ditch her mate and make eyes at the distinctly mauvais sujet Lady Amherst's Pheasant next door, leading to altercations between her male and the aforesaid every five minutes, no less the violent for the wire netting between them.
a small slice of the problems of breeding in captivity.
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fancy pigeons
the public aviaries in HK feature many different species of exotic pigeon, including the handsome white one with blue eye-bands, and the big slow one with what looks like a miniature peacock's tail on its head.
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word a nap with allah
Jamia Mosque in Kowloon Park intro shot--a sign: SLEEPING IN THE PRAYER HALL STRICTLY PROHIBITED
Cut to inside prayer hall, wide angle: half a dozen guys snoring away on the floor
ha!
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the user bilby
I assure you I was thinking of Wordie (and -ites) during my international romp
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word squatting laws
apparently it is a finable offense to squat while waiting for the metro in Hong Kong (and god knows where else).
it's a sick, sad world.
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word peri
how interesting--a technical term for 'fallen angel'
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the list prayerware--2
stylish Christian shirt line belongs to the Oddery
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hangover soup
a.k.a. 'he jang guk', 'blood pudding soup'. the steaming, spicy, organ-laden lifeblood of early-morning taxi drivers.
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word yakshaving
such a glorious word merits a thick Chairman accent--yaks-haffink
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word utter delphic failure
in conclusion, Jeju should never host an international event again.
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word lemurs
frankly, they should've shaved some for the sake of visual interest.
what's a Christmas word?
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word neutered thai
see bie for bilby's thai-related punnery
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word baleful deities
the Daoist temple experience is so different from anything I've seen yet. a dim, brassy, cluttered, incredibly potent space; oodles of gods in every niche staring grotesquely from behind the flames and incense smoke, not caring a whit that it's a full 37 degrees in there, with little room to breathe besides.
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word neutered thai
it's awfully hard to get a green curry that'll punch or even pinch you in the face in HK. all the ones we tried were more like coconut soup :(
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fearless tanning
a year in Korea conditioned me so extensively to the sight of fully armoured sun protection that in HK, I was gaping at people--in the summer sun--bare-headed--no sleeves--shirtless--brown! more the wonder, wearing swimwear on the beach
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sweat moustache
AND beard!
summer in Hong Kong is so fearsome that it was refreshing to get into an ocean with 28 degree water! Seoul felt positively brisk afterwards.
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word steaming offal-pots
a lot of noodle-houses have all their offal braising together in the front window on a big fat barrel-like object, getting browner and more sizzling as the day goes on. I believe the contiguous method promotes a richer flavour; certainly the best tendon I've ever had was in just such a place.
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word lemurs
there were about 5 cages of ringed lemurs variously dispersed through Hong Kong's zoological park. perhaps they were on sale this summer.
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sex - very cheap
thus ran the signs on the tiny stalls, but within, mere implements.
I guess that's correct technically, but I felt cheated.
side note: why were they in front of the temple?
September 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ralph
hee!
August 25, 2009
madmouth commented on the word vagina
the ugliness is really the ugliness of what modern English pronunciation does to the simple sound system of Latin. say it in a Spanish accent--instantly prettier
there's no shame, bilbers; WeirdNet is on your side. your uncle probably had some kind of tube lined with epithelial cells, right?
August 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ralph
better even than 'fanny' as a common word. there's an obscene pleasure in piling such a meaning onto an innocent name.
"watch out, man! I'm gonna ralph"
August 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word soft-boiled lady huevos
the ones inside a shirt
August 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word schtroumpf
is this French attempting a German accent?
August 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word smoper
I don't know about the Korean-language TV show, but "Smoper"--the restaurant chain--proudly bears a Smurf as its mascot (photo pending).
August 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 心
heart
August 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the list people-commonly-known-by-their-first-names
whoa. is he strictly an American phenomenon, then?
August 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word vagina
on a separate note, why is this word on so many hate lists?
August 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word issur danielovitch
later Kirk Douglas. Actually, this is more glamorous than "Kirk Douglas"; I'm listing it for the shock of the discrepancy.
August 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word margarita carmen cansino
later Rita Hayworth
August 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word marion robert morrison
later John Wayne
August 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word frances ethel gumm
later Judy Garland
August 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word archibald alec leach
later Cary Grant
August 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word myra ellen amos
later Tori
August 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word betty joan perske
later Lauren Bacall
August 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the list the-gashlycrumb-tines
not to mention that deadly fork
August 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word my two favourite things are commitment and changing myself
copyright Futurama
August 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word shoreditch
what's intriguing is whether it could possibly be as dreary as it sounds
August 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word striped-pants cookie pusher
I love it
August 15, 2009
madmouth commented on the word he'll love your frozen feet
at first I read "he'll love your frozen feast"; quite another image
August 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chamillion
Chamillionnaire's ever so witty reply to allegations he had been ripping off some other rapper's video concept:
"That's why they call me Chamillionnaire. You know, like chamillion."
August 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the list slam-fodder
happy is the soul grown up never having heard of such a thing is all I can say
August 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word final napoleonic flourish
re: circlet of bay leaves around a platter of pork slices
August 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word colloidal
stacked suffixes of the same grammatical category make madmouth's blood boil
August 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word breadbasket
well, WeirdNet corroborates your ravings, so there goes another lascivious metaphor
August 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word momonga
I bet there's some larger mammal that loves tearing this guys up for lunch, like chimps and bush babies.
August 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word breadbasket
in the breadbasket, eh? this is one for the penis lists
also, gruesome news
August 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word momonga
ACK, I choke on the cute
August 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word oxyrhynchus
paging X lists
August 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word philoxenia
cf. xenophilia
August 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word panini
the plural form being identical in Italian and Croatian, the singular is bastardized to 'panin' (which entered Croatian vocab--I warrant, due to the proximity of the countries--earlier, hence means what it does in the Italian--'roll').
August 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word toilet buddies
if he did his business right, I think I wouldn't mind my kid going around calling himself PANTSU MAN
August 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word toilet buddies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wtm7RfUv24
Toilet-training with Shimajiro. All you need is a superhero!
August 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sawfly
your plum pudding sawfly nice, Marilla
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word baldmot
you're up on this stuff!
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fix sick is turtle river
intended: a turtle liver can heal the sick (after a folk tale)
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sea is in the ball
intended: "The ball fell into the sea"
but this way it's so much fuller with zen nothingness
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word baldmot
open to guesses
hint: an important character in an extremely popular contemporary series of novels
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 임
could be a very deflating experience
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word burnt honey
*kicking self*
hindsight is 20/20
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word kimset
it's really funny because 'set' means 3 in Korean. ho ho HO
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 현
hjɔn, grandpa 한's Bajoran cousin.
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 좌
tɕwa, definitely of the funkier variety, with the common transliteration Jwa (Swahili-esque, one might say)
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 임
im. depending on the font, distressed or bulging with enthusiasm.
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word �?
hoŋ. Sounds and looks rotund and bouncy; moreover, I know a family of rotund, bouncy Hongs.
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 문
mun, often transliterated as Moon, which is interesting as the default Korean accent does not make "moon" sound like 문.
I've been fighting with these little mysteries for a long time.
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 윤
jun, a lascivious angel or tot upright on a toboggan
August 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word backdoor man
I imagine it's used like that in many other Anglophone communities; an obvious metaphor in these times
I'm listening to the Duke these days, and the great Ethel Waters:
"ever since time began
a front-door woman's had a backdoor man"
August 11, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fold severally
I was being creative :P
it is multiply
August 11, 2009
madmouth commented on the word a turning
is it a verb or a noun?
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sino-xenic
Chinese characters incorporated into a non-Chinese language (e.g. Korean, Vietnamese), with new pronunciations and arrangements.
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word flushyouhussy
a perfectly sensible phrase that sounds ambiguously obscene all smushed together (in, say, a URL)
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 미국
only in the home of the brave! they've got those other robots licked
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word �?�몸
poor King Sejong is turning in his grave
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word male enhancement
you're turning my crank alright!
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word male enhancement
the new umbrella term for all that "Give her MORE with pen1s enlargement!!!" spam
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 미국
Korean. 'mi-guk', lit. "beauty-land", meaning "America".
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word �?�몸
look, ma--no hands!
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word eierkopf
egghead was directly translated from the German
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word �?�몸
Korean. 'i-mom', lit. "tooth-body", meaning "gums". the image search doesn't give me anything resembling gums, so this may be part of Jeju vocabulary rather than standard Korean.
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 물고기
Korean. 'mul-gogi', lit. "water-meat", meaning "fish" (as meat)
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 水玉
Japanese. 'mizu-tama', lit. "water-ball", meaning "droplet", "dew drop" or "polka dot"
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word akira rabelais
an actual person! he's an avant-garde composer, of course.
one wants to make a "Coolest Names Ever" list but it would be like subjecting one's friends to prattle about what to name the kids
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 한
han. this is most national of syllables, being the 'Han' in 'Han Guk' (Korea), and looks like a cubist portrait of the archetypal Korean grandpa, with his bristly brows and his grim smile. the effect is heightened in the calligraphy style which makes the circle and the horizontal line of ㅎ touch.
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word �?�
yes, but isn't lexical prudishness a more exciting account?
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word temple violation
there is an annual 'festival' held at the central city temple, which concludes with a 'musical performance'. this year it featured--among other truly inappropriate acts--a diabolical 80s wash-up outfitted like Hedwig doing Magica DeSpell, whose backing vocals sounded (due to amp issues or something) like an emergence from the abyss.
Buddha statues have that subtle facial expression that can shift according to circumstance. and indeed, the giant Jijeng Bosal, who had the misfortune of having the stage set up next to him, went through a range of emotions that night, including "heaven give me patience" (the chanteuse belting out Fly Me to the Moon as if it were a Celine Dion ballad), "zzzz" (tepid hegum and bass guitar duo making Arirang even more boring than it is), "are you kidding?!" (the karaoke monk subsumed beneath dry ice) and "ahh...silence".
modern religion is bewildering.
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word kurwa
you mean 'whore' doesn't strike you as much as 'kurwa'?
ETA: I can see this peppering Polish the way "twat" does British English
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word white pelican
somebody put a flamethrower on him!
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word camel chicken
by the end of this month, madmouth will be in Hong Kong consuming considerable quantities of camel chicken
/irrelevant
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word extria dessert gum
its wrapping, to boot, that shade of feminine health product pink.
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word timbits
they go down like peanuts. dangerous stuff
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word a turning
first bimbos, then lolcats
what horrors await us?
August 10, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fille de joie
prostitution != sexuality. Cultural attitudes towards one do not necessairly predicate the other.
August 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the word kurwa
unless I'm sorely mistaken, it's the Polish 'whore'.
August 8, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 김
kim, the clan that is remembered in the form of 18,925,949 citizens today. Also means 'crunchy, seasoned, roasted seaweed' (is English bereft of seaweed specificity or what?)
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 정
tɕɔŋ. in reality a mess of IPA symbols, we know it as Jong, as in Kim Jong-Il.
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 나
na. for Slavs whose surname has been butchered continually since landing on foreign soil, one like this is something to covet.
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 신
ʃin, often transliterated 'sin'. It accounts for this happy camper
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 엄
ɔm. Like many surname syllables, it looks like a face, in this case a guy who's been on the computer all night.
The square at the bottom resembling a mouth is not at all a coincidence; the Han Gŭl square representing the 'm' sound derives from the Chinese character for 'mouth' (�?�).
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cover your vowels pleae, we're korean!
this isn't as nutty as it sounds. in the Korean alphabet, each syllable which begins with a vowel is given an 'empty' consonant (ㅇ), which retains the LOOK of a consonant-vowel structure even when there is no consonant pronounced. my friends tell me the transliterations "Woo" and "Lee" for 'u' and 'i' follow that pattern.
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word �?�
i, usually transliterated 'Lee', which causes no end of trouble, though I've recently been told that the "l" is tacked on because Koreans hate to see a naked vowel.
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 강
kaŋ. Also means 'river' (I'm not sure that the Chinese characters are the same).
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 조
tɕo
usu. transliterated 'cho' (as in Margaret Cho)
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 양
jaŋ
see 부 for further info
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 고
ko
see 부 for more info
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word 부
pu
this is one of the three ancestral surnames of Jeju (belonging to the three progenitors who sprang from the earth in what is now a museum site so cordoned off that the three mythic holes are not visible); the others are 고 and 양
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word lashings
Wodehouse
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word good faith
eucharist, I believe.
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sea cockroach
I hope I'm not the only loser who still doesn't get it :(
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bitchard
hmm. if I were to make a checklist of least amusing eructation tropes, compulsive bracketing would be pretty high up there.
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word basking shark
well, it's high time someone does SOMETHING. I vote hoover shark
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word basking shark
a triumph of euphemism. THIS is what basking looks like
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ca ong
'whale shark' in Vietnamese; an honorific
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tiger bee fly
stick with the kid
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the list specific-excrement
mixen, I think
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bitchard
would it not do better to spend one's choler by entering Wordie members as divers unpleasantries on UD itself? it seems a well-established tradition, and so much nicer for Wordie comment pages
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word no! no!
I'm loving "butane crotchtorch"
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word lashings
Tuppy Glossop on Anatole's steak-and-kidney pie:
"Not too much kidney, just enough to give it that bite, and lashings of steak" *lustful gleam*
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word white turtle
if ever a man was punished for his sins by an awkward animal transformation...
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word possessed by god
check
August 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the list shadowtailed-riverhorse
etymology riddles. for example, the word 'hippopotamus' comes from the Greek, meaning literally "river horse". the literal meaning is what we put into the word list, and the real word must be guessed in the comments.
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the jam
the new 'the bomb'
I'm not sure how I feel about it
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word skipjack
one of the nicknames for the click beetle
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word false ringlet
Coenonympha oedippus
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mourning cloak
a.k.a. Camberwell beauty
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word great mormon
a huge black butterfly, genus name Papilio memnon
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word golden silk orb-weaver
the most common type of Jeju spider. these guys weave enormous and tremendously strong webs (the island being famously windy), sometimes two feet in diameter.
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word barocco
It. 'imperfect pearl' (see baroque and imperfect pearl)
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word imperfect pearl
it's always nice to come across a single word you'd need lots of words to translate to English
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word superglued penis
wouldn't divorce have hurt him more? these mad Lorenas, I swear
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word syrphid
a.k.a. hoverfly
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bee's glue
any entry from "It has a name?!" is too obscure for an etymology game, I rather think.
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word celia
in the song they abbreviate it to 'Celia', actually
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word clothes bag
tis so, tis so
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word little sheath
bang on
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word to breathe together
having such roots, one could see the word having developed into many alternate meanings (e.g. to become lovers)
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word one with overlapping teeth
not a mammal
August 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word eyelid staining powder
actually, I often find a fine sprinkling of eye shadow on my eye whites even during the most careful maquillage.
it's great fun, if males are present, to wipe it off manually without flinching. the cringing and general sissy horror thereby evinced can make one's day.
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word celia
shaking my confidence DAILY
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word nazar
oh, no doubt--but "Filmi Womanhood" is based on Hindi & Urdu cinema.
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word jerusalem cricket
*displeased grumbling as the hotshot walks by*
"Oh sure, we could all win if the Lord was with us!"
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tiger bee fly
xenox tigrinus
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the list welcome-to-the-oddery
I don't know if it quite qualifies, but I had to share Caring For Your Fruit Fly Ranch with someone 0.0
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sea pig
in which sense?
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word milf
there's also the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Philippine guerilla group
I find the currency of the term MILF (in the standard porn-category sense), among other things, tremendously ironic. Isn't the sexual distinction between nubile young 'unmarried girls' and ho-hum mothers something societies make BEFORE they discover feminism?
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wogball
finally, an explanation for Alberto Fujimori.
I had wondered about him for a long time
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word nikkei
members of the Japanese diaspora, the largest center of which is Brazil
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word nazar
'glance' or 'eye'
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word little sword
check!
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bitchard
a very drunk homeless man who hates his best friend and can't stop thinking about anal sex
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word godparent relative
wow!
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word holy flatfish
halibut
sadly, I was grasping for some clues to sionnach's 'sea cockroach' when I looked this up.
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wild ass
✔
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fig show
inspection reveals 'sycophant' to be the thing indeed. you are on fire!
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the list shadowtailed-riverhorse
fbharjo was the inspiration--squirrelled
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the eye of the day
a cookie and some internet fame for sionnach
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sea pig
it does fit, but my German's too crappy to have had it in mind. the lady's right
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word apple-gourd
✔
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word suckling
it's an abstract noun; the root of 'lecher' is 'lick', apparently
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word gaming die
✔
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tooth of a lion
indeed (cf. the French pissenlit)
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word belt nose
'pince' is 'pinch'.
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word eyelid staining powder
the root of 'mascara' is 'mask'.
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the eye of the day
this is an object in nature, extremely common. the word itself makes it obvious
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hairy cat
✔
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word little mouse
✔
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word little sheath
no, vagina is simply 'sheath' (sheath with teeth :< )
the word I'm thinking of looks similar but means something very different.
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word handiwork
no. this is a specific, well-known procedure.
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sea cockroach
so far, not 'lobster', 'prawn', 'shrimp', 'crab' or 'crustacean'.
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word little sword
that would be more like 'little broadsword'.
this is a...I don't want to give it away. NOT a man-made object, at any rate
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wild ass
apparently this also fits, though I was thinking of a better-known animal
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word clothes bag
no. it's a place more than an object
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word testicle
yes and yes.
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word turban
yep. good stuff!
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spear leek
✔
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word apple-gourd
it's not a vegetable
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word time ghost
this is the place to put your guesses, you're right.
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word water of life
it doesn't appear to be 'blood', 'rain' (and variations thereon) or 'tears'. hmm
ETA: d'oh.
August 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spear leek
think smaller, less exotic
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the list ard-enough
huckle for some and dingle for others?
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word apple-gourd
no, but you're on the right track
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the eye of the day
maybe one day we'll all have the mad skillz to play Indonesian etymology games, bilbers.
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wogball
oh, I don't doubt it. it's just hard to conjure the same sort of deli and soccer cafe vision in Australia that one sees in the rest of the West. one is so much more aware of the other populations.
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the list the-art-of-ejection
cat, the British archaism.
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the list ard-enough
gosh, what would the garnish be?
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word barnsley's at home
move over, aunt Flo
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tittery-whoppet
reMARKABLE
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bitchard
ah, yes. we can always count on UD for...that thing it does
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word huhu bug
a.k.a. huhu beetle
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sugarbush
see protea
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word testicle
two different plants have this in their etymology--through two different languages.
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the list ard-enough
update: it IS
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wogball
I didn't even know there was an Italian immigrant population in Australia! Wordie is Learndie
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word eugene
that photo makes him appear more dashing than usual. this is more everyday Levy
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word squirrelled
has the distinction of having no 'true' vowels in it, either; a real consonant soup (underneath the spelling)
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fred
did this custom extend to the bike shops in the rest of the city as well?
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word obraz
means 'cheek' in SBC, and lends itself to the adjective bezobrazan, whose root meaning is "without cheek" and the actual meaning "impudent" or "brazen". cf. the English what cheek! or cheeky; the opposite metaphor for the concept.
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word breakfastidious
low-fat milk is pretty close to low-fat mayonnaise in the general bracket of Inexplicable Phenomena
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word eugene
the point is, do you envision a nerd when you hear 'Eugene'?
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fred
the collective unconscious, I rather think. do you not, rolig, have character associations that spring to mind when you hear certain names?
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word women
Shaw is definitely not a misogynist; Higgins is the butt of Pygmalion.
I wouldn't say, all the same, that a statement like "Women upset everything" is indicative of misogyny.
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wogball
c_b, I think you're confusing wog and wop. wog is an anti-Asian (in the British sense, meaning East Indian immigrants) slur. the Mauritius extraction in the Australian origins of wogball fits the term, as Mauritius has a large Hindi population.
August 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bubba
he's frum the Saath; likely to weigh a great deal. Bill Hicks' white, glandular, creationist object of hate.
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word eugene
THE nerd of pop culture.
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word stefan
often portrayed as gay, if the stress is on the second syllable. reveals the pop perception of an association between homosexuality and-culture upper-class (often continental) pretensions.
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word kitty
stereotypically, older, flaky and somewhat infantile. an Aunt, very often. Dear Aunt Kitty, bless her.
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word biff
an American jock and (usually, by extension) an ethically as well as intellectually lacking sort of guy (with monosyllabic friends, e.g. Bud, Bruce, Jake)
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word augusta
a name (which sounds) originally male, forcibly converted to the feminine, denoting, for obvious reasons, a masculine, aristocratic woman. Honoria Glossop is an example of this pattern.
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word celia
The female schmo name of 18th century literature, often with an echo of disreputableness. For instance:
'Thus finishing his grand survey,
The swain disgusted slunk away,
Repeating in his amorous fits,
"Oh! Celia, Celia, Celia shits!"'
-from The Lady's Dressing-Room
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word akudjura
bush tomato is a fantastic phrase. it could be the colloquialism for so many things, dirty or decent.
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wallace
in pop culture, often a respectable black man (also Clarence and the like, in line with the concept of the slave name) or an unglamorous white fuddy-duddy
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ram
almost inevitably a policeman, in the Bollywood universe. he's righteous and up-standing, though not a leading man (cf. the actual mythic Ram, who was THE leading man)
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word edna
in pop culture, an old woman or one who seems much older than her age.
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sleuth
"Jane and I have been doing a bit of sleuthing" was a line from the Marple TV program...though of course they were investigating a real murder. "I'm sleuthing for my keys", say, is irksome indeed.
if you're not a filthy yod-dropper, this word represents a unique s-initial onset cluster in English, one that isn't str/l-, skr/l- or spr/l-
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word vote getter
sounds like one of Zamboni Palin's duller gems
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word acteon beetle
I thought spiders and bugs didn't get along...though perhaps a truce of sorts would arise when your pet found out he couldn't possibly eat the AB
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word spume
"The sea of spuming thought foists up again
The radiant bubble that she was. And then
A deep up-pouring from some saltier well
Within me, bursts its watery syllable."
-from Wallace Stevens' Le Monocle de Mon Oncle
August 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word scary ad bimbo
however, the scary ad bimbo on the Wordie main page is pretending to be a flash file instead of a picture :<
August 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word scary ad bimbo
much obliged!
August 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word silver-coated undies
hey guys--check out my outer space butt germs!
August 1, 2009
madmouth commented on the word juku
a.k.a. cram school. The Korean counterpart is hagwon (with permutations such as hagwon from hell)
July 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hagwon
also see juku
July 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word scary ad bimbo
the woman that keeps staring out the upper-right corner of the Wordie page is starting to give me chills.
July 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word imbrute
"At present, man applies to nature but half his force. He works on the world with his understanding alone. He lives in it, and masters it by a penny-wisdom; and he that works most in it, is but a half-man, and whilst his arms are strong and his digestion good, his mind is imbruted, and he is a selfish savage. "
-except from Ch. VII of Emerson's Nature (not a font of enlightenment so much as quaint phrasing)
July 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word café con piernas
hooteresque
July 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word white culture
if drinkable yoghurt's anything to go by, Korea has us all whited, man
July 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word long-legged warfare
herons and egrets get to scuffling
July 31, 2009
madmouth commented on the word douche-cock
interestingly, both roots of this compound were at one point completely decent.
though I'm not one for decency.
July 30, 2009
madmouth commented on the word white culture
all this "Obama hates whitey! Obama said that thing was stupid! Obama supports affirmative action! Obama's dad isn't a real American!" is so much beating around the bush; they've yet to launch the bomb that'll sink, irrevocably, their own ship.
one day these...people, for lack of a better word, will just come fully out and scream, "HUSSEIN, people! It's a n***** named HUSSEIN, for God's sake!"
THAT's the real party line.
July 30, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sphragis
the wiki photo could be worse, though. 0_0
July 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mozzers
I rest my case :>
July 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word blink rate
just think how many times you'd've blunk staring at a wall instead
July 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fix my chopper before i stomp your goofy ass!
for more information, consult broseph
July 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word vex
I append a more recent application, from Sean Paul's "Get Busy":
'Yo sexy ladies want par with us
In a the car with us
Them nah war with us
In a the club them want flex with us
To get next to us
Them nah vex with us'
July 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word blink rate
"Computer use dramatically reduces your blink rate..." (source).
huh
July 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word humbug
right. that's the only way. *sputtering rage*
July 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hes also gotten someone pregnent before and is too selfconfident and super self absorbed
we shall call it..."UD alert". taggage ho!
July 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word izbjeglica
while you're right about the root, in Yugo, we use 'izbjegnuti' to mean 'avoid' (as opposed to, say, 'pobjegnuti'--'escape'). it struck me particularly that it should be 'izbjeglica' and not 'pobjeglica', you know what I'm sayin?
July 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bubbies
"Bubby made a kishke
She made it nice and fat
Marty took one look at it and said,
'I can't eat that!'"
-from Waiting for Guffman
we've really sanitized the 18th century in our memories, even if there were decent counterparts to 'bubbies'.
July 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word extant
I thought that, these days, it's pretty domain-specific (referring to surviving artifacts within art or archaeology).
July 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bubbies
"The reverend lover with surprise
Peeps in her bubbies and her eyes,
And kisses both, and tries--and tries.
The evening in this hellish play,
Beside his guineas, thrown away,
Provoked the priest to that degree,
He swore, 'The fault is not in me.
Your damned close-stool so near my nose,
Your dirty smock, and stinking toes
Would make a Hercules as tame
As any beau that you can name.'"
-Lady Montagu, The Reasons that Induced Dr S to write a Poem called The Lady's Dressing Room. 1734
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pancit bijon
the Philippine cousin to the Korean japche; glass noodle stir-fry
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tagmosis
I give it zi/zing :>
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word izbjeglica
refugee, lit. "one who has avoided something"
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word baksuz
someone born under an ill star; schlimazel with more tragic overtones.
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hmelj
hops. now you can make consonant soup out of them!
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word rectal haberdasher
asshatter, no?
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word eastern comma
a.k.a. hop merchant
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hickory horned devil
the larva of the regal moth
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ladykiller
a.k.a. Don Juan, Casanova, Romeo, pimp, philanderer, Lothario, womanizer, libertine, skirt hound
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mantis religiosa
the genus name for the praying mantis. it shows the down-to-earth, humorous, imagistic nature of taxonomical terminology, which is often portrayed as abstruse and clinical.
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tagmosis
where is that "doesn't sound like a real word" list?
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pleasing fungus beetle
see here (as in, I'm not joking! this is its name)
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word whipscorpion
another name for the noble vinegarroon
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word acteon beetle
a contender for the largest insect on the planet. here it is on someone's hand (not for the weak of heart)
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word uighur
and ئۇيغۇر
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word radioactive phone chess
ie. 《♜�?☣》
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the user whichbe
get a load of this. there seem to be some odds and sods of appeal to a self-professed neologism junkie
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the list end-in-ot
I don't know how foreign you wanna make this. ot is the Korean suffix pertaining to clothing, and one of the traditional persimmon-dyed peasant garments is called garot (갈옷)
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fececious
an imaginary homophone matching 'facetious'
July 27, 2009
madmouth commented on the list unbilby
glibly, also (and possibly Ghibli)?
July 26, 2009
madmouth commented on the word motormouth
'madmouth' is just a nicer way of saying it ^^
July 26, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mozzers
he's pretty handsome as far as well-known Irish figures go (just count 'em...Wilde? Shaw!? Bob Geldof?!!).
July 26, 2009
madmouth commented on the word period
(n): any of several bodily processes by which substances go out of the body
WeirdNet is a great gender equalizer. In its radical sweep, women have attained foreskins and men periods.
July 26, 2009
madmouth commented on the word whaup
I would, but I don't think you're ready for this jelly
/shame
July 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word jawan
cf. jawani
July 24, 2009
madmouth commented on the word penis panic
among many notables, 'using magic to steal penises' is the phrase that really stands out in the wiki article.
July 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word whaup
see Gorey's Duke of Whaup
July 23, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sangers
how tremendously abstract-sounding
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word when tigers smoked
the Korean "once upon a time".
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sangers
can you have banger sangers?
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word i'm forming salt crystals!
NO NO NO; it's strictly around the collarbones!
the existence of swass et al. has compromised the -ass sufix severely.
sadly, it's just more salt on the other end. we've got to find a third party packing some cod or mackerel, maybe.
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sangwidges
in RP, it's distinctly pronounced 'sangwidges'. listen for it next time a really pompous BBC radio dramatist comes on.
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mozzers
art...so much better than artists.
these days I try not to hear the people whose work I admire talk or--god forbid--give opinions.
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fancyman
gigolo.
"So what do you make of Mrs. Fortescue's fancyman?"
"Definitely a suspect, I should say"
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ovipositor
Can be used as a weapon as well (see eurytoma wasp)
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word psyllid
a.k.a. jumping plant louse
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word shield bug
more commonly known as stinkbug
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tumbling flower beetle
a.k.a. Mordellidae
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word yod-dropping
I always envisioned the path straight from 'chooseday' to 'tooseday', actually. or is fusion one way of solving the Cj cluster and yod-dropping another?
July 22, 2009
madmouth commented on the word slappeur
I like the whole paradigm this one invokes--flappeur, dappeur, crappeur, red snappeur
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word nowhere better to go
take your pick--the school dance; 7-11; people's lawns
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word yod-dropping
the slow but inevitable process in English of 'oo' replacing 'you' sounds in words such as mature, Tuesday, during, etc. in some examples the yod has so totally dropped that their original form sounds bizarre (e.g. super); others feel totally wrong with the yod off (e.g. cupidity). cumin is a big fence-maker.
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mature
an odd instance of yod-dropping conveying higher class rather than low. consider 'Toosday' vs. 'Tyuusday' and the whole body of the same.
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mozzers
Steven Patrick, that is. I'm too rough and he's too delicate.
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word up the wazoo
there seems to be room to play around. didn't Cher once say, "Relationships are a pain in the wazoo"?
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bastards
'the immediate descendants of a person', eh?
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word well smuck
a commendation, after well smack.
"Well smuck, my friend. Couldn't've done it better myself"
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word torschlusspanik
"Already I am no longer looked at with lechery or love.
My daughters and sons have put me away with marbles and dolls,
Are gone from the house.
My husband and lovers are pleasant or somewhat polite
And night is night."
-excerpt from A Sunset of the City, Gwendolyn Brooks
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word lieder
"Would you like to hear a lieder?
You've but to ask me...to wed
I would, I would, I would
You've but to beg me...it
I would, I would, I would
"-Reducto
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the list false-friends--2
soba means 'buckwheat noodles' in Japanese; 'room' in SBC. tot is 'child' in English; a particularly delicious type of seaweed in Korean (see here)
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word friendsheep
Shak Rukh Khan would call it friendsheeps day. like this:
Exsqueeze me... (lecherous stare)
Happy Friendsheeps Day
(witnessed in the cinematic crapsplosion called Kuch Kuch Hota Hai)
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word jedra
in SBC, "sails" (the ones on a boat). in Korean, with the teensiest bit of schwa following 'd', the call with which one rounds up children.
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the list drop-a-deuce
intestinal peristalsis is the act as described on roughage. clinical!
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dank
a noun as well, in cruder circumstances
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word zee chairmans
taking 'zee germans' to the max
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ascii
my mind was blown when one day, the pronunciation was revealed to be 'asky'
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wonder sauna hot pants
it would be hard to shake the sense of being ensconced in multiple catheters.
July 21, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cloudy piss
a rap metaphor for drug addiction
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word i'm forming salt crystals!
this is what happens to sweaty-ass Europeans during the Korean rainy season (it hasn't rained more than twice, either...just steadily exuded thick winds of monstrous moisture). JESUS
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dhuibhshíthe
if we cut it down to dubshite, a new fictional music genre is born
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word doesn't know if it's arseholes or tuesday
I'd cite it but I've got Dance to the Music of Time in three-novel volumes; quite a bit of leafing. the character who says it is Howard Bagshaw, I believe--a drunken publisher.
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hangoveur
a sot, in other words
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the list may-or-may-not-be-specific-but-it-s-definitely-not-excrement
dhuibhshíthe. tee hee!
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fataluku
it would be 'hata ruku' in Japanese
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word polterwang
the occasion of the wrong pair of pants giving a woman a package. A gallery of polterwangs
a.k.a. ghost gonads
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bint
cf. beasel
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word kazoo
hard medicated toilet paper? o brave new world
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word reginald aylmer ranfurly plunkett-ernle-erle-drax
more commonly known as--*sigh*--Reginald Plunkett
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tartare de cheval
I'll take it! better than Balkan beetle
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word gay penguin flip-flop
Stranded at the drive-in
Branded a fool
What will they say
Monday at school?
July 20, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bronx mowgli
it's as if they named him to echo the rap-like z in Wentz. the layers of wigger irony keep on piling. is it so racist it falls over the other side into progressive?
July 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word million buttshire
Million Buttshire and beyond?
July 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word blood
it's a cliche to say it, but the sanitized steak in plastic wrap has separated the North American imagination from what meat is, from the gruesomeness of muscle. strangely, blood, when it's cooked, loses its scary aspect; it congeals into the form of a piece of liver.
July 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word let loose the mango plups of war!
shaving the dead...verbally
I too think Shakespeare would be intrigued by the culinary possibilities of 'mango plup'
July 19, 2009
madmouth commented on the word shaving the dead
listed as one of the favourite activities of the staff of Fitshaced magazine, a website once glorious and now ready--itself--for the shaving.
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word million buttshire
that's it. it's over. WORDIE CAN GET NO BETTER AFTER THIS
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word yon boy disnae ken if it's new year or new york
I raise you "doesn't know if it's arseholes or Tuesday" (courtesy of Anthony Powell)
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word let loose the mango plups of war!
I can see Shakespeare glaring at you now. "It's SLIP, churlface! Let SLIP!"
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cinnamon juice
hence the "unexpected" component of the list title. one of the desserts you sometimes get after barbecue is a cool, clear, sweet, distinctly cinnamony liquid (with a few pine nuts for garnish). it's drunk just like juice.
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word blood
this reminds me of kosher law, which is said to have arisen as a prohibition against the popular Egyptian dish of calf cooked in its mother's milk. it's ALL cultural; I've seen Koreans, who enjoy lots of live seafood--the highest mark of freshness being a fish, filleted, whose gills are still working when it's placed on the table--make a retching face at the notion of Portuguese salted cod eye on toast. the sense of the yuck is full of contradictions instilled by one's cultural environment. I mean, are cow muscles and cow blood so very different?
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word grig
you do not see the flameworthy (heh heh) possibilities of a "Gay as..." list?
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hot fish gravy
a thick, sputtering, garlicky chili paste-and-anchovy concoction, used as a dipping (or rather, smothering) sauce for fatty pork.
oh, fatty pork! this is verily Pork Island, and if it ain't fatty they don't want it NEAR the kitchen. apparently mainlanders don't like pork fatting up their clear soups; Jejunes welcome that glistening top layer.
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word blood
the soup LOOKS pretty innocuous, I think. if that 'blood pudding' caption wasn't there, it could easily be miso or something
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tartare de cheval
North American food prejudices become so appalling in the light of Pacific Rim voracity. to think horse, in our parts, was once reserved for dog food!
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word marmalade cat humiliation
here, one takes watermelons home from the store in strong plastic mesh with very large holes. a cat quickly develops a taste for auto-bondage, with occasional human assistance.
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sporing
I've never met a cat who could send such effusions of fur into the air at the slightest caress. tables are regularly bestrewn with her sheddings.
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word blood
found in award-winning hangover soup, along with some fuzzy-looking organ, the fuzz thereof being--as it turns out--a great conduit for dipping sauce
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bean flour
delicious in sweet and savoury applications
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word teeth
hard to gather material for, mostly. and it's shameful to have a second-best list. anyway, teeth lives on in the conversations lists; the definition will not go unnoticed.
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bosintang
also yang-yeong tang
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word gaesoju
appears to be a compound of the korean 'ke' ("dog") and 'soju' (most popular national liquor). I'll have to ask about this
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wanqueur
a stroke of genius
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the list manustupration
flick the bean is one I read somewhere, strictly feminine.
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the list beastly-adjectives
suillary
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word teeth
put it in Best of Weirdnet, already!
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the list fakeur
by all means. what are we here for if not to coin words with faux suffixes?
July 18, 2009
madmouth commented on the word glomerulus
the malphigian body SOUNDS really lofty and Platonic...
July 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word deep-fried fries
I'll have to try this thing, though you've gotta admit Google Images isn't doing it any favours.
as for deep-fried fries, I can vouch for their horkulence.
July 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word deep-fried fries
there's more than one!
the one I see around Jeju is more like a deep-fried Muppet haircut; the fries stick out in every direction from the center. it's also battered :/
July 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mossy face
and when you want to insult people with it, mossface
July 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word poseur
I totally took her advice
July 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bodacious leonas
see here
July 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word deep-fried fries
on a stick, no less. it's like a corn dog, with fries instead of the wiener.
see chip butty for further fry-related monstrosity
July 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fuzzy ice apes ahoy
ie. Europe
July 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cornice
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground--
The roof was scarcely visible--
The cornice--but a mound
-Emily Dickinson, from 27 ('Because I could not stop for Death')
July 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wold
The gods talk in the breath of the wold
They talk in the shaken pine,
And they fill the long reach of the old seashore
With dialogue divine;
And the poet who overhears
Some random word they say
Is the fated man of men
Whom the ages must obey
-Emerson, from "The Poet"
July 17, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fringed looper
a kind of moth
July 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pishogue
var. pishoge
July 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the original stairmaster
there's no decadence like modern gym equipment. pretending to lift things! pretending to walk! unthinkable
and then there's Wii--the pretending to houseclean game.
July 16, 2009
madmouth commented on the word crew
" 'A cockerel
Crew from a blossoming apple bough
Three hundred years before the Fall,
And never crew again till now,
And would not now but that he thought,
Chance being at one with Choice at last,
All that the brigand apple brought
And this foul world were dead at last.
..."
-Yeats, Solomon and the Witch
July 15, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cunning paper
yeah, only with four ears >_<
July 15, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cunning paper
Konglish for cheat sheet
July 15, 2009
madmouth commented on the word r-coloring
English also features l- and n-coloured vowels. of all the inappropriate orthographies...
My students exhibit a lot of phonologically confusing r-colouring. In Korean, r-like consonants are assigned to the beginning of the syllable and l-like ones to the end. So what in the world is causing them to infuse 'doll' and 'wall' with such heaps of r-ness?
July 15, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bower of bone
the body. An original Hopkins kenning
July 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hammer capris
after hammer pants
see here
July 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word saltimbanque
"travelling acrobat"
cool!
July 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bimbo
odd how words switch genders all of a sudden. anyone remember Betty Boop's boyfriend Bimbo?
July 14, 2009
madmouth commented on the word jobler
too many Latinate words that sound indistinguishable from each other on that site; I like this one for its brevity.
July 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hyena butter
I congratulate the article for bringing out the sinister possibilities of the word 'express'. I'll never look at it the same way again.
July 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the list not-edible
conversely, there's heavenly hash, which sounds inedible though it's delicious.
July 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hyena butter
eye of newt v. gourd full of hyena butter
July 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the thrill of the inedible
interesting.
I've only seen well-fed cats do this, out of what seems to be sheer transgressiveness, decadence even.
July 13, 2009
madmouth commented on the word grig
I've read gay as a grig, a derivation of "merry as a grig", presumably.
one wants a "gay as..." list but it's a Pandora's box.
July 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sqoat
don't squid and goat have vastly different cooking times?
July 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word baccy
"back in Nagasaki
where the fellers chew tobaccy
and the women wicky-wacky-woo"
-heard in Jeeves and Wooster 0.o
July 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the list upplucked
I believe you've coined a word here: plup. I find the phrase mango plup pregnant with possibility
July 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word k'seksu
see couscous.
July 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bouncy-bouncy
"All's fair in war and bouncy-bouncy"
-Harvey Birdman
July 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chef
I love the implication, in the definition "someone who cooks food", that there are lots of other things to cook.
the French literally means 'boss' (akin to 'chief'), which is how it's used in SBC (spelled šef).
I believe there is a similar aesthetic sensibility (and conceptual system) to the French and Japanese. in Japanese, the chef in the kitchen is also 'boss': taisho.
July 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the thrill of the inedible
WOW. did anyone happen to photograph the horkings?
that Boris has more than a touch of Caligula about him
July 12, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the thrill of the inedible
I've seen a lot of cats eat scraps of foil, wood, paper, etc. from the floor with a look of diabolical satisfaction.
July 11, 2009
madmouth commented on the word minx
"one day...
not ready yet, not ready yet
one day...
there's a little minx
should I ply her with drinks?
NO!"
-Paedogeddon
ETA: PAGING BEST OF WEIRDNET
July 11, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pukla tikva
lit. "the pumpkin burst", meaning "the truth is out". cf. puko film
July 11, 2009
madmouth commented on the word grande horizontale
courtesan or less pretty terminology for the same
July 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the word vegetable love
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow
July 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the word vegetal love
var. of vegetable love
July 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the word coprolite
"From the steps he shouted into the night.
'Coprolite! Faecal débris! Fossil of dung!'
A minute later he returned to the sitting-room."
(Powell, Books Do Furnish a Room)
July 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the word trompé
Used as a synonym for 'cuckold' in Dance to the Music of Time: "I wondered whether Jean trompé'd him with the gauchos, or whatever it was of the most tempting to ladies in that country" (p.97, Books Do Furnish a Room)
July 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the word gladiatorial sex life
courtesy of Anthony Powell
July 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the word cipherine
a diplomatic secretary, that sort of thing.
July 9, 2009
madmouth commented on the list kurdish
they make a certain narrative, these three.
July 8, 2009
madmouth commented on the word stimy
It's stymy (if the verb is what you mean; there may be a 'stimy' adjective I haven't heard of)
July 8, 2009
madmouth commented on the list take-me-to-your-whosit
Alaafin; Apostolic Majesty; Chanyu; Orangun; Sapa Inca
July 8, 2009
madmouth commented on the word infantilism
man, does that author not know about the rest of the Jackson family.
July 8, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mongolian barbecue
the oddest false antecedents; surely there are non-nomadic cultures available to invent a 5-foot iron grill? this is the popular name for teppanyaki, a Japanese cooking style.
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word byobu-e
the art on large, free standing folding screens (for example)
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word protein-packed booger snacks
of all the things to do with beans
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word tofu-kozo
a.k.a. tofu boy (though the literal Japanese translation is something like 'tofu-bearing child priest'), a humorous ghost carrying a tray of tofu that curses whoever eats it
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wooden fish bodhidharma
a.k.a. Mokugyo-Daruma. It may, like Iron Mouse, be an invention of Toriyama Sekien; it seems a bit kooky to have furnished actual horror stories and myths.
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word iron mouse
a.k.a. Tesso
It's likely this creature was invented by illustrator Toriyama Sekien, though we also see it (among other, better-known Japanese demons) in the work of sculptor Kaiyôdô (here), who seems pretty recent. There doesn't seem to be a lot of other info on the Iron Mouse, though, so Kaiyôdô may just be doing an homage to Toriyama.
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word njuggle
Shetland Isles creature, akin to the Kelpie
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word abumi-guchi
see Wiki page
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word burabura
lantern monster ("the one which never falls"), possibly the same as Bakechochin
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word buruburu
"the ghost of fear that lurks in graveyards and forests in the form of a shaking old man or woman, sometimes one-eyed"
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word perculate
mais oui. I, for one, would find it awfully dreary getting crunk without perculating.
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hannya
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dodomeki
a pickpocket's ghost, the "demon with a hundred eyes" (the coins she absorbs come out onto her skin)
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word biwa-bokuboku
a.k.a. biwa-yanagi and biwa-buruburu. Lute monster
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word striga
in other contexts strix, shtriga, and strzyga
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word douen
also duennes, unbaptized child ghosts. see here also
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word the soucouyant
T&T
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word mama dlo
a Trini demoness. From the French 'maman de l'eau'.
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word sawney bean
see here
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the list cryptozoology
Shunka Warakin is a pretty bad-ass name (here)
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word poontinger
another name for Wolpertinger
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word perculate
'perculate' (ie. dance) appeared in a few hip-hop songs and sort of replaced 'percolate' (strikingly evident in the UD entry), despite the fact it means something quite different (though the authors of the word may have wanted to invoke the percolation metaphor).
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word himawari
(�?�日葵) Japanese: "sunflower"
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hebaragi
(해바�?�기) Korean: "sunflower"
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word calabash monster
a.k.a. Hy�?tankoz�? (illustr.)
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word dude
feminine: dudine (see OE)
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word lafcadio hearn
a dude
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word nuppeppo
check the Wiki for a classical illustration. I've never seen a dead flesh chunk that cute!
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the list not-quite-as-awful-as-they-sound
groaty dick: an English (but of course) dish
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the list more-gruel
Chinese: congee
Korean: juk
Japanese: okayu
Tagalog: lugaw
Thai: moi (thin stuff) and chok (thick stuff)
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word burgoo
also spoon-meat; loblolly
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word powfag
"to tire bodily from overwork"
-WWftD
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word penetralia
cf. the Penetrata
July 7, 2009
madmouth commented on the word a snatching
"There has been a snatching of an umbrella"
-The Sopping Thursday
July 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the list letterrorists
where do the -ets and -ettes go?
July 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word akushon!
culture clash! Cockney Japanese sneezing sound
July 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the list global-sternutation-alert
ćiha! is the SBC version. the reply is 'ćiha maca, zdrava djeca' (cat sneezes, healthy children)
July 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word ya-te-veo
man-eating plant
July 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word vegetable lamb of tartary
surely the most beautiful phrase in the English language
other names: Jedua/Jeduah; the Sythian Lamb; the Borometz
July 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the list cryptozoology
yoo hoo
July 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word axlotl
indeed. the Wiki page says that British English takes 'axlotl' and American 'axolotl', but that sounds fishy somehow (pardon the pun).
July 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word wooper rooper
see axlotl
July 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bioluminescence
what it comes down to is being inhabited by glowing intestine bacteria.
certain life-forms (like a species of krill in the very deep ocean) can squirt bioluminescent goo to distract predators; a real-life superpower.
July 6, 2009
madmouth commented on the word slang
what tripe!
July 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word revamping the nude
evidence
"nude" has somehow come to mean "inside out" in Korea. most kim bap rolls have seaweed on the outside; those with seaweed on the inside and rice on the outside are called "nude kimbap". Crunky Balls are covered with chocolate and filled with rice crispy objects; Nude Crunky Balls the reverse.
July 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word bee ball
the Fresh Prince theme song just became a lot better
July 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fuppie
coincidentally, fupa is a term some circles use colloquially to refer to the vagina.
July 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word odometeor
the actual birthplace of our favourite Changeling
/nerd
July 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word poussin
a small, very young chicken (something like a Cornish game hen).
July 4, 2009
madmouth commented on the word boribbang
Korean. lit. "barley bread", though this is deceiving, as boribbang is definitely a confection item. as far as I can tell, bread is a sort of cake in the Korean thought process and manner of eating. the Western-style breads in bakeries, with the exception of the baguette, all contain higher amounts of sugar than their counterparts in the West. also, bread is not eaten as a staple but on its own, between meals, shared with company. children often say, "my favourite food is bread" (and I have NEVER heard a child say, "my favourite food is rice"), which marks it as a special category.
/tome
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word �?upavci
SBC. the root is '�?up'--'tuft', so these are 'tufties', squares of sponge dipped in chocolate, dredged in coconut flakes. apparently there is an Australian cake of this description with a different name.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the list a-crumb-of-comfort
much obliged!
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word šipak, kume
"šipak" is literally "rosehip", but for some reason its colloquial meaning is 'zilch' or 'no way'; "kum" is "godfather". this phrase--"rosehips, godfather!"--means 'nothing doing' or 'nothing came out of it'. it's extremely common, at least in Bosnia.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the list a-crumb-of-comfort
oh yeah!
perhaps the southerners just play fast and loose with etymology; my mother's kola�? is square about 90% of the time.
is there a cake list? �?upavci--'tufties' or 'fuzzcakes'--ought to have a place to go.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the list a-crumb-of-comfort
in SBC, at least, 'kola�?' is completely unspecific (just like 'cake'). you can see how many different pictures you get for it on Google images.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word vagina dentata
its bizarre inverse image, the dental dam
what a pair!
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word whoop gobble
the self-identifying call of the genus Mangabey
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chimpanzee
spearin' bushbabies
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word fruitarian
closely coincides with the Jain diet.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word aphid farming
Ants corral aphids onto plant stems, guarding fiercely against unwelcome guests. The aphids glut themselves round the clock and the ants diligently 'harvest' their sugar-laden poop (called honeydew by creepy biologists).
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chichevache
see wiki page for sexist literary antecedents.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the list three-is-compoundy
oh! I totally misunderstood 'accidental' was the problem, yees
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word nazca booby
known for obligate siblicide (see wiki page).
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the list cruel-creatures
thanks for the suggestion. I think I shall list it under the more colourful "Legionnaire ant" which Wiki says is another name.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word killer whale
I saw it on the Planet Earth series or possibly Blue Planet (David Attenborough's mournful commentary, at any rate). I'll rifle through my files and try and get the exact episode.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chimpanzee
PR makes a tremendous amount of difference in both directions. them durn bonnet-wearing banana-chompers on TV inspired loads of loaded dimbulbs to get themselves a chimp, I bet, while leagues of parents would not under any circumstances allow for a pet rat in the house.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word eurytoma wasp
it pierces the larva of a gall wasp and lays its own egg within it, so that its larva feeds on the body of the gall wasp larva as well as the nutrients of the oak (or other) tree.
there are lot of instances (esp. among wasps) of eggs laid within other species' larvae, but this parasite-within-a-parasite situation is especially striking.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word chimpanzee
an interesting post-battle ritual for the victors: tearing apart an enemy baby and passing delicious chunks around.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word elephant seal
they keep harems, for one thing. the males gore each other something awful, and during a battle they often smother cubs without noticing.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word killer whale
there is footage of a couple of these playing tail volleyball with a half-dead sea lion cub for about half an hour.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word queen bee
devourer of grandchildren *shudder*
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word gall wasp
a.k.a. gallfly
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the list a-crumb-of-comfort
poga�?a is a fatty, chunky, layered Yugo bread.
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the list three-is-compoundy
'together' is a two-part compound according to OE
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word hijra
there's something transfixing in the phrase gay sex ban. it's just...*eye bulge*
July 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word offal hole
an exciting refurbishment of pie hole by Neil Gaiman
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word maul ratiocination
as long as students keep copping out and plunking whole paragraphs of text into an online translator, we'll get 'phrases' like these. I would like to make this the by-word for the practice, abbreviated to Maul Rat: "jesus, 5 students pulled a Maul Rat on the essay assignment".
for those who are curious, this arose from a recipe for spicy rice cakes (떡볶�?�); the original sentence is maul ratiocination eggs life.
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word pelootheran
see peloothered
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word anchored in sot's bay
I'm thinking this and perennial client of the malt shop of destiny need to elope and make a list of their own. Drunken Travels?
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the list i-murdered-i-you-say
I wonder how many of the world's languages hold the dead drunk analogy.
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word woggler
from woggled, courtesy of the Drunktionary.
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the list vive-la-france
more on cat whipping, though unclear in this case whether French has anything to do with it.
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word catsood
drunk (see here)
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word covert fat
a culinary principle. the fat content of food is hidden in strange emulsions (e.g. the creature called 'salad dressing'; 'breaded' meat mixture), rather than openly displayed, ie. drizzled onto things and sticking an inch out of the side of a pork chop (overt fat).
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the list i-murdered-i-you-say
such a fixture of the humorist lower classes in the AG world. untranslatable!
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word herbivore men
man, that's a loaded phrase.
why did we let go of dandy, anyway?
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word khat
agreed. we need 'kh' for /x/ (as 'x' would be horribly misleading)
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the list rare-tongues
a language which nobody speaks (or writes) any longer (not something like Latin, which is very much alive in text form). if there still some non-native speakers of the language it's moribund.
the phenomenon does depress people tremendously, though I've always found it heartening that new dialects and creoles are being constantly created; these are the seeds of new languages. moreover, the stats are deceiving at face value, giving the impression of homology when that is not at all the case. for example, it is listed that 885 million people speak Mandarin, but within this, there are thousands and thousands of varieties, each reflecting specific group identity.
the emergence of orthography has done a lot of damage to the thousands of oral languages that were out there, but text does a lot to preserve languages as well. Old English--Old anything, for that matter--might be extinct by now.
in short, there's a lot to balance language extinction.
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the word river jerden
"But I felt ma time’s a-comin’,
And I know’d I’s dyin’ fast.
I seed the River Jerden
A-creepin’ muddy past— "
-Sylvester's Dying Bed Langston Hughes
July 2, 2009
madmouth commented on the user michaelchang
actually--M-W cites a "chiefly British" use of it as a transitive verb meaning roughly 'murder' (here). If we could get some British corroboration I'd like to restore it to the homicide list.
July 2, 2009
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