(n.) A form of routing in which the nodes of a network have no buffer to store packets in before they are moved on to their final predetermined destination. In normal routing situations, when multiple packets contend for a single outgoing channel, packets that are not buffered are dropped to avoid congestion. But in hot potato routing, each packet that is routed is constantly transferred until it reaches its final destination because the individual communication links can not support more than one packet at a time. The packet is bounced around like a "hot potato," sometimes moving further away from its destination because it has to keep moving through the network. This technique allows multiple packets to reach their destinations without being dropped. This is in contrast to "store and forward" routing where the network allows temporary storage at intermediate locations. Hot potato routing has applications in optical networks where messages made from light can not be stored in any medium.
Review of Wordbirds: An Irreverent Lexicon for the 21st Century. By Liesl Schillinger. Illustrations by Elizabeth Zechel. Simon & Schuster. 208 pp. $17.99
Caught up in mega-tasking, Liesl Schillinger suggests, we can take some satisfaction in putting names to the behaviors associated with the millennial mindset. In Wordbirds, she coins 200 new words (that first appeared on her Tumblr). Adorned with 150 illustrations of birds designed to generate "avian alphabetic synergy," her lexicon cleverly captures the new normal of the twenty-first century. Some of her neologisms, in fact, may well stand the test of time.
Abbreviated as SI, an individual or company that specializes in building complete computer systems by putting together components from different vendors. Unlike software developers, systems integrators typically do not produce any original code. Instead they enable a company to use off-the-shelf hardware and software packages to meet the company's computing needs.
ghost money noun money transferred in secret by a covert government agency
For more than a decade, the CIA — using suitcases, backpacks, even plastic bags — has made monthly cash payments to the offices of President Hamid Karzai. One Karzai aide called it ‘ghost money’ because ‘it came in secret, and it left in secret.’
Abbreviated as MSC the mobile switching center connects calls by switching the digital voice data packets from one network path to another (also called routing). The MSC also provides the information that is needed to support mobile service subscribers, such as user registration and authentication information.
In computer vision and pattern recognition, point set registration, also known as point matching, is the process of finding a spatial transformation that aligns two point sets. The purpose of finding such a transformation includes merging multiple incomplete data sets obtained by measuring the same entity from different angles or using different techniques, and mapping a new measurement to a known data set to identify features or to estimate its pose. A point set may be raw data from 3D scanning or an array of rangefinders. For use in image processing and feature-based image registration, a point set may be a set of features obtained by feature extraction from an image, for example by the SIFT algorithm. Point set registration is used in optical character recognition12 and aligning data from magnetic resonance imaging with computer aided tomography scans.34\
When did the word ‘coworker’ come into common parlance? Professor Walrus, Grand Curmudgeon of the Arctic, doesn’t like it! What sort of cow goes -orking, and what’s -orking? Someone who harvests Orks, and are there cow Orks?
n. A person, especially a pedestrian, who interacts with or engages the world mostly through a mobile phone. phone + flâneur
Example Citations:
Then again, even the most basic mobile phone camera can do something similar with the right light and shade. Indeed, Joel Sternfeld’s latest book echoes the Polaroid books of old in so far as it comprises his mobile phone shots of the shopping malls and consumers of Dubai. It is called iDubai and announces the coming of the phoneur — the photographer as flaneur, forever walking and shooting and, if he has time, daydreaming.
—Sean O‘Hagan, “The Polaroid revival,” The Guardian, April 5, 2010
The amount of floor or desk space required by a device. For example, a small-footprint computer is a computer whose dimensions (width and depth) are relatively small.
Footprint can also refer to the amount of disk space required by an application.
The phrase data center consolidation (also called "IT consolidation") refers to an organization's strategy to reduce IT assets by using more efficient technologies.
Some of the consolidation technologies used in U.S. data centers today include server virtualization, storage virtualization, replacing mainframes with smaller blade server systems, cloud computing, better capacity planning and automation tools.
Data center consolidation is a common consideration for organizations that plan to reduce the size of a single facility or merge one or more facilities in order to reduce overall operating costs and reduce IT footprint.
McCann Melbourne Made Up a Word to Sell a Print Dictionary New Campaign For Macquarie Birthed 'Phubbing' By: Shareen Pathak Published: October 07, 2013 http://adage.com/article/news/mccann-melbourne-made-a-word-sell-a-dictionary/244595/ Wikipedia had reference to 7 other citations. Not found in any of the slang dictionaries consulted (but not mccann ). Or is it Macquarie?
Black Hat SEO refers to the use of aggressive SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus only on search engines and not a human audience, and usually does not obey search engines rules.
ag-gag adjective informal relating to the legal limiting of investigations into farming practices Animal rights activists in the US have told the BBC that so-called 'ag-gag' laws could be copied in other countries including the UK. www.bbc.co.uk 13 April 2013
Organic SEO (search engine optimization) is the phrase used to describe processes to obtain a natural placement on organic search engine results pages (SERPs).
The team has dubbed the idea Higgsogenesis, after baryogenesis, the name of an early-universe process that has been proposed to create more baryons (particles including protons and neutrons) than antibaryons. “Higgsogenesis is an alternative,” says Tulin.
Attack of the vapers The growth of e-cigarettes, in which users breathe in a vapour of water and nicotine, has popularised the slang terms vaper for the person using the device and vaping for the process, as well as the verb vape. These have been known for several years among the users of various drugs and seem to have been created from vaporiser. One reason for their becoming more popular is that e-cigarette smokers are banding together, using vaper as a self-identifying term, to campaign against proposed EU rules that would ban most e-cigarettes currently on the market because their nicotine levels are too high.
Yucky stuff I’ve a job for somebody with the right qualifications: become a disgustologist. Valerie Curtis, the director of the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, describes herself by this word because she researches the scientific background to aversion and repugnance. Disgustologist and disgustology have appeared quite widely in the past couple of weeks because her book Don’t Look, Don’t Touch: The Science Behind Revulsion has just been published. This isn’t the first appearance of disgustology — the earliest example I’ve turned up is from The Economics of Hate by Samuel Cameron (2009) in which he lists it alongside other social science topics such as humiliation studies.
The leaves of the herb kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), a native of Southeast Asia in the coffee family, are used to relieve pain and improve mood as an opiate substitute and stimulant. The herb is also combined with cough syrup to make a popular beverage in Thailand called “4x100.” Because of its psychoactive properties, however, kratom is illegal in Thailand, Australia, Myanmar (Burma) and Malaysia. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration lists kratom as a “drug of concern” because of its abuse potential, stating it has no legitimate medical use. The state of Indiana has banned kratom consumption outright.
idiom humorous problems which are very trivial on a global scale, and which would only be perceived as problems by the very privileged
Have you ever heard someone complain about their ‘problems,’ only to think they were being completely ridiculous? Enter the archival Tumblr, White Whine, which culls together a sometimes hilarious, oft times ironic list of ‘first world problems.’
n. The strengthening of a person‘s belief in a false idea by presenting evidence against that idea.
http://www.wordspy.com/words/backfireeffect.asp A similar cognitive bias found in individuals is the backfire effect, in which individuals challenged with evidence contradictory to their beliefs tend to reject the evidence and instead become an even firmer supporter of their initial belief.3233 The phrase was first coined by Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler in a paper entitled "When Corrections Fail: The persistence of political misperceptions".34 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backfire_effect#Backfire_effect
From Dec 28th, 2012 through at least January 9th, 2013 Australia has faced its most severe heatwave in over 80 years, with a large portion of the nation recording high temperature reading above 40°C to 45°C or greater in some areas, a couple spots have also neared 50°C. This extreme heat has also resulted in a 'flash' drought across southern and central areas of the country and has sparked several massive wildfires due to periodic high winds.
In political philosophy, a throffer is a proposal (also called an interventionnote 1) that mixes an offer with a threat which will be carried out if the offer is not accepted. The term was first used in print by political philosopher Hillel Steiner, and while other writers followed, it has not been universally adopted. Though its threatening aspect need not be obvious, or even articulated at all, an overt example of a throffer is
Kill this man and receive £100; fail to kill him and I'll kill you.2
(snip)
The term throffer is a portmanteau of threat and offer.3 It was first used by philosopher Hillel Steiner in a 1974–75 Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society article.4 Steiner had considered a dialogue from the 1972 film The Godfather: "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse". While the line seemed to be an amusing irony (because a threat is being made, not an offer), Steiner was unsatisfied that the difference between an offer and a threat was merely that one promises to confer a benefit and the other a penalty.5 He thus coined throffer to describe the "offer" in The Godfather.6 One prominent thinker who adopted the term was political scientist Michael Taylor,7 and his work on throffers has been frequently cited.689 It has not, however, been widely adopted; Michael R. Rhodes notes that there has been some controversy in the literature on whether to use throffer,10 citing a number of writers, including Lawrence A. Alexander,11 David Zimmerman12 and Daniel Lyons,13 who do not use the term.14 Further, somewho? writers, while electing to use the word, consider it a poor one. For instance, literary scholar Daniel Shore calls it "a somewhat unfortunate term", while using it in his analysis of John Milton's Paradise Regained.15
Game studies or gaming theory is an academic discipline that deals with the critical study of games. More specifically, it focuses on game design, players, and their role in society and culture. Game studies is an inter-disciplinary field with researchers and academics from a multitude of other areas such as computer science, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, arts and literature, media studies, communication, theology, and more.
Like other media disciplines, such as television studies and film studies, game studies often involves textual analysis and audience theory. Game studies tends to employ more diverse methodologies than these other branches, however, drawing from both social science and humanities approaches. (snip)
a. 1. Affected with ennui; weary in spirits; emotionally exhausted.
n. 1. One who is affected with ennui.
Upon my entrance, Usher rose from a sofa on which he had been lying at full length, and greeted me with a vivacious warmth which had much in it, I at first thought, of an overdone cordiality--of the constrained effort of the ennuye man of the world.
The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe, Edgar Allan
McAdam was a Scottish engineer who invented a process called "macadamization." After noting the poor condition of the highways near his estate, he recommended that roads be raised above the adjacent ground for good drainage and then covered, first with large stones then with small stones, and bound with fine gravel. It was perhaps the greatest advance in road construction since Roman times and became known as "tarmac," short for "tarmacadam." What was the first macadam road in North America?
In economics and consumer theory, a Giffen good is one which people paradoxically consume more of as the price rises, violating the law of demand. In normal situations, as the price of a good rises, the substitution effect causes consumers to purchase less of it and more of substitute goods. In the Giffen good situation, the income effect dominates, leading people to buy more of the good, even as its price rises.
What do they mean by dopant? Threatpost said that "Dopant is a material that is added to semiconductor material that enables it to be electrically conductive."
Instead of adding additional circuitry to the target design, the researchers inserted their hardware Trojans by changing "the dopant polarity of existing transistors."
That way, the modified circuit nonetheless appeared as legitimate on all wiring layers, including all metal and polysilicon. The team said that their family of Trojans was resistant to most detection techniques such as fine-grain optical inspection and checks against "golden chips."
The researchers tested their Trojan on Intel's random number generator design used in Ivy Bridge processors, as well as a Side-channel Trojan.
In deciding on this second case, they authors said that, after showing how their dopant Trojan could be used to compromise the security of a real world system, they turned to the second case study, where they wanted to emphasize the flexibility of the dopant Trojan. "Instead of modifying the logic behavior of a design, the dopant Trojan is used to establish a hidden side-channel to leak out secret keys."
What do they mean by dopant? Threatpost said that "Dopant is a material that is added to semiconductor material that enables it to be electrically conductive." Computerworld explains doping as a process for modifying the electrical properties of silicon by introducing impurities such as gallium an
One of the two primary types of touchscreen displays (along with resistive) employed on smartphones, tablets, laptops and similar electronic devices. The Apple iPhone is the most popular example of a capacitive touchscreen-based device.
Capacitive touch screens distinguish and sense specific touch location based on the electrical impulses in a human body, typically the fingertip. This enables capacitive touchscreens to not require any actual force to be applied to the screen’s surface; at the same time, capacitive screens typically don’t respond to styluses or gloved hands due to the lack of electrical impulses generated.
Capacitive touch gets its name from the electrical distortion that results in the screen’s capacitive field when impressed upon by body capacitance, or the physical property of the human body that enables it to act as an electrical capacitor, or conductor of electric charges.
widget Webster's word of the day. I have seen widget referred to and seen in print for years as the device (in a system using vacuum) once widely used in office buildings and factories to deliver messages between floors. In wide use today at drive - in banks to move paper instruments and cash from car to teller. Perhaps someone with better search skills can find a reference.
Auto-Brewery Syndrome ABSTRACT Gut Fermentation Syndrome also known as Auto-Brewery Syndrome is a relatively unknown phenomenon in modern medicine. Very few articles have been written on the syndrome and most of them are anecdotal. This article presents a case study of a 61 years old male with a well documented case of Gut Fermentation Syndrome verified with glucose and carbohydrate challenges. Stool cultures demonstrated the causative organism as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The patient was treated with antifungals and a low carbohydrate diet and the syndrome resolved. Helicobacter pylori was also found and could have been a possible confounding variable although the symptoms resolved post-treatment of the S. cerevisiae. http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=33912 My father (retired WO3 - may he RIP) knew of a Navy Chief diagnosed with this condition around 1955.
n. The process of becoming identified with or taken over by hipsters. Also: hipsterification.
—hipsterfy
Earliest Citation:
Forget gentrification; the inner Mission District has undergone far more hipsterfication — the inevitable result of a surfeit of moderate rents, thrift stores, dive bars, coffeehouses, bookstores, art galleries and avant-garde theater (and, lately, lots of anti-war protests and signs).
—Laura Compton, “It’s new and it’s retro, it’s cool and it’s hot; The Mission’s 16th Street corners the market on eclectic style,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 30, 2003
Kleptography is the study of stealing information securely and subliminally. Kleptography is a subfield of cryptography and cryptovirology, and is a natural extension of the theory of subliminal channels that was pioneered by Gus Simmons while at Sandia National Labs.123 Kleptography is also related to steganography.
Paraprosdokian A paraprosdokian (according to Wikipedia) is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. Some paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but they also play on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a form of syllepsis.
Our genetic code is translated by two super-families of modern-day enzymes. Carter's research team created and superimposed digital three-dimensional versions of the two super-families to see how their structures aligned. Carter found that all the enzymes have virtually identical cores that can be extracted to produce "molecular fossils" he calls Urzymes -- Ur meaning earliest or original. The other parts, he said, are variations that were introduced later, as evolution unfolded.
These two Urzymes are as close as scientists have gotten to the actual ancient enzymes that would have populated Earth billions of years ago.
First published in February 2004 | No, this is not about a new niche generation of youngsters born between March 12, 1988 and April 24, 1993; the C stands for CONTENT, and anyone with even a tiny amount of creative talent can (and probably will) be part of this not-so-exclusive trend.
So what is it all about? The GENERATION C phenomenon captures the an avalanche of consumer generated 'content' that is building on the Web, adding tera-peta bytes of new text, images, audio and video on an ongoing basis.
The two main drivers fuelling this trend? (1) The creative urges each consumer undeniably possesses. We're all artists, but until now we neither had the guts nor the means to go all out. (2) The manufacturers of content-creating tools, who relentlessly push us to unleash that creativity, using -- of course -- their ever cheaper, ever more powerful gadgets and gizmos. Instead of asking consumers to watch, to listen, to play, to passively consume, the race is on to get them to create, to produce, and to participate.
are similar to crepuscular rays, but seen opposite the sun in the sky. Anticrepuscular rays are near-parallel, but appear to converge at the antisolar point because of linear perspective.1 Anticrepuscular rays are most frequently visible near sunrise or sunset. Crepuscular rays are usually much brighter than anticrepuscular rays. This is because for crepuscular rays, seen on the same side of the sky as the sun, the atmospheric light scattering and making them visible is taking place at small angles (see Mie theory).
Although anticrepuscular rays appear to converge onto a point opposite the sun, the convergence is actually an illusion. The rays are in fact (almost) parallel, and the apparent convergence is to the vanishing point at infinity.2
"Eloy Rodriguez is an expert of ethnobotanical medicine (the benefits of natural plants to healing and disease prevention). He coined the concept and study of zoopharmacognosy, the process by which non-human animals (such as apes) self-medicate by selecting and using plants to treat and prevent disease."
Scientists discovered a new species of a peculiar cave-dwelling snail in one of the 20 deepest cave systems in the world, Lukina Jama-Trojama in Croatia. The newly discovered species belongs to a genus of minute air-breathing land snails that have lost visual orientation and are considered to be true eutroglobionts, or exclusive cave-dwellers. The study describing the new species was published in the open access journal Subterranean Biology
A roll cloud is a low, horizontal, tube-shaped, and relatively rare type of arcus cloud. They differ from shelf clouds by being completely detached from other cloud features. Roll clouds usually appear to be "rolling" about a horizontal axis. They are a solitary wave called a soliton, which is a wave that has a single crest and moves without changing speed or shape. One of the most famous frequent occurrences is the Morning Glory cloud in Queensland, Australia. One of the main causes of the Morning Glory cloud is the mesoscale circulation associated with sea breezes that develop over the Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf of Carpentaria. However, similar features can be created by downdrafts from thunderstorms and are not exclusively associated with coastal regions
Wrap advertising is the marketing practice of completely or partially covering (wrapping)1 a vehicle in an advertisement or livery. This result of this process is essentially a mobile billboard. Wrap advertising can be achieved by painting a vehicle's outer surface, but an increasingly ubiquitous practice in the 21st century involves the use of large vinyl sheets as "decals." The vinyl sheets can be removed with relative ease, thus drastically reducing the costs associated with changing advertisements. While vehicles with large, flat surfaces (such as buses and light-rail carriages) are often utilised due to ease, cars can also serve as hosts for wrap advertising, despite consisting of more curved surfaces.
Used by Melissa Harris-Perry on her show on MSNBC on Sept 8, 2013.
An academic sociological term used to mean study of race. Went to her blog and found no mention of the word. Ostensibly to be found in sociology texts. She is a Professor of Sociology. May well be a term of art within sociology. She displayed a definition as being an adjective, but was not quick enough to write the definition. Displayed on a screenshot with Racist adj with definition which of course differed.
So, like a Bacillus anthracis bacterium deprived of nutrients, We, Beasties is sporulating. It’s throwing out all non-essential functions and retreating into a dormant state, where it can live for centuries deprived of water and nutrients
STL (STereoLithography) is a file format native to the stereolithography CAD software created by 3D Systems. STL is also known as Standard Tessellation Language.1 This file format is supported by many other software packages; it is widely used for rapid prototyping and computer-aided manufacturing. STL files describe only the surface geometry of a three dimensional object without any representation of color, texture or other common CAD model attributes. The STL format specifies both ASCII and binary representations. Binary files are more common, since they are more compact
n. In an online article, a snippet of text deemed suitable for Twitter and so formatted as a special link that enables readers to easily post the text as a tweet.
============
I have seen this used in Emails urging some protest or advocacy.
Mobile device management (MDM) is a type of security software used by an IT department to monitor, manage and secure employee's mobile devices that are deployed across multiple mobile service providers and across multiple mobile operating systems being used in the organization. Mobile device management software is often combined with additional security services and tools to create a complete mobile device and security management solution.
The Gartner research firm defines mobile device management as "a range of products and services that enables organizations to deploy and support corporate applications to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, possibly for personal use — enforcing policies and maintaining the desired level of IT control across multiple platforms."
Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda (sodium carbonate). The natural mineral form is nahcolite. It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs. It is among the food additives encoded by European Union, identified by the initials E 500. Since it has long been known and is widely used, the salt has many related names such as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, and bicarbonate of soda. In colloquial usage, its name is shortened to sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, or simply bicarb. The word saleratus, from Latin sal æratus meaning aerated salt, was widely used in the 19th century for both sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate. The term has now fallen out of common usage.
pp. Watching a TV show while talking to other people about that program online.
—chatterboxer n.
Example Citations:
Chatterboxing is particularly popular during soaps — almost 40,000 tweets are made during an episode of EastEnders. Juicy storylines can see tweets hit 6,000 a minute.
—Robert Wright, “Why we’ll never get fed up watching the telly,” Sunday Post, August 7, 2013
Hemiplegia /he.mə.pliː.dʒiə/ is paralysis of the arm, leg, and trunk on the same side of the body. Hemiplegia is more severe than hemiparesis, wherein one half of the body has less marked weakness.1 Hemiplegia and Hemiparesis may be congenital, or they might be acquired conditions resulting from an illness, an injury, or a stroke.
A Puzzling Occupation: Will Shortz -- Enigmatologist
What's an enigmatologist? It's Will Shortz, puzzle editor of The New York Times since 1993. He's the only academically accredited one in the world, having designed his own major program at Indiana University, which in 1974 led to his one-of-a-kind degree in enigmatology.
a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world:
break free of your devices and go on a digital detox
A petition to the World Meteorological Organization to switch away from naming extreme storms after normal people, e.g., Katrina, Sandy, Andrew, and instead name them after climate change deniers like Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann and Marco Rubio.
Foreign content: For 10 years, a way to “diworsify” your booming Canada-focused portfolio; now, a refuge while Canada gets its stock market comeuppance.
—Rob Carrick, “The complete cynic's guide to investing,” The Globe and Mail, August 15, 2012
The dictionary's official definition of twerk is: "Dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance."
As example sentences, Oxford Dictionaries lists "Just wait till they catch their daughters twerking to this song" and "Twerk it girl, work it girl." The term originated in the 1990s, according to the new entry.
“There are many theories about the origin of this word, and since it arose in oral use, we may never know the answer for sure," Oxford Dictionaries' Katherine Connor Martin told the AP. "We think the most likely theory is that it is an alteration of work, because that word has a history of being used in similar ways, with dancers being encouraged to ‘work it.’ The ‘t’ could be a result of blending with another word such as twist or twitch."
Coccolithophores (also called coccolithophorids) are unicellular, eukaryotic phytoplankton (algae) belonging to the kingdom Protista or Chromista (according to the older Whittaker and newer Cavalier-Smith Biological Classification systems, respectively) phylum Haptophyta, class Coccolithophyceau, and the botanical division of haptophytes.2 They are distinguished by special calcium carbonate plates (or scales) of uncertain function called coccoliths, which are also important microfossils. Coccolithophores are almost exclusively marine and are found in large numbers throughout the euphotic zone of the ocean.
Carbon-Sequestering Ocean Plants May Cope With Climate Changes Over the Long Run
Aug. 26, 2013 — A year-long experiment on tiny ocean organisms called coccolithophores suggests that the single-celled algae may still be able to grow their calcified shells even as oceans grow warmer and more acidic in Earth's near future.
(Article goes on to say they are a major carbon sink)
Kansas State University entomologists have helped identify a neuropeptide named natalisin that regulates the sexual activity and reproductive ability of insects.
The team is the first to observe and name the neuropeptide, which is composed of short chains of amino acids in the brain of insects and arthropods. The finding may open new possibilities for environmentally friendly pest management, said Yoonseong Park, professor of entomology at Kansas State University.
Park and colleagues recently published their findings in the study, "Natalisin, a tachykinin-like signaling system, regulates sexual activity and fecundity in insects." It appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and was conducted by the Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea; the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Slovakia; Korea University in South Korea; and Kansas State University.
Natalisin is part of insects' and arthropods' peptidergic system—a genetic network that uses small peptides as neurotransmitters to chemically relay messages throughout the body.
"Natalisin is unique to insects and arthropods and has evolved with them," Park said. "It appears to be related to a neuropeptide called tachykinin that is in mammals and invertebrates. While tachykinin is involved with various biological processes, including the control of blood flow in mammals, natalisin is linked to reproductive function and mating behavior in insects and arthropods."
Fictitious entries, also known as fake entries, Mountweazels, ghost words1 and nihil articles, are deliberately incorrect entries or articles in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and directories. Entries in reference works normally originate from a reliable external source, but no such source exists for a fictitious entry. Copyright trap is a specific case where the motivation for the entry is to detect plagiarism or copyright infringement.
The neologism Mountweazel was coined by the magazine The New Yorker based on a fictitious entry for Lillian Virginia Mountweazel in the 1975 edition of the New Columbia Encyclopedia.2 Another term, German "Nihilartikel" ("nihil article"), combines the Latin words nihil ("nothing") and "articulus" ("article")
Cheung produced flat, cross-shaped composite pieces that were clipped into a cubic lattice of octahedral cells, a structure called a "cuboct"—which is similar to the crystal structure of the mineral perovskite, a major component of Earth's crust.
The terms Polonophobia, anti-Polonism, antipolonism and anti-Polish sentiment refer to a spectrum of hostile attitudes toward Polish people and culture.
Other more unusual possibilities are now available, too. Wordnik, as well as offering example sentences, provides images illustrating the word in question and tweets that use it. Online resources, Zimmer went on to say, also offer “much greater efficiency of access.” He showed how Wordnik and vocabulary.com offer a kind of advanced auto-complete; as users type letters in the search box, they are offered a list of words that start with that letter combination, accompanied by their definitions. The choices offered are based upon what others look up as well as “what we think you’re looking for.” Zimmer maintains that these new kinds of possibilities, as well as the application of technology to previously print-only works such as The Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), offer “new kinds of serendipity” rather than a loss of it, as some claim.
Autothysis is the process where an animal destroys itself via an internal rupturing or explosion of an organ which ruptures the skin. The term was proposed by Maschwitz and Maschwitz in 1974 to describe the defensive mechanism of the carpenter ant (Camponotus saundersi).12 It is caused by a contraction of muscles around a large gland that leads to the gland wall breaking. Some termites (such as the soldiers of Globitermes sulphureus) release a sticky secretion by rupturing a gland near the skin of their neck, producing a tar baby effect in defense against ants. It is a form of suicidal altruism.2
The origin of the word fiat in English is connected to the origin of the world itself. Taken from the Latin meaning “let it be done,” this word appears in the Latin translation of Genesis, the first book of the bible, when God proclaimed “let there be light” (fiat lux). As a result, many early uses of fiat were biblical illusions, as in John Donne’s 1597 poem The Storm. In it he writes that there will be darkness unless “God say/Another Fiat.”
It was not until the 1630s that English speakers started using fiat to describe an “authoritative decree,” often issued by royalty or clergy—two groups that depended on divine right for their power. By the turn of the 19th century, English speakers applied fiat’s meaning to less-than-Godly legal manners. The phrase “fiat in bankruptcy” gained popularity at this time. Later that century, the concept of “fiat money,” or currency that has no intrinsic value, but that the government gives a value to by declaring it legal tender, took its place in English-speaking minds.
The name of Fiat, the Italian car company, is an acronym, not only a nod to this powerful word. Its name originally stood for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, meaning loosely “Italian automobile factory of Turin,” the region in which the country was founded.
According to Google nGram, the word “fiat” peaked in usage in the 1840s, possibly due to the political upheaval of the revolutions of 1848
In the 18th and 19th centuries various groups of Protestants began to use the term Mariolatry to refer to the Roman Catholic, Anglo Catholic and Eastern Orthodox practices of Marian veneration and devotion. In their view, the extreme attention paid to Mary (mother of Jesus) may not only distract from the worship of God, but actually breaches on idolatry.1819
This trend has taken various directions over time, in that while some Protestants have at times softened their attitude towards it, others have strengthened their opposition in the 21st century. For instance, during the May 2006 celebrations at Our Lady of Walsingham in England, as Anglicans and Roman Catholics held a Marian procession, Protestant hecklers held banners that condemned Masses, idolatry and "Mariolatry".2021
This is mere inclination, a wish or desire that lacks the strength to overcome personal inertia. It is the ultimate inaction, far more so than procrastination, which is merely the postponement of action you know to be necessary. If you make a new year’s resolution to get fit but never even look into joining a gym, that’s velleity. If a notion to write a novel intrigues you, but you do nothing about it, that’s velleity.
Congress often contents itself with enacting “velleities” such as the wish in the 900-page Dodd-Frank financial reform act that “all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services ... (that are) fair, transparent, and competitive.”
The Virginian-Pilot, 7 Jun. 2012.
If the wish is father to the deed then velleity is childless. It is the impotent relative of volition, using one’s will. Surprisingly for two near opposites, velleity and volition share an origin. Both are from the Latin irregular verb velle, to will or wish, though volition comes directly from volo, I wish. The English word benevolent is from the same verb, literally well-wishing.
You’ll not find it much used, as it’s restricted to those with large vocabularies or the readiness to browse the less travelled pages of dictionaries.
fothering A method of emergency repair used on hulled wooden ships. Sails were wrapped around damage until permanent repairs could be made. He was back in the West Indies by late 1806, where he navigated the badly leaking HMS Cerf back to Britain, fothering her hull with sails and with the pumps manned all throughout the voyage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter_(Royal_Navy_officer)
Science executive publisher Alan Leshner coined the term “cloud expertise” to characterize Dash’s crowdsourced approach to letting citizens inform public policy through the social networks they already use.
A politician who feels more qualified than women and their doctors to make women's health care decisions. A combination of the words gynecologist and politician.
Republican governors such as Scott Walker and Rick Perry who impose draconian limitations on abortion clinics and attempt to limit access to HPV vaccinations, contraception and women's health care in general by shutting down Planned Parenthood clinics even though they do not perform abortions. They, and people like them, are gynoticians.
n. Graffiti that uses or is inspired by calligraphic letterforms and techniques.
—calligraffitist n.
This, explains Shoe, is the fundamental idea behind what he describes as calligraffiti. The form of art he says he conceived in 2007, which as the name suggests, is a fusion of calligraphy and graffiti.
—Flavia Di Consiglio, “"Calligraffiti": The graffiti artist inspired by medieval scribes,“ BBC News, August 6, 2013
The Northwest Angle, known simply as the Angle by locals, and coextensive with Angle Township, is a part of northern Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota. The population was 119 at the 2010 census.1 Except for minor surveying errors, it is the only place in the United States outside Alaska that is north of the 49th parallel, which forms the international border from the Angle west to Washington State. It is one of only six non-island locations in the 48 contiguous states that are exclaves of the U.S. although not directly connected to them by land. At 49.22° north latitude, it is the northernmost township in Minnesota and the northernmost point in the contiguous 48 states. The unincorporated communities of Angle Inlet and Penasse are located in the Northwest Angle.
Soring is an abusive and prohibited practice illegal under the U.S. Horse Protection Act of 1970 that is associated in part with the production of "big lick" movement in Tennessee Walking Horses. It involves using chemical agents such as mustard oil, diesel fuel, kerosene, salicylic acid, and other caustic substances on the pasterns, bulbs of the heel, or coronary bands of the horses, causing burning or blistering of the horses' legs in order to accentuate their gaits. These chemicals are harmful, usually quite toxic and sometimes carcinogenic, such that trainers must use a brush and wear gloves when applying them. The treated area is then often wrapped in plastic while the chemicals are absorbed. The chemical agents cause extreme pain, and usually lead to scarring. A distinctive scarring pattern is a tell-tale sign of soring, and therefore attempts may be made to cover the scarring with a dye, or the horse's legs may be treated with salicylic acid before the animal is stalled (as many cannot stand up after the treatment) while the skin of the scars sloughs off.
The term "biophilia" literally means "love of life or living systems." It was first used by Erich Fromm to describe a psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is alive and vital.3 Wilson uses the term in the same sense when he suggests that biophilia describes "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.” He proposed the possibility that the deep affiliations humans have with nature are rooted in our biology. Unlike phobias, which are the aversions and fears that people have of things in the natural world, philias are the attractions and positive feelings that people have toward certain habitats, activities, and objects in their natural surroundings.
It seems like everywhere we turn, we’re being fed the same old climate Armageddon story. You’ve heard it, I’m sure: If we continue to be dependent on fossil fuels, hundreds of gigatons of CO2 will continue to pour into the atmosphere, the temperature will rise above 2 degrees Celsius, and we’re done. There will be a biblical cocktail of hurricanes, floods, famines, wars. It will be terrifying, awful, epic and, yes, as far as any reputable scientist is concerned, those projections are for real.
I call this narrative the “Armageddon Complex,” and my own denial was a product of it.
These balls, known as brochosomes, were first discovered in the early 1950s. Scientists knew that they were found on the shells of leafhoppers—a group of colourful, sap-sucking insects that includes more than 20,000 species.
In case you needed more proof of the quickening pace of globalization, look no further than the “cronut.” Within two months, the hybrid pastry created in New York City as a cross between a croissant and a donut has spread around the world.
Simmermon further noted that "some, but not all, online video providers have the resources to store copies, or caches, of their videos on servers that are a part of a Content Delivery Network, or CDN. When a user clicks on a link to a particular video, the Internet provider can quickly determine where the nearest cached copy of the video is on the CDN and deliver it. More popular videos will have more cached copies, with better performance, while less popular videos may be stored in fewer, further places."
v. To play music loud enough that other people can hear it, particularly in a public location. Sod + -cast.
—sodcasting pp.
—sodcaster n.
Example Citations:
Just a few days ago I was treated to a speech on this theme by a cab driver, whose list of grievances included the neglect of hand signals by people riding Boris bikes and the prevalence of sodcasting (playing loud music through a phone"s less than sweet-sounding speaker) on the train.
—Henry Hitchings, “Contrary to perception, we Londoners are now less rude than at any time in our history,“ London Evening Standard, January 11, 2013
When times are good, a community can just about cope: lack of empathy leads to nothing worse than the rudeness of sodcasting on buses, the discharging of one"s nostrils on to a pavement, the casual dropping of a takeaway food container into the doorway of someone else"s flat.
—Graeme Archer, “Empathy has fled the inner city, and it"s time for me to follow,“ The Telegraph, December 9, 2011
Earliest Citation:
Sodcast
Music, on a crowded bus, coming from the speaker on a mobile phone. Sodcasters are terrified of not being noticed, so they spray their audio wee around the place like tom cats.
—Pascal Wyse, “Wyse words,“ The Guardian, January 13, 2007
Notes:
The British slang term sod has many meanings and uses, but in this context it refers to a person who is an idiot or a jerk.
Francs-tireurs—literally "free shooters"—was used to describe irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). The term was revived and used by partisans to name two major French Resistance movements set up to fight against the Germans during World War II.1
It is sometimes used to refer more generally to guerrilla fighters who operate outside the laws of war.23
Since this systematic bias in scientific information and recognition practices fits the second half of Matthew 13:12 in the Bible, which refers to the under-recognition accorded to those who have little to start with, it is suggested that sociologists of science and knowledge can add to the ‘Matthew Effect’, made famous by Robert K. Merton in 1968, the ‘Matilda effect’, named for the American suffragist and feminist critic Matilda J. Gage of New York, who in the late nineteenth century both experienced and articulated this phenomenon.
—Margaret W. Rossiter, “The Matthew Matilda Effect in Science,” Social Studies of Science, May 1, 1993
Have you heard of the Matilda Effect? A term coined by historian of science Margaret Rossiter, it is the systematic downplaying/overlooking of women"s roles in scientific discovery.
—Athene Donald and Frank Norman, “Using Wikipedia to inspire the next generation of women scientists,” The Guardian, July 25, 2013
In November 2001 the University of Oxford Department of Chemistry created the Oxford Glycochemistry Centre. This establishes one the UK’s leading centres of excellence for all aspects of Carbohydrate Chemistry.
If you were to split the Earth's surface in to four parts, the center of each part would be a 45X90 point—the location between the geographical North or South Pole and the equator, and between the prime meridian and the 180th meridian. Two of the points are in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean, respectively. Another is in Poniatowski, Wisconsin, where visitors can become members of the 45X90 Club by signing a logbook.
The 45X90 points are the four points on earth which are halfway between the geographical poles, the equator, the Prime Meridian, and the 180th meridian. They are some of the earth's significant coordinate intersections.
The most well-known and frequently visited such point is 45°0′0″N 90°0′0″W / 45°N 90°W in the town of Rietbrock, Wisconsin near the unincorporated community of Poniatowski. A geographic marker has been placed there by the Marathon County Park Commission. With the increase in use of personal GPS devices, the sign was amended to clarify that the actual 45x90 point is actually approximately 1063 feet (324 m) away in a field behind the sign; the location of the marker was chosen because of its proximity to the road.
The point has become a bit of a pop culture phenomenon thanks to Gisecki's Tavern in the tiny cluster of establishments in Poniatowski. They once sold 45X90 T-shirts and registered visitors as members of the 45X90 Club.1 Since 2006, the Wausau/Central Wisconsin Convention & Visitors Bureau has been the holder of the official "45X90 Club" registration book. The book is on loan from the Gisecki family.2 Upon becoming a member of the "45X90 Club", the Wausau/Central Wisconsin Convention & Visitors Bureau will give new members a commemorative coin. The point has a web page devoted to it.
An 1838 illustration of a Turkish coffee house with patrons smoking from long-stemmed chibouk pipes, as featured in Travels in the western Caucasus by Edmund Spencer.
A chibouk (French: chibouque; from the Turkish: çıbuk, çubuk (English: "stick"); also romanized čopoq, ciunoux or tchibouque)1 is a very long-stemmed Turkish tobacco pipe, often featuring a clay bowl ornamented with precious stones. The stem of the chibouk generally ranges between 4 and 5 ft. (1.2 and 1.5 m), much longer than even Western churchwarden pipes. While primarily known as a Turkish pipe, the chibouk was once popular in Iran, as well.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act DOMA was unconstitutional. In his written dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia claimed that "the real rationale of today’s opinion, whatever disappearing trail of its legalistic argle-bargle one chooses to follow, is that DOMA is motivated by 'bare . . . desire to harm.'"
Argle-bargle, a relatively rare and primarily British word, means "a lively argument."
Justice Scalia was giving it a negative connotation – suggesting that the "legalistic argle-bargle" of the Court majority is a labyrinthine sort of word-wrangling that doesn't clearly lead anywhere.
Argle-bargle is formed by rhyming reduplication, a process that gave us words like "super duper" and "humdrum" (both of which have also been used by Scalia in Supreme Court opinions or oral arguments).
The ney (Persian: نی/نای; Turkish: ney; Azerbaijani: ney; Arabic: ناي; also nai, nye, nay, gagri tuiduk, or karghy tuiduk, Kurdish: Shimshal) is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continuously for 4,500–5,000 years, making it one of the oldest musical instruments still in use.
Despite the reputation of online marketplaces being distant and impersonal, through social technologies such as instant messaging, they can create the sense of personal and social relationships between buyers and sellers, termed "swift guanxi" in China, to facilitate loyalty, interactivity and repeat transactions, according to new research by Temple University Fox School of Business Professor Paul A. Pavlou.
1. the widespread existence within a society of sharply divergent formal and informal varieties of a language each used in different social contexts or for performing different functions, as the existence of Katharevusa and Demotic in modern Greece.
2. Pathology. the presence of two tongues or of a single tongue divided into two parts by a cleft.
Arabic took over many of the functions of Aramaic as the language of scholarship, and, as one vernacular replaced another, the original state of diglossia was restored.
-- David Biale, Cultures of the the Jews: A New History, 2002
Sociolinguistic studies indicate that diglossia and code-switching are very pertinent characteristics of the linguistic repertoires of a large portion of the population…
-- Christa Van der Walt, Living Through Languages: An African Tribute to René Dirven, 2006
Diglossia comes from the Greek term meaning "bilingual" and entered English in the 1950s.
n. A newspaper delivered physically and so more slowly compared to online news; the print edition of a newspaper. Also: snail-paper.
It's 2013. The screens are winning adherents left and right. Print newspapers are turning into "snailpapers" that arrive at our doorsteps with news that is 12 hours late.
—Dan Bloom, "Scissors, Paper, Screen: The Future of Reading," TeleRead, June 8, 2013
The government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is being accused of "banjoing" (in Liberian English, 'to sell something very cheap for quick money') the country's natural resources to foreign investors and swindlers at the detriment of the Liberian people.
n. The specific concentration of salt, sugar, or fat that makes a food maximally tasty.
Domestic goddess, Nigella Lawson has named salted caramel as her favourite 'food obsession', declaring a love affair with the class A confectionary 'drug' describing a 'bliss point' when the mix of sugar, fat and salt is just right.
—Fiona Donnelly, "Let salty-sweet sensations rock your palate (recipes included)," News Limited, August 4, 2012
He'll find one of those joints and be there, evening after evening, talking to the bartender confidentially but loud enough. It won't be long before they get used to him. An old codger with money, stooped but still pretty big.
-- Louis Begley, Schmidt Delivered, 2000
One of the lesser Shadows whom we shall call Baron A. had a father-in-law called Baron B., a harmless old codger long retired from the civil service and quite incapable of understanding certain Renaissance aspects of the new regime.
-- Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, 1962
Codger is likely related to the word cadge meaning "to beg." Its etymology is uncertai
2. a student who spends much time studying and has little or no social life; grind.
3. a person who studies a subject or issue in an excessively assiduous and thorough manner: a policy wonk.
“This is a guy who has been a policy wonk for his adult life, not only interested in what’s going on but really keeping up with it—and he’s smart as hell.”
-- John Colapinto, "Enter Laughing: Senator Franken's long journey," The New Yorker, 2009
…Nick…found himself…running up the staris of the Capitol in pursuit of the senator's chief aide, a gangly wonk in glasses…
-- Karen Olsson, Waterloo: A Novel, 2006
The origin of wonk, a word that entered English as US slang in the 1960s, is unknown, though it might be a shortening of the UK slang wonky.
Odds is the latest in what seems to be an emerging literary genre. Over the past decade, more and more writers have begun to set their novels and short stories in worlds, not unlike our own, where the Earth's systems are noticeably off-kilter. The genre has come to be called climate fiction — "cli-fi," for short.
—Angela Evancie, "So Hot Right Now: Has Climate Change Created A New Literary Genre?," National Public Radio, April 20, 2013
Cli-fi, or 'climate fiction,' describes a dystopian present, as opposed to a dystopian future. And don't call it 'science fiction.' Cli-fi is literary fiction.
—Husna Haq, "Climate change inspires a new literary genre: cli-fi," The Christian Science Monitor, April 26, 2013
Earliest Citation:
From "Soylent Green" in 1973 to "The Day After Tomorrow" in 2004, movies also began to venture into a new genre of science fiction that might be called "cli-fi" .. or climate fiction.
Cli-fi is also a new genre for novels and short stories.
—Dan Bloom, "The Next Big Genre: 'Cli-Fi' — Climate Fiction, in Which 'Mad Max' Meets 'The Road'," The Wrap, November 3, 2011
When you approach a member of the opposite sex to ask them out and they respond with a pitying smile.
Robert confidently approached the blonde at the bar and offered to buy her a drink. She briefly turned to him, gave a pitying smile, then turned away as if nothing had happened. Robert, visibly deflated, slunk back to his friends. One turned to him sympathetically and said, 'Smilezoned again?' A dejected Robert nodded pathetically, then wept into his cheap off-brand vodka and cola.
A boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, infection of the hair follicle. It is most commonly caused by infection by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an accumulation of pus and dead tissue.1 Individual boils clustered together are called carbuncles.2 Most human infections are caused by coagulase-positive S. aureus strains, notable for the bacteria's ability to produce coagulase, an enzyme that can clot blood. Almost any organ system can be infected by S. aureus.
Rheology /riːˈɒlədʒi/ is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in the liquid state, but also as 'soft solids' or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an applied force.1 It applies to substances which have a complex microstructure, such as muds, sludges, suspensions, polymers and other glass formers (e.g., silicates), as well as many foods and additives, bodily fluids (e.g., blood) and other biological materials or other materials which belong to the class of soft matter.
The term rheology was coined by Eugene C. Bingham, a professor at Lafayette College, in 1920, from a suggestion by a colleague, Markus Reiner.23 The term was inspired by the aphorism of Simplicius (often misattributed to Heraclitus), panta rhei, "everything flows"4
The experimental characterization of a material's rheological behaviour is known as rheometry, although the term rheology is frequently used synonymously with rheometry, particularly by experimentalists. Theoretical aspects of rheology are the relation of the flow/deformation behaviour of material and its internal structure (e.g., the orientation and elongation of polymer molecules), and the flow/deformation behaviour of materials that cannot be described by classical fluid mechanics or elasticity.
Vexillology is the "scientific study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general" (Smith 31) The word is a synthesis of the Latin word vexillum ("flag") and the Greek suffix -logy ("study"). It is formally defined by the International Federation of Vexillological Associations (known by its French acronym FIAV) constitution as "the creation and development of a body of knowledge about flags of all types, their forms and functions, and of scientific theories and principles based on that knowledge."
New Yorkers were wowed on Wednesday by a sunset that was perfectly framed by skyscrapers, thanks to an urban astronomical phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge.
The same planetary tilt that determines the seasons also dictates exactly where the sun will go down each evening — and because of the way that Manhattan's dominant street grid is laid out, killer sunsets are potentially visible from some of the borough's best-known east-west streets in late May and mid-July. (snip)
A "Homance" is the female equivalent of a Bromance. A homance is a strong love between two straight females, the relationship can be described as closer than friends but less than a dating relationship.
Man Ashley and Kristen have such a Homance!
-We aren't Lesbians, We're bestfriends! We're a Homance!
the Austral informal the major indentation of the S coast of Australia, from Cape Pasley in W Australia to the Eyre Peninsula in S Australia In full the Great Australian Bight
bight (baɪt)
n.
1. a loop or slack part in a rope.
2. a bend or curve in the shore of a sea or river.
The belief or attitude that one is cooler than another because they pursue or pursued illicit deeds.
Jack bought a souvenir, but Meg stole one—demonstrating her immoral superiority.
The others laughed at him playing bananagrams, but Eddie knew he was cooler than them. He held immoral superiority; he smoked weed.
moral superiority moral superiority coolness cooler the dude better righteousness crime
by Rt. Hon. Smokes McSmokes May 25, 2013
2. Immoral superiority
/ɪˈmɒrəl/ /səˌpɪriˈɔrədi/
noun 1
state of self loathing manifested by vicious opposition to- and denigration of moral systems or western religious values or traditions
noun 2
indifference of- or disdain for democratic republic under God instead favoring irrational extremes of anarchy or tyranny
noun 3
moral anarchy
synonym: moralphobia
noun 4
rabble arousal
Egomaniacal truthiness driven contempt for well established repository of faith and wisdom masking an irrational fear of the natural order. In this endarkenment period the immoral superiority of contratheism (or lunatic asylum full of other practitioners) lets loose their inner hatemonger yearning to trample the rights of the super majority.
Game studies or gaming theory is an academic discipline that deals with the critical study of games. More specifically, it focuses on game design, players, and their role in society and culture. Game studies is an inter-disciplinary field with researchers and academics from a multitude of other areas such as computer science, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, arts and literature, media studies, communication, theology, and more.
Like other media disciplines, such as television studies and film studies, game studies often involves textual analysis and audience theory. Game studies tends to employ more diverse methodologies than these other branches, however, drawing from both social science and humanities approaches
The history of the term diaspora shows how a word’s meaning can spread from a very specific sense to encompass much broader ones.
Diaspora first entered English in the late nineteenth century to describe the scattering of Jews after their captivity in Babylonia in the fifth century B.C.E. The term originates from the Greek diasporá, meaning “a dispersion or scattering,” found in Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 25). While this specific historical sense is still used, especially in scholarly writing, modern-day definitions of the Jewish Diaspora (often with an initial capital letter) can refer to the displacement of Jews at other times during their history, especially after the Holocaust in the twentieth century. The term can also refer generally to Jews living today outside of Israel.
Diaspora also has been applied to the similar experiences of other peoples who have been forced from their homelands; for example, to the trans-Atlantic passage of Africans under the slave trade of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, which has been called the African Diaspora.
diaspora:
More recently, we find a scattering of the meaning of diaspora, which can now be used to refer not only to a group of people, but also to some aspect of their culture, as in “the global diaspora of American-style capitalism.”
an ornament or design on an object copied from a form of the object when made from another material or by other techniques, as an imitation metal rivet mark found on handles of prehistoric pottery.
An epithalamium (/ˌɛpɨθəˈleɪmiəm/; Latin form of Greek ἐπιθαλάμιον epithalamion from ἐπί epi "upon," and θάλαμος thalamos nuptial chamber) is a poem written specifically for the bride on the way to her marital chamber. This form continued in popularity through the history of the classical world; the Roman poet Catullus wrote a famous epithalamium, which was translated from or at least inspired by a now-lost work of Sappho.
We have a word for the conscious slaughter of a racial or ethnic group: genocide. And one for the conscious destruction of aspects of the environment: ecocide. But we don't have a word for the conscious act of destroying the planet we live on, the world as humanity had known it until, historically speaking, late last night. A possibility might be "terracide" from the Latin word for earth.
"Athletes sometimes had their penis tied up to assist freedom of movement. The foreskin was pulled forward and tied up with a string called the cynodesme, which means literally 'dog leash.' ...
Ice fog over Fairbanks, Alaska in winter 2005. Temperature approximately minus 30F. Note the mirage at the base of the Alaska Range
Ice fog in Virginia City, Nevada, from an early 20th-century postcard
Ice fog is a type of fog consisting of fine ice crystals suspended in the air. It can happen only in cold areas of the world since water can remain liquid down to −40 °C (−40 °F). It should be distinguished from diamond dust, a precipitation of sparse ice crystals falling from a clear sky.1
Comments by carlosg
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
hot potato routing
(n.) A form of routing in which the nodes of a network have no buffer to store packets in before they are moved on to their final predetermined destination. In normal routing situations, when multiple packets contend for a single outgoing channel, packets that are not buffered are dropped to avoid congestion. But in hot potato routing, each packet that is routed is constantly transferred until it reaches its final destination because the individual communication links can not support more than one packet at a time. The packet is bounced around like a "hot potato," sometimes moving further away from its destination because it has to keep moving through the network. This technique allows multiple packets to reach their destinations without being dropped. This is in contrast to "store and forward" routing where the network allows temporary storage at intermediate locations. Hot potato routing has applications in optical networks where messages made from light can not be stored in any medium.
Also referred to as deflection routing.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/H/hot_potato_routing.html?dni=84549136&rni=19455418
October 15, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Review of Wordbirds: An Irreverent Lexicon for the 21st Century. By Liesl Schillinger. Illustrations by Elizabeth Zechel. Simon & Schuster. 208 pp. $17.99
Caught up in mega-tasking, Liesl Schillinger suggests, we can take some satisfaction in putting names to the behaviors associated with the millennial mindset. In Wordbirds, she coins 200 new words (that first appeared on her Tumblr). Adorned with 150 illustrations of birds designed to generate "avian alphabetic synergy," her lexicon cleverly captures the new normal of the twenty-first century. Some of her neologisms, in fact, may well stand the test of time.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenn-c-altschuler/bon-mots_b_4078326.html
October 15, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
hyperdensification
n. An extreme increase in the density of an urban area. Also: hyper-densification.
http://www.wordspy.com/words/hyperdensification.asp
October 15, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
systems integrator
Abbreviated as SI, an individual or company that specializes in building complete computer systems by putting together components from different vendors. Unlike software developers, systems integrators typically do not produce any original code. Instead they enable a company to use off-the-shelf hardware and software packages to meet the company's computing needs.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/systems_integrator.html?dni=84353550&rni=19455418
October 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
SI
systems integrator
October 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
The Letheri are masters at corrupting words, their meanings. They
call war peace, they call tyranny liberty. On which side of the shadow
you stand decides a word's meaning. Words are the weapons used by those
who see others with contempt. A contempt which only deepens when they
see how those others are deceived and made into fools because they
choose to believe. Because in their naivety they thought the meaning of
a word was fixed, immune to abuse.
--Steven Erikson
October 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
ghost money noun money transferred in secret by a covert government agency
For more than a decade, the CIA — using suitcases, backpacks, even plastic bags — has made monthly cash payments to the offices of President Hamid Karzai. One Karzai aide called it ‘ghost money’ because ‘it came in secret, and it left in secret.’
New York Times (US broadsheet) 30 April 2013
Ghost money from MI6 and CIA may fuel Afghan corruption, say diplomats
www.guardian.co.uk (article title) 30 April 2013
October 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Mobile Switching Center
Abbreviated as MSC the mobile switching center connects calls by switching the digital voice data packets from one network path to another (also called routing). The MSC also provides the information that is needed to support mobile service subscribers, such as user registration and authentication information.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/Mobile_Switching_Center.html?dni=83950786&rni=19455418
October 11, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
How to Speak Airline: A Glossary For Travelers
http://www.askthepilot.com/how-to-speak-airline/
October 11, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Point set registration
In computer vision and pattern recognition, point set registration, also known as point matching, is the process of finding a spatial transformation that aligns two point sets. The purpose of finding such a transformation includes merging multiple incomplete data sets obtained by measuring the same entity from different angles or using different techniques, and mapping a new measurement to a known data set to identify features or to estimate its pose. A point set may be raw data from 3D scanning or an array of rangefinders. For use in image processing and feature-based image registration, a point set may be a set of features obtained by feature extraction from an image, for example by the SIFT algorithm. Point set registration is used in optical character recognition12 and aligning data from magnetic resonance imaging with computer aided tomography scans.34\
Illustration and citation at; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_set_registration
October 11, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
The Mysterious Manicule
http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/09/30/the_manicule_a_hand_with_a_pointing_index_finger_becomes_a_common_marginalia.html
October 11, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
When did the word ‘coworker’ come into common parlance? Professor Walrus, Grand Curmudgeon of the Arctic, doesn’t like it! What sort of cow goes -orking, and what’s -orking? Someone who harvests Orks, and are there cow Orks?
From an Email newsletter; no province.
October 11, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
phoneur
n. A person, especially a pedestrian, who interacts with or engages the world mostly through a mobile phone. phone + flâneur
Example Citations:
Then again, even the most basic mobile phone camera can do something similar with the right light and shade. Indeed, Joel Sternfeld’s latest book echoes the Polaroid books of old in so far as it comprises his mobile phone shots of the shopping malls and consumers of Dubai. It is called iDubai and announces the coming of the phoneur — the photographer as flaneur, forever walking and shooting and, if he has time, daydreaming.
—Sean O‘Hagan, “The Polaroid revival,” The Guardian, April 5, 2010
http://www.wordspy.com/words/phoneur.asp
October 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
dysarthria
Syllabification: (dys·ar·thri·a)
Pronunciation: /disˈärTHrēə/
noun
Medicine
difficult or unclear articulation of speech that is otherwise linguistically normal.
Origin:
late 19th century: from dys- 'difficult' + Greek arthron 'joint or articulation'
http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/dysarthria
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dysarthria
October 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
footprint
The amount of floor or desk space required by a device. For example, a small-footprint computer is a computer whose dimensions (width and depth) are relatively small.
Footprint can also refer to the amount of disk space required by an application.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/F/footprint.html
October 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
The phrase data center consolidation (also called "IT consolidation") refers to an organization's strategy to reduce IT assets by using more efficient technologies.
Some of the consolidation technologies used in U.S. data centers today include server virtualization, storage virtualization, replacing mainframes with smaller blade server systems, cloud computing, better capacity planning and automation tools.
Data center consolidation is a common consideration for organizations that plan to reduce the size of a single facility or merge one or more facilities in order to reduce overall operating costs and reduce IT footprint.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/data-center-consolidation-it-consolidation.html?dni=83550858&rni=19455418
October 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
McCann Melbourne Made Up a Word to Sell a Print Dictionary
New Campaign For Macquarie Birthed 'Phubbing'
By: Shareen Pathak Published: October 07, 2013
http://adage.com/article/news/mccann-melbourne-made-a-word-sell-a-dictionary/244595/
Wikipedia had reference to 7 other citations. Not found in any of the slang dictionaries consulted (but not mccann ). Or is it Macquarie?
October 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Black Hat SEO refers to the use of aggressive SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus only on search engines and not a human audience, and usually does not obey search engines rules.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/Black_Hat_SEO.html?dni=83244662&rni=19455418
October 8, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
ag-gag adjective informal relating to the legal limiting of investigations into farming practices Animal rights activists in the US have told the BBC that so-called 'ag-gag' laws could be copied in other countries including the UK. www.bbc.co.uk 13 April 2013
October 7, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Organic SEO
Organic SEO (search engine optimization) is the phrase used to describe processes to obtain a natural placement on organic search engine results pages (SERPs).
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/O/organic_seo.html?dni=83044469&rni=19455418
October 7, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Higgsogenesis
The team has dubbed the idea Higgsogenesis, after baryogenesis, the name of an early-universe process that has been proposed to create more baryons (particles including protons and neutrons) than antibaryons. “Higgsogenesis is an alternative,” says Tulin.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=higgsogenesis-proposed-to-explain-dark-matter
October 6, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Attack of the vapers The growth of e-cigarettes, in which users breathe in a vapour of water and nicotine, has popularised the slang terms vaper for the person using the device and vaping for the process, as well as the verb vape. These have been known for several years among the users of various drugs and seem to have been created from vaporiser. One reason for their becoming more popular is that e-cigarette smokers are banding together, using vaper as a self-identifying term, to campaign against proposed EU rules that would ban most e-cigarettes currently on the market because their nicotine levels are too high.
Yucky stuff I’ve a job for somebody with the right qualifications: become a disgustologist. Valerie Curtis, the director of the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, describes herself by this word because she researches the scientific background to aversion and repugnance. Disgustologist and disgustology have appeared quite widely in the past couple of weeks because her book Don’t Look, Don’t Touch: The Science Behind Revulsion has just been published. This isn’t the first appearance of disgustology — the earliest example I’ve turned up is from The Economics of Hate by Samuel Cameron (2009) in which he lists it alongside other social science topics such as humiliation studies.
Copyright World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion 2013. All rights reserved. You may reproduce this newsletter in whole or part in free newsletters, newsgroups or mailing lists online provided that you include the copyright notice above and give the website address. Reproduction of substantial parts of items in printed publications or websites requires permission from the editor beforehand.
October 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Agnatology
Agnotology is the study of culturally induced ignorance.
Agnotology refocuses questions about “how we know” to include questions about what we do not know, and why not.
Londa Schiebinger, in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1 Sep. 2005.
Also see: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/agnotology
October 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
catloaf Noun
(plural catloaves)
(slang, rare) The loaflike form of a domestic cat sitting with paws tucked underneath the body
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/catloaf
October 4, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
kratom
The leaves of the herb kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), a native of Southeast Asia in the coffee family, are used to relieve pain and improve mood as an opiate substitute and stimulant. The herb is also combined with cough syrup to make a popular beverage in Thailand called “4x100.” Because of its psychoactive properties, however, kratom is illegal in Thailand, Australia, Myanmar (Burma) and Malaysia. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration lists kratom as a “drug of concern” because of its abuse potential, stating it has no legitimate medical use. The state of Indiana has banned kratom consumption outright.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=should-kratom-be-legal
October 3, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
first world problems
idiom humorous problems which are very trivial on a global scale, and which would only be perceived as problems by the very privileged
Have you ever heard someone complain about their ‘problems,’ only to think they were being completely ridiculous? Enter the archival Tumblr, White Whine, which culls together a sometimes hilarious, oft times ironic list of ‘first world problems.’
www.clutchmagonline.com 01 April 2013
http://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/
September 30, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
backfire effect
A similar cognitive bias found in individuals is the backfire effect, in which individuals challenged with evidence contradictory to their beliefs tend to reject the evidence and instead become an even firmer supporter of their initial belief.3233 The phrase was first coined by Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler in a paper entitled "When Corrections Fail: The persistence of political misperceptions".34
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backfire_effect#Backfire_effect
September 27, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
flash drought
n. A drought that develops abnormally quickly.
http://www.wordspy.com/words/flashdrought.asp
From Dec 28th, 2012 through at least January 9th, 2013 Australia has faced its most severe heatwave in over 80 years, with a large portion of the nation recording high temperature reading above 40°C to 45°C or greater in some areas, a couple spots have also neared 50°C. This extreme heat has also resulted in a 'flash' drought across southern and central areas of the country and has sparked several massive wildfires due to periodic high winds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_wave
September 27, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
The Lost Slumgullions of English
By KATE MANNING
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/the-lost-slumgullions-of-english/?src=me&ref=general
September 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
throffer
In political philosophy, a throffer is a proposal (also called an interventionnote 1) that mixes an offer with a threat which will be carried out if the offer is not accepted. The term was first used in print by political philosopher Hillel Steiner, and while other writers followed, it has not been universally adopted. Though its threatening aspect need not be obvious, or even articulated at all, an overt example of a throffer is
Kill this man and receive £100; fail to kill him and I'll kill you.2
(snip)
The term throffer is a portmanteau of threat and offer.3 It was first used by philosopher Hillel Steiner in a 1974–75 Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society article.4 Steiner had considered a dialogue from the 1972 film The Godfather: "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse". While the line seemed to be an amusing irony (because a threat is being made, not an offer), Steiner was unsatisfied that the difference between an offer and a threat was merely that one promises to confer a benefit and the other a penalty.5 He thus coined throffer to describe the "offer" in The Godfather.6 One prominent thinker who adopted the term was political scientist Michael Taylor,7 and his work on throffers has been frequently cited.689 It has not, however, been widely adopted; Michael R. Rhodes notes that there has been some controversy in the literature on whether to use throffer,10 citing a number of writers, including Lawrence A. Alexander,11 David Zimmerman12 and Daniel Lyons,13 who do not use the term.14 Further, somewho? writers, while electing to use the word, consider it a poor one. For instance, literary scholar Daniel Shore calls it "a somewhat unfortunate term", while using it in his analysis of John Milton's Paradise Regained.15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throffer
September 23, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
ludology
Game studies or gaming theory is an academic discipline that deals with the critical study of games. More specifically, it focuses on game design, players, and their role in society and culture. Game studies is an inter-disciplinary field with researchers and academics from a multitude of other areas such as computer science, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, arts and literature, media studies, communication, theology, and more.
Like other media disciplines, such as television studies and film studies, game studies often involves textual analysis and audience theory. Game studies tends to employ more diverse methodologies than these other branches, however, drawing from both social science and humanities approaches. (snip)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludology
September 23, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
ennuye
a. 1. Affected with ennui; weary in spirits; emotionally exhausted.
n. 1. One who is affected with ennui.
Upon my entrance, Usher rose from a sofa on which he had been lying at full length, and greeted me with a vivacious warmth which had much in it, I at first thought, of an overdone cordiality--of the constrained effort of the ennuye man of the world.
The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe, Edgar Allan
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ennuye
September 21, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
tarmacadam, tarmac, macadam
;
McAdam was a Scottish engineer who invented a process called "macadamization." After noting the poor condition of the highways near his estate, he recommended that roads be raised above the adjacent ground for good drainage and then covered, first with large stones then with small stones, and bound with fine gravel. It was perhaps the greatest advance in road construction since Roman times and became known as "tarmac," short for "tarmacadam." What was the first macadam road in North America?
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
September 21, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Giffen paradox
In economics and consumer theory, a Giffen good is one which people paradoxically consume more of as the price rises, violating the law of demand. In normal situations, as the price of a good rises, the substitution effect causes consumers to purchase less of it and more of substitute goods. In the Giffen good situation, the income effect dominates, leading people to buy more of the good, even as its price rises.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giffen_paradox
September 20, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
dopant
What do they mean by dopant? Threatpost said that "Dopant is a material that is added to semiconductor material that enables it to be electrically conductive."
Instead of adding additional circuitry to the target design, the researchers inserted their hardware Trojans by changing "the dopant polarity of existing transistors."
That way, the modified circuit nonetheless appeared as legitimate on all wiring layers, including all metal and polysilicon. The team said that their family of Trojans was resistant to most detection techniques such as fine-grain optical inspection and checks against "golden chips."
The researchers tested their Trojan on Intel's random number generator design used in Ivy Bridge processors, as well as a Side-channel Trojan.
In deciding on this second case, they authors said that, after showing how their dopant Trojan could be used to compromise the security of a real world system, they turned to the second case study, where they wanted to emphasize the flexibility of the dopant Trojan. "Instead of modifying the logic behavior of a design, the dopant Trojan is used to establish a hidden side-channel to leak out secret keys."
What do they mean by dopant? Threatpost said that "Dopant is a material that is added to semiconductor material that enables it to be electrically conductive." Computerworld explains doping as a process for modifying the electrical properties of silicon by introducing impurities such as gallium an
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-09-hardware-trojans-undetectable.html#jCp
September 19, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
How to Speak Airline: A Glossary For Travelers
http://www.askthepilot.com/how-to-speak-airline/
September 19, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
capacitive touch
One of the two primary types of touchscreen displays (along with resistive) employed on smartphones, tablets, laptops and similar electronic devices. The Apple iPhone is the most popular example of a capacitive touchscreen-based device.
Capacitive touch screens distinguish and sense specific touch location based on the electrical impulses in a human body, typically the fingertip. This enables capacitive touchscreens to not require any actual force to be applied to the screen’s surface; at the same time, capacitive screens typically don’t respond to styluses or gloved hands due to the lack of electrical impulses generated.
Capacitive touch gets its name from the electrical distortion that results in the screen’s capacitive field when impressed upon by body capacitance, or the physical property of the human body that enables it to act as an electrical capacitor, or conductor of electric charges.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/capacitive_touch.html?dni=79967637&rni=19455418
September 18, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
widget
Webster's word of the day.
I have seen widget referred to and seen in print for years as the device (in a system using vacuum) once widely used in office buildings and factories to deliver messages between floors. In wide use today at drive - in banks to move paper instruments and cash from car to teller.
Perhaps someone with better search skills can find a reference.
September 18, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Gut Fermentation syndrome - see Auto-Brewery Syndrome
September 18, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Auto-Brewery Syndrome
ABSTRACT
Gut Fermentation Syndrome also known as Auto-Brewery Syndrome is a relatively unknown phenomenon in modern medicine. Very few articles have been written on the syndrome and most of them are anecdotal. This article presents a case study of a 61 years old male with a well documented case of Gut Fermentation Syndrome verified with glucose and carbohydrate challenges. Stool cultures demonstrated the causative organism as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The patient was treated with antifungals and a low carbohydrate diet and the syndrome resolved. Helicobacter pylori was also found and could have been a possible confounding variable although the symptoms resolved post-treatment of the S. cerevisiae.
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=33912
My father (retired WO3 - may he RIP) knew of a Navy Chief diagnosed with this condition around 1955.
September 18, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
hipsterfication
n. The process of becoming identified with or taken over by hipsters. Also: hipsterification.
—hipsterfy
Earliest Citation:
Forget gentrification; the inner Mission District has undergone far more hipsterfication — the inevitable result of a surfeit of moderate rents, thrift stores, dive bars, coffeehouses, bookstores, art galleries and avant-garde theater (and, lately, lots of anti-war protests and signs).
—Laura Compton, “It’s new and it’s retro, it’s cool and it’s hot; The Mission’s 16th Street corners the market on eclectic style,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 30, 2003
http://www.wordspy.com/words/hipsterfication.asp
Rockaways Hipsterfication Report: MGMT Buys A House, Beer Garden Looms
http://gothamist.com/2012/04/13/rockaways_report_mgmt_member_buys_a.php
September 18, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Kleptography is the study of stealing information securely and subliminally. Kleptography is a subfield of cryptography and cryptovirology, and is a natural extension of the theory of subliminal channels that was pioneered by Gus Simmons while at Sandia National Labs.123 Kleptography is also related to steganography.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptography
September 17, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
pulqueria
Bar where pulque drinkers congregate. Apparently, some develp a dependence on the drink. Generally looked down upon by society.
September 16, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Paraprosdokian
A paraprosdokian (according to Wikipedia) is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. Some paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but they also play on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a form of syllepsis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraprosdokian
September 16, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
urzymes
Our genetic code is translated by two super-families of modern-day enzymes. Carter's research team created and superimposed digital three-dimensional versions of the two super-families to see how their structures aligned. Carter found that all the enzymes have virtually identical cores that can be extracted to produce "molecular fossils" he calls Urzymes -- Ur meaning earliest or original. The other parts, he said, are variations that were introduced later, as evolution unfolded.
These two Urzymes are as close as scientists have gotten to the actual ancient enzymes that would have populated Earth billions of years ago.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130913185848.htm
September 16, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Generation C
First published in February 2004 | No, this is not about a new niche generation of youngsters born between March 12, 1988 and April 24, 1993; the C stands for CONTENT, and anyone with even a tiny amount of creative talent can (and probably will) be part of this not-so-exclusive trend.
So what is it all about? The GENERATION C phenomenon captures the an avalanche of consumer generated 'content' that is building on the Web, adding tera-peta bytes of new text, images, audio and video on an ongoing basis.
The two main drivers fuelling this trend? (1) The creative urges each consumer undeniably possesses. We're all artists, but until now we neither had the guts nor the means to go all out. (2) The manufacturers of content-creating tools, who relentlessly push us to unleash that creativity, using -- of course -- their ever cheaper, ever more powerful gadgets and gizmos. Instead of asking consumers to watch, to listen, to play, to passively consume, the race is on to get them to create, to produce, and to participate.
http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/generation_c.htm
September 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Delete function missing on word list.
September 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
crepuscular (rays)
mipspelled earlier.
September 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
anticrepuscular (rays)
are similar to crepuscular rays, but seen opposite the sun in the sky. Anticrepuscular rays are near-parallel, but appear to converge at the antisolar point because of linear perspective.1 Anticrepuscular rays are most frequently visible near sunrise or sunset. Crepuscular rays are usually much brighter than anticrepuscular rays. This is because for crepuscular rays, seen on the same side of the sky as the sun, the atmospheric light scattering and making them visible is taking place at small angles (see Mie theory).
Although anticrepuscular rays appear to converge onto a point opposite the sun, the convergence is actually an illusion. The rays are in fact (almost) parallel, and the apparent convergence is to the vanishing point at infinity.2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticrepuscular_rays
September 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
crepuscular
crepuscular
adjective /krɪˈpʌs.kjʊ.lər/ US /-lɚ/ literary
relating to or like the time of day just before the sun goes down, when the light is not bright
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/british/crepuscular?q=crepuscular
September 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
zoopharmacognosy
"Eloy Rodriguez is an expert of ethnobotanical medicine (the benefits of natural plants to healing and disease prevention). He coined the concept and study of zoopharmacognosy, the process by which non-human animals (such as apes) self-medicate by selecting and using plants to treat and prevent disease."
http://scienceblogs.com/usasciencefestival/2013/09/05/celebrating-role-models-in-science-engineering-achievement-eloy-rodriguez/
September 13, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
eutroglobiont
Scientists discovered a new species of a peculiar cave-dwelling snail in one of the 20 deepest cave systems in the world, Lukina Jama-Trojama in Croatia. The newly discovered species belongs to a genus of minute air-breathing land snails that have lost visual orientation and are considered to be true eutroglobionts, or exclusive cave-dwellers. The study describing the new species was published in the open access journal Subterranean Biology
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130910104946.htm
September 11, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
roll cloud
A roll cloud is a low, horizontal, tube-shaped, and relatively rare type of arcus cloud. They differ from shelf clouds by being completely detached from other cloud features. Roll clouds usually appear to be "rolling" about a horizontal axis. They are a solitary wave called a soliton, which is a wave that has a single crest and moves without changing speed or shape. One of the most famous frequent occurrences is the Morning Glory cloud in Queensland, Australia. One of the main causes of the Morning Glory cloud is the mesoscale circulation associated with sea breezes that develop over the Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf of Carpentaria. However, similar features can be created by downdrafts from thunderstorms and are not exclusively associated with coastal regions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roll_Cloud; http://w1.weather.gov/glossary/index.php?word=roll+cloud; video at http://vimeo.com/69347643
September 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
skydancer
noun Term used to describe Native American high steel workers. Remembered from my time as an ironworker.
Can find no references.
September 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Wrap advertizing
Wrap advertising is the marketing practice of completely or partially covering (wrapping)1 a vehicle in an advertisement or livery. This result of this process is essentially a mobile billboard. Wrap advertising can be achieved by painting a vehicle's outer surface, but an increasingly ubiquitous practice in the 21st century involves the use of large vinyl sheets as "decals." The vinyl sheets can be removed with relative ease, thus drastically reducing the costs associated with changing advertisements. While vehicles with large, flat surfaces (such as buses and light-rail carriages) are often utilised due to ease, cars can also serve as hosts for wrap advertising, despite consisting of more curved surfaces.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrap_advertising
September 8, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
wrapped
Totally covered bus or RV, to advertize political, commercial or non-profit
campaign, product or cause.
September 8, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
race-ist -adj
Used by Melissa Harris-Perry on her show on MSNBC on Sept 8, 2013.
An academic sociological term used to mean study of race. Went to her blog and found no mention of the word. Ostensibly to be found in sociology texts. She is a Professor of Sociology. May well be a term of art within sociology. She displayed a definition as being an adjective, but was not quick enough to write the definition. Displayed on a screenshot with Racist adj with definition which of course differed.
September 8, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
sporulating
So, like a Bacillus anthracis bacterium deprived of nutrients, We, Beasties is sporulating. It’s throwing out all non-essential functions and retreating into a dormant state, where it can live for centuries deprived of water and nutrients
http://scienceblogs.com/webeasties/2013/09/03/we-beasties-sproulates/?utm_source=widgets
September 7, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
.STL file
STL (STereoLithography) is a file format native to the stereolithography CAD software created by 3D Systems. STL is also known as Standard Tessellation Language.1 This file format is supported by many other software packages; it is widely used for rapid prototyping and computer-aided manufacturing. STL files describe only the surface geometry of a three dimensional object without any representation of color, texture or other common CAD model attributes. The STL format specifies both ASCII and binary representations. Binary files are more common, since they are more compact
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STL_(file_format)
September 7, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
inline tweet
n. In an online article, a snippet of text deemed suitable for Twitter and so formatted as a special link that enables readers to easily post the text as a tweet.
============
I have seen this used in Emails urging some protest or advocacy.
http://www.wordspy.com/words/inlinetweet.asp
September 7, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
cvccccvcvcvcc
Because somebody had to do it.
September 6, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
MDM
Mobile device management (MDM) is a type of security software used by an IT department to monitor, manage and secure employee's mobile devices that are deployed across multiple mobile service providers and across multiple mobile operating systems being used in the organization. Mobile device management software is often combined with additional security services and tools to create a complete mobile device and security management solution.
The Gartner research firm defines mobile device management as "a range of products and services that enables organizations to deploy and support corporate applications to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, possibly for personal use — enforcing policies and maintaining the desired level of IT control across multiple platforms."
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/mobile_device_management.html?dni=77876383&rni=19455418
September 6, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
saleratus
Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda (sodium carbonate). The natural mineral form is nahcolite. It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs. It is among the food additives encoded by European Union, identified by the initials E 500. Since it has long been known and is widely used, the salt has many related names such as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, and bicarbonate of soda. In colloquial usage, its name is shortened to sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, or simply bicarb. The word saleratus, from Latin sal æratus meaning aerated salt, was widely used in the 19th century for both sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate. The term has now fallen out of common usage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saleratus
September 6, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
binge thinking
pp. Overthinking a problem; thinking obsessively and intensely over a short period.
—binge thinker n.
http://www.wordspy.com/words/bingethinking.asp
September 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
chatterboxing
pp. Watching a TV show while talking to other people about that program online.
—chatterboxer n.
Example Citations:
Chatterboxing is particularly popular during soaps — almost 40,000 tweets are made during an episode of EastEnders. Juicy storylines can see tweets hit 6,000 a minute.
—Robert Wright, “Why we’ll never get fed up watching the telly,” Sunday Post, August 7, 2013
http://www.wordspy.com/words/chatterboxing.asp
September 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
faceless men
plural noun
People who wield (esp. political power) power behind the scenes.
http://andc.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/WOTM%20-%20faceless%20men.pdf
September 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Hemiplegia
Hemiplegia /he.mə.pliː.dʒiə/ is paralysis of the arm, leg, and trunk on the same side of the body. Hemiplegia is more severe than hemiparesis, wherein one half of the body has less marked weakness.1 Hemiplegia and Hemiparesis may be congenital, or they might be acquired conditions resulting from an illness, an injury, or a stroke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiplegia
September 4, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
technostructure
Syllabification: (tech·no·struc·ture)
Pronunciation: /ˈteknōˌstrəkCHər/
noun
treated as singular or plural
a group of technologists or technical experts having considerable control over the workings of industry or government.
Origin:
1960s: coined by J. K. Galbraith
http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/technostructure
September 4, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
snood
Because I love the word.
September 4, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
geophony
(gee.AWF.uh.nee) n. Sounds produced by the non-biological elements of the natural world.
—geophonic adj.
http://www.wordspy.com/words/geophony.asp
September 4, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
swooping season
Noun: The nesting season of the Australian magpie, especially as characterized by aggressive attacks on passers-by.
http://andc.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/WOTM%20swooping%20season.pdf
September 3, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
enigmatologist
A Puzzling Occupation: Will Shortz -- Enigmatologist
What's an enigmatologist? It's Will Shortz, puzzle editor of The New York Times since 1993. He's the only academically accredited one in the world, having designed his own major program at Indiana University, which in 1974 led to his one-of-a-kind degree in enigmatology.
http://www.crosswordtournament.com/articles/ct0398.htm
September 2, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
auspicate
aus·pi·cate aw-spi-keyt Show IPA
verb (used with object), aus·pi·cat·ed, aus·pi·cat·ing.
to initiate with ceremonies calculated to ensure good luck; inaugurate.
Origin:
1595–1605; < Latin auspicātus consecrated by auguries (past participle of auspicārī ), equivalent to auspic- (stem of auspex) + -ātus -ate1
verb
1. indicate by signs; "These signs bode bad news"
2. commence in a manner calculated to bring good luck; "They auspicated the trip with a bottle of champagne"
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/auspicate
September 1, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
phage therapy
Phage therapy is the therapeutic use of bacteriophages to treat pathogenic bacterial infections
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage_therapy
September 1, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
digital detox
noun
informal
a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world:
break free of your devices and go on a digital detox
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/digital-detox
August 31, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
double denim
noun
mass noun informal
a style of dress in which a denim jacket or shirt is worn with a pair of jeans or a denim skirt, often regarded as a breach of fashion etiquette:
wearing a suit and no socks is a cardinal sin—it’s even worse than double denim
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/double-denim
August 31, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Internet of things
noun
a proposed development of the Internet in which everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data:
if one thing can prevent the Internet of things from transforming the way we live and work, it will be a breakdown in security
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Internet-of-things
August 31, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
FOMO
Fear Of Missing Out
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/august-2013-update/
August 30, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Headline; How Selfies Are Re-Energizing The New York Public Library
Twerk and Selfie Added to Dictionary
"A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website."
http://mashable.com/2013/08/27/twerk-twerking-oxford-dictionary/
August 28, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
A petition to the World Meteorological Organization to switch away from naming extreme storms after normal people, e.g., Katrina, Sandy, Andrew, and instead name them after climate change deniers like Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann and Marco Rubio.
Subtraction.com: Climate Name Change (via lkm)
Brilliance.
http://shortformblog.com/post/59580824189/a-petition-to-the-world-meteorological
August 28, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
diworsify
diworsify
v. To make something worse by diversifying. diversify + worse.
Example Citations:
Foreign content: For 10 years, a way to “diworsify” your booming Canada-focused portfolio; now, a refuge while Canada gets its stock market comeuppance.
—Rob Carrick, “The complete cynic's guide to investing,” The Globe and Mail, August 15, 2012
http://www.wordspy.com/words/diworsify.asp
August 28, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
twerk
The dictionary's official definition of twerk is: "Dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance."
As example sentences, Oxford Dictionaries lists "Just wait till they catch their daughters twerking to this song" and "Twerk it girl, work it girl." The term originated in the 1990s, according to the new entry.
“There are many theories about the origin of this word, and since it arose in oral use, we may never know the answer for sure," Oxford Dictionaries' Katherine Connor Martin told the AP. "We think the most likely theory is that it is an alteration of work, because that word has a history of being used in similar ways, with dancers being encouraged to ‘work it.’ The ‘t’ could be a result of blending with another word such as twist or twitch."
http://mashable.com/2013/08/27/twerk-twerking-oxford-dictionary/
August 28, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
coccolithophore
Coccolithophores (also called coccolithophorids) are unicellular, eukaryotic phytoplankton (algae) belonging to the kingdom Protista or Chromista (according to the older Whittaker and newer Cavalier-Smith Biological Classification systems, respectively) phylum Haptophyta, class Coccolithophyceau, and the botanical division of haptophytes.2 They are distinguished by special calcium carbonate plates (or scales) of uncertain function called coccoliths, which are also important microfossils. Coccolithophores are almost exclusively marine and are found in large numbers throughout the euphotic zone of the ocean.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccolithophores
Carbon-Sequestering Ocean Plants May Cope With Climate Changes Over the Long Run
Aug. 26, 2013 — A year-long experiment on tiny ocean organisms called coccolithophores suggests that the single-celled algae may still be able to grow their calcified shells even as oceans grow warmer and more acidic in Earth's near future.
(Article goes on to say they are a major carbon sink)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130826100118.htm
August 28, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
battle of the sexes:
(game theory) A situation in which two people want to do different
things, but do them together.
August 28, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
natalism
Using RNA interference, or RNAi, the researchers looked at what happened when natalisin was silenced or knocked out from the insects' brains.
They found that the absence of natalisin in the brain led to the insects' physical inability to reproduce as well as reduced their interest in mating.
http://www.science20.com/news_articles/natalisin_change_shuts_down_reproductive_desire-119106
Kansas State University entomologists have helped identify a neuropeptide named natalisin that regulates the sexual activity and reproductive ability of insects.
The team is the first to observe and name the neuropeptide, which is composed of short chains of amino acids in the brain of insects and arthropods. The finding may open new possibilities for environmentally friendly pest management, said Yoonseong Park, professor of entomology at Kansas State University.
Park and colleagues recently published their findings in the study, "Natalisin, a tachykinin-like signaling system, regulates sexual activity and fecundity in insects." It appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and was conducted by the Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea; the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Slovakia; Korea University in South Korea; and Kansas State University.
Natalisin is part of insects' and arthropods' peptidergic system—a genetic network that uses small peptides as neurotransmitters to chemically relay messages throughout the body.
"Natalisin is unique to insects and arthropods and has evolved with them," Park said. "It appears to be related to a neuropeptide called tachykinin that is in mammals and invertebrates. While tachykinin is involved with various biological processes, including the control of blood flow in mammals, natalisin is linked to reproductive function and mating behavior in insects and arthropods."
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-08-scientists-reproductive-ability-desire-pest.html#jCp
August 28, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
‘Literally’ bothers me, too. But it’s not literally wrong.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-would-be-language-police-are-literally-wrong/2013/08/22/7463ca72-09ac-11e3-b87c-476db8ac34cd_story.html
August 23, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Mountweazels
Fictitious entries, also known as fake entries, Mountweazels, ghost words1 and nihil articles, are deliberately incorrect entries or articles in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and directories. Entries in reference works normally originate from a reliable external source, but no such source exists for a fictitious entry. Copyright trap is a specific case where the motivation for the entry is to detect plagiarism or copyright infringement.
The neologism Mountweazel was coined by the magazine The New Yorker based on a fictitious entry for Lillian Virginia Mountweazel in the 1975 edition of the New Columbia Encyclopedia.2 Another term, German "Nihilartikel" ("nihil article"), combines the Latin words nihil ("nothing") and "articulus" ("article")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountweazels
August 21, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
cuboct
Cheung produced flat, cross-shaped composite pieces that were clipped into a cubic lattice of octahedral cells, a structure called a "cuboct"—which is similar to the crystal structure of the mineral perovskite, a major component of Earth's crust.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-08-approach-big-small-interlocking-pieces.html#jCp
August 15, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
polonophobia
The terms Polonophobia, anti-Polonism, antipolonism and anti-Polish sentiment refer to a spectrum of hostile attitudes toward Polish people and culture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonophobia
August 15, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
pogonophobia
an abnormal fear or dislike of beards.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Pogonophobia
August 15, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
OxfordWords blog
(snip)
Electronic Lexicography
(snip)
Other more unusual possibilities are now available, too. Wordnik, as well as offering example sentences, provides images illustrating the word in question and tweets that use it. Online resources, Zimmer went on to say, also offer “much greater efficiency of access.” He showed how Wordnik and vocabulary.com offer a kind of advanced auto-complete; as users type letters in the search box, they are offered a list of words that start with that letter combination, accompanied by their definitions. The choices offered are based upon what others look up as well as “what we think you’re looking for.” Zimmer maintains that these new kinds of possibilities, as well as the application of technology to previously print-only works such as The Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), offer “new kinds of serendipity” rather than a loss of it, as some claim.
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/08/tweeps-in-the-dictionary/
August 15, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
autothysis
Autothysis is the process where an animal destroys itself via an internal rupturing or explosion of an organ which ruptures the skin. The term was proposed by Maschwitz and Maschwitz in 1974 to describe the defensive mechanism of the carpenter ant (Camponotus saundersi).12 It is caused by a contraction of muscles around a large gland that leads to the gland wall breaking. Some termites (such as the soldiers of Globitermes sulphureus) release a sticky secretion by rupturing a gland near the skin of their neck, producing a tar baby effect in defense against ants. It is a form of suicidal altruism.2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autothysis
August 15, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
giggity, giggity giggity goo
exclamation of sexual excitement; used by Glenn Quagmire on TV series Family Guy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giggity
August 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
fleadh
Irish folkmusic festival
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleadh
August 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
giggity giggity goo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giggity
August 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
giggity
exclamation expressing sexual excitement. Popularized by the character Glen Quagmire in the US cartoon Family Guy.
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/giggity
August 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
wowser
noun
: chiefly Australian an obtrusively puritanical person
Note; not found at ozwords.org
http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/
August 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
How does one cause the use of "commented on"? Meant for that to happen, and it didn't.
August 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
fiat
The origin of the word fiat in English is connected to the origin of the world itself. Taken from the Latin meaning “let it be done,” this word appears in the Latin translation of Genesis, the first book of the bible, when God proclaimed “let there be light” (fiat lux). As a result, many early uses of fiat were biblical illusions, as in John Donne’s 1597 poem The Storm. In it he writes that there will be darkness unless “God say/Another Fiat.”
It was not until the 1630s that English speakers started using fiat to describe an “authoritative decree,” often issued by royalty or clergy—two groups that depended on divine right for their power. By the turn of the 19th century, English speakers applied fiat’s meaning to less-than-Godly legal manners. The phrase “fiat in bankruptcy” gained popularity at this time. Later that century, the concept of “fiat money,” or currency that has no intrinsic value, but that the government gives a value to by declaring it legal tender, took its place in English-speaking minds.
The name of Fiat, the Italian car company, is an acronym, not only a nod to this powerful word. Its name originally stood for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, meaning loosely “Italian automobile factory of Turin,” the region in which the country was founded.
According to Google nGram, the word “fiat” peaked in usage in the 1840s, possibly due to the political upheaval of the revolutions of 1848
http://hotword.dictionary.com/fiat
August 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Mariolatry lorenvan
Mariolatryedit source | editbeta
icon This section requires expansion. (July 2011)
In the 18th and 19th centuries various groups of Protestants began to use the term Mariolatry to refer to the Roman Catholic, Anglo Catholic and Eastern Orthodox practices of Marian veneration and devotion. In their view, the extreme attention paid to Mary (mother of Jesus) may not only distract from the worship of God, but actually breaches on idolatry.1819
This trend has taken various directions over time, in that while some Protestants have at times softened their attitude towards it, others have strengthened their opposition in the 21st century. For instance, during the May 2006 celebrations at Our Lady of Walsingham in England, as Anglicans and Roman Catholics held a Marian procession, Protestant hecklers held banners that condemned Masses, idolatry and "Mariolatry".2021
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariolatry#Mariolatry
August 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Kantrowitz Limit
http://nextbigfuture.com/2013/08/elon-musk-hyperloop-all-technical.html#more
August 13, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Velleity /vɛˈliːɪtɪ/
This is mere inclination, a wish or desire that lacks the strength to overcome personal inertia. It is the ultimate inaction, far more so than procrastination, which is merely the postponement of action you know to be necessary. If you make a new year’s resolution to get fit but never even look into joining a gym, that’s velleity. If a notion to write a novel intrigues you, but you do nothing about it, that’s velleity.
Congress often contents itself with enacting “velleities” such as the wish in the 900-page Dodd-Frank financial reform act that “all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services ... (that are) fair, transparent, and competitive.”
The Virginian-Pilot, 7 Jun. 2012.
If the wish is father to the deed then velleity is childless. It is the impotent relative of volition, using one’s will. Surprisingly for two near opposites, velleity and volition share an origin. Both are from the Latin irregular verb velle, to will or wish, though volition comes directly from volo, I wish. The English word benevolent is from the same verb, literally well-wishing.
You’ll not find it much used, as it’s restricted to those with large vocabularies or the readiness to browse the less travelled pages of dictionaries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velleity
August 10, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
fothering A method of emergency repair used on hulled wooden ships. Sails were wrapped around damage until permanent repairs could be made. He was back in the West Indies by late 1806, where he navigated the badly leaking HMS Cerf back to Britain, fothering her hull with sails and with the pumps manned all throughout the voyage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter_(Royal_Navy_officer)
August 10, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
crowdsourcing;
crowdsourcing
noun - uncountable
the use of visitors to a website to accomplish some task. For example: the management of information on Wikipedia through its millions of visitors.
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/crowdsourcing
Science executive publisher Alan Leshner coined the term “cloud expertise” to characterize Dash’s crowdsourced approach to letting citizens inform public policy through the social networks they already use.
http://www.wired.com/business/2009/11/anil-dash-crowdsources-social-networks-to-inform-public-policy/
August 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
gynotician
AUGUST 9
A politician who feels more qualified than women and their doctors to make women's health care decisions. A combination of the words gynecologist and politician.
Republican governors such as Scott Walker and Rick Perry who impose draconian limitations on abortion clinics and attempt to limit access to HPV vaccinations, contraception and women's health care in general by shutting down Planned Parenthood clinics even though they do not perform abortions. They, and people like them, are gynoticians.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gynotician&defid=7107112
August 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Australian , New Zealand dictionary and blog.
http://ozwords.org/
August 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Sympathy Drunk
AUGUST 7
Someone who begins to act drunk when those around him/her are drunk but is not really intoxicated.
"Is she drunk? She's only like 15."
"No man she hasn't had any to drink at all; she's just a sympathy drunk"
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Sympathy%20Drunk&defid=7105693
August 7, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
calligraffiti
n. Graffiti that uses or is inspired by calligraphic letterforms and techniques.
—calligraffitist n.
This, explains Shoe, is the fundamental idea behind what he describes as calligraffiti. The form of art he says he conceived in 2007, which as the name suggests, is a fusion of calligraphy and graffiti.
—Flavia Di Consiglio, “"Calligraffiti": The graffiti artist inspired by medieval scribes,“ BBC News, August 6, 2013
August 7, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Northwest Angle
The Northwest Angle, known simply as the Angle by locals, and coextensive with Angle Township, is a part of northern Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota. The population was 119 at the 2010 census.1 Except for minor surveying errors, it is the only place in the United States outside Alaska that is north of the 49th parallel, which forms the international border from the Angle west to Washington State. It is one of only six non-island locations in the 48 contiguous states that are exclaves of the U.S. although not directly connected to them by land. At 49.22° north latitude, it is the northernmost township in Minnesota and the northernmost point in the contiguous 48 states. The unincorporated communities of Angle Inlet and Penasse are located in the Northwest Angle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Angle
August 7, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
soring
Soring is an abusive and prohibited practice illegal under the U.S. Horse Protection Act of 1970 that is associated in part with the production of "big lick" movement in Tennessee Walking Horses. It involves using chemical agents such as mustard oil, diesel fuel, kerosene, salicylic acid, and other caustic substances on the pasterns, bulbs of the heel, or coronary bands of the horses, causing burning or blistering of the horses' legs in order to accentuate their gaits. These chemicals are harmful, usually quite toxic and sometimes carcinogenic, such that trainers must use a brush and wear gloves when applying them. The treated area is then often wrapped in plastic while the chemicals are absorbed. The chemical agents cause extreme pain, and usually lead to scarring. A distinctive scarring pattern is a tell-tale sign of soring, and therefore attempts may be made to cover the scarring with a dye, or the horse's legs may be treated with salicylic acid before the animal is stalled (as many cannot stand up after the treatment) while the skin of the scars sloughs off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soring
August 7, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
biophilia
The term "biophilia" literally means "love of life or living systems." It was first used by Erich Fromm to describe a psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is alive and vital.3 Wilson uses the term in the same sense when he suggests that biophilia describes "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.” He proposed the possibility that the deep affiliations humans have with nature are rooted in our biology. Unlike phobias, which are the aversions and fears that people have of things in the natural world, philias are the attractions and positive feelings that people have toward certain habitats, activities, and objects in their natural surroundings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biophilia_hypothesis
August 2, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Concern about the effects of the coming climate changes.
August 2, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Armageddon Complex
It seems like everywhere we turn, we’re being fed the same old climate Armageddon story. You’ve heard it, I’m sure: If we continue to be dependent on fossil fuels, hundreds of gigatons of CO2 will continue to pour into the atmosphere, the temperature will rise above 2 degrees Celsius, and we’re done. There will be a biblical cocktail of hurricanes, floods, famines, wars. It will be terrifying, awful, epic and, yes, as far as any reputable scientist is concerned, those projections are for real.
I call this narrative the “Armageddon Complex,” and my own denial was a product of it.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/confessions-of-a-climate-change-denier?ica=Tweet&icl=ShareBar_Art_UR
August 2, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
TBM
Tunnel Boring Machine
http://www.gizmag.com/bertha-worlds-largest-tunnel-machine-seattle/28540/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=a5bdf65a67-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-a5bdf65a67-90550773
August 2, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
brochosomes
These balls, known as brochosomes, were first discovered in the early 1950s. Scientists knew that they were found on the shells of leafhoppers—a group of colourful, sap-sucking insects that includes more than 20,000 species.
Image and further info at
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/30/these-microscopic-balls-protect-insects-from-their-own-waste/
August 1, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
cronut
In case you needed more proof of the quickening pace of globalization, look no further than the “cronut.” Within two months, the hybrid pastry created in New York City as a cross between a croissant and a donut has spread around the world.
http://qz.com/109795/it-took-less-than-two-months-for-dunkin-donuts-to-mass-produce-the-cronut/
July 31, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
CDN
Content Delivery Network
Simmermon further noted that "some, but not all, online video providers have the resources to store copies, or caches, of their videos on servers that are a part of a Content Delivery Network, or CDN. When a user clicks on a link to a particular video, the Internet provider can quickly determine where the nearest cached copy of the video is on the CDN and deliver it. More popular videos will have more cached copies, with better performance, while less popular videos may be stored in fewer, further places."
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/07/why-youtube-buffers-the-secret-deals-that-make-and-break-online-video/3/
July 31, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
sodcast
v. To play music loud enough that other people can hear it, particularly in a public location. Sod + -cast.
—sodcasting pp.
—sodcaster n.
Example Citations:
Just a few days ago I was treated to a speech on this theme by a cab driver, whose list of grievances included the neglect of hand signals by people riding Boris bikes and the prevalence of sodcasting (playing loud music through a phone"s less than sweet-sounding speaker) on the train.
—Henry Hitchings, “Contrary to perception, we Londoners are now less rude than at any time in our history,“ London Evening Standard, January 11, 2013
When times are good, a community can just about cope: lack of empathy leads to nothing worse than the rudeness of sodcasting on buses, the discharging of one"s nostrils on to a pavement, the casual dropping of a takeaway food container into the doorway of someone else"s flat.
—Graeme Archer, “Empathy has fled the inner city, and it"s time for me to follow,“ The Telegraph, December 9, 2011
Earliest Citation:
Sodcast
Music, on a crowded bus, coming from the speaker on a mobile phone. Sodcasters are terrified of not being noticed, so they spray their audio wee around the place like tom cats.
—Pascal Wyse, “Wyse words,“ The Guardian, January 13, 2007
Notes:
The British slang term sod has many meanings and uses, but in this context it refers to a person who is an idiot or a jerk.
http://www.wordspy.com/words/sodcast.asp
July 31, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
The word "sponsee" was in regular use in AA 35 years ago (had my 35th birthday Saturday). It is still in use. Indicates one whom one
"sponsors".
July 29, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
francs-tireurs
Francs-tireurs—literally "free shooters"—was used to describe irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). The term was revived and used by partisans to name two major French Resistance movements set up to fight against the Germans during World War II.1
It is sometimes used to refer more generally to guerrilla fighters who operate outside the laws of war.23
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francs-tireurs
July 27, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Matilda effect
Since this systematic bias in scientific information and recognition practices fits the second half of Matthew 13:12 in the Bible, which refers to the under-recognition accorded to those who have little to start with, it is suggested that sociologists of science and knowledge can add to the ‘Matthew Effect’, made famous by Robert K. Merton in 1968, the ‘Matilda effect’, named for the American suffragist and feminist critic Matilda J. Gage of New York, who in the late nineteenth century both experienced and articulated this phenomenon.
—Margaret W. Rossiter, “The Matthew Matilda Effect in Science,” Social Studies of Science, May 1, 1993
Have you heard of the Matilda Effect? A term coined by historian of science Margaret Rossiter, it is the systematic downplaying/overlooking of women"s roles in scientific discovery.
—Athene Donald and Frank Norman, “Using Wikipedia to inspire the next generation of women scientists,” The Guardian, July 25, 2013
http://www.wordspy.com/words/Matildaeffect.asp
July 27, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
atmospheric rivers
Only identified about 20 years ago, atmospheric rivers are intense bands of moisture that flow through the air.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23455820
July 26, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
borny
Weiner was what I like to call “borny“: bored + horny. He’s not alone.
http://hypervocal.com/news/2013/weiner-borny/
July 26, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
16 Words That Are Much Older Than They Seem
http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/51857/16-words-are-much-older-they-seem
July 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
glycolchemistry
In November 2001 the University of Oxford Department of Chemistry created the Oxford Glycochemistry Centre. This establishes one the UK’s leading centres of excellence for all aspects of Carbohydrate Chemistry.
http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/ogc/
July 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
glycobiology
Biology: the biology of glycols.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7139/full/446999a.html
There are many combinations possible. See http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7139/abs/nature05813.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7139/abs/nature05814.html
July 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
caon
Alternate spelling of canyon.
Seen in short story "Outcasts of Poker Flats" by Brett Harte. Spelling repeated several times.
July 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
45X90 points
If you were to split the Earth's surface in to four parts, the center of each part would be a 45X90 point—the location between the geographical North or South Pole and the equator, and between the prime meridian and the 180th meridian. Two of the points are in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean, respectively. Another is in Poniatowski, Wisconsin, where visitors can become members of the 45X90 Club by signing a logbook.
The 45X90 points are the four points on earth which are halfway between the geographical poles, the equator, the Prime Meridian, and the 180th meridian. They are some of the earth's significant coordinate intersections.
The most well-known and frequently visited such point is 45°0′0″N 90°0′0″W / 45°N 90°W in the town of Rietbrock, Wisconsin near the unincorporated community of Poniatowski. A geographic marker has been placed there by the Marathon County Park Commission. With the increase in use of personal GPS devices, the sign was amended to clarify that the actual 45x90 point is actually approximately 1063 feet (324 m) away in a field behind the sign; the location of the marker was chosen because of its proximity to the road.
The point has become a bit of a pop culture phenomenon thanks to Gisecki's Tavern in the tiny cluster of establishments in Poniatowski. They once sold 45X90 T-shirts and registered visitors as members of the 45X90 Club.1 Since 2006, the Wausau/Central Wisconsin Convention & Visitors Bureau has been the holder of the official "45X90 Club" registration book. The book is on loan from the Gisecki family.2 Upon becoming a member of the "45X90 Club", the Wausau/Central Wisconsin Convention & Visitors Bureau will give new members a commemorative coin. The point has a web page devoted to it.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/45X90+points
July 23, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
chibouk (chibouc)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Wordnik has the word "chibouc", undefined.
An 1838 illustration of a Turkish coffee house with patrons smoking from long-stemmed chibouk pipes, as featured in Travels in the western Caucasus by Edmund Spencer.
A chibouk (French: chibouque; from the Turkish: çıbuk, çubuk (English: "stick"); also romanized čopoq, ciunoux or tchibouque)1 is a very long-stemmed Turkish tobacco pipe, often featuring a clay bowl ornamented with precious stones. The stem of the chibouk generally ranges between 4 and 5 ft. (1.2 and 1.5 m), much longer than even Western churchwarden pipes. While primarily known as a Turkish pipe, the chibouk was once popular in Iran, as well.
(seen in story by Edgar Allen Poe)
July 21, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
syntactician - A linguist who specializes in the study of grammar and syntax.
Synonyms: grammarian
Usage: He was nervous to have the grammarian review his writing, fearing a deluge of criticisms and corrections.
July 16, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
"argle-bargle"
When:
Lookups spiked on June 26, 2013.
Why:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act DOMA was unconstitutional. In his written dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia claimed that "the real rationale of today’s opinion, whatever disappearing trail of its legalistic argle-bargle one chooses to follow, is that DOMA is motivated by 'bare . . . desire to harm.'"
Argle-bargle, a relatively rare and primarily British word, means "a lively argument."
Justice Scalia was giving it a negative connotation – suggesting that the "legalistic argle-bargle" of the Court majority is a labyrinthine sort of word-wrangling that doesn't clearly lead anywhere.
Argle-bargle is formed by rhyming reduplication, a process that gave us words like "super duper" and "humdrum" (both of which have also been used by Scalia in Supreme Court opinions or oral arguments).
http://www.merriam-webster.com/trend-watch/2013/06/28/
July 8, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
ney
The ney (Persian: نی/نای; Turkish: ney; Azerbaijani: ney; Arabic: ناي; also nai, nye, nay, gagri tuiduk, or karghy tuiduk, Kurdish: Shimshal) is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continuously for 4,500–5,000 years, making it one of the oldest musical instruments still in use.
Heard on NPR's Weekend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ney
June 30, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
swift guanxi
Despite the reputation of online marketplaces being distant and impersonal, through social technologies such as instant messaging, they can create the sense of personal and social relationships between buyers and sellers, termed "swift guanxi" in China, to facilitate loyalty, interactivity and repeat transactions, according to new research by Temple University Fox School of Business Professor Paul A. Pavlou.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130614165137.htm
June 16, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
whiskey a gogo
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/932/whats-the-origin-of-the-term-go-go-dancer
June 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
diglossia \dahy-GLOS-ee-uh, -GLAW-see-uh\, noun:
1. the widespread existence within a society of sharply divergent formal and informal varieties of a language each used in different social contexts or for performing different functions, as the existence of Katharevusa and Demotic in modern Greece.
2. Pathology. the presence of two tongues or of a single tongue divided into two parts by a cleft.
Arabic took over many of the functions of Aramaic as the language of scholarship, and, as one vernacular replaced another, the original state of diglossia was restored.
-- David Biale, Cultures of the the Jews: A New History, 2002
Sociolinguistic studies indicate that diglossia and code-switching are very pertinent characteristics of the linguistic repertoires of a large portion of the population…
-- Christa Van der Walt, Living Through Languages: An African Tribute to René Dirven, 2006
Diglossia comes from the Greek term meaning "bilingual" and entered English in the 1950s.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/diglossia
June 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
snailpaper
n. A newspaper delivered physically and so more slowly compared to online news; the print edition of a newspaper. Also: snail-paper.
It's 2013. The screens are winning adherents left and right. Print newspapers are turning into "snailpapers" that arrive at our doorsteps with news that is 12 hours late.
—Dan Bloom, "Scissors, Paper, Screen: The Future of Reading," TeleRead, June 8, 2013
June 14, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
chase paper
verb to seek "paper" (i.e. money.)
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/chase-paper
June 13, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
banjoing
The government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is being accused of "banjoing" (in Liberian English, 'to sell something very cheap for quick money') the country's natural resources to foreign investors and swindlers at the detriment of the Liberian people.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201306121634.html?aa_source=nwsltr-latest-en
June 12, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Hipster Cable
The act of sharing passwords for sites such as Netflix, Hulu, HBOGO, etc, in order to receive similar passwords.
Larry: I just gave Dave my Netflix password and in exchange he gave me his Amazon prime password.
Tim: That's a serious hipster cable network your building.
June 12, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
drag (one's) ass
verb
to move or to go. Implies exhaustion.
to move slowly, due to tiredness.
I didn't sleep well last night, so I've been dragging my ass all day.
June 12, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
plasticarian
The hippie douchbag who is trying not to use plastic in his/her daily life.
Adam - "What's wrong with your teeth?"
Joe - "I can't brush them because I can't find any tooth brushes or tooth paste suitable for me :("
Adam - "Why not?"
Joe - "I'm a raging plasticarian"
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Plasticarian&defid=7081749
June 12, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
cablinasian
A portmanteau word combining Caucasian, Black, Native American (american Indian), and Asian heritages.
Used by Tiger Woods on the Oprah Winfrey show in 1997.
June 12, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
bliss point
n. The specific concentration of salt, sugar, or fat that makes a food maximally tasty.
Domestic goddess, Nigella Lawson has named salted caramel as her favourite 'food obsession', declaring a love affair with the class A confectionary 'drug' describing a 'bliss point' when the mix of sugar, fat and salt is just right.
—Fiona Donnelly, "Let salty-sweet sensations rock your palate (recipes included)," News Limited, August 4, 2012
June 11, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
twitterverse:
1. twitterverse
The cyberspace area of twitter. This naturally extends beyond twitter.com to anywhere you can twitter, which includes cell phones.
Wow, I think Scoble is one of the most popular people in the whole twitterverse!
2. Twitterverse
the name for the people of twitter and the space they occupy
Hello Twitterverse. Goodnight twitterverse. How is everyone in the twitterverse doing today/night?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=twitterverse
http://www.psfk.com/2009/06/powers-of-ten-for-the-twitterverse.html
June 10, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
orthosexuality:
1. Edward thoroughly enjoys and gaily admits his orthosexuality.
2. Only orthosexuality can produce sexually well-adjusted, truly gay human beings.
3. Thomas defends orthosexuality as the healthiest and gayest sexual behavior for all members of society.
4. Psychologists point to orthosexuality as the standard of sane sexual conduct.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=orthosexuality&defid=5514085
June 10, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
codger \KOJ-er\, noun:
an eccentric man, especially one who is old.
He'll find one of those joints and be there, evening after evening, talking to the bartender confidentially but loud enough. It won't be long before they get used to him. An old codger with money, stooped but still pretty big.
-- Louis Begley, Schmidt Delivered, 2000
One of the lesser Shadows whom we shall call Baron A. had a father-in-law called Baron B., a harmless old codger long retired from the civil service and quite incapable of understanding certain Renaissance aspects of the new regime.
-- Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, 1962
Codger is likely related to the word cadge meaning "to beg." Its etymology is uncertai
(me)
June 10, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
wonk \wongk\, noun:
1. a stupid, boring, or unattractive person.
2. a student who spends much time studying and has little or no social life; grind.
3. a person who studies a subject or issue in an excessively assiduous and thorough manner: a policy wonk.
“This is a guy who has been a policy wonk for his adult life, not only interested in what’s going on but really keeping up with it—and he’s smart as hell.”
-- John Colapinto, "Enter Laughing: Senator Franken's long journey," The New Yorker, 2009
…Nick…found himself…running up the staris of the Capitol in pursuit of the senator's chief aide, a gangly wonk in glasses…
-- Karen Olsson, Waterloo: A Novel, 2006
The origin of wonk, a word that entered English as US slang in the 1960s, is unknown, though it might be a shortening of the UK slang wonky.
June 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
1. flagin
fake, false, not real, not true to one's game. Often used by La Chat of Three 6 Mafia
Deze flagin azz bitches just kills me -La Chat
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flagin
June 9, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
delanceyplace.com 6/7/13 - our american regional accents are growing further apart
http://www.delanceyplace.com/index.php
June 7, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Hippies and Teddy Boys: Culture-bound Terms
http://hotword.dictionary.com/culture-bound-terms/
June 7, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Thanks, Erin.
June 6, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
http://www.forvo.com/
Pronunciation guide
June 6, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
trachle \TRAH-khuh\, noun:
1. an exhausting effort, especially walking or working.
2. an exhausted or bedraggled person.
verb:
1. to fatigue; tire; wear out.
2. to bedraggle.
"It's getting a sore trachle up thae bits o' braes you have about Craigie. I'm no' so young as I used to be."
-- James Barke, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, 1946
He headed down the middle of the street, his breathing evening out after the trachle across the beach.
-- Ducan McLean, Bucket of Tongues, 1992
While the origin of trachle is unknown, it might be related to the West Flemish tragelen meaning "to walk heavily."
June 6, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Just added some citations for cli-fi, but not sure where they go.
Help!
June 6, 2013
CarlosG commented on the word cli-fi
cli-fi
Example Citations:
Odds is the latest in what seems to be an emerging literary genre. Over the past decade, more and more writers have begun to set their novels and short stories in worlds, not unlike our own, where the Earth's systems are noticeably off-kilter. The genre has come to be called climate fiction — "cli-fi," for short.
—Angela Evancie, "So Hot Right Now: Has Climate Change Created A New Literary Genre?," National Public Radio, April 20, 2013
Cli-fi, or 'climate fiction,' describes a dystopian present, as opposed to a dystopian future. And don't call it 'science fiction.' Cli-fi is literary fiction.
—Husna Haq, "Climate change inspires a new literary genre: cli-fi," The Christian Science Monitor, April 26, 2013
Earliest Citation:
From "Soylent Green" in 1973 to "The Day After Tomorrow" in 2004, movies also began to venture into a new genre of science fiction that might be called "cli-fi" .. or climate fiction.
Cli-fi is also a new genre for novels and short stories.
—Dan Bloom, "The Next Big Genre: 'Cli-Fi' — Climate Fiction, in Which 'Mad Max' Meets 'The Road'," The Wrap, November 3, 2011
June 6, 2013
CarlosG commented on the word cli-fi
n. A literary or movie genre featuring dystopian stories of Earth affected by extreme climate change. Climate + fiction.
June 6, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
99 strange collective animal names
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/99-strange-collective-animal-names
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
linguistic Heisenberg principle:
These studies suggest a sort of linguistic Heisenberg principle: as soon as you label a concept, you change how people perceive it.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/06/psychology-language-power-of-names.html?mbid=nl_Daily%20(258)
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
takete:
sharp and rounded.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/06/psychology-language-power-of-names.html?mbid=nl_Daily%20(258)
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
maluma:
soft and rounded
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/06/psychology-language-power-of-names.html?mbid=nl_Daily%20(258)
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
THE POWER OF NAMES
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/06/psychology-language-power-of-names.html?mbid=nl_Daily%20(258)
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
deviant globalization:
http://qz.com/90470/a-smart-member-of-the-global-warrior-elite-discovers-the-next-big-threat/
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
derp:
The Origins of Derp
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/derp-meaning-origin.html
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
patent troll:
From Eletter _Wonkbook_; The day ‘patent troll’ entered the political lexicon
Obama Orders Regulators to Root Out ‘Patent Trolls’
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/business/president-moves-to-curb-patent-suits.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&wpisrc=nl_wonk_b&_r=0
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
spectrum sharing:
http://www.extremetech.com/electronics/157288-a-new-solution-for-the-spectrum-crunch-spectrum-sharing
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
adaptive cruise control:
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/157172-what-is-adaptive-cruise-control-and-how-does-it-work
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
smilezoned:
June 5
When you approach a member of the opposite sex to ask them out and they respond with a pitying smile.
Robert confidently approached the blonde at the bar and offered to buy her a drink. She briefly turned to him, gave a pitying smile, then turned away as if nothing had happened. Robert, visibly deflated, slunk back to his friends. One turned to him sympathetically and said, 'Smilezoned again?' A dejected Robert nodded pathetically, then wept into his cheap off-brand vodka and cola.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Smilezoned&defid=7074161
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
crazy-pants:
adjective
crazy.
a crazy person.
Hey crazy-pants: get down from there!
See more words with the same meaning: crazy, insane, weird, strange person.
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/crazy-pants
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Jagged little words: the language of Alanis Morissette
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/06/alanis-morissette/
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
furuncle:
A boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, infection of the hair follicle. It is most commonly caused by infection by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an accumulation of pus and dead tissue.1 Individual boils clustered together are called carbuncles.2 Most human infections are caused by coagulase-positive S. aureus strains, notable for the bacteria's ability to produce coagulase, an enzyme that can clot blood. Almost any organ system can be infected by S. aureus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furuncle
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
rheology:
Rheology /riːˈɒlədʒi/ is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in the liquid state, but also as 'soft solids' or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an applied force.1 It applies to substances which have a complex microstructure, such as muds, sludges, suspensions, polymers and other glass formers (e.g., silicates), as well as many foods and additives, bodily fluids (e.g., blood) and other biological materials or other materials which belong to the class of soft matter.
The term rheology was coined by Eugene C. Bingham, a professor at Lafayette College, in 1920, from a suggestion by a colleague, Markus Reiner.23 The term was inspired by the aphorism of Simplicius (often misattributed to Heraclitus), panta rhei, "everything flows"4
The experimental characterization of a material's rheological behaviour is known as rheometry, although the term rheology is frequently used synonymously with rheometry, particularly by experimentalists. Theoretical aspects of rheology are the relation of the flow/deformation behaviour of material and its internal structure (e.g., the orientation and elongation of polymer molecules), and the flow/deformation behaviour of materials that cannot be described by classical fluid mechanics or elasticity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheology
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
vexillology:
Vexillology is the "scientific study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general" (Smith 31) The word is a synthesis of the Latin word vexillum ("flag") and the Greek suffix -logy ("study"). It is formally defined by the International Federation of Vexillological Associations (known by its French acronym FIAV) constitution as "the creation and development of a body of knowledge about flags of all types, their forms and functions, and of scientific theories and principles based on that knowledge."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexillology
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
veridical:
ve·rid·i·cal (v-rd-kl) also ve·rid·ic (-rdk)
adj.
1. Truthful; veracious: veridical testimony.
2. Coinciding with future events or apparently unknowable present realities: a veridical hallucination.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/veridical
June 5, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
egesta:
syn for feces.
June 3, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Steatorrhea:
Fatty stool, as opposed to diarrhea, which is watery stool.
June 3, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
BASE
Acronymn
Stands for Building Antenna (radio tower) Span (bridge) Earth (cliff) - the four things parachuted from; BASE jumper.
June 3, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
SMIDSY
June 1
An acronym -
"Sorry Mate, I Didn't See You" is a common excuse given by cagers in car-motorcycle accidents.
I had my first smidsy yesterday at the junction..
June 3, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Our ambiguous world of words
http://phys.org/news/2013-05-ambiguous-world-words.html
May 31, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
A Brief List Of Misused English Terms In EU Publications
http://ec.europa.eu/translation/english/guidelines/documents/misused_english_terminology_eu_publications_en.pdf
May 31, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
omnishambles:
WOTD – 31 May 2012
Etymology edit
omni- + shambles. Coined by the television show The Thick of It in 2009.1
Noun edit
omnishambles (plural omnishambles)
(UK, chiefly politics) A situation that is bad or mismanaged in every way.
Between the car accident, the food poisoning and the lost keys, the holiday was an omnishambles.
Quotations edit
For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.
Synonyms edit
clusterfuck
debacle
fiasco
References edit
^ George Eaton. "The origin of "omnishambles"", New Statesman, 2012-04-18.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/omnishambles
May 31, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Team solves the origin of the Moon's 'mascons' mystery
Buried meteorites.
http://phys.org/news/2013-05-team-moon-mascons-mystery.html
May 30, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
have Van Gogh's ear for music:
(humorous) To be tone-deaf.
May 30, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Manhattenhenge:
New Yorkers were wowed on Wednesday by a sunset that was perfectly framed by skyscrapers, thanks to an urban astronomical phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge.
The same planetary tilt that determines the seasons also dictates exactly where the sun will go down each evening — and because of the way that Manhattan's dominant street grid is laid out, killer sunsets are potentially visible from some of the borough's best-known east-west streets in late May and mid-July. (snip)
http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/29/18590956-manhattanhenge-a-skyscraper-sunset-stops-traffic-in-new-york-city?lite
May 30, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Homance
May 30
A "Homance" is the female equivalent of a Bromance. A homance is a strong love between two straight females, the relationship can be described as closer than friends but less than a dating relationship.
Man Ashley and Kristen have such a Homance!
-We aren't Lesbians, We're bestfriends! We're a Homance!
urbandictionary.com
May 30, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
bight:
n.
1.
a. A loop in a rope.
b. The middle or slack part of an extended rope.
2.
a. A bend or curve, especially in a shoreline.
b. A wide bay formed by such a bend or curve.
Middle English, bend, angle, from Old English byht; see bheug- in Indo-European roots.
bight baɪt
n
1. (Earth Sciences / Physical Geography) a wide indentation of a shoreline, or the body of water bounded by such a curve
2. (Miscellaneous Technologies / Knots) the slack middle part of an extended rope
3. (Miscellaneous Technologies / Knots) a curve or loop in a rope
vb
(Miscellaneous Technologies / Knots) (tr) to fasten or bind with a bight
Old English byht; see bow2
Bight
n
(Placename)
the Austral informal the major indentation of the S coast of Australia, from Cape Pasley in W Australia to the Eyre Peninsula in S Australia In full the Great Australian Bight
bight (baɪt)
n.
1. a loop or slack part in a rope.
2. a bend or curve in the shore of a sea or river.
3. a body of water bounded by such a bend.
4. a bay or gulf.
v.t.
5. to fasten with a bight of rope.
before 1000; Middle English byght, Old English byht bend, bay; akin to Middle Low German bucht (akin to bow 1)
bight (bt)
A long, gradual bend or curve in a shoreline. A bight can be larger than a bay, or it can be a segment of a bay.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bight
May 30, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Immoral superiority
May 26, 2013 Urban Word of the Day
The belief or attitude that one is cooler than another because they pursue or pursued illicit deeds.
Jack bought a souvenir, but Meg stole one—demonstrating her immoral superiority.
The others laughed at him playing bananagrams, but Eddie knew he was cooler than them. He held immoral superiority; he smoked weed.
moral superiority moral superiority coolness cooler the dude better righteousness crime
by Rt. Hon. Smokes McSmokes May 25, 2013
2. Immoral superiority
/ɪˈmɒrəl/ /səˌpɪriˈɔrədi/
noun 1
state of self loathing manifested by vicious opposition to- and denigration of moral systems or western religious values or traditions
noun 2
indifference of- or disdain for democratic republic under God instead favoring irrational extremes of anarchy or tyranny
noun 3
moral anarchy
synonym: moralphobia
noun 4
rabble arousal
Egomaniacal truthiness driven contempt for well established repository of faith and wisdom masking an irrational fear of the natural order. In this endarkenment period the immoral superiority of contratheism (or lunatic asylum full of other practitioners) lets loose their inner hatemonger yearning to trample the rights of the super majority.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Immoral%20superiority&defid=7064943
May 29, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Driving While Gray 2824 up, 2661 down
May 22, 2013 Urban Word of the Day
A rude and age-ist accusation made by young drivers against older drivers whose speed does not exceed the legal limit.
“Grandma Death’s doing five miles an hour. Oh wait, six now.”
“Clearly a case of driving while gray.”
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Driving%20While%20Gray&defid=4864409
May 29, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
gloatgram
MAY 29
an instagram post that features the user boasting about their life, usually in the form of food or leisure/travel.
person a: "did you see the gloatgram that kevin posted?"
person b: "no."
person a: "he was in tahiti sipping mai tai out of a golden chalice."
person b: "what a dick."
http://www.urbandictionary.com/
May 29, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
enjambement
Pronunciation: /ɪnˈdʒam(b)m(ə)nt, ɛn-, ɒ̃ˈʒɒ̃bmɒ̃/
(also enjambment)
enjambement:
noun
mass noun
(in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza:he uses enjambment less than many poets
count noun:flat language and clumsy enjambments
Origin:mid 19th century: French, from enjamber 'stride over, go beyond', from en- 'in' + jambe 'leg'
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/enjambement
May 26, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
cumberbitch:
1.Any woman who has a deep fasination with the wonderful, beautiful, talented English stage and on-screen actor Benedict Cumberbatch.
2. A refernce given to people who admire the beautiful features of Benedict Cumberbatch. ex- his green eyes, beautiful cheekbones, sexy toussled hair.
3. Can be proper ladies, or "dirty. dirty ladies" and everyone in between.
I am a proud Cumberbitch.
Do you know what these ladies are called? Cumberbitches.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cumberbitch&defid=5601347
May 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
ludology:
Game studies or gaming theory is an academic discipline that deals with the critical study of games. More specifically, it focuses on game design, players, and their role in society and culture. Game studies is an inter-disciplinary field with researchers and academics from a multitude of other areas such as computer science, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, arts and literature, media studies, communication, theology, and more.
Like other media disciplines, such as television studies and film studies, game studies often involves textual analysis and audience theory. Game studies tends to employ more diverse methodologies than these other branches, however, drawing from both social science and humanities approaches
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludology
May 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
THE CRADLE OF ENGLISH: Police constables in England's Avon and Somerset
Constabulary say they're "baffled" by the advice given to them by
superiors ahead of the annual Problem Orientated Partnerships "problem-
solving competition" to be held in the United States. One officer
charged the document was "murder of the English language," while a
spokesman for the Plain English Campaign called the language
"Ploddledygook." Sample passage: "Coherent evaluation with sound
evidence of whether the aim was achieved along with what worked well
and why, and conversely, what didn't work so well and why How were the
outcomes of initiative shared? i.e.; if you addressed an issue arising
from PACT, how have you responded to the 'you said' by promoting 'we
did'?" (RC/London Telegraph) ...In rank they may be superior. In other
measures, not so much.
May 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish_words_used_in_English
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Yiddish_origin
May 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
The history of the term diaspora shows how a word’s meaning can spread from a very specific sense to encompass much broader ones.
Diaspora first entered English in the late nineteenth century to describe the scattering of Jews after their captivity in Babylonia in the fifth century B.C.E. The term originates from the Greek diasporá, meaning “a dispersion or scattering,” found in Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 25). While this specific historical sense is still used, especially in scholarly writing, modern-day definitions of the Jewish Diaspora (often with an initial capital letter) can refer to the displacement of Jews at other times during their history, especially after the Holocaust in the twentieth century. The term can also refer generally to Jews living today outside of Israel.
Diaspora also has been applied to the similar experiences of other peoples who have been forced from their homelands; for example, to the trans-Atlantic passage of Africans under the slave trade of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, which has been called the African Diaspora.
diaspora:
More recently, we find a scattering of the meaning of diaspora, which can now be used to refer not only to a group of people, but also to some aspect of their culture, as in “the global diaspora of American-style capitalism.”
Many examples and reader comments at
http://hotword.dictionary.com/diaspora/
May 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
skeuomorph:
noun
an ornament or design on an object copied from a form of the object when made from another material or by other techniques, as an imitation metal rivet mark found on handles of prehistoric pottery.
Origin:
1889; < Greek skeû ( os ) vessel, implement + -o- + -morph (cf. zoomorphic)
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/skeuomorph
May 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
epithalamium:
An epithalamium (/ˌɛpɨθəˈleɪmiəm/; Latin form of Greek ἐπιθαλάμιον epithalamion from ἐπί epi "upon," and θάλαμος thalamos nuptial chamber) is a poem written specifically for the bride on the way to her marital chamber. This form continued in popularity through the history of the classical world; the Roman poet Catullus wrote a famous epithalamium, which was translated from or at least inspired by a now-lost work of Sappho.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithalamium
May 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
terracide:
We have a word for the conscious slaughter of a racial or ethnic group: genocide. And one for the conscious destruction of aspects of the environment: ecocide. But we don't have a word for the conscious act of destroying the planet we live on, the world as humanity had known it until, historically speaking, late last night. A possibility might be "terracide" from the Latin word for earth.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Engelhardt-The-Biggest-Cr-by-Tom-Engelhardt-130523-725.html
May 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
cynodesme:
"Athletes sometimes had their penis tied up to assist freedom of movement. The foreskin was pulled forward and tied up with a string called the cynodesme, which means literally 'dog leash.' ...
Author: J.C. McKeown
Title: A Cabinet of Greek Curiosities
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: Copyright 2013 by Oxford University Press
Pages: 105-117
May 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
Pogonip:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Pogonip)
Ice fog over Fairbanks, Alaska in winter 2005. Temperature approximately minus 30F. Note the mirage at the base of the Alaska Range
Ice fog in Virginia City, Nevada, from an early 20th-century postcard
Ice fog is a type of fog consisting of fine ice crystals suspended in the air. It can happen only in cold areas of the world since water can remain liquid down to −40 °C (−40 °F). It should be distinguished from diamond dust, a precipitation of sparse ice crystals falling from a clear sky.1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogonip
May 25, 2013
CarlosG commented on the list carlos-words--1
genethliac:
ge·neth·li·ac juh-neth-lee-ak Show IPA
adjective Astrology .
of or pertaining to birthdays or to the position of the stars at one's birth.
Origin:
1575–85; < Latin genethliacus < Greek genethliakós, equivalent to genéthli ( os ) pertaining to one's birth (derivative of genéthlē birth) + -akos -ac
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/genethliac
May 23, 2013
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