Comments by ofravens

  • Japanese noun, "sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees."

    April 27, 2012

  • May I suggest toska?

    May 2, 2011

  • Spanish adjective, "Applied to the fields or meadow in which the animals have eaten the tips of grass frostbitten by dews."

    February 5, 2011

  • "The choice between good and evil or between right and wrong is no choice at all...True choice is a dilemma...a choice between irreconcilable goods...a choice between the lesser of two evils." - Robert McKee, Story

    August 13, 2009

  • Astonished that I didn't learn this word until today.

    March 1, 2009

  • Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,

    A being darkly wise, and rudely great

    from 'The Riddle of the World,' Alexander Pope

    February 28, 2009

  • from Wikipedia's article on alternate history:

    "In French, alternate history novels are called uchronie. This neologism is based on the prefix u- (as in the word utopia, a place that does not exist) and the Greek for time, chronos. An uchronie, then, is defined as a time that does not exist, a 'non-time.'"

    November 5, 2008

  • I've had that song stuck in my head for a week straight now thanks to y'all. I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY.

    October 20, 2008

  • Life was so much more amusing when I thought the first syllable of this word rhymed with 'bath.' Hrmph.

    October 20, 2008

  • May I suggest hadeharia?

    October 12, 2008

  • The nudist's guide to Cape Canaveral & other NASA landmarks.

    October 7, 2008

  • I thought this word meant its complete opposite until about two weeks ago. I'm kind of embarrassed.

    October 6, 2008

  • The joys of psychology class! See Olivary body on Wiki.

    September 11, 2008

  • Is there a "most unfortunate last names ever" wordie list?

    August 18, 2008

  • Oh, thank you very much for the comment and the mention, Prolagus! I appreciate it. I just now added kerwollops of the heart. :)

    August 18, 2008

  • "You've been crying," remarked Josie, with aggravating pity. "I suppose you're homesick--some people have so little self-control in that respect. I've no intention of being homesick, I can tell you. Town's too jolly after that poky old Avonlea. I wonder how I ever existed there so long. You shouldn't cry, Anne; it isn't becoming, for your nose and eyes get red, and then you seem all red. I'd a perfectly scrumptious time in the Academy today. Our French professor is simply a duck. His moustache would give you kerwollops of the heart."

    from Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery.

    August 18, 2008

  • From the Greek word "pneuma," meaning 'breath.'

    August 16, 2008

  • It comes from "craie," the French word for "chalk," and "ola," for "oleaginous," or "oily." -- Wikipedia's article about Crayola.

    August 16, 2008

  • "aunt flo(w)" is my personal favourite.

    July 29, 2008

  • For some reason, whenever I hear this word I mentally pair it with 'varmint.'

    July 24, 2008

  • Sometimes muscadel faces down frost -- Sheenagh Pugh.

    July 17, 2008

  • *is having a happy X-Files flashback right now*

    July 16, 2008

  • Hi Skipvia. My family and I went on our Alaskan cruise two weeks ago, and while we were onship I thought of the comment you left me. I saw disappointingly few ravens on the trip, but I did see a black bear, a whale, a porcupine, and some very, very distant mountain goats. :)

    July 14, 2008

  • Not to be confused with Candice Bergen, I assume?

    July 7, 2008

  • Oh, English. You so awesome.

    June 21, 2008

  • that 'kreng' is genius. well done, prolagus.

    June 21, 2008

  • Because I am actually ten years old, this word sounds vaguely dirty.

    June 21, 2008

  • This is a brilliant list idea.

    May 17, 2008

  • Sounds like a name for a newly-discovered species of dinosaur.

    May 16, 2008

  • Miracles occur,

    If you care to call those spasmodic

    Tricks of radiance miracles.

    from "Black Rook in Rainy Weather," Sylvia Plath

    April 23, 2008

  • This is the most perfect word ever. Why does English not have more words like this?

    April 20, 2008

  • Hello! Thanks for the compliment! It made my day a little brighter. Also, I'm kind of flattered that you have my super-lengthy catch-all-drawer of a list on your favourites. :)

    April 17, 2008

  • I just discovered this word today, reading W.S. Merwin.

    April 15, 2008

  • Putin's!

    April 15, 2008

  • In other news, Cate Blanchett just gave birth to her third son and named him Ignatius.

    April 14, 2008

  • I love that some of his supporters actually tried to sue somebody because of the resemblance.

    April 14, 2008

  • At this barren enterprise

    Rat-shrewd go her squint eyes

    from "Two Sisters of Persephone," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • In her dark wainscoted room

    The first works problems on

    A mathematical machine.

    from "Two Sisters of Persephone," by Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • Daylong a duet of shade and light

    plays between these

    from "Two Sisters of Persephone," by Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • Most far in blue, aloft,

    Clouds steered a burnished drift

    from "Song for a Summer's Day," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • Now our whole task's to hack

    some angel-shape worth wearing

    from his crabbed midden where all's wrought so awry.

    from "Firesong," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • all earth his words do summon

    leaps to laud such man's blood!

    from "Ode for Ted," by Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at ringdove.

    April 14, 2008

  • Ringdoves roost well within his wood,

    shirr songs to suit which mood

    he saunters in

    from "Ode for Ted," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • at his hand's staunch hest, birds build.

    from "Ode for Ted," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • Loam-humps, he says, moles shunt

    up from delved worm-haunt

    from "Ode for Ted," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at lapwing.

    April 14, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at lapwing.

    April 14, 2008

  • He names a lapwing, starts rabbits in a rout

    legging it most nimble

    to sprigged hedge of bramble,

    stalks red fox, shrewd stoat

    .

    from "Ode for Ted," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • she treks in blood through sun and squall

    from "The Queen's Complaint," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • None of that greenhorn lot matched her bright crown

    from "The Queen's Complaint," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • A hundred heralds she sent out

    To summon in her sight all doughty men

    from "The Queen's Complaint," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • I do not know

    What fury urged him slay

    Her antelope who meant him naught but good

    from "The Queen's Complaint," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • With hands like derricks,

    Looks fierce and black as rooks

    from "The Queen's Complaint," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at ruck.

    April 14, 2008

  • In the ruck and quibble of courtfolk

    This giant hulked, I tell you, on her scene

    from "The Queen's Complaint," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • waiting for the night,

    with absinthe eye

    cocked on the lone, late,

    passer-by.

    from "Prospect," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • on spotted branch

    of the sycamore

    two black rooks hunch

    from "Prospect," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • To cloak our waking awe

    At this rare rumpus which no man can control

    from "Channel Crossing," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at inauspicious.

    April 14, 2008

  • chalk cliffs blanched

    In sullen light of the inauspicious day

    from "Channel Crossing," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • Dark as anger,

    Waves wallop, assaulting the stubborn hull.

    from "Channel Crossing," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • On storm-struck deck, wind sirens caterwaul

    from "Channel Crossing," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • Is it just me, or does pimpalimpimp sound like a euphemism for sexual intercourse? In my head it belongs somewhere next to badoinkadoink. Which I can't believe I just wrote out. I apologize to the universe.

    April 14, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at gild.

    April 14, 2008

  • A quartz-clear dawn

    Inch by bright inch

    Gilds all our Avenue

    from "Southern Sunrise," by Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • the towel

    dryly disclaims that fierce troll faces lurk

    in its explicit folds

    from "Tale of a Tub," by Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • When washbowl

    maintains it has no more holy calling

    than physical ablution

    from "Tale of a Tub," by Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • An electric light flays the chromium nerves of plumbing raw

    from "Tale of a Tub," by Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008

  • Oh my lord, Jermajesty. That name just sends me (and my entire family, if we happen to be talking about cuckoopants celebrities and I bring it up) into hysterics.

    Oh, P.S.: Jamie Oliver (father of Daisy Boo)'s other daughter is called Poppy Honey.

    And speaking of Poppy -- the first two names of actress Poppy Montgomery are "Poppy Petal," her four sisters are Lily Belle, Rosie Thorn, Marigold Sun, and Daisy Yellow, and her brother is named Jethro Tull. No kidding: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0599889/bio! Lily Belle totally won the name lottery in that family.

    April 14, 2008

  • Hi frindley! I just wanted to let you know how geekily happy it made me to see that you'd favourited one of my lists -- thank you! It cheers me up to come here and look at it. Hee.

    April 14, 2008

  • Number of times I've misread this word as 'arsecomic': umpteen, and still counting!

    April 13, 2008

  • I don't think that's it, reesetee, because that connection didn't even occur to me until you mentioned it. :) I think it's the way the word feels when I say it, if that makes any sense? It... moves like a carousel, is the best way I can think of to put it.

    April 13, 2008

  • Aw, this word makes me happy because it reminds me so much of the opening of Little Women:

    "I detest rude, unladylike girls!"

    "I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits!"

    April 13, 2008

  • Looks like Dobby from Harry Potter!

    April 13, 2008

  • I'm glad I'm not alone here, C_B. True story: I also once laughed when Yo-Yo Ma was brought up in class and somebody next to me quipped, "Yo-Yo Ma's so fat..."

    Between this and the Desmond Tutu thing, there was at least one car ride I remember going on with my mother where both of those things randomly got stuck in my head and I laughed until I was in tears and my mother thought I was experiencing some form of psychosis.

    April 13, 2008

  • May I suggest the evil stepsister? Or the benevolent, pipe-smoking grandfather?

    April 12, 2008

  • Aw, I'm so flattered to have a place on the drink menu! I mean that. Thanks, palooka and ptero! :)

    April 12, 2008

  • Makes me think of carousels. I'm not sure why.

    April 11, 2008

  • the phrase "specific afflatus" just made my night. Thank you.

    April 9, 2008

  • bilby -- This is true, but what if we (and by we, I clearly mean reesetee, ahem) limit the inclusion of German words to those that actually have an accompanying definition in English? Of which bergschrund, delightfully, is one? Or not. Just a suggestion. :)

    April 9, 2008

  • Yep, me again: bergschrund!

    April 9, 2008

  • And to make this word even more fun -- it's a synonym for crevasse!

    April 9, 2008

  • Not to be confused with Dracula, Broccula, or Bunnicula.

    Hee.

    April 9, 2008

  • Rueful, most vexed, that tender skin

    Should accept so fell a wound

    from 'Bucolics,' by Sylvia Plath

    April 9, 2008

  • Below: a fen where water stood;

    Aslant: their hill of stinging nettle

    from 'Bucolics,' by Sylvia Plath

    April 9, 2008

  • 'A daisied mead' each said to each

    from 'Bucolics,' by Sylvia Plath

    April 9, 2008

  • The state of irresponsible forest management.

    April 8, 2008

  • One of my very favourite french expressions, translates roughly to "that bothers me" or "that drives me crazy," if I remember correctly. Best said dramatically, with extra emphasis on 'range.'

    April 8, 2008

  • Is there some sort of "Best. Definition. EVER?" list on Wordie? If there isn't, should I start one? Because this will be the first word I add, if I do.

    April 8, 2008

  • How on earth could I have forgotten about petrichor until just now? Jeez. Thanks for reminding me of it!

    April 8, 2008

  • I think I'll like Master and Margarita a lot more when I'm not ploughing through it for school, to be honest. I am, however, a fan of trying to incorporate "Not causing trouble, not touching anything, fixing the primus" into conversation as often as possible.

    April 8, 2008

  • Why my name, do you think? I'm curious. :) (Feel free to message me about it elsewhere, if you'd like.)

    April 8, 2008

  • Thank you so much for the Guardian Books change one letter site that you linked to -- through the fooking glass nearly made me laugh till I cried.

    April 8, 2008

  • re: through the fooking glass -- I can take no credit for this, it's from the guardian books website that sarra linked to below, but I had to include it anyway because it made me laugh so hard I had to put my head down on my desk.

    April 8, 2008

  • Alice defenstrates the White Rabbit when he's late for one Very Important Date too many.

    April 8, 2008

  • Simultaneously reminds me of fart noises and Daffy Duck.

    April 8, 2008

  • Reminds me way too much of meconium. Which is unfortunate.

    April 8, 2008

  • for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. (Psalm 38)

    April 8, 2008

  • Hi skipvia! I'm really sorry I didn't reply to your comment (on that fabulous firmament-clogging list, which still amuses me endlessly, because -- godless and rock-shivering blast! Oh my) earlier, particularly because it was the first to be directed to me on this site. :) Thank you for your compliment on my username; ravens and I have a funny relationship that I'm still trying to condense into an articulate explanation.

    Where in Alaska do you live? My family and I are going on an Alaskan cruise a few months from now, and as cliche (and as unlikely, in June) as this might sound, all I'm really hoping for right now is to see the northern lights.

    April 8, 2008

  • Confession time: While I know this is really disrespectful of me, I am absolutely incapable of saying "Desmond Tutu" aloud without giggling until I cry.

    April 8, 2008

  • Your speckled stone askew by an iron fence

    from "Electra on Azalea Path," Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • I found your name, I found your bones and all

    Enlisted in a cramped necropolis

    from "Electra on Azalea Path," Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at burdock.

    April 8, 2008

  • This is Azalea Path.

    A field of burdock opens to the south.

    from "Electra on Azalea Path," Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • I came

    God-fathered into the world from my mother's belly:

    Her wide bed wore the stain of divinity.

    from "Electra on Azalea Path," by Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • Although the rains dissolve a bloody dye:

    The ersatz petals drip, and they drip red

    from "Electra on Azalea Path," by Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • as per dictionary.com: "an agent who appears unexpectedly to solve an apparently insoluble difficulty." fabulous.

    April 8, 2008

  • I could not love this citation page any more if I tried.

    April 8, 2008

  • Honestly, not really, reesetee. Not yet, anyway! *grin* It's hard to be scared when you're too busy laughing because someone has just busted out with 'bellowing grammarian frumpmudgeon.'

    April 8, 2008

  • Bilby! I love it!

    April 8, 2008

  • I hurl my heart to halt his pace,

    To quench his thirst I squander blood

    from "Pursuit," by Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • Haggard through the hot white noon

    from "Pursuit," by Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • Insatiate, he ransacks the land

    from "Pursuit," by Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • Kindled like torches for his joy,

    Charred and ravened women lie

    from "Pursuit," by Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • The black marauder, hauled by love

    from "Pursuit," Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • Behind snarled thickets of my eyes

    Lurks the lithe one

    from "Pursuit," by Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • His voice waylays me, spells a trance

    from "Pursuit," by Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • Blood quickens, gonging in my ears:

    the panther's tread is on the stairs

    from "Pursuit," by Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • I find both the title and concept of this list to be fairly stupendous.

    April 8, 2008

  • Now that I think about it, that does make sense, sionnach. Something about the "coz."

    April 8, 2008

  • Done, c_b! *grin*

    April 8, 2008

  • Q: How many catholics does it take to change a light bulb?

    A: None. The Catholic doesn't change the lightbulb; s/he stands in the dark and says, "What did I do wrong?"

    April 8, 2008

  • I thought of another one! Crevasse, maybe?

    (Oh my god I can't even type that word without giggling. SO JUVENILE.)

    April 8, 2008

  • Aww, thanks, bilby and reesetee! I'm glad you like it. It's so nice to be surrounded by fellow word nerds. *grin*

    April 8, 2008

  • ...a glow-worm SYMPHONY? Really?

    April 8, 2008

  • One of my personal favourites: "Well, slap me with a wet noodle and call me Nellie!"

    ...No, I don't know either.

    April 8, 2008

  • Okay, this whole conversation is delighting me.

    April 7, 2008

  • I love this word. Actual, complete telephone conversation between myself and my nineteen-year-old (younger) sister, who was out for dinner, on Saturday night:

    Sister: Hi, um, you know that...what's that word from the other day that means "running away and taking another person with you"?

    A: ...Honey. You are NOT calling the house at 12:30 just to ask me the definition of a word.

    Sister: Yeah, I totally am. What's the word?

    A: pause It's 'absquatulate,' sweetheart.

    Sister: cracks up

    A: cracks up

    Sister: Okay okay okay. Bye!

    April 7, 2008

  • It was good for twenty years, that wintering --

    As if you had never existed, as if I came

    God-fathered into the world from my mother's belly.

    (from "Electra on Azalea Path," Sylvia Plath)

    April 6, 2008

  • Where bees ... sleep out the blizzard

    Like hieratic stones, and the ground is hard.

    from "Electra on Azalea Path," Sylvia Plath

    April 6, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at hibernaculum.

    April 6, 2008

  • the lightless hibernaculum

    Where bees, striped black and gold, sleep out the blizzard

    (from "Electra on Azalea Path," Sylvia Plath)

    April 6, 2008

  • Sarah: Federline isn't in the GBC.

    Wing Chun: Are you kidding me?

    Sarah: First of all, Bobby Brown would beat the crap out of him using Mark Hamill as a shillelagh. Second of all –

    Wing Chun: Why Hamill?

    Sarah: I don't know. I just picture Brown grabbing the first relatively small dude who's sitting still, lashing his arms and legs to his body with colored shoelaces, and going to town.

    Wing Chun: …Colored shoelaces.

    Sarah: …What?

    Wing Chun: I…nothing.

    from this entry at Tomato Nation.

    April 6, 2008

  • Somebody, anybody, get this on a t-shirt.

    April 6, 2008

  • The fact that this is an actual, non-madeupical word absolutely delights me.

    April 6, 2008

  • Always makes me think of the word lozenge.

    April 5, 2008

  • Sightless, unless

    The eyes reappear

    As the perpetual star

    Multifoliate rose

    Of death's twilight kingdom

    from "The Hollow Men," T.S. Eliot

    (although the first poem this word makes me think of is always 'somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond')

    April 5, 2008

  • "The rest is wanting."

    March 31, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at swan.

    March 31, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at swan.

    March 31, 2008

  • absurd and out-of-season, a single swan

    floats chaste as snow

    from "Winter Landscape, With Rooks," Sylvia Plath

    March 31, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at austere.

    March 31, 2008

  • The austere sun descends above the fen

    from "Winter Landscape, With Rooks," by Sylvia Plath

    March 31, 2008

  • an orange cyclops-eye, scorning to look

    longer on this landscape of chagrin;

    from "Winter Landscape, With Rooks," Sylvia Plath

    March 31, 2008

  • what solace

    Can be struck from rock to make heart's waste

    grow green again?

    from "Winter Landscape, With Rooks," Sylvia Plath

    March 31, 2008

  • Oh my God, where has this word been all my life.

    March 27, 2008

  • Oh, thank you for that one!

    March 27, 2008

  • yarb: That's a gorgeous line; I'd forgotten it. It's from "Poppies in October." :)

    March 27, 2008

  • Hooray for people who make X-Files lists! I've just started mine. :)

    March 26, 2008

  • Hee. I like squadenfreude better, though.

    March 26, 2008

  • Of all the words on 'Squiddy,' this was the first one that made me laugh; it reminded me of seeing Raffi make an appearance on a talk show to promote his Bananaphone album, and send the host into stitches by putting two bananas side by side and saying, "What's this? A conference call!"

    March 26, 2008

  • As per the Wik: "The cocktail party effect describes the ability to focus one's listening attention on a single talker among a mixture of conversations and background noises, ignoring other conversations. This effect reveals one of the surprising abilities of our auditory system, which enables us to talk in a noisy place."

    March 26, 2008

  • My head on the pillow (Piano, pianissimo)

    Lullayed by susurrous lyres and viols.

    from "Alicante Lullaby," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at millrace.

    March 26, 2008

  • Water in the millrace, through a sluice of stone,

    plunges headlong into that black pond

    from "Winter Landscape, with Rooks," by Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • Plath citations: see note at blight.

    March 26, 2008

  • With such blight wrought upon our bankrupt estate,

    What ceremony of words can patch the havoc?

    from "Conversation Among the Ruins," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • Fractured pillars frame prospects of rock

    from "Conversation Among the Ruins," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • Through portico of my elegant house you stalk

    With your wild furies, disturbing garlands of fruit

    from "Conversation Among the Ruins," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • On the stiff twig up there

    Hunches a wet black rook

    Arranging and rearranging his feathers in the rain.

    from "Black Rook in Rainy Weather," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • I must watch sluttish dryads twitch

    Their multifarious silks in the holy grove

    from "On the Plethora of Dryads," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • Whiteness I remember

    About Sam: whiteness and the great run

    He gave me.

    from "Whiteness I Remember," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • Kindness glides about my house.

    Dame Kindness, she is so nice!

    from "Kindness," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • Even in your Zen heaven we shan't meet.

    from "Lesbos," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • The tulips should be behind bars like dangerous animals;

    They are opening like the mouth of a great African cat.

    from "Tulips," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • Not this troublous

    Wringing of hands, this dark

    Ceiling without a star.

    from "Child," Sylvia Plath

    March 26, 2008

  • From The Canadian Encyclopedia: A Mari usque ad Mare ("From Sea to Sea"), Canada's motto, was derived from Psalm 72:8, which reads in Latin "Et dominabitur a mari usque ad mare, et a flumine usque ad terminos terrae," and in the King James version, "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth."

    March 26, 2008

  • Hi, sionnach. I wanted to thank you for your "Change One Letter" list, and for your rant on the word page for cremains, because both gave me a good laugh the other day when I needed them. Cheers!

    March 26, 2008

  • May I humbly suggest the addition of ennui? With the emphasis on the second syllable, in particular?

    March 26, 2008

  • I keep thinking about adding ennui, but it's not my favourite, honestly! Although it is really fun to say, now that I think about it, so it has that going for it. :)

    March 26, 2008

  • Thanks for your help on my BC words list, yarb! Are you from nearby, by any chance?

    March 26, 2008

  • Oh, it's you! Hello! I didn't know! It's so nice to find people here, and you have such fabulous words.

    March 26, 2008

  • That first definition is almost as amusing to me as the word itself. "Orate verbosely," indeed.

    March 25, 2008

  • As per Wikipedia: lit. "the pathos of things", also translated as "an empathy toward things," or "a pity toward things." A Japanese term used to describe the awareness of the transience of things and a gentle sadness at their passing.

    March 24, 2008

  • Every time I see this word, I become approximately eight years old again, because: clinchpoop! Heeeeee.

    March 23, 2008

  • Gah, "nucular." HATE. I think I experienced my first "The English language as I know it is actually disintegrating" moment when I found out that dictionaries were actually starting to include "nucular" as an acceptible pronunciation substitute for "nuclear." NO, Merriam-Webster. The fact that the president of the United States happens to pronounce it that way it does not make it okay.

    March 21, 2008

  • From a review of the X-Files episode 'Je Souhaite,' maybe the first time I can remember actually bursting into laughter because of something I read on the Internet (in my defense, I was only thirteen at the time...):

    "Who says you don't learn anything from television. This week on The X-Files we learned the fancy shmancy got-it-past-the-censors way to say 'death by a huge hard-on': 'extreme priapic condition'

    or 'chronic morbid tumescence.'"

    March 21, 2008

  • The one that always drives me up the wall is the use of "step foot" instead of "set foot," as in "I'll never step foot in that building again!" I have to stop and wave my arms with frustration every time I hear it.

    March 21, 2008

  • "Look, bullethead. If they're hiking through the jungle there's nothing I can do about it. I have a car. I am not Tarzan. I have been through every one-horse sh-thole for a two-hundred mile radius. You should have seen the river I had to traverse this morning."

    -- Danny DeVito as Ralph in 'Romancing the Stone'

    March 21, 2008

  • "It might be noted here that Freudian analysts of fairy tales have suggested that kissing toads and frogs symbolized fellatio. In that regard, Princess Leigh-Cheri was, on a conscious level, innocent, although not so naïve as Queen Tilli, who thought fellatio was an obscure Italian opera and was annoyed that she couldn't find the score."

    -- 'Still Life With Woodpecker,' Tom Robbins

    March 21, 2008

  • My favourite cognate is probably 'shampooing,' for 'shampoo' in French. Its pronunciation is worth the price of admission into any French class; cracks me up every time.

    March 21, 2008

  • For sentimental reasons, probably my favourite joke of all time. :)

    March 11, 2008

  • On my list of funnies solely because I can't think of it or say it without being reminded of David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth, making the "If it ain't baroque, don't fix it" joke in Beauty and the Beast with his awesome line delivery and pronunciation. Hee.

    March 11, 2008

  • I'm having the same problem that chained_bear is having.

    March 11, 2008

  • That quote just made my night. Thanks, Prolagus.

    March 11, 2008

  • Try as I might, I cannot get chasuble off my "words that make me laugh" list, and it's all Oscar Wilde's fault.

    March 11, 2008

  • Q: What did the biologist say when he dropped his slides on the lab floor?

    A: Don't step on mitosis!

    March 10, 2008

  • Oh, this made me laugh. Firmament-clogging! Thank you for that.

    March 10, 2008

  • hello, dear tree! this is A. I am like the proverbial kid in a candy store in this place.

    March 9, 2008

  • "Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,

    Dost sometimes counsel take---and sometimes Tea."

    --Alexander Pope, "The Rape of the Lock," Canto III

    March 9, 2008