An Alorn Clan-Chief is really a sort of miniking in many respects, and he's usually surrounded by a group of retainers who serve as court functionaries and double as bodyguards on the side.
--David and Leigh Eddings, 1995, Belgarath the Sorceror, p. 334
...geologists have long noted that early sediment deposits became muddier at some point and suggested a connection with plants.... But no one had pinpointed when that muddening happened.
It's hard to imagine nematodes fighting at all. There's little, if any, weaponry visible on the see-through micronoodle body of the species called Steinernema longicaudum.
I have a most curious coincidence to report. Last year I added the word "crocogator" to Wordnik. Today I realized that Crocs and gaiters are footwear in addition to being homonyms of reptiles.
The white termites (called locally "duck-ants") also build large dome-shaped nests, but more often on the slopes, and I did not see that they had much influence on the distribution of the molluscs.
--A. P. Brown, 1911, "Variation in some Jamaican species of Pleurodonte", Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 63: 131.
In some instances you might get, "I discussed it with an agent of the insurance company," and you might get a mistrial. In this day and age the subject of insurance does not always cause a mistrial, still you find that some judges, if they think you are fishing for that, will mistry you. --1963, Trial and Tort Trends: Belli Seminar 13: 7
The most celebrated case of the confusion of genomorphic and phenomorphic features is afforded by the free-standing chamber, around which there raged during the nineteenth century one of the most violent and classic disputes in the whole development of chamber tomb theory.
--Glyn E. Daniel, 1950, The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, p. 8
Some still deny the authenticity (i.e. the genomorphic character) of the earth-fast chamber, claiming that such chambers are 'simply greatly dilapidated exposed dolmens' or 'imperfect collapsed dolmens', and, while there is no doubt that the form of the earth-fast chamber can be, and has been, imitated by certain collapsed chambers, this does not detract from the genomorphic validity of the class as a whole. --Glyn E. Daniel, 1950, The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, p. 7
Sometimes archaeologists have not been over-careful in distinguishing between genomorphic and phenomorphic features, original features being claimed as phenomorphic or phenomorphs being taken as original.
--Glyn E. Daniel, 1950, The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, p. 7
The terms genomorph and phenomorph are here used to describe respectively features which are original, i.e., the deliberate work of the tomb builders, and apparent, i.e. the result of subsequent destruction. --Glyn E. Daniel, 1950, The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, p. 7
So is it with fame and success; and so with the Easiness of Chairs. As for this one, it has no friend, to itself unknown, with whose hopes and ambitions it has not constant sympathy. Why not have as much for it--not for its own comfort, but for yours? Why believe that it must needs be a disagreeable, vain, cowardly, flippant pufferdoodle because it is an Easy Chair? --Harper's New Monthly Magazine 16: 699 (1858)
Mowgli was sitting cross-legged, and explaining things with his forefinger in his usual way, when Bagheera put out a paddy paw and pulled him over backward into the water.
--Rudyard Kipling, 1895, The Two Jungles Books, p. 57
You're in good company using it in a locomotory sense:
"Mr. Jasinski was believably old, with a beetling walk and mannerisms that made Dr. Coppelius something between the unusual poles of tragic eccentric and lovable codger."
Researchers announced Thursday 15 August 2013 a rare discovery of a new species of mammal, the olinguito. The reddish-brown animal is about 14 inches long with an equally long tail and weighs about two pounds.
--Seth Borenstein, Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer, 16 August 2013, p. A4
Until your short yet still not unlongish collection, no revolutionary has concerned himself with our oppression, with the silken mechanisms whereby America reduces her writers to imbecility and cozenage.
A man bored with being a channel marker came and touched her elbow, and statelily she turned, leaving Bech her emanations, like an astronomer flooded by radio waves from a blank part of the sky.
This phrase is listed in In Other Words, A Language Lover's Guide to the Most Intriguing Words Around the World by C. J. Moore (2004), however, I can't find any bona fide uses online. Does it actually occur in French?
After cooling, open-head drums are shot blasted, dedented, leak tested, lined, and painted.
--C. J. Touhill and Stephen C. James, 1981, p. 325, in David Balack, ed., Land Disposal, Hazardous Wastes: Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Research Symposium
Solenidae are variously known as 'razor shells' (Britain), 'jack-knife' or 'razor clams' (USA), 'finger oysters' (Australia) and 'pencilbait' or 'stickbait' (South Africa).
--R. Kilburn & E. Rippey, 1982, Sea Shells of Southern Africa, p. 180
There's also the bizarre segregation of comments by the user from those of other users, which makes it hard to follow a conversation. And speaking of user unfriendliness, we can't even sort lists into alphabetical order. I miss John.
Hi bilby, I check back in every once in a while to see if things have improved on Wordnik. Now I see "Spam?...Spam?...Spam? running down the home page. I conclude that the decline continues. What an ugly, ham-handed way to do things. Sigh.
They will always be able to get the point of view of the man— husband, he was, of one of the village librarians— who couldn't tell an autoful of tourists how to get to Chatham.
--Katharine Crosby, 1946, Blue-water Men and other Cape Codders, p. 3
One definition is based on the method of analysis that produces the branching diagram (tree), the other is based on the way the tree is converted into a classification. The cladistic method identifies characters that are shared by groups (features inherited from a common ancestor), but some of those characters might be lost in some members of the group. The cladistic method also says that given a particular tree topology, the only groups that should be recognized are those that can be removed from the tree with a single cut (which gives an ancestor and all its descendants, i.e., a monophyletic group).
We next wrote to Key West, Florida. They answered our letters in excellent language and we learned many new and interesting facts. With characteristic southern generosity they sent us a box of curiosities by freight. In the box were cocoanuts as they grow on the tree, both large and small, king conch, queen conch, micromoc shells, several specimens of coral, and a branch showing how it begins to form, star fish, three sponges (one fine one ), one picked up on the sea coast, sea caps, plumper, soldier crab, king crab, clam shells, sun shells, periwinkle, coffee shells, barnicles, sea fan, sea moss, snake shells, and other rare things from the sea.
--Susan H. Teas, 1894, "Letter writing in connection with the geography work", Indiana School Journal 39(10): 585
To the naturalist, of whatever "persuasion," these mangrove thickets afford a wonderful field 'for observation. If he is an ornithologist, the homes of the herons and the eyries of the ospray sic are here at hand; is he a conchologist, how rapturously he views in the still water the winged aplysea sic, the rich tints of the triton, or, as it climbs the buttress of the mangrove, the mottled mickramock; a lover of crustaceans, the great hermit-crab, with his imbricated armor and formidable side-arms, most potent for defense, at the mouth of his confiscated castle; mayhap a gorgeously colored strombus of the larger growth.
--"Along the Florida Reef", 1871, Harper's New Monthly Magazine 42(249): 359
We are not enthusiastic over the use of common names. Vernacular names are actually in use for conspicuous shells and those of economic value. Many in use, such as "paper fig" or "micremoc" (Cypraea cervus) are not adopted in this book. But to make up names for every insignificant periwinkle seems to us of little use.
--Henry A. Pilsbry, 1954, The Nautilus 68: 36 (in a review of American Seashells by R. T. Abbott)
Hi biocon, I've tracked down anatomical uses of prominentia and protuberantia as early as 1625 in this Latin text. In English texts, the words diverge, with terms based on protuberantia much earlier than those based on prominentia: "protuberantia ossea longitudinalis" in 1698, versus "prominentia frontalis" in 1839.
Thanks for explaining more of what's going on behind the scenes. Any chance you could file a ticket to get the 20,000 character limit on lists descriptions raised? I've mentioned it several times before, but haven't gotten an answer as to whether it was possible or in the works. It's particularly a problem with my Panvocalic euryvocalic list, because each link to a sequence uses up 58 characters. If it's not possible to raise the limit, would it be possible to restore the "u=mollusque" syntax in place of (or in addition to) "?created_by=mollusque". That would shorten the links.
This constant Distention of the uterine lacteals, proceeds from the great Quantity of spissid Chyle, or the Coarctation, Obstruction, and Compression of the Colatoria, whereby they retain too long their Contents.
--Jean Astruc, 1743, A Treatise on all the Diseases Incident to women, p. 101
. . . numerous investigations have convinced me that the smallest streamlets, if devoid of proper membranous parietes, have, even in the glandular organs, a kind of boundary, furnished by a thick or more spissid substance than the blood.
--E. Geddings, 1837, review and translation of Johannes Mueller on the secernent glands, American Journal of the Medical Sciences 19: 430
The night was spissy darkness itself; the sky was completely overcast, and it seemed to us as if fate was wholly relentless, in pursuing us with such a cruel complication of disasters.
--Owen Chase, 1821, Narrative of the most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-ship Essex of Nantucket
Schize is a rare word, more often used as a noun than a verb. Here's an example that uses both:
"If psychoanalytical discourse reposes on 'woman' as absence, on the imposibility of elaborating what is beyond the phallus, on the impossibility of feminine rapport and on the othering of 'woman' to the point of her foreclosure, in an analogy to a 'gaze' that is the forever schized so that a certain unconscious and a split subject can emerge, then art may be a site from which some light may be shed on another 'woman', for in the act of painting the schize between the gaze and the eyes melts and is woven into swerved distance."
--Brian Massumi, 2002, A Shock to Thought: Expression after Deleuze and Guattari, p. 237
Prolagus, this malaise has been affecting Wordnik for at least a year. Ten months ago on Erin's profile, I noted that Wordnik had only one tenth as many comments per week as Wordie used to. It's still at that anemic level, including all the comments and complaints about the new interface.
Zeke, you said, "Thanks for all the feedback. We are listening." You might be listening, but I don't think Wordnik the corporation is listening. In my comment ten months ago, I asked Erin "Where do you see Wordnik going?" I thought her response was just a pat on the head, but held my tongue at the time. The only meaningful thing she said then was "The next big goal, sitewise, is to make it easier for people to contribute in fun and interesting ways."
As we have seen, for the most part, that has not happened. Instead the site continues to be depersonalized, substituting mash-up for original content. That's understandable. That's where the profits lie. And Wordnik is a corporation, currently with 18 employees, and advertising for a Head of Business Development.
Notice that the Blog is active again, although this hasn't been mention under Community, and that it doesn't mention the site revamp. Or maybe it does, but there isn't a way to get to older blog posts. The Community just isn't important to Wordnik. There aren't enough of us contributing to make it worth the corporation investing much effort to keep us happy. I've been asking for an increase in the 20,000 character limit in list descriptions for about a year, and haven't even gotten a response to the comments, let alone a fix.
It's time to admit that we don't matter to corporate Wordnik, even though we do matter to a few of the employees.
The problem is not that different people have different subscriptions, it's that you aren't activating the links you provide. It looks like you are using square brackets around the URL, but those are only for internal links to word pages; they are misdirecting to the "Not Found" page. If I paste your OED link directly into my browser, it takes me to the desired webpage in the OED (because I have a subscription and I'm logged in).
To activate the links, use <a href="URL">text you want to show as link</a>. (A summary of html codes pops up if you click the "Some html" link over the comment box.)
It's also easy to add words to a list accidentally, by click on the list name assuming it will take you to the list. Please restore the old way of adding words to lists.
I don't use software beyond the search tools that Google offers. The problem in researching a word like "malace" is sifting through all the false positives: misspellings of "malice", OCR errors, proper names, etc.
Wordnik doesn't have a tool for bulk upload of words. One could probably use something like AppleScript to automate uploads from a Excel file.
Hi biocon, thanks for the reply. I've also flagged many words as occurring in the OED, using the tag oed2 (lower case from the Wordie days when upper case wasn't accepted).
Some of the words you've listed are what I call dictionary words, since there are no known examples of their occurrence outside of dictionaries (malace, mollicine, although the later is also a trade name Mollicine). Trawling Google Books and Google Scholar to find bonafide usages of these words can be fun.
By the way, I'm also a biologist. Welcome to Wordnik!
But a few steps removed from his hotel there was a notable grog shop, kept by one Donahue, where the drinking and uproarishness still continued and served to demoralize the town.
--Autobiography of Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes, 1798-1877, p. 624 (1978)
Hi buzznelson, first hand information from the men who flew the planes is an excellent source to support the "pickle barrel" derivation of the word. People have been writing about WWII since WWII, so it's odd that the first known occurrence of "pickle switch" in print hasn't yet been pushed earlier than 1960 (excluding references to "Pickle's Switch" in the railway industry before WWI).
Interesting possibility for the derivation, but I can't find any citations of World War II vintage. The first uses of the term in Google Books (1960-1964) all concern activating cameras using a pickle switch. Some of these were aerial cameras, so the term could then have transferred to other aerial triggering functions.
Bob stirred his sugar-and-cream-laced chicory with a twig, sipped at it and gave Rudi a shrewd slanticular glance before he squinted out at the plain to the east.
Among other features, it is to the oblique, and as our Transatlantic friends have it, the slanticular direction of these rocks, from the point into the Bristol Channel, that the cause of some of the reciprocation of the waters under Penarth is owing.
--W. H. Smyth, 1840, Nautical Observations on the Port and Maritime Vicinity of Cardiff, p. 16
An appropriate name for such an effect, in which two or more flavor compounds together give a completely different flavor sensation, is a "synosmic effect".
--George Charalambous and Ira Katz, 1976, Phenolic, Sulfur, and Nitrogen Compounds in Food Flavors: a Symposium, p. 106
I made my first word list sometime in the 1970s. Chromonyms, the oldest list I have good records of, was started in the early 1980s, although it wasn't my first Wordie/Wordnik list. Panvocalic was my first word.
There is an easier way, sionnach. For a list with more than 100 words, divide the number of words on the list by 100, add one to the part to the left of the decimal, and append it to the list URL:
The single example that Wordnik gives seems to be the only bonafide usage. It comes from Travels in Arabia by Burckhardt (1829). It was picked up by Davies (1881) in A Supplementary English Glossary. A review of the glossary used lithoclast to illustrate the importance of vocabulary: "If he could only frame his lips to call a stone-breaker a lithoclast (for which Mr. Davies furnishes him with good authority), we do not doubt for an instant that he would very shortly be raised by a unanimous vote of the villagers to the distinguished office of surveyor of the highways."
Hi Wordplayer, both spellings are used. Online, nadaswaram is about 10 times more common than nagaswaram. In print (judging from Google Books), which is a proxy for having some editorial or copyediting input, the opposite pattern occurs: nagaswaram leads nadaswaram about 8 : 5. In the most reliable sources (judging from Google Scholar), they're in a virtual dead-heat. I've added nadaswaram.
Thanks frogapplause and PossibleUnderscore! The list is now "unflampointed" and the others are added except yestereve (with a "y") and urubus (I have urubu).
I agree, ruzuzu. Better to post now. It's too late for me to avoid second-guessing, but at least I can avoid triple-thinking, like pondering what it means that you matched yourself to lunette.
They went into a dark hall. It was heavy with the odor of linoleum and creosote and another odor behind these two. The third one was an undersmell and Enoch couldn't name it as anything he had ever smelled before.
The CBE manual doesn't specifically address the possessive of "species". It does have a few of relevant guidelines: "The general principle of adding an apostrophe and "s" holds for most nouns, including proper nouns, that end in "s". Pronunciation can serve as a guide: if one would pronounce the possessive "s", it should appear in the written form". "If in a particular case the double sibilant sounds awkward, the sentence should be recast to avoid the possessive form altogether." "The possessive forms of Greek and hellenized names of more than 1 syllable ending in "s" (which often have an unaccented ending pronounced "eez", as well as those of "Jesus" and "Moses", are formed by adding an apostrophe only."
Yes, the CBE Manual (1994). I have a copy in my office at work, so I'll see what it has to say about possessive species. (CBE stands for Council of Biology Editors; it's been supplanted by the Council of Science Editors.)
Trying to figure out why "species's" sounds wrong to me, I come up with two possibilities. As a practicing biologist, I don't hear other biologists saying it, although biologists often do write "species's". Also, "species" sounds plural even though it can be singular, echoing "crises" and "bases". Difficulty of pronunciation doesn't seem to be a factor: "Moses's" and "Jesus's" don't sound wrong to me. I think the answer is that "species's" is generally pronounced the same way as "species", so the distinction is made in writing, not in speech.
Whether you add " 's" or just an apostrophe depends on the pronunciation, not whether the word is singular or plural. "Douglas's watch" is correct because it's pronounced "Douglases". "Specieses" sounds wrong, so I'd use "species' ecology" rather than "species's ecology".
A few suggestions for the WOTD functions: html codes don't work in the "Add note" section. It would be great if they could be enabled. Also, if you go to another window while writing a note and then return, the note is lost. Could this be set to work like the comments box for lists and words, which "remembers" its draft contents? Also an edit function for the note would be helpful. Maybe the edit function (and others?) are shut off while John troubleshoots?
Help! I started a word of the day list. I accidentally entered a note without a word, and "delete" doesn't seem to work in that situation, so I'm blocked from making a entry for March 27. Also, it would be nice to have the option to edit the notes rather than having to delete the whole word and start again.
Another thought, Liberty: your list title allows broader interpretation that mine. There are lots of things that are edible that one might hesitate to eat, considering literal or figurative meanings (rock candy, green M&Ms).
Not at all! Part of the fun of Wordnik is seeing how similar lists develop in different ways. Also, it's a time-honored tradition to scan other lists for inspiration, or just to pillage them directly.
Tagging wouldn't give a way to see how many of the sequences are represented in at least one word. I do sometimes tag all the words that contain an interesting rare sequence such as abc.
Thanks, ruzuzu. I stopped at "b" when I realized I'd skipped a couple of obvious sequences, like "ady" and "aff". I haven't had a chance to rebuild the list yet, which unfortunately involves deleting or moving and then readding each word, in order to insert the missing ones in order.
An anagram with the same meaning is possible: enraged and angered. But grenade, grandee and derange are also anagrams, which detracts from the "perfection".
Perhaps a word that has one and only anagram for each letter in the word could be said to be perfect: emit, item, mite, time. But what happens if Nepalese meti (a transgender person) is adopted into English? Would the set no longer be perfect?
Hi hernesheir, thanks for the invite. I've kept track of my coinages at Inflicted on Wordie. I added a few to your list. If you think some of the others have currency, go ahead and add them.
We also used three basic wordprint definitions: (1) frequency of letters, (2) frequency of commonly occurring noncontextual words, (3) frequency of rarely occurring noncontextual words.
Comments by mollusque
mollusque commented on the word miniking
An Alorn Clan-Chief is really a sort of miniking in many respects, and he's usually surrounded by a group of retainers who serve as court functionaries and double as bodyguards on the side.
--David and Leigh Eddings, 1995, Belgarath the Sorceror, p. 334
May 30, 2020
mollusque commented on the word shoot
Especially if you're a panda.
December 16, 2018
mollusque commented on the word muddening
...geologists have long noted that early sediment deposits became muddier at some point and suggested a connection with plants.... But no one had pinpointed when that muddening happened.
--Carolyn Gramling, 2018, Science News 193(6): 9
July 8, 2018
mollusque commented on the word micronoodle
It's hard to imagine nematodes fighting at all. There's little, if any, weaponry visible on the see-through micronoodle body of the species called Steinernema longicaudum.
--Susan Milius, 2018, Science News 193(8): 37
July 4, 2018
mollusque commented on the word conker
Breaking snail shells? (shudder)
May 23, 2017
mollusque commented on the word crocogator
I have a most curious coincidence to report. Last year I added the word "crocogator" to Wordnik. Today I realized that Crocs and gaiters are footwear in addition to being homonyms of reptiles.
April 17, 2017
mollusque commented on the word duck-ant
The white termites (called locally "duck-ants") also build large dome-shaped nests, but more often on the slopes, and I did not see that they had much influence on the distribution of the molluscs.
--A. P. Brown, 1911, "Variation in some Jamaican species of Pleurodonte", Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 63: 131.
August 23, 2016
mollusque commented on the word crocogator
By way of explanation, he was told that "a crocogator has the head of a crocodile on one end and the head of an alligator on the other end."
Graphic Communications Weekly (1972) Volumes 5-6, p. 78
August 14, 2016
mollusque commented on the word mistry
In some instances you might get, "I discussed it with an agent of the insurance company," and you might get a mistrial. In this day and age the subject of insurance does not always cause a mistrial, still you find that some judges, if they think you are fishing for that, will mistry you.
--1963, Trial and Tort Trends: Belli Seminar 13: 7
February 18, 2016
mollusque commented on the list lees
Thanks, bilby!
February 15, 2016
mollusque commented on the word phenomorphic
The most celebrated case of the confusion of genomorphic and phenomorphic features is afforded by the free-standing chamber, around which there raged during the nineteenth century one of the most violent and classic disputes in the whole development of chamber tomb theory.
--Glyn E. Daniel, 1950, The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, p. 8
February 15, 2016
mollusque commented on the word genomorphic
Some still deny the authenticity (i.e. the genomorphic character) of the earth-fast chamber, claiming that such chambers are 'simply greatly dilapidated exposed dolmens' or 'imperfect collapsed dolmens', and, while there is no doubt that the form of the earth-fast chamber can be, and has been, imitated by certain collapsed chambers, this does not detract from the genomorphic validity of the class as a whole.
--Glyn E. Daniel, 1950, The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, p. 7
February 15, 2016
mollusque commented on the word phenomorph
Sometimes archaeologists have not been over-careful in distinguishing between genomorphic and phenomorphic features, original features being claimed as phenomorphic or phenomorphs being taken as original.
--Glyn E. Daniel, 1950, The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, p. 7
February 15, 2016
mollusque commented on the word genomorph
The terms genomorph and phenomorph are here used to describe respectively features which are original, i.e., the deliberate work of the tomb builders, and apparent, i.e. the result of subsequent destruction.
--Glyn E. Daniel, 1950, The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, p. 7
February 15, 2016
mollusque commented on the word uniseason
An artificial "uniseason" is unnatural and stressing. Better body weather is a self-controlled acclimatization to seasonal changes.
--Bruce Palmer, Body Weather, 1976, p. 162
February 1, 2016
mollusque commented on the list sweet-tooth-fairy
"Bad timing belt" was in the cartoon "Dustin" today.
January 14, 2016
mollusque commented on the word appologist
Someone who studies apps: "Robbie Melton: Appologist."
https://sites.udel.edu/campusvoices/2014/05/01/sfi2014-1/
October 31, 2015
mollusque commented on the word bad gateway
Why is "Community" giving a message "502 Bad Gateway nginx/1.7.6" today?
December 20, 2014
mollusque commented on the list on-with-their-heads
As punishment your username will be changed to AnkhUghes.
October 18, 2014
mollusque commented on the list dictionary-words-and-escapees
Well-begotten!
July 17, 2014
mollusque commented on the user ruzuzu
I don't know of a list for obsolete and disused science terms. Maybe time to start one?
May 11, 2014
mollusque commented on the list sweet-tooth-fairy
My daughter just found personal space invader in the wild.
April 7, 2014
mollusque commented on the word pufferdoodle
So is it with fame and success; and so with the Easiness of Chairs. As for this one, it has no friend, to itself unknown, with whose hopes and ambitions it has not constant sympathy. Why not have as much for it--not for its own comfort, but for yours? Why believe that it must needs be a disagreeable, vain, cowardly, flippant pufferdoodle because it is an Easy Chair?
--Harper's New Monthly Magazine 16: 699 (1858)
March 22, 2014
mollusque commented on the word niecicle
A little niece.
March 22, 2014
mollusque commented on the word nephule
A little nephew.
March 22, 2014
mollusque commented on the word voldemutt
The dog whose name must not be mentioned (otherwise he'll want to be taken for a walk).
March 22, 2014
mollusque commented on the word paddy paw
Mowgli was sitting cross-legged, and explaining things with his forefinger in his usual way, when Bagheera put out a paddy paw and pulled him over backward into the water.
--Rudyard Kipling, 1895, The Two Jungles Books, p. 57
March 22, 2014
mollusque commented on the list words-my-family-invented
Glypheme's family, meet my family.
March 22, 2014
mollusque commented on the word beetling
You're in good company using it in a locomotory sense:
"Mr. Jasinski was believably old, with a beetling walk and mannerisms that made Dr. Coppelius something between the unusual poles of tragic eccentric and lovable codger."
---New York Times, 30 October 1989
March 22, 2014
mollusque commented on the word saturnine
Saturate plus one.
March 22, 2014
mollusque commented on the word five-day forecast
Four-day fivecast?
March 22, 2014
mollusque commented on the list outcasts
Maybe the script should filter out duplicates?
January 13, 2014
mollusque commented on the list panvocalics
Sweet! Thanks, yarb.
September 20, 2013
mollusque commented on the word olinguito
Researchers announced Thursday 15 August 2013 a rare discovery of a new species of mammal, the olinguito. The reddish-brown animal is about 14 inches long with an equally long tail and weighs about two pounds.
--Seth Borenstein, Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer, 16 August 2013, p. A4
August 16, 2013
mollusque commented on the word oubliation
And the one thing I thought was that the creature comforts of the dungeon did nothing to mitigate the basic fact of oubliation.
--Kurt Vonnegut, 1963, Cat's Cradle
August 1, 2013
mollusque commented on the word unlongish
Until your short yet still not unlongish collection, no revolutionary has concerned himself with our oppression, with the silken mechanisms whereby America reduces her writers to imbecility and cozenage.
--John Updike, 1970, Bech: a Book, p. 6
June 3, 2013
mollusque commented on the word statelily
A man bored with being a channel marker came and touched her elbow, and statelily she turned, leaving Bech her emanations, like an astronomer flooded by radio waves from a blank part of the sky.
--John Updike, 1970, Bech: a Book, p. 160
June 3, 2013
mollusque commented on the user bilby
I noticed a town of Bilby in Jamaica on a topographic map today.
March 13, 2013
mollusque commented on the word quine-mine
This phrase is listed in In Other Words, A Language Lover's Guide to the Most Intriguing Words Around the World by C. J. Moore (2004), however, I can't find any bona fide uses online. Does it actually occur in French?
December 18, 2012
mollusque commented on the user ruzuzu
Thanks for sharper ruzuzu!
November 8, 2012
mollusque commented on the word non-meltant
My daughter and I use this to describe margarine that does not melt satisfactorily.
September 14, 2012
mollusque commented on the list mollusks
Abra is a genus of clam.
August 20, 2012
mollusque commented on the word dedented
In script mode, the next-less-indented (or dedented) statement, print a marks the end of a block but is not part of the block...
--Chris Fehily, 2002, Visual Quickstart Guide: Python, p. 182
August 5, 2012
mollusque commented on the word dedented
After cooling, open-head drums are shot blasted, dedented, leak tested, lined, and painted.
--C. J. Touhill and Stephen C. James, 1981, p. 325, in David Balack, ed., Land Disposal, Hazardous Wastes: Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Research Symposium
August 5, 2012
mollusque commented on the word pencilbait
Solenidae are variously known as 'razor shells' (Britain), 'jack-knife' or 'razor clams' (USA), 'finger oysters' (Australia) and 'pencilbait' or 'stickbait' (South Africa).
--R. Kilburn & E. Rippey, 1982, Sea Shells of Southern Africa, p. 180
July 7, 2012
mollusque commented on the user mollusque
There's also the bizarre segregation of comments by the user from those of other users, which makes it hard to follow a conversation. And speaking of user unfriendliness, we can't even sort lists into alphabetical order. I miss John.
April 28, 2012
mollusque commented on the word capsella
Hi bilby, I check back in every once in a while to see if things have improved on Wordnik. Now I see "Spam?...Spam?...Spam? running down the home page. I conclude that the decline continues. What an ugly, ham-handed way to do things. Sigh.
April 28, 2012
mollusque commented on the word aspargus
No asparaging remarks.
April 28, 2012
mollusque commented on the word autoful
They will always be able to get the point of view of the man— husband, he was, of one of the village librarians— who couldn't tell an autoful of tourists how to get to Chatham.
--Katharine Crosby, 1946, Blue-water Men and other Cape Codders, p. 3
April 24, 2012
mollusque commented on the list sum-of-full-and-some
autosome, autoful?
April 24, 2012
mollusque commented on the list panvocalics
I do consider it a misspelling. How did you come across it.
January 27, 2012
mollusque commented on the list more-gruel
Thanks, actung: washbrew lead me to girdbrew.
January 14, 2012
mollusque commented on the user mollusque
With sproingy rhinophores?
January 5, 2012
mollusque commented on the list fabrics
Thanks actung, I have it listed under tabinet.
December 22, 2011
mollusque commented on the word clade
One definition is based on the method of analysis that produces the branching diagram (tree), the other is based on the way the tree is converted into a classification. The cladistic method identifies characters that are shared by groups (features inherited from a common ancestor), but some of those characters might be lost in some members of the group. The cladistic method also says that given a particular tree topology, the only groups that should be recognized are those that can be removed from the tree with a single cut (which gives an ancestor and all its descendants, i.e., a monophyletic group).
November 22, 2011
mollusque commented on the word micromoc
We next wrote to Key West, Florida. They answered our letters in excellent language and we learned many new and interesting facts. With characteristic southern generosity they sent us a box of curiosities by freight. In the box were cocoanuts as they grow on the tree, both large and small, king conch, queen conch, micromoc shells, several specimens of coral, and a branch showing how it begins to form, star fish, three sponges (one fine one ), one picked up on the sea coast, sea caps, plumper, soldier crab, king crab, clam shells, sun shells, periwinkle, coffee shells, barnicles, sea fan, sea moss, snake shells, and other rare things from the sea.
--Susan H. Teas, 1894, "Letter writing in connection with the geography work", Indiana School Journal 39(10): 585
November 20, 2011
mollusque commented on the word mickramock
To the naturalist, of whatever "persuasion," these mangrove thickets afford a wonderful field 'for observation. If he is an ornithologist, the homes of the herons and the eyries of the ospray sic are here at hand; is he a conchologist, how rapturously he views in the still water the winged aplysea sic, the rich tints of the triton, or, as it climbs the buttress of the mangrove, the mottled mickramock; a lover of crustaceans, the great hermit-crab, with his imbricated armor and formidable side-arms, most potent for defense, at the mouth of his confiscated castle; mayhap a gorgeously colored strombus of the larger growth.
--"Along the Florida Reef", 1871, Harper's New Monthly Magazine 42(249): 359
November 20, 2011
mollusque commented on the word micramoc
The Cowries. . .called in Florida micramocs, have richly enameled and marked shells; the spire not seen and the opening is small.
--C. F. Holder and J. B. Holder, 1884, Elements of Zoölogy, p. 63
November 20, 2011
mollusque commented on the word micremoc
We are not enthusiastic over the use of common names. Vernacular names are actually in use for conspicuous shells and those of economic value. Many in use, such as "paper fig" or "micremoc" (Cypraea cervus) are not adopted in this book. But to make up names for every insignificant periwinkle seems to us of little use.
--Henry A. Pilsbry, 1954, The Nautilus 68: 36 (in a review of American Seashells by R. T. Abbott)
November 20, 2011
mollusque commented on the word virtuoso
I once heard Peter Schickele in a P. D. Q. Bach performance render this as "virtuasuoso".
September 29, 2011
mollusque commented on the word bling
Searching for bling along with words related to jewelry in Google Books suggests that it appeared around 1999.
September 24, 2011
mollusque commented on the word prominentia
Hi biocon, I've tracked down anatomical uses of prominentia and protuberantia as early as 1625 in this Latin text. In English texts, the words diverge, with terms based on protuberantia much earlier than those based on prominentia: "protuberantia ossea longitudinalis" in 1698, versus "prominentia frontalis" in 1839.
September 11, 2011
mollusque commented on the word passalorynchite
Listed as passalorhynchite in the Century Dictionary, but that seems to be a rarer spelling.
September 3, 2011
mollusque commented on the word headbutt
Headbutt your mouth's face! (Seen here.)
September 2, 2011
mollusque commented on the word moll
I seem to be an autantonym, not being female, gangster or single.
August 31, 2011
mollusque commented on the word square grouper
More likely jetsam than flotsam.
August 14, 2011
mollusque commented on the word corn bread pudding
I had this perfect sweet tooth fairy for dessert last night.
August 13, 2011
mollusque commented on the word new interface
Hi Erin,
Thanks for explaining more of what's going on behind the scenes. Any chance you could file a ticket to get the 20,000 character limit on lists descriptions raised? I've mentioned it several times before, but haven't gotten an answer as to whether it was possible or in the works. It's particularly a problem with my Panvocalic euryvocalic list, because each link to a sequence uses up 58 characters. If it's not possible to raise the limit, would it be possible to restore the "u=mollusque" syntax in place of (or in addition to) "?created_by=mollusque". That would shorten the links.
August 6, 2011
mollusque commented on the word worship
Are there places where worship and warship are pronounced the same?
August 3, 2011
mollusque commented on the word Molineaux
Hi agi, notice the oiaeu tag on "Molineaux". Similarly, alphavocalic words are tagged aeiou and aeiouy.
July 30, 2011
mollusque commented on the word new interface
Rolig, are you implying that some panvocalics are not amazing?
July 13, 2011
mollusque commented on the word spissid
The quotations below are the earliest and latest currently in Google Books; the earlier one antedates the OED's sole example, which is from 1782.
July 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the word spissid
This constant Distention of the uterine lacteals, proceeds from the great Quantity of spissid Chyle, or the Coarctation, Obstruction, and Compression of the Colatoria, whereby they retain too long their Contents.
--Jean Astruc, 1743, A Treatise on all the Diseases Incident to women, p. 101
July 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the word spissid
. . . numerous investigations have convinced me that the smallest streamlets, if devoid of proper membranous parietes, have, even in the glandular organs, a kind of boundary, furnished by a thick or more spissid substance than the blood.
--E. Geddings, 1837, review and translation of Johannes Mueller on the secernent glands, American Journal of the Medical Sciences 19: 430
July 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the word spissy
The night was spissy darkness itself; the sky was completely overcast, and it seemed to us as if fate was wholly relentless, in pursuing us with such a cruel complication of disasters.
--Owen Chase, 1821, Narrative of the most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-ship Essex of Nantucket
July 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the word schize
Schize is a rare word, more often used as a noun than a verb. Here's an example that uses both:
"If psychoanalytical discourse reposes on 'woman' as absence, on the imposibility of elaborating what is beyond the phallus, on the impossibility of feminine rapport and on the othering of 'woman' to the point of her foreclosure, in an analogy to a 'gaze' that is the forever schized so that a certain unconscious and a split subject can emerge, then art may be a site from which some light may be shed on another 'woman', for in the act of painting the schize between the gaze and the eyes melts and is woven into swerved distance."
--Brian Massumi, 2002, A Shock to Thought: Expression after Deleuze and Guattari, p. 237
July 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the word schize
Schism is a very common English word; but who has heard to schize?
--C. Deedes, 1900, Notes and Queries (9)6: 208
July 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the user biocon
I've found examples for schize, spissy, and spissed other than those given in the OED. I'll add them to the pages for the words.
July 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the word new interface
Prolagus, this malaise has been affecting Wordnik for at least a year. Ten months ago on Erin's profile, I noted that Wordnik had only one tenth as many comments per week as Wordie used to. It's still at that anemic level, including all the comments and complaints about the new interface.
Zeke, you said, "Thanks for all the feedback. We are listening." You might be listening, but I don't think Wordnik the corporation is listening. In my comment ten months ago, I asked Erin "Where do you see Wordnik going?" I thought her response was just a pat on the head, but held my tongue at the time. The only meaningful thing she said then was "The next big goal, sitewise, is to make it easier for people to contribute in fun and interesting ways."
As we have seen, for the most part, that has not happened. Instead the site continues to be depersonalized, substituting mash-up for original content. That's understandable. That's where the profits lie. And Wordnik is a corporation, currently with 18 employees, and advertising for a Head of Business Development.
Notice that the Blog is active again, although this hasn't been mention under Community, and that it doesn't mention the site revamp. Or maybe it does, but there isn't a way to get to older blog posts. The Community just isn't important to Wordnik. There aren't enough of us contributing to make it worth the corporation investing much effort to keep us happy. I've been asking for an increase in the 20,000 character limit in list descriptions for about a year, and haven't even gotten a response to the comments, let alone a fix.
It's time to admit that we don't matter to corporate Wordnik, even though we do matter to a few of the employees.
July 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the word Mamavirus
Even larger than Mimivirus.
July 8, 2011
mollusque commented on the word tortoise rescue
Tortoises only, not turtles or terrapins.
July 8, 2011
mollusque commented on the word supernovaing
During his reign as box-office king in the 1980s, Murphy described the yes-man mentality that studio executives exhibited toward a supernovaing star.
--Frank Sanello, 1997, Naked Instinct: the Unauthorized Biography of Sharon Stone, p. 195
July 7, 2011
mollusque commented on the word dog midwife
A specialty of Daystar Pets.
July 5, 2011
mollusque commented on the word personalized m&m's
Seen here.
July 5, 2011
mollusque commented on the word cave cricket removal
A service offered by Alco Animal & Pest Control.
July 4, 2011
mollusque commented on the word sweater deballing
A service offered by Martin's Cleaners in Collingswood, New Jersey.
July 4, 2011
mollusque commented on the list nyah--nyah--nyah
Who's your nanny?
June 29, 2011
mollusque commented on the user biocon
I haven't been able to locate "fortin" as an adjective other than in the phrase "Samson Fortin".
June 29, 2011
mollusque commented on the user biocon
The problem is not that different people have different subscriptions, it's that you aren't activating the links you provide. It looks like you are using square brackets around the URL, but those are only for internal links to word pages; they are misdirecting to the "Not Found" page. If I paste your OED link directly into my browser, it takes me to the desired webpage in the OED (because I have a subscription and I'm logged in).
To activate the links, use <a href="URL">text you want to show as link</a>. (A summary of html codes pops up if you click the "Some html" link over the comment box.)
June 28, 2011
mollusque commented on the list this-list-is-bananas
It seems no longer to be on the site. I couldn't find it by searching for words I know appeared in the comments, such as "Cyrillic" and "kacker".
June 26, 2011
mollusque commented on the user feedback
It's also easy to add words to a list accidentally, by click on the list name assuming it will take you to the list. Please restore the old way of adding words to lists.
June 26, 2011
mollusque commented on the list verba-tuberum
How about apophysis?
June 25, 2011
mollusque commented on the list kangaroo-words
bRAdburY
June 25, 2011
mollusque commented on the user biocon
I don't use software beyond the search tools that Google offers. The problem in researching a word like "malace" is sifting through all the false positives: misspellings of "malice", OCR errors, proper names, etc.
Wordnik doesn't have a tool for bulk upload of words. One could probably use something like AppleScript to automate uploads from a Excel file.
June 25, 2011
mollusque commented on the user biocon
Hi biocon, thanks for the reply. I've also flagged many words as occurring in the OED, using the tag oed2 (lower case from the Wordie days when upper case wasn't accepted).
Some of the words you've listed are what I call dictionary words, since there are no known examples of their occurrence outside of dictionaries (malace, mollicine, although the later is also a trade name Mollicine). Trawling Google Books and Google Scholar to find bonafide usages of these words can be fun.
By the way, I'm also a biologist. Welcome to Wordnik!
June 24, 2011
mollusque commented on the user biocon
The links you're providing to the OED won't work for people who don't have passwords for the Galileo system.
June 24, 2011
mollusque commented on the list behr-paint-colors
Hi ruzuzu, the Behr is colorfast. I searched about thirty color names and tags today and didn't find any changes.
June 22, 2011
mollusque commented on the word uproarishness
But a few steps removed from his hotel there was a notable grog shop, kept by one Donahue, where the drinking and uproarishness still continued and served to demoralize the town.
--Autobiography of Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes, 1798-1877, p. 624 (1978)
June 18, 2011
mollusque commented on the user feedback
I'm getting the "Trouble delivering that page" message when I try to go to my word-of-the-day list.
June 18, 2011
mollusque commented on the word red or green
Curry? Grapes? Cabbage?
June 15, 2011
mollusque commented on the list abstraction
haeccity, quiddity?
June 12, 2011
mollusque commented on the word bookazine
Do you prefer magabook?
June 12, 2011
mollusque commented on the list things-that-make-me-happy--1
*blushes*
June 12, 2011
mollusque commented on the list unruzuzu
Roseanne Roseannadanna?
June 12, 2011
mollusque commented on the list bird-wirds-nicknames
baldface
June 12, 2011
mollusque commented on the list bees
canning bee, spinning bee
June 12, 2011
mollusque commented on the list please-pass-the-ly
Have you plundered pterodactyl's Word's that look like adverbs but aren't?
June 8, 2011
mollusque commented on the word pickle switch
Hi buzznelson, first hand information from the men who flew the planes is an excellent source to support the "pickle barrel" derivation of the word. People have been writing about WWII since WWII, so it's odd that the first known occurrence of "pickle switch" in print hasn't yet been pushed earlier than 1960 (excluding references to "Pickle's Switch" in the railway industry before WWI).
June 7, 2011
mollusque commented on the word pickle switch
Interesting possibility for the derivation, but I can't find any citations of World War II vintage. The first uses of the term in Google Books (1960-1964) all concern activating cameras using a pickle switch. Some of these were aerial cameras, so the term could then have transferred to other aerial triggering functions.
June 4, 2011
mollusque commented on the word slanticular
Bob stirred his sugar-and-cream-laced chicory with a twig, sipped at it and gave Rudi a shrewd slanticular glance before he squinted out at the plain to the east.
--S. M. Stirling, 2007, The Sunrise Lands, p. 287
June 4, 2011
mollusque commented on the word slanticular
Among other features, it is to the oblique, and as our Transatlantic friends have it, the slanticular direction of these rocks, from the point into the Bristol Channel, that the cause of some of the reciprocation of the waters under Penarth is owing.
--W. H. Smyth, 1840, Nautical Observations on the Port and Maritime Vicinity of Cardiff, p. 16
June 4, 2011
mollusque commented on the word brunnescent
Also spelled brunescent, especially in the context of cataracts (of the eyes).
June 4, 2011
mollusque commented on the word hosterage
To be emu-lated.
June 2, 2011
mollusque commented on the word pedum
When capitalized, a genus of bivalves that lives embedded in coral.
June 1, 2011
mollusque commented on the word hosterage
Rheally fine!
June 1, 2011
mollusque commented on the word synosmic
An appropriate name for such an effect, in which two or more flavor compounds together give a completely different flavor sensation, is a "synosmic effect".
--George Charalambous and Ira Katz, 1976, Phenolic, Sulfur, and Nitrogen Compounds in Food Flavors: a Symposium, p. 106
May 27, 2011
mollusque commented on the list lost-for-word
I would have thought synosmic, but that turns out to have different meaning.
May 27, 2011
mollusque commented on the word undervarmint
Do undervarmints wear undergarments?
May 23, 2011
mollusque commented on the list first-lists
I made my first word list sometime in the 1970s. Chromonyms, the oldest list I have good records of, was started in the early 1980s, although it wasn't my first Wordie/Wordnik list. Panvocalic was my first word.
May 20, 2011
mollusque commented on the list first-lists
There is an easier way, sionnach. For a list with more than 100 words, divide the number of words on the list by 100, add one to the part to the left of the decimal, and append it to the list URL:
May 20, 2011
mollusque commented on the user hernesheir
Thanks, hernesheir! I put grougrou on Isograms.
May 20, 2011
mollusque commented on the word lithoclast
The single example that Wordnik gives seems to be the only bonafide usage. It comes from Travels in Arabia by Burckhardt (1829). It was picked up by Davies (1881) in A Supplementary English Glossary. A review of the glossary used lithoclast to illustrate the importance of vocabulary: "If he could only frame his lips to call a stone-breaker a lithoclast (for which Mr. Davies furnishes him with good authority), we do not doubt for an instant that he would very shortly be raised by a unanimous vote of the villagers to the distinguished office of surveyor of the highways."
May 13, 2011
mollusque commented on the word Draculamya
...grottoes?
May 12, 2011
mollusque commented on the word Draculamya
Not yet. I might start carrying a silver helix.
May 11, 2011
mollusque commented on the list dont-drink-this
You could make a list of bilby's list, ruzuzu, starting here.
May 11, 2011
mollusque commented on the list sweet-tooth-fairy-dominoes
sign
May 11, 2011
mollusque commented on the word Draculamya
A parasitic clam that sucks fluids from its host.
May 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the list monovocalics
Thanks frogapplause, I added all but atalaya (with that pesky "y"), and haphtara (haftarah is on the list). I put Rakshasa on Monovocalic Proper, and pensée on Monovocalic polygot.
May 7, 2011
mollusque commented on the list identify-the-wordienik
Blafferty, I'm glad you're casting a shadow now!
May 5, 2011
mollusque commented on the list identify-the-wordienik
Here's my reasoning:
bilby was an ingenue last time around, so I thought that the goings on about the world might make him queasy at times.
blafferty has been on Wordnik for more than two years, but said very little until recently so ascian seemed appropriate.
chained_bear likes old stuff like mortsafes.
dontcry and erinmckean: I went for the obvious connections (not that they were immediately obvious) and hoped the words weren't gangerherrings.
fbharjo makes different connections than I usually would, which seems sinistral.
frindley: pandas are friendly looking.
frogapplause: frogs metamorphose, and so does frogapplause, which is protean.
gangerh: I judged he couldn't resist a STF, especially with all the double-think going around.
hernesheir: is balsamaceous because he likes adjectives and has studied plants.
oroboros: emordnilap, as he collects odd word patterns.
PossibleUnderscore: harlequin is purely a guess from the remaining unmatched words.
Prolagus: his sigh from the previous contest has escalated to an aaaaaaargh!.
pterodactyl: when airborne a pterodactyl is lugged around by its hide.
reesetee: an editor can be chrestomathic.
ruzuzu: definitely playful even if that's not her chosen word.
seanahan: prodigal is another pure guess.
sionnach: is learning French, which is distingue.
Wordicolina: Most recent Wordnik among the entrants, so a greenhorn.
Wordplayer: young word afficionados often start with a love of long words.
yarb: is often present when the conversation turns to him, even if he hasn't been commenting.
May 4, 2011
mollusque commented on the list monovocalics
Hi Wordplayer, both spellings are used. Online, nadaswaram is about 10 times more common than nagaswaram. In print (judging from Google Books), which is a proxy for having some editorial or copyediting input, the opposite pattern occurs: nagaswaram leads nadaswaram about 8 : 5. In the most reliable sources (judging from Google Scholar), they're in a virtual dead-heat. I've added nadaswaram.
May 1, 2011
mollusque commented on the list monovocalics
Thanks frogapplause and PossibleUnderscore! The list is now "unflampointed" and the others are added except yestereve (with a "y") and urubus (I have urubu).
April 30, 2011
mollusque commented on the list wordienik-anagrams
Ur Zuzu if capitalized words are allowed.
April 28, 2011
mollusque commented on the list plurale-tantum
monkeyshines . . .
April 27, 2011
mollusque commented on the list plurale-tantum
Butterfingers!
April 27, 2011
mollusque commented on the word piscinely
Owner Jerry Zimmerman goes to great pains to see that his fish is as fresh as piscinely possible.
--Neal O. Weiner, David M. Schwartz, 1986, The Interstate Gourmet: Midwest
April 26, 2011
mollusque commented on the word sponge
They should be called incurrent and excurrent, since sponges don't breathe air.
April 26, 2011
mollusque commented on the list identify-the-wordienik
I agree, ruzuzu. Better to post now. It's too late for me to avoid second-guessing, but at least I can avoid triple-thinking, like pondering what it means that you matched yourself to lunette.
bilby: queasy
blafferty: ascian
chained_bear: mortsafe
dontcry: tear-resistant
erinmckean: calepinerienne
fbharjo: sinistral
frindley: panda
frogapplause: protean
gangerh: heartstringsplucker
hernesheir: balsamaceous
oroboros: emordnilap
PossibleUnderscore: harlequin
Prolagus: aaaaaaargh!
pterodactyl: hidelugged
reesetee: chrestomathic
ruzuzu: playful
seanahan: prodigal
sionnach: distingue
Wordnicolina: greenhorn
Wordplayer: hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophile
yarb: present
April 24, 2011
mollusque commented on the list identify-the-wordienik
Don't know why, but I'm finding the Australians are the hardest to match to words.
April 23, 2011
mollusque commented on the word manege
What do you call it if you train three horses at a time?
April 19, 2011
mollusque commented on the list autantonyms
Does citation qualify?
April 19, 2011
mollusque commented on the word new-cut
See loadum and primero.
April 19, 2011
mollusque commented on the list identify-the-wordienik
He's both.
April 19, 2011
mollusque commented on the list this-line-is-printed-in
And sometimes it's left out altogether: see minion in the Century Dictionary.
April 18, 2011
mollusque commented on the word bossypants
See Bossypants (title of Tina Fey's new book).
April 18, 2011
mollusque commented on the word bossypants
When people understand what she Thatcher is up to, they regard her as a great leader; when they don't, she is a bossypants.
--The Spectator 256: 6 (1986)
April 18, 2011
mollusque commented on the list frogapplause-suitcase
Can frogs get dandruff?
April 17, 2011
mollusque commented on the list lost-for-word
Not even slightly.
How about pristinity?
April 16, 2011
mollusque commented on the word undersmell
They went into a dark hall. It was heavy with the odor of linoleum and creosote and another odor behind these two. The third one was an undersmell and Enoch couldn't name it as anything he had ever smelled before.
--Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood (1952)
April 16, 2011
mollusque commented on the word usquebaugh
See mollusque baugh.
April 16, 2011
mollusque commented on the list lost-for-word
How about integrity, yarb?
April 15, 2011
mollusque commented on the word ellogofusciouhipoppokunurious
Sixteen vowels: see eellogofusciouhipoppokunurious.
April 15, 2011
mollusque commented on the list isograms
Thanks, Wordplayer. It's not an isogram, but I added it to Tandem Repeat.
April 13, 2011
mollusque commented on the word awesome
Maybe he could use a vowelhound?
April 12, 2011
mollusque commented on the list unbilby
bilious(ness)
April 11, 2011
mollusque commented on the word b3y
n1w, n1w, r4u.
April 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the word decorticated
Are your cockles decorticated?
April 9, 2011
mollusque commented on the list test--29
"Test" is an old word for "shell".
April 8, 2011
mollusque commented on the list pelage
Thanks ruzuzu!
April 8, 2011
mollusque commented on the word Sansculottide
See Sansculottides.
April 6, 2011
mollusque commented on the word puberphonia
Yes, but with a better selection of vowels.
April 6, 2011
mollusque commented on the word loosies
Cigarettes are often sold by the stick in the Philippines (and presumably many other places).
April 6, 2011
mollusque commented on the user feedback
I agree, Prolagus. "All the words, and everything about them, for everybody" suggests a tin ear for language.
Feedback folks, please restore the "All the words" tagline!
April 1, 2011
mollusque commented on the word species
The CBE manual doesn't specifically address the possessive of "species". It does have a few of relevant guidelines: "The general principle of adding an apostrophe and "s" holds for most nouns, including proper nouns, that end in "s". Pronunciation can serve as a guide: if one would pronounce the possessive "s", it should appear in the written form". "If in a particular case the double sibilant sounds awkward, the sentence should be recast to avoid the possessive form altogether." "The possessive forms of Greek and hellenized names of more than 1 syllable ending in "s" (which often have an unaccented ending pronounced "eez", as well as those of "Jesus" and "Moses", are formed by adding an apostrophe only."
March 31, 2011
mollusque commented on the word species
Yes, the CBE Manual (1994). I have a copy in my office at work, so I'll see what it has to say about possessive species. (CBE stands for Council of Biology Editors; it's been supplanted by the Council of Science Editors.)
March 31, 2011
mollusque commented on the word species
Trying to figure out why "species's" sounds wrong to me, I come up with two possibilities. As a practicing biologist, I don't hear other biologists saying it, although biologists often do write "species's". Also, "species" sounds plural even though it can be singular, echoing "crises" and "bases". Difficulty of pronunciation doesn't seem to be a factor: "Moses's" and "Jesus's" don't sound wrong to me. I think the answer is that "species's" is generally pronounced the same way as "species", so the distinction is made in writing, not in speech.
March 30, 2011
mollusque commented on the word species
Whether you add " 's" or just an apostrophe depends on the pronunciation, not whether the word is singular or plural. "Douglas's watch" is correct because it's pronounced "Douglases". "Specieses" sounds wrong, so I'd use "species' ecology" rather than "species's ecology".
March 30, 2011
mollusque commented on the word uturuncu
More likely a jaguar (to the degree that therianthropy is likely), since the word is from Quechua. See uturuncus.
March 29, 2011
mollusque commented on the user feedback
Thanks John and Tonytam!
A few suggestions for the WOTD functions: html codes don't work in the "Add note" section. It would be great if they could be enabled. Also, if you go to another window while writing a note and then return, the note is lost. Could this be set to work like the comments box for lists and words, which "remembers" its draft contents? Also an edit function for the note would be helpful. Maybe the edit function (and others?) are shut off while John troubleshoots?
March 25, 2011
mollusque commented on the word foiable
Subject to being obtained or disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act in the United States.
March 25, 2011
mollusque commented on the user feedback
Any advice on the delete bug in WOTD lists? Should I just delete the list and start again?
March 25, 2011
mollusque commented on the user feedback
Help! I started a word of the day list. I accidentally entered a note without a word, and "delete" doesn't seem to work in that situation, so I'm blocked from making a entry for March 27. Also, it would be nice to have the option to edit the notes rather than having to delete the whole word and start again.
March 24, 2011
mollusque commented on the word uncellophaning
Uncellophaning a comb he raked the dandruff from Danny's scalp.
--Norman Stein, 1957, "A Second Chance for Samson", Commentary 24: 148
March 22, 2011
mollusque commented on the word handcraftsmanship
Quick, make it plural.
March 21, 2011
mollusque commented on the word teratonym
It could be useful as a term for malformed words (such as anatidaephobia).
March 21, 2011
mollusque commented on the word quixoticallypractical
parapragmatic?
March 21, 2011
mollusque commented on the list to-eat--or-not-to-eat
Another thought, Liberty: your list title allows broader interpretation that mine. There are lots of things that are edible that one might hesitate to eat, considering literal or figurative meanings (rock candy, green M&Ms).
March 16, 2011
mollusque commented on the list to-eat--or-not-to-eat
Not at all! Part of the fun of Wordnik is seeing how similar lists develop in different ways. Also, it's a time-honored tradition to scan other lists for inspiration, or just to pillage them directly.
*Strolls off to add pi to his list*
March 15, 2011
mollusque commented on the word ember weeks
And embergoose.
March 11, 2011
mollusque commented on the list permutations
You could fulfill both imperatives by tagging words that first appear in Rabelais or translations of his works: aleatory, baralipton, bebump, celivagous, centumviral . . .
March 11, 2011
mollusque commented on the list permutations
Ruzuzu, this is frightening. I don't have a three-to-make-four list, but On with their heads! is similar, with the corresponding tag behead.
So stop muttering and start tagging!
March 11, 2011
mollusque commented on the list permutations
Tagging wouldn't give a way to see how many of the sequences are represented in at least one word. I do sometimes tag all the words that contain an interesting rare sequence such as abc.
March 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the word ganglionic
I first read this as gangerhonic.
March 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the list permutations
Thanks, ruzuzu. I stopped at "b" when I realized I'd skipped a couple of obvious sequences, like "ady" and "aff". I haven't had a chance to rebuild the list yet, which unfortunately involves deleting or moving and then readding each word, in order to insert the missing ones in order.
March 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the word mispronounced
I can't find my pronouns.
March 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the list lost-for-word
And dubya. I collect those too, along with the letters. And Words about words.
Come to think of it, all my lists are of perfect words. I don't list misspellings, which are the only imperfect words.
March 10, 2011
mollusque commented on the list lost-for-word
How about parental, paternal, prenatal which are related though not synonymous.
Of course I've been collected "perfect" words for years: panvocalics.
March 9, 2011
mollusque commented on the list lost-for-word
An anagram with the same meaning is possible: enraged and angered. But grenade, grandee and derange are also anagrams, which detracts from the "perfection".
Perhaps a word that has one and only anagram for each letter in the word could be said to be perfect: emit, item, mite, time. But what happens if Nepalese meti (a transgender person) is adopted into English? Would the set no longer be perfect?
March 9, 2011
mollusque commented on the word zymase
I think zymose edges it out.
March 9, 2011
mollusque commented on the word matitudinal
Variant of matutinal.
March 8, 2011
mollusque commented on the word epiphragm
More like a storm door.
March 3, 2011
mollusque commented on the word Community
Fee-fi-ho-hum
February 20, 2011
mollusque commented on the list wordniks-who-proudly-contribute-worthless-stuff--a-lot-of-dumb-comments--and-useless-words-to-the-zeitgeist-page
"Useless word" is an oxymoron!
February 20, 2011
mollusque commented on the list b-euvocalic-mineral-names-b
Sly use of "oh the humanity", Wordplayer!
February 20, 2011
mollusque commented on the word dryad food pellet
I'm glad you didn't try to eat the plague-cake.
February 19, 2011
mollusque commented on the word plague-cake
According to OED2, an amulet worn as protection against the plague.
February 18, 2011
mollusque commented on the list lost-for-word
No, because words don't have factors. The words that can be formed by the letters within a word aren't essential properties of the word.
February 16, 2011
mollusque commented on the word straightgrained
The longest two-syllable word?
February 15, 2011
mollusque commented on the list glossary-of-wordnikian
Hi hernesheir, thanks for the invite. I've kept track of my coinages at Inflicted on Wordie. I added a few to your list. If you think some of the others have currency, go ahead and add them.
February 14, 2011
mollusque commented on the word wordprint
We also used three basic wordprint definitions: (1) frequency of letters, (2) frequency of commonly occurring noncontextual words, (3) frequency of rarely occurring noncontextual words.
--Brigham Young University Studies 20: 231 (1979)
February 13, 2011
Show 200 more comments...