Well you just have to define logoclasm after using it. I would say this the gulf between what one person means by a certain word and what another means.
They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid and a Catholic priest.
They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid, and a Catholic priest.
In the first case, Wikipedia says it is clear there are 3 people, but I'm not so sure, I could easily read this as an appositive. In the second case, there could be one person, Betty, or 3 people. I don't see how the comma effects the ambiguity at all. There are several easy ways to fix this by changing the words, but the comma does nothing.
To Rolig, I don't understand how "bacon, lettuce, and tomato" could possibly upset the flow of written text. People rarely if ever read the commas directly as pauses in speech, they let the flow of the words come naturally to them.
Several problems. First, to be "made famous", it had to exist beforehand, and I would think Mad TV made it up. Second, it would actually have to be "famous", which I don't think it is. Third, it sounds more like something you bring a girl when you pick her up for a date, instead of follows, a grape.
It's pretty interesting I think, I imagine if you plot average frequency of words vs. # of wordnet definitions (which I might just do this weekend) you'll see a very low number for the most common words (determiners and prepositions), with the most polysemous words coming after that, followed by a drastic drop off of number of senses.
I guess I could see how I might accidentally lead myself down the garden path and end up saying this word, but I would feel dirty about it and probably pretend I used it sarcastically.
The only time I hear this word is in quotations, like Donne or King James. I think this is the main reason people don't use it. If they do use it in writing, the spellcheck must be doing it for them. I understand the rule that governs it, but am unable to make myself use it in speech. Most people I know never use it, or wouldn't know how to use it even if they did. Finally, it doesn't seem to be any loss at all to the language.
It's strange, I live in Texas and almost nobody is that crazy. It is a matter of a few batshit people who care a great deal running essentially unopposed that are screwing it up for the rest of us. Either that, or I've driven away anyone willing to argue with me so that it seems that people around me all think like I do.
The definitions are provided by WordNet, and are only available for a subset of English. For other languages, please feel free to add a definition and/or citation.
So I was at Buffalo Wild Wings, and we were playing the trivia game, which was called Lexitopia, where you had to pick the correct meaning of a word from 4 choices. This is a great game for Wordies, and I got every question correct, expect for the definition of this word. Now, of course, I will never forget it, but it irks me to this day.
It doesn't seem inherently insulting, if used in a reasonable context. Obviously any word can take on insulting overtones. I find it hard to get past the sheer ugliness of this word to the actual meaning. There do exist women who once considered themselves lesbians and no longer do. There also exist women who were (self-identified or not) lesbians in college, and afterward were not. When used accurately, it is a valid term. Now, when used in the sense of "She's going through a phase", it is indeed quite insulting, as if any life choice made other than societal norms is just a passing fancy than one will grow out of.
It's always seemed weird to me that it is part of the group NAACP. Rappers calling each other the n-word is one thing, but that and the United Negro College Fund seem very different.
An online dictionary really gives the English equivalent as spiv, a word I'm quite certain I've only heard of from the one comment on Wordie. Apparently Croatian lexicographers are well read.
I suppose there is some sort of cultural gap then, as I really don't understand the history leading you to this. Is it the atrocities committed against the indigenous peoples? It's a very odd construction, simultaneous admiration and contempt, and I'm interested to know how such a term develops.
This is interesting, because there is a similar phenomenon of island giantism, where isolated species on islands can become big and fat because they no longer have to run to escape predators.
My point was, Jacob is a much better example than generic American settlers, none of whom are my ancestors. I know have a good idea of what this term means.
Which settlers in particular? Certainly some of the early Americans did bad things, but many of them were good people trying to make a better life for themselves.
That is a very strange interpretation of this definition. Typically in computers, developer refers to someone who develops computer software, which could include web sites, but is almost always referred to as a "web developer". When Steve Ballmer shouted "Developers Developers Developers", he wasn't referred to web designers.
"There is today too much aestheticization of judgments. Dukakis is 'Zorba the clerk.' Bush is a preppie. But peace and prosperity are at stake. The point of politics is good government, not the display of charm. And the point of a baseball team is good baseball, not inferior play somehow redeemed by a pretty setting. Part of the Cubs' problem may be that too many Cub fans have an attitude problem. They are too devote to the wrong thing. Let there be lights"
-- George Will, "Let There Be Lights", August 15, 1988, an essay in favor of night baseball at Wrigley field.
I'm thinking those devices where there are a bunch of pins and you stick your hand or face to press part down and on the other side you can see the image, and then the computer recording that and sending it across the wire.
Frankly, I'm glad they haven't gotten to more advanced intimate gestures yet. I shudder at the fate of humanity.
That almost sounds like riddle, when does a man sleep, but not dream? Of course, the answer would have to be death, which I've never really been able to fully wrap my head around. Perhaps death is just a deep sleep from which you never wake. Do other languages prefer the death/sleep metaphor?
Wow chained_bear, that may be the deepest statement every made on Wordie. I'm trying to wrap my head around the implications of fantasy and reality and how people live their lives. Consider my mind blown.
"Am I afraid of silence? I wouldn't ask, except I never seem to allow it. I watch tv, listen to music, radio, podcasts, if I'm with friends talk to them, and sometimes when I'm alone I talk to myself. The only time I consistently ever allow quiet is before drifting off to sleep (see dreams). Perhaps it is telling that I can accept no aural stimulus if I am deeply ingrained in reading a novel or solving a math problem. It could be that by listening to one thing while doing another prevents me from the exertion of concentrating full brain power on a given task. Have I been handicapping myself this whole time? If I put cotton balls in my ears would I be some great genius? Or am I fooling myself, am I nothing more than what I am? Does music provide a soundtrack to my life, neither improving nor harming my capabilities, just heightening my experiences?" -- excerpt from the autobiography of Seanahan
There's the web, web 2.0, and web 3.0, but does anyone really know what will be next? What will 4.0, 5.0, etc. look like? I can tell you that nobody knows what Web 9.0 looks like, it will be as different from what we know as the internet today as that is from everything that came before it.
In the future, what will the new Wordies think of us who were in here in the nascent days? Will John's grandchildren be writing web 9.0 plugins for this site? Will he sign an exclusivity agreement with the OED? Will the people at the OEDILF finally finish and then come stage war against us for our unlimerickal comments?
Interesting, I imagine England was originally settled by nomads crossing that stretch of land, and remaining after the waters receded. Imagine the change in history if Britain had been settled thousands of years later.
I always think of the Hugo award winning novel "This Immortal" by Roger Zelazny, although he peculiarly prefers the original title, "And Call Me Conrad".
This word is great because it can act as an idiom, or indeed as a literal term. Who doesn't periodical ponder at the marvel that is one's belly button?
That is a really strange way for it to be phrased, but I guess you can't expect much out of Wikipedia. No living species or species that exists is really an ancestor of any other species. Furthermore, the chances are very small that any fossils that are found are the ancestor of a living species, you can only say that this fossil is related to what the ancestor is thought to be.
It seems so inelegant to form the noun from the adjective that itself was derived from the verb. In a similar vein, my Mom always gets upset at the verb "conferencing", from "conference", from "confer", which itself could have been used in the situation.
Let me interrupt, shouldn't this thread continue under ascii? You can generally encode numbers in any base, including binary, but converting those numbers to a message (information theory) requires an encoding scheme, which in this case is ascii.
I'm inclined to agree with you, and I trust your instincts Qroqqa. When I analyzed this word I thought it might be a portmanteau of strategist and magician, since strategist and tactician are already so close that combining them seems redundant.
Oh no, ghost word! Does anyone else think WordNet misses the standard usage of this term? I would tend to think it always has something illicit to do with it.
World Wide Words says "The classic example of the latter form was created by Dmitri Borgmann: “I do not know where family doctors acquired illegibly perplexing handwriting; nevertheless, extraordinary pharmaceutical intellectuality, counterbalancing in-decipherability, transcendentalises intercommunications’ incompre-hensibleness�?".
It's one of those paradoxes you just have to live with. Say the right thing, and most people thing you're an idiot who can't pronounce words, some think you're being an erudite jackass, and a small minority of Worders will give you a tiny bit of credit. Say the wrong thing, and most people will give you zero credit, some will think you're dumbing yourself down, and the Worders will think you're an idiot.
Actually, my understanding of cognitive dissonance is that a person chooses their current beliefs and actions, seemingly because they consciously want to, but in their subconscious they are striving to reduce cognitive dissonance. If a person knows about the cognitive dissonance, they either change their mind, or act as if it didn't occur at all, even though it is a major factor that contributes to their decision.
This is an interesting word. I've only heard or read it a few times, and it seems to have been always describing the behavior of a women. Is that generally true, or is that a side effect of my reading habits?
I wasn't really sure when I made that joke, I've only ever had one reference point. And now we've taken this page to a discussion that will make people uncomfortable.
Rolig, you are a great example of the Wordie spirit. Anywhere else on the internet, your last post would have stopped after the fifth word. Instead, you send me scurrying to Amazon to update my wishlist with new translations.
Because I would say that at least 90% of the usages of this word are in the context of baseball. At least, if you say the word umpire to me, I immediately think baseball.
As I understand it, there should be a great deal many of these, but they are almost impossible to find, since there is no light source for them to reflect.
I have to disagree with Chained Bear. The University of Michigan is a prominent university, and very well know in college sports. It is also the premier university in the state of Michigan. As such, residents of Michigan are Wolverines. The animal is fairly obscure, but there are a lot of people from Michigan. Now, I agree that using Wolverine in general to describe Michigan residents and not just alumni is a bit unfortunate, especially for graduates of Michigan State (the Spartans), but it is something I hear all the time.
Is this the kind of word that is almost always used colloquially? Also, has anyone heard this in a positive context? That is, "remembering ten thousand digits of pi is humanly possible".
It does seem a bit archaic. "He favors his mother" is something I've read, but I don't think I've ever heard someone say it. Usually they say "looks like" or "takes after".
The movie was awesome. The book was pretty good. It's been number one on Amazon for books for a couple days now, managing to surpass the dozen or so Twilight books in the top 25.
I impulse purchased this at Barnes and Nobles on Sunday, probably took about 5-6 hours to read. I suggest you read it first, but I'll know more after seeing it.
The saddest article I've ever read is this article about a Sports columnist's recently deceased dog. For those who aren't into sports, this article transcends sports writing.
I prefer to describe such a word as "perfectly cromulent", which more of my friends get, but when I use madeupical, they seem to pick up the meaning alright.
Let us know when the book is finished, we'll all buy a copy and then make lists that really don't have anything to do with the book, but have the title in the list description.
That's really not such a great analogy if you think about it too much. I'm pretty sure the gravitational pull of Saturn would do some things do a bathtub full of water. The whole idea of floating doesn't make a lot of sense on this scale.
"Microsoft researchers are exploring whether using data from several members of a social group--a technique that the company calls "groupization"--can improve search results. Their initial findings, based on experiments involving around 100 participating Microsoft employees, suggest that tapping into different types of groups could produce significantly better search results." -- http://www.technologyreview.com/web/22040/page1/
"The French Academy of Sciences turns down the membership application of Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie.
A healthy dose of sexism, racism and chauvinism, all alive and well in the rarified air of the fin de siècle French scientific fraternity, conspired to deny Curie the seat, which was awarded instead to Edouard Branly."
As long as you don't make a habit of posting a ton of links, I think it's appropriate. I myself am a fan of crosswords, although I'm a bit out of practice. I got a crossword a day calendar for Christmas, so I'm hoping to hone my skills.
A debate tactic used by Duane Gish in support of creationism. His rapid fire statements are silly and disjoint, but by the time you've refuted one of them, he's shot out a dozen more. Since it's easier to make up false claims than to disprove them, he always stays ahead, and by the end of the debate, he gets more points with the audience because his opponent only refuted a fraction of his claims.
What does it mean to "fight recessions rather than give in to them"? Do most businesses really just give up and pack it in during a recession? Doesn't everybody want to survive and hopefully thrive?
It certain areas of the South, the word pretty is pronounced purty, and this is a verb described a woman putting on make-up. "Before she went to the dance she purtid herself up".
That spelling is pretty odd. I would tend to say the word was first used by someone else, as the date of first attestation isn't necessarily the first usage.
The Mormon Church keeps extensive records on births and deaths. I have no ancestors in the church, but my family used some of their records to research our genealogy. It seems reasonable the LDS on those records refers to group that kept track of them.
I've been off the grid for a while. I spent a lot of time doing Word of the Year, List of the Year, etc. last year, but there was a lot of negative reaction to the whole idea of it, which is why I didn't involve myself in it this year. I still think it's a great idea in general, so thanks to Whichbe for making it happen.
See Dependency Hell. This is when you tried to install something (Red hat linux Package Manager) using an RPM, and then it turned out you needed another RPM as a prerequisite. After downloading that, it turned out it needed another RPM. And so on. Modern versions of Linux use fairly sophisticated package management system to deal with this so the user doesn't have to.
While there is a certain romanticism to digging into the guts of the system and doing all the work yourself that goes (went?) with Linux, I think everyone will agree that RPM Hell is something that nobody feels nostalgic about.
I really enjoy the parenthetical after "Buckland kept a bear named Tiglath Pileser". Almost as if the comment was responding to the name, not the actual bear keeping.
This is a ridiculous word. Just because we can make up a word like this, doesn't mean we need to. Plus, the meaning isn't clear from the pun, so it is basically useless.
I just looked up the etymology of this, after years of idly wondering (away from a computer or dictionary) about the connection between the adjective and the physical process. It turns out that the word is from the Latin for "uplifted" or "elevated". Matter being sublimated goes directly from a solid to a gas, causing it to go from the ground to the air. A sublime performance could thus be a performance which uplifts the audience, or simply a performance at an elevated level. Compare this with the honorific "High-ness".
Clearly, in an "ass-kicking contest", the object is to kick your opponent in the buttocks. If you only have one leg, it is very difficult to kick someone, which seems where the expression comes in.
Now, the one-armed juggler idiom doesn't really make sense, because you can juggle with one hand. I can do two regular sized juggling balls one hand, which while not impressive in any fashion, confused me as to the usefulness of the expression. Obviously there are talented jugglers like Jason Quick who can perform very complicated juggling maneuvers with one handed.
Still, there must be hundreds of expressions like this, someone should collect them all.
This book was written in 1973, and language has certainly changed quite a bit in the last 30 years. I don't think teachers are being replaced by educators, and I don't remember many teachers who consistently used large words. Of course, it could just be I heard those words and knew what they meant, when an averagely lexiconed student could not.
"In schools today, the educators (Latin-derived) hold sway over the ordinary teachers (Anglo-Saxon). Educators speak a Latinate language, incomprehensible to parents and children alike, which is disparagingly referred to by those within the profession as "Pedaguese" or "Educanto." -- Peter Farb, Word Play
A poker player who ekes out a living playing low stakes games, without taking the high risks associated with higher risk (but higher expectation) games. Knish in Rounders, for one.
That totally sounds badass though. Motorbiking through the jungles in a foreign country, fighting off packs of wild dogs and tigers, sucking venom out of snake bites, all for zero pay.
Edit: on reread, a trick non-trick question. For the seventh child to be a lobison, both the sixth and seventh child have to be male, so Yarb was right.
In space, the natural position for astronauts to sleep is flat on there backs with there arms extended straight out. Obviously this wouldn't work in normal gravity.
I meant I've only ever heard the adjective form, pithy. I never actually refer to the whitish bits inside of an orange, I suppose I might have heard them called pith before, but I meant pith used in the 4th WordNet definition above.
Great post qroqqa, I hadn't thought about it, but this is indeed a very interesting word. Both the cases you list which you consider counterexamples seem to me to have an implicit "to be" in them, "rumored to be completely furnished" and "rumored to be dead". In fact, it doesn't sound wholly grammatical to me if I hear rumored outside of "to be".
Steven Pinker has written extensively on swearing, and I'll point out a couple of the important parts. There are specific parts of the brain which produce language, and those parts are not necessarily responsible for swearing, which is more keyed into the parts of the brain which use emotion. So, calling someone a racial slur is typically an intellectual act, while saying a four letter word is an emotional one. Of course, one can use emotional words in an intellectual fashion to make a point, which is just good writing, using words which have meanings that can reach an audience.
We can't just put our fingers in our ears, cover our eyes, and hope that the words we don't like go away. By talking about words we are able to analyze them, to understand what about a word gives it power. By shining light upon the darkness we can deprive it of that which scares us, we can dismantle the power it holds over us and we can move forward.
The simple act of talking about swear words or insults takes away a lot of their power. And of course, there are people who would take away niggardly and even black hole. The free exchange of words and ideas is a necessary thing.
The term squeeze is still used in poker today to describe slowly looking at a hole card. From this there is a variety of other metaphorical usages which have arose.
Particularly since it sounds like the opposite of delapidated, which is a negative word. Unfortunately, the two words are roughly opposites, the one being stones falling apart and the other being stones coming together.
I actually don't really care for comments on profiles. A good percentage are referring to (but not linking) random conversations around Wordie, leading to terrible fragmentation. My profile, for example, is a complete hodge podge of comments, most of which are indecipherable to even me, not that I mind too much, but some of the profiles that have a lot of comments kind of get out of hand.
Perhaps having that part of the profile on a separate page would alleviate this.
A lot of vitriol on Wordie these past couple of days, and honestly, I'm a bit shocked. Words are not fundamental units, they are what we make of them. They have the power that we assign to them. The point of this word was to lampoon the use of gay and retarded to mean stupid, annoying, pointless, frustrating, etc. Taking two words in an ironic context and making a third which is not even a word to mean some sort of combination of the two perverted meanings.
The point of this word, of the use of words like this, is to force people to think about things that they either they haven't or don't want to think about. So I guess it's worked in part, because it has gotten some serious responses, but it mostly failed because people seemed to go crazy.
Finally, there is no reason for four people to call me insulting, homophobic, horrible, stupid, unimaginative, insulting, cruel, dimwitted, ignorant, juvenile, petty, pea-brained, lame, evil, selfish, power-hungry tyrant, willfully ignorant, self-righteous obscurantist, awful, casual hating, and a sniggering idiot.
I believe that humor is a powerful force. It is uniquely human, lifting us in good times and sustaining us through the bad. Humor provides intellectual stimulation and relief from stress. Wordplay is a very important type of humor for many of us on Wordie, although surprisingly large numbers of us don't really seem to get the jokes.
If a post strikes you as unamusing or even offensive, there is no reason to attack the poster. Maybe you misunderstood what was going on, maybe the poster meant something different, perhaps some historical If you truly feel the need to say something, a polite comment such as "This seems somewhat offensive to me. Are you sure you want to phrase it like that?" This will go a lot further than ad hominem attacks.
Bilby, when examining the Wordnet page for South, we determine that the U.S. sense of South, that being the southern part of the country, has the highest frequency count. This is due to the frequency found in tagged texts, which simply means that word came up the most often.
The two you dislike, which don't occur in the WordNet entry linked above, make some sense, "a demarcated area of the Earth" is for when "south" is used to refer to the Southern Hemisphere. Similarly, "a point or extent in space" makes sense geometrically, we can talk about the southern part of a shape in several dimensions. Without more information from WordNet, I can't narrow it down further.
Finally, WordNet is not a dictionary, it is a "lexical database".
In my understanding, the original meaning of the word was to set, as in the sun, just as Orient comes from to rise, as in the sun. The sun rises in the east (orient) and sets in the west (Occident). Turkey was known as the Orient (by Romans) and as Anatolia (by Greeks, the word coming from the Greek for east). Eventually, it moved further east, until it reached china.
First, I have to say I have two Erdos autobiographies in my library right now. Second, I have to say that I am considered by most who have eaten with me to be a connoisseur of bacon and bacon paraphernalia.
The Erdos number is the length of path between two vertices in a graph, where a vertex represents a person, and an edge represents having written a scientific paper (typically math or physics) with the other person. See the Wikipedia page for more info.
That is interesting. I mean, most everyone agrees that there should be speed limits, but most everyone breaks them! The USA was built upon the principle of "majority rule, minority rights", but if a majority of voters continue to elect people to put laws into place or revoke laws, and those in power replace the supreme court, eventually that voting block could change the laws to anything they wanted. In several countries, the Muslim majority attempted to vote in an Islamic dictator and disband the democracy. If this is the wish of the people, would it not be undemocratic to go against it?
Comments by seanahan
Show previous 200 comments...
seanahan commented on the word gödel's theorem
This refers to Godel's Incompleteness Theorem.
May 26, 2009
seanahan commented on the word mr ass itch
earworm?
May 26, 2009
seanahan commented on the word whensoas
I believe you're looking for Wenceslas.
May 22, 2009
seanahan commented on the word logochasm
Well you just have to define logoclasm after using it. I would say this the gulf between what one person means by a certain word and what another means.
May 22, 2009
seanahan commented on the word xyzygy
I've adopted this orphan.
May 22, 2009
seanahan commented on the word oxford comma
To Isoglossian, that Wikipedia page is terrible.
They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid and a Catholic priest.
They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid, and a Catholic priest.
In the first case, Wikipedia says it is clear there are 3 people, but I'm not so sure, I could easily read this as an appositive. In the second case, there could be one person, Betty, or 3 people. I don't see how the comma effects the ambiguity at all. There are several easy ways to fix this by changing the words, but the comma does nothing.
To Rolig, I don't understand how "bacon, lettuce, and tomato" could possibly upset the flow of written text. People rarely if ever read the commas directly as pauses in speech, they let the flow of the words come naturally to them.
May 19, 2009
seanahan commented on the word date grape
Several problems. First, to be "made famous", it had to exist beforehand, and I would think Mad TV made it up. Second, it would actually have to be "famous", which I don't think it is. Third, it sounds more like something you bring a girl when you pick her up for a date, instead of follows, a grape.
May 19, 2009
seanahan commented on the word oxford comma
Can you cite such an example? I can't think of any off the top of my head.
May 17, 2009
seanahan commented on the word austrasia
Interesting, shouldn't this be the southern part?
May 17, 2009
seanahan commented on the word quixotic
Chasing one's tail seems like a quixotic activity.
May 17, 2009
seanahan commented on the word ancillary
Most often used to describe benefits, I would say.
May 17, 2009
seanahan commented on the word oxford comma
Well Ezzackly, you now have an enemy.
May 17, 2009
seanahan commented on the word countenance
I don't know much about physiognomy, but it appears not to be related, other than a generally similar meaning.
May 17, 2009
seanahan commented on the word specious
SLH, if you click the links above you can get the definitions and you won't need to copy them.
May 17, 2009
seanahan commented on the word dextrosinistral
That limerick is to be found on the OEDILF .
May 17, 2009
seanahan commented on the word copyleft
I can see both of them here from a different computer, same Firefox, but using Linux this time.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word titter
The adult version of twitter.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word entweeted
To become fully ensconced in twitter.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word entwatted
Not to be confused with entweeted.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word codec
I wonder if this was originally a play after codex.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word wordie acid trip
When the comments, words, and/or lists you're reading make you think you are in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word admire
It's like a crazy Wordie acid trip.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the list words-with-more-than-60-definitions
It's pretty interesting I think, I imagine if you plot average frequency of words vs. # of wordnet definitions (which I might just do this weekend) you'll see a very low number for the most common words (determiners and prepositions), with the most polysemous words coming after that, followed by a drastic drop off of number of senses.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word appetizingness
I guess I could see how I might accidentally lead myself down the garden path and end up saying this word, but I would feel dirty about it and probably pretend I used it sarcastically.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word hurtle
I've heard it used a number of times in an astronomical context.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word success
I'm not sure if these last few comments were some sort of hyper-post-modern neo-classical absurd off, or if I'm just really very confused.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word eggtaggle
That assumes that Wordie is a waste of time, something I will never agree with.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word anachronistic
It seems like a fairly poetic way to describe a generally ugly word.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word swister
I have nothing to declare but the genius of that comment.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word copyleft
I can't see it.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word to the bad
That's an interesting expression, not quite understandable out of context, but perfectly understood once the gambling connection comes in.
May 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word national pi day
You can act irrationally if you want to, but you have to act transcendentally as well.
May 11, 2009
seanahan commented on the word piking
So, flaking?
May 10, 2009
seanahan commented on the word guac
I don't mind this as much as using queso to refer to melted cheese, but not shredded cheese.
May 10, 2009
seanahan commented on the word formulative
Could it be from the similarity to formative? This seems to mean something very similar.
May 10, 2009
seanahan commented on the word groddess
See entry for grod.
May 10, 2009
seanahan commented on the word queerious
It's ok. Hang out at Wordie for a while and I'm sure you'll come up with some more.
May 10, 2009
seanahan commented on the word whom
The only time I hear this word is in quotations, like Donne or King James. I think this is the main reason people don't use it. If they do use it in writing, the spellcheck must be doing it for them. I understand the rule that governs it, but am unable to make myself use it in speech. Most people I know never use it, or wouldn't know how to use it even if they did. Finally, it doesn't seem to be any loss at all to the language.
May 10, 2009
seanahan commented on the word paradoxically
I did that in college with anthropomorphic.
May 9, 2009
seanahan commented on the word whom
Eh, I consider this word to be defunct.
May 9, 2009
seanahan commented on the word devolution
It's strange, I live in Texas and almost nobody is that crazy. It is a matter of a few batshit people who care a great deal running essentially unopposed that are screwing it up for the rest of us. Either that, or I've driven away anyone willing to argue with me so that it seems that people around me all think like I do.
May 9, 2009
seanahan commented on the word wifebeater
Bilby, how can you drop a comment like "insulted by Nobel laureates" and then not mention who?
May 9, 2009
seanahan commented on the word national pi day
I still think that July 22 is more accurate than March 14.
May 8, 2009
seanahan commented on the word trampoline
I would think they would double the frog's jumping ability.
May 8, 2009
seanahan commented on the list rectal-foreign-bodies
Most disturbing list ever.
May 8, 2009
seanahan commented on the word demente
The definitions are provided by WordNet, and are only available for a subset of English. For other languages, please feel free to add a definition and/or citation.
May 8, 2009
seanahan commented on the word ayuntamiento
Sort of like congress can be used in English.
May 6, 2009
seanahan commented on the word intracontinental wordie awareness fortnight
This highly important time is coming up in the next few weeks.
May 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word femme
I probably hear this the most often as part of femme fatale.
May 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word peripatetic
So I was at Buffalo Wild Wings, and we were playing the trivia game, which was called Lexitopia, where you had to pick the correct meaning of a word from 4 choices. This is a great game for Wordies, and I got every question correct, expect for the definition of this word. Now, of course, I will never forget it, but it irks me to this day.
May 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word stanza
Is this hockey specific? It might also be used in basketball, but that would be the only other possible sport I would think.
May 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word sympatetic
Similar to peripatetic.
May 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word hasbian
It doesn't seem inherently insulting, if used in a reasonable context. Obviously any word can take on insulting overtones. I find it hard to get past the sheer ugliness of this word to the actual meaning. There do exist women who once considered themselves lesbians and no longer do. There also exist women who were (self-identified or not) lesbians in college, and afterward were not. When used accurately, it is a valid term. Now, when used in the sense of "She's going through a phase", it is indeed quite insulting, as if any life choice made other than societal norms is just a passing fancy than one will grow out of.
May 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word passera scopaiola
Is this used with the same connotation as slut?
May 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word colored
It's always seemed weird to me that it is part of the group NAACP. Rappers calling each other the n-word is one thing, but that and the United Negro College Fund seem very different.
May 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word bugs
The appropriate term should be heisenbug.
May 1, 2009
seanahan commented on the word filip
Is this a neologism? It is difficult to search given the common name.
May 1, 2009
seanahan commented on the word cynosephaly
I think my cousin had this.
May 1, 2009
seanahan commented on the word dragopods
"Dragons for feet"? Priceless.
May 1, 2009
seanahan commented on the word pon
But what does it mean?!
May 1, 2009
seanahan commented on the word probisvijet
An online dictionary really gives the English equivalent as spiv, a word I'm quite certain I've only heard of from the one comment on Wordie. Apparently Croatian lexicographers are well read.
May 1, 2009
seanahan commented on the word t-glottalization
It most American dialects the t in button isn't glottalized.
April 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the list words-that-end-in-id
Cool list. There are a surprising amount of these.
April 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word probisvijet
I suppose there is some sort of cultural gap then, as I really don't understand the history leading you to this. Is it the atrocities committed against the indigenous peoples? It's a very odd construction, simultaneous admiration and contempt, and I'm interested to know how such a term develops.
April 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word baby bump
More or less disgusting than preggers?
April 29, 2009
seanahan commented on the word island dwarfing
This is interesting, because there is a similar phenomenon of island giantism, where isolated species on islands can become big and fat because they no longer have to run to escape predators.
April 29, 2009
seanahan commented on the word probisvijet
My point was, Jacob is a much better example than generic American settlers, none of whom are my ancestors. I know have a good idea of what this term means.
April 29, 2009
seanahan commented on the word snoutbreak
The Daily Show's graphic for what seemingly is the end of the World. I feel a little like the beginning of The Stand.
The good news is that the nearest confirmed case lies within the equilateral triangle that forms my home, work, and school.
April 28, 2009
seanahan commented on the word probisvijet
Which settlers in particular? Certainly some of the early Americans did bad things, but many of them were good people trying to make a better life for themselves.
April 28, 2009
seanahan commented on the word developer
That is a very strange interpretation of this definition. Typically in computers, developer refers to someone who develops computer software, which could include web sites, but is almost always referred to as a "web developer". When Steve Ballmer shouted "Developers Developers Developers", he wasn't referred to web designers.
April 28, 2009
seanahan commented on the word sys
I've never heard this used as a standalone. It is almost always used for something like sysadmin.
April 28, 2009
seanahan commented on the word aestheticization
"There is today too much aestheticization of judgments. Dukakis is 'Zorba the clerk.' Bush is a preppie. But peace and prosperity are at stake. The point of politics is good government, not the display of charm. And the point of a baseball team is good baseball, not inferior play somehow redeemed by a pretty setting. Part of the Cubs' problem may be that too many Cub fans have an attitude problem. They are too devote to the wrong thing. Let there be lights"
-- George Will, "Let There Be Lights", August 15, 1988, an essay in favor of night baseball at Wrigley field.
April 27, 2009
seanahan commented on the word comedy shorts
What are you wearing under there Reesetee?
April 27, 2009
seanahan commented on the word probisvijet
What are some typical examples of people of whom this word is used to describe? Genghis Khan?
April 27, 2009
seanahan commented on the word teleparamour
I'm thinking those devices where there are a bunch of pins and you stick your hand or face to press part down and on the other side you can see the image, and then the computer recording that and sending it across the wire.
Frankly, I'm glad they haven't gotten to more advanced intimate gestures yet. I shudder at the fate of humanity.
April 27, 2009
seanahan commented on the word cosmolonigology
see metaphysico-theologo-cosmolonigology
April 27, 2009
seanahan commented on the word baptism of fire
I agree with dontcry. Baptism by fire is baptism done under fire, baptism of fire seems like it would put the fire out.
April 27, 2009
seanahan commented on the word metaphysico-theologo-cosmolonigology
What is cosmolonigology?
April 27, 2009
seanahan commented on the word woodshedding
Punishment generally, unless you're into sadomasochism.
April 27, 2009
seanahan commented on the word cutify
It sounds more like a threat that a mugger makes.
April 26, 2009
seanahan commented on the word woodshedding
This is kind of weird, because taking someone to the woodshed has quite a different connotation than this term.
April 26, 2009
seanahan commented on the word coolsploitation
This seems like a forced neologism.
April 26, 2009
seanahan commented on the word slaister
This seems like one of those words that is pronounced oddly, but I can' tfind anything on the googles.
April 26, 2009
seanahan commented on the word discourage
This is interesting, does it mean that courage was once a verb?
April 25, 2009
seanahan commented on the word turdus migratorius
This sounds like it belongs on ambulatory excrement.
April 25, 2009
seanahan commented on the word tico
Do they all have golden noses?
April 24, 2009
seanahan commented on the word to go viral
NO! It's a trap!
April 24, 2009
seanahan commented on the word pinniped
see puijila, which is the first time I'd ever heard this word.
April 24, 2009
seanahan commented on the word dreams
That almost sounds like riddle, when does a man sleep, but not dream? Of course, the answer would have to be death, which I've never really been able to fully wrap my head around. Perhaps death is just a deep sleep from which you never wake. Do other languages prefer the death/sleep metaphor?
April 24, 2009
seanahan commented on the word chiasmus
Wow chained_bear, that may be the deepest statement every made on Wordie. I'm trying to wrap my head around the implications of fantasy and reality and how people live their lives. Consider my mind blown.
April 24, 2009
seanahan commented on the word silence
"Am I afraid of silence? I wouldn't ask, except I never seem to allow it. I watch tv, listen to music, radio, podcasts, if I'm with friends talk to them, and sometimes when I'm alone I talk to myself. The only time I consistently ever allow quiet is before drifting off to sleep (see dreams). Perhaps it is telling that I can accept no aural stimulus if I am deeply ingrained in reading a novel or solving a math problem. It could be that by listening to one thing while doing another prevents me from the exertion of concentrating full brain power on a given task. Have I been handicapping myself this whole time? If I put cotton balls in my ears would I be some great genius? Or am I fooling myself, am I nothing more than what I am? Does music provide a soundtrack to my life, neither improving nor harming my capabilities, just heightening my experiences?" -- excerpt from the autobiography of Seanahan
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word web 9.0
There's the web, web 2.0, and web 3.0, but does anyone really know what will be next? What will 4.0, 5.0, etc. look like? I can tell you that nobody knows what Web 9.0 looks like, it will be as different from what we know as the internet today as that is from everything that came before it.
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word future generations of wordies
In the future, what will the new Wordies think of us who were in here in the nascent days? Will John's grandchildren be writing web 9.0 plugins for this site? Will he sign an exclusivity agreement with the OED? Will the people at the OEDILF finally finish and then come stage war against us for our unlimerickal comments?
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word cattlesnake
If you are allergic to cats, is the cattlesnake's venom extra deadly?
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word mollitude
I suppose if anyone besides Shakespeare can make up his own words and meanings for words, it would be Nabokov.
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word verbomatic
verb + systematic
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word logomatic
logos + automatic
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word reese is the word
He's logomatic, he's verbomatic, why he's Reese lightning!
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word doggerland
Interesting, I imagine England was originally settled by nomads crossing that stretch of land, and remaining after the waters receded. Imagine the change in history if Britain had been settled thousands of years later.
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word sehnsucht
Also an album by German industrial group Rammstein.
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word immortal
I always think of the Hugo award winning novel "This Immortal" by Roger Zelazny, although he peculiarly prefers the original title, "And Call Me Conrad".
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word mrš
What is the vowel? Is it pronounced mersh, mresh, something like that?
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word rainbow
Does anyone know why there are so many songs about rainbows?
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word omphaloskepsis
This word is great because it can act as an idiom, or indeed as a literal term. Who doesn't periodical ponder at the marvel that is one's belly button?
April 23, 2009
seanahan commented on the word vegavis
That is a really strange way for it to be phrased, but I guess you can't expect much out of Wikipedia. No living species or species that exists is really an ancestor of any other species. Furthermore, the chances are very small that any fossils that are found are the ancestor of a living species, you can only say that this fossil is related to what the ancestor is thought to be.
April 21, 2009
seanahan commented on the word strategician
It seems so inelegant to form the noun from the adjective that itself was derived from the verb. In a similar vein, my Mom always gets upset at the verb "conferencing", from "conference", from "confer", which itself could have been used in the situation.
April 21, 2009
seanahan commented on the word 43
Interesting, according to Wikipedia, Dara Torres just turned 42 three days ago, so she will be 43 next year.
April 18, 2009
seanahan commented on the word listress
A female Wordie who creates lots of lists.
April 18, 2009
seanahan commented on the word binary
Let me interrupt, shouldn't this thread continue under ascii? You can generally encode numbers in any base, including binary, but converting those numbers to a message (information theory) requires an encoding scheme, which in this case is ascii.
April 18, 2009
seanahan commented on the word strategician
I'm inclined to agree with you, and I trust your instincts Qroqqa. When I analyzed this word I thought it might be a portmanteau of strategist and magician, since strategist and tactician are already so close that combining them seems redundant.
April 18, 2009
seanahan commented on the word dosshouse
see flophouse
April 18, 2009
seanahan commented on the word flophouse
Oh no, ghost word! Does anyone else think WordNet misses the standard usage of this term? I would tend to think it always has something illicit to do with it.
April 18, 2009
seanahan commented on the word ⌂
I agree with Bilby.
April 16, 2009
seanahan commented on the word gnubie
A homophone of newbie, someone who is new to GNU (but really Linux). Found at the Jargon File.
April 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word ☃
Spooky, I see nothing...
April 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word chainik
Check out this word at the Jargon File.
April 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word nerdling
The Jargon File has a number of interesting synonyms for this (as expected), including the standard newbie and the interesting chainik.
April 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word hox
Used to describe an interesting class of genes.
April 15, 2009
seanahan commented on the word cutthroat bitch
John Wayne Bobbitt would beg to disagree.
April 14, 2009
seanahan commented on the word circadian
Interesting, the standard pronunciation really loses the etymology of circa-dian, around a day.
April 13, 2009
seanahan commented on the word rhopalic
World Wide Words says "The classic example of the latter form was created by Dmitri Borgmann: “I do not know where family doctors acquired illegibly perplexing handwriting; nevertheless, extraordinary pharmaceutical intellectuality, counterbalancing in-decipherability, transcendentalises intercommunications’ incompre-hensibleness�?".
April 13, 2009
seanahan commented on the word ciceronian
It's one of those paradoxes you just have to live with. Say the right thing, and most people thing you're an idiot who can't pronounce words, some think you're being an erudite jackass, and a small minority of Worders will give you a tiny bit of credit. Say the wrong thing, and most people will give you zero credit, some will think you're dumbing yourself down, and the Worders will think you're an idiot.
April 13, 2009
seanahan commented on the word worder
I propose we use this term to describe people who would generally like Wordie, but aren't here.
April 13, 2009
seanahan commented on the word retrospective falsification
Actually, my understanding of cognitive dissonance is that a person chooses their current beliefs and actions, seemingly because they consciously want to, but in their subconscious they are striving to reduce cognitive dissonance. If a person knows about the cognitive dissonance, they either change their mind, or act as if it didn't occur at all, even though it is a major factor that contributes to their decision.
April 13, 2009
seanahan commented on the word uncontinental
But what does it mean for capitalism to uncontinental?
April 13, 2009
seanahan commented on the word nanofortune
Foxy skipped right over picofortune then?
April 11, 2009
seanahan commented on the word brazen
This is an interesting word. I've only heard or read it a few times, and it seems to have been always describing the behavior of a women. Is that generally true, or is that a side effect of my reading habits?
April 11, 2009
seanahan commented on the word schmuck
I wasn't really sure when I made that joke, I've only ever had one reference point. And now we've taken this page to a discussion that will make people uncomfortable.
April 11, 2009
seanahan commented on the word retrospective falsification
Interesting, I wonder what the connection is between this and cognitive dissonance.
April 10, 2009
seanahan commented on the word endemicity
The proper pronunciation of this word is almost impossible for me to match up with the root, it just sounds too different.
April 10, 2009
seanahan commented on the word sleeps
I think John must be putting something in the water.
April 10, 2009
seanahan commented on the word schmuck
While it's true that they are used in the same way, it is worth noting that more pleasure can be derived from one than the other.
April 10, 2009
seanahan commented on the word hasten, jason, bring the basin!
And yet the doggerel tag is so underused...
April 9, 2009
seanahan commented on the word pisos justice
See this wikipedia link
April 9, 2009
seanahan commented on the word quiltzilla
Really? Is this following the example of the equally annoying bridezilla?
April 9, 2009
seanahan commented on the word schmuck
Indeed, schmuck and dick are used in the exact same way.
April 9, 2009
seanahan commented on the word dyson number
Thanks John, I didn't know about these problems, and now you've made (ruined?) my evening. It's worth it though.
April 8, 2009
seanahan commented on the word mishuggenah
According to http://www.bubbygram.com/yiddishglossary.htm it is Yiddish for a crazy person.
April 6, 2009
seanahan commented on the word bilbao
Should it be mishuggenah?
April 6, 2009
seanahan commented on the word laconic
heh
April 4, 2009
seanahan commented on the word guano
I prefer dunghy, which is like a dinghy, but has a larger poopdeck.
April 4, 2009
seanahan commented on the word engayify
v. to gay it up
April 3, 2009
seanahan commented on the word koan
Does Wordie have the Buddha nature?
April 3, 2009
seanahan commented on the word serific
There has to be a good pun with seraphic.
April 3, 2009
seanahan commented on the word laicization
Interesting, a layperson is one who is not a member of a clergy, and this word reflects that.
April 3, 2009
seanahan commented on the word succumbence
Interesting. So is the b pronounced?
April 3, 2009
seanahan commented on the word ponzipalooza
Probably it is so ugly that no one is willing to take credit.
April 3, 2009
seanahan commented on the word pedissequous
Rolig, you are a great example of the Wordie spirit. Anywhere else on the internet, your last post would have stopped after the fifth word. Instead, you send me scurrying to Amazon to update my wishlist with new translations.
April 3, 2009
seanahan commented on the list 4-grams
His heard." "Exactly he very glad trouble, and by Hopkins! That it on of the who difficentralia. He rushed likely?" "Blood night that.
April 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the list trigrams
I has them the saw the secorrow. And wintails on my my ent, thinks, fore voyager lanated the been elsed helder was of him a very free bottlemarkable
April 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word humanly
I've never that usage of humanly before, but I've also never read Kierkegaard.
March 31, 2009
seanahan commented on the word basso profundo
The title of the outstanding opening track of DeVotchKa's album "A Mad and Faithful Telling".
March 31, 2009
seanahan commented on the word umpire
Really? I thought I'd hit that one out of the park.
March 31, 2009
seanahan commented on the word reading the oed (ammon shea)
Some random guy named John McGrath interviewed Ammon Shea here
March 31, 2009
seanahan commented on the word syfy
I've been against the channel since the beginning. The name sci-fi is really just a slap in the face of the true fans who prefer to call it SF.
March 31, 2009
seanahan commented on the word umpire
Because I would say that at least 90% of the usages of this word are in the context of baseball. At least, if you say the word umpire to me, I immediately think baseball.
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word amaxomanic
What does this mean?
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word lexicomania
Why consult a dictionary when we are the prime examples of it?
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word mount redoubt
Do you say Mount Re-doubt or Mount reh-Doubt?
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word ad personam
see also ad hominem
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word epoptic
What does this mean?
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word planemos
As I understand it, there should be a great deal many of these, but they are almost impossible to find, since there is no light source for them to reflect.
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word soporific
Wait, eating lettuce makes you sleepy?
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word queequeg
Is there Mrs. Queequeg?
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word lis pendens
Latin term used at dry cleaners to assuage customers whose clothes aren't ready.
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word lis
Used in lis pendens
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word duneverse
Is this pronounced Dune-verse or Dune-i-verse? I like the latter.
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word foetally
British for fetally, the adverbial form of fetus. The British actually write fœtus, though Wikipedia says this is deemed professionally unacceptable.
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word the governator
I prefer gubernator.
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the list modern-philosophies
materialism?
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word monad
18 listings, but not a single comment. There's some pretty interesting stuff here. Read the Wikipedia entry and discuss.
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word sonic bloom
Also a move by Guile.
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word glossolalia
Who calls it "tongue-speaking"? I've only ever heard "speaking in tongues".
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word wolverine
I have to disagree with Chained Bear. The University of Michigan is a prominent university, and very well know in college sports. It is also the premier university in the state of Michigan. As such, residents of Michigan are Wolverines. The animal is fairly obscure, but there are a lot of people from Michigan. Now, I agree that using Wolverine in general to describe Michigan residents and not just alumni is a bit unfortunate, especially for graduates of Michigan State (the Spartans), but it is something I hear all the time.
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word foamize
I'm sort of glad there are no chemists here to explain why that is.
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word humanly
Is this the kind of word that is almost always used colloquially? Also, has anyone heard this in a positive context? That is, "remembering ten thousand digits of pi is humanly possible".
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word favour
It does seem a bit archaic. "He favors his mother" is something I've read, but I don't think I've ever heard someone say it. Usually they say "looks like" or "takes after".
March 30, 2009
seanahan commented on the word polysyndeton
I always think "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow".
March 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word triathalon
I mean, they were somewhat related, right? They all had to do with triathalons?
March 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word watchmen
The movie was awesome. The book was pretty good. It's been number one on Amazon for books for a couple days now, managing to surpass the dozen or so Twilight books in the top 25.
March 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word quantitative easing
I dislike the "creating money out of thin air" metaphor, it downplays the future cost of such decisions.
March 6, 2009
seanahan commented on the word button
My parents were the opposite, I was constantly corrected on my pronunciation and grammar. And here I am, on Wordie, constantly correcting people.
March 6, 2009
seanahan commented on the word messopotamia
See Wikipedia
March 6, 2009
seanahan commented on the word ouroborus
Google books to the rescue
March 6, 2009
seanahan commented on the word watchmen
I impulse purchased this at Barnes and Nobles on Sunday, probably took about 5-6 hours to read. I suggest you read it first, but I'll know more after seeing it.
March 6, 2009
seanahan commented on the word nimbed
Nimbed means having nimb or halo. Similar to nimbus.
March 6, 2009
seanahan commented on the word ouroborus
See ouroboros or oroboros.
March 5, 2009
seanahan commented on the word twewbie
This word is disgusting. It makes my ears bleed.
March 5, 2009
seanahan commented on the word epitaph
The saddest article I've ever read is this article about a Sports columnist's recently deceased dog. For those who aren't into sports, this article transcends sports writing.
March 5, 2009
seanahan commented on the word snortfest
Sounds like a party with cocaine.
March 5, 2009
seanahan commented on the word circumcredance
I prefer to describe such a word as "perfectly cromulent", which more of my friends get, but when I use madeupical, they seem to pick up the meaning alright.
March 5, 2009
seanahan commented on the word watchmen
Oh my god, the excitement is mounting. I just read this book for the first time over the last 3 days and I can't wait for the movie.
March 5, 2009
seanahan commented on the word watchman
*Cough cough* Watchmen
March 5, 2009
seanahan commented on the word we will
This was a slogan of Howard Dean during the 2004 campaign.
March 5, 2009
seanahan commented on the word plug-and-play
The Wikipedia link also suffices.
March 5, 2009
seanahan commented on the word laughing at your own wordie joke before you realize you're the only one who gets it
Let's see some examples.
March 3, 2009
seanahan commented on the word the abstinence teacher
Great review Sionnach, do you review books I might want to read?
March 3, 2009
seanahan commented on the user whichbe
Let us know when the book is finished, we'll all buy a copy and then make lists that really don't have anything to do with the book, but have the title in the list description.
March 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word imaginary
That's really not such a great analogy if you think about it too much. I'm pretty sure the gravitational pull of Saturn would do some things do a bathtub full of water. The whole idea of floating doesn't make a lot of sense on this scale.
March 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word libtard
Or you can click the Urban Dictionary link in the middle, next to Wikipedia.
February 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word facebook activism
"One Million Strong for Stephen Colbert" got to the million mark, 1,194,089, to be specific.
February 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word a new dictionary of eponyms (morton s. freeman)
It must have been really boring if it took you a year to read.
February 6, 2009
seanahan commented on the word groupization
Trust Microsoft to come up with heinous neologisms.
February 5, 2009
seanahan commented on the word groupization
"Microsoft researchers are exploring whether using data from several members of a social group--a technique that the company calls "groupization"--can improve search results. Their initial findings, based on experiments involving around 100 participating Microsoft employees, suggest that tapping into different types of groups could produce significantly better search results." -- http://www.technologyreview.com/web/22040/page1/
February 5, 2009
seanahan commented on the word landland
Stephen Colbert's name for Iceland after global warming.
February 3, 2009
seanahan commented on the word fin-de-siecle
I just saw this yesterday at Wired.
"The French Academy of Sciences turns down the membership application of Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie.
A healthy dose of sexism, racism and chauvinism, all alive and well in the rarified air of the fin de siècle French scientific fraternity, conspired to deny Curie the seat, which was awarded instead to Edouard Branly."
January 25, 2009
seanahan commented on the word crossword
As long as you don't make a habit of posting a ton of links, I think it's appropriate. I myself am a fan of crosswords, although I'm a bit out of practice. I got a crossword a day calendar for Christmas, so I'm hoping to hone my skills.
January 22, 2009
seanahan commented on the word tetrahedron
What? The coolest? The dodecahedron and icosahedron are way cooler.
January 19, 2009
seanahan commented on the word amberina
soutanes in not a word I would have known.
January 18, 2009
seanahan commented on the word prole
Typically, yes. I can't think of any single syllable slang for bourgeois.
January 18, 2009
seanahan commented on the word gish gallop
A debate tactic used by Duane Gish in support of creationism. His rapid fire statements are silly and disjoint, but by the time you've refuted one of them, he's shot out a dozen more. Since it's easier to make up false claims than to disprove them, he always stays ahead, and by the end of the debate, he gets more points with the audience because his opponent only refuted a fraction of his claims.
January 18, 2009
seanahan commented on the word decrypt
Howard Carter decrypted Tutankhamun?
January 18, 2009
seanahan commented on the word undertagged
If you have a word which is generally overtagged, but this word isn't tagged with overtagged, then it is undertagged, but once one tags it with undertagged, then it is mistagged.
But what if the word overtagged itself is missing the tag metatag, telling us it describes tags, and not words? Then overtagged is undertagged, leading us to tag it undertagged, but then if someone adds metatag, it is itself overtagged with undertagged and thus mistagged.
January 14, 2009
seanahan commented on the word schadenfraude
This word is a fraud.
January 14, 2009
seanahan commented on the word undertagged
A tag which should be used in a lot more places than it is.
January 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word recession warrior
What does it mean to "fight recessions rather than give in to them"? Do most businesses really just give up and pack it in during a recession? Doesn't everybody want to survive and hopefully thrive?
January 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word plague water
That deserves note more for the crazy sentence structure if nothing else.
January 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word purtid
It certain areas of the South, the word pretty is pronounced purty, and this is a verb described a woman putting on make-up. "Before she went to the dance she purtid herself up".
January 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word statisticulate
Used in the 1954 classic How to Lie With Statistics, a short, well written, and still relevant book about how people used statistics to mislead.
January 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word statisticry
See also statisticulate
January 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word eptitude
Or possibly aptitude.
January 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word ridonkulous
That spelling is pretty odd. I would tend to say the word was first used by someone else, as the date of first attestation isn't necessarily the first usage.
January 12, 2009
seanahan commented on the word neverware
See also vaporware.
January 7, 2009
seanahan commented on the word universe
There is this book about how English is really based on Biblical Hebrew starting in the garden of Eden, The Word: The Dictionary That Reveals The Hebrew Source of English (Paperback). It might interest some of us here. As far as I can tell without having read it, it is complete crap.
January 7, 2009
seanahan commented on the word shite and onions
Thanks be to Google Books.
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word lds
The Mormon Church keeps extensive records on births and deaths. I have no ancestors in the church, but my family used some of their records to research our genealogy. It seems reasonable the LDS on those records refers to group that kept track of them.
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word sexiled
Not able to get into your dorm room because your roommate is having sex.
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word sexcellent
The classic is the dorm word sexiled.
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word rnadom
Ok, that's what it means now.
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word kernel panic
Many a fun evening in college.
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word colonol panic
See kernel panic.
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word synecdoche
I joked last week about wanting to see the new movie "Metonymy New York", but none of my friends got it.
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word visceral
A much better word than gutty, or the phrase "goes with his gut".
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the list loan-words-from-french
Looking up the etymologies, village is French and town is English, which is about what I expected here.
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word cosmogony
Seems to be an archaic term for cosmology.
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word wordie list of the year 2008
I've been off the grid for a while. I spent a lot of time doing Word of the Year, List of the Year, etc. last year, but there was a lot of negative reaction to the whole idea of it, which is why I didn't involve myself in it this year. I still think it's a great idea in general, so thanks to Whichbe for making it happen.
January 2, 2009
seanahan commented on the word convulsionist
Sort of like speakings in tongues?
December 28, 2008
seanahan commented on the word mores
That pronunciation leads me to believe there are two syllables in this word, and I've only ever used one.
December 15, 2008
seanahan commented on the word usageaster
See also language maven.
December 15, 2008
seanahan commented on the word schneid
An interesting Yiddish word often used in baseball and growing in poker. This blog post summarizes a word detective page nicely http://biloklok.blogspot.com/2005/11/schneid.html
December 1, 2008
seanahan commented on the word y2gay
That's a hilarious article, informative, and lots of database schema, great stuff.
November 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the word sangre de drago
Dragon blood?
November 24, 2008
seanahan commented on the word 244
Thanks Bilby, I've always wanted to know that.
November 18, 2008
seanahan commented on the word girder
I am Bender, please insert girder.
November 18, 2008
seanahan commented on the word forty-two
See 42 for an extended discussion.
November 18, 2008
seanahan commented on the word polynomially
"I haven't had as much as a square of cracker all day", the parrot said polynomially.
November 14, 2008
seanahan commented on the word liaison
The spelling of this word looks really funny.
November 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word justifiction
When the Republicans rewrite history during the campaign, history is right justified, and similarly when rewritten by Democrats it is left justified.
November 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word paradoxical undressing
A funny usage here on Cracked.
November 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word hypermiling
I've heard hypermiling several times, starting in December 2007.
November 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word unfuckwithable
I agree, this is cool.
November 11, 2008
seanahan commented on the word schmutz
mensch
November 11, 2008
seanahan commented on the word witticist
Someone known for witticisms, e.g., Oscar Wilde or Yogi Berra. I suppose that wit is the appropriate term, but this sounds kind of cool.
November 10, 2008
seanahan commented on the word epigram
Oscar Wilde, noted witticist, I presume?
November 10, 2008
seanahan commented on the word package management system
See RPM hell.
November 10, 2008
seanahan commented on the word dependency hell
see rpm hell or dll hell
November 10, 2008
seanahan commented on the word agnosia
Also, face blindness or prosopagnosia.
November 10, 2008
seanahan commented on the word rpm hell
See Dependency Hell. This is when you tried to install something (Red hat linux Package Manager) using an RPM, and then it turned out you needed another RPM as a prerequisite. After downloading that, it turned out it needed another RPM. And so on. Modern versions of Linux use fairly sophisticated package management system to deal with this so the user doesn't have to.
While there is a certain romanticism to digging into the guts of the system and doing all the work yourself that goes (went?) with Linux, I think everyone will agree that RPM Hell is something that nobody feels nostalgic about.
November 10, 2008
seanahan commented on the word dll hell
Reminds me of rpm hell.
November 10, 2008
seanahan commented on the word sixxer
Err, I didn't really have any meaning in mind. See sevener.
November 10, 2008
seanahan commented on the word sevener
See also sixxer.
November 6, 2008
seanahan commented on the word unitarian universalism
Often referred to as UU.
November 6, 2008
seanahan commented on the word secretary of defense
It's actually frightening the similarities between the West Wing and the current election.
November 6, 2008
seanahan commented on the word hcceren
I guess I didn't look at the list title, cryptolect seems like a reasonable term.
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word whornet
That's awful.
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word byron
I really enjoy the parenthetical after "Buckland kept a bear named Tiglath Pileser". Almost as if the comment was responding to the name, not the actual bear keeping.
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word blow
I can only hope this is where the name of the sugar packets comes from.
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the user bilby
I'm really enjoying the poetry citations Bilby, keep them coming.
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word hcceren
I don't really think Pig Latin is the appropriate term. Is there a linguistic term for this kind of language alteration?
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word u v v v w v uu v vv
Can you explain this for me?
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word wuwh
We're just two lost souls.
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word wtfmi
wtf + wtmi
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word wtmi
I merged this with wtf to create wtfmi.
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word slander vs libel
calumny
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word native vs indigenous
Good breakdown Mollusque.
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word fakeaway
This is a ridiculous word. Just because we can make up a word like this, doesn't mean we need to. Plus, the meaning isn't clear from the pun, so it is basically useless.
November 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word sublime
I just looked up the etymology of this, after years of idly wondering (away from a computer or dictionary) about the connection between the adjective and the physical process. It turns out that the word is from the Latin for "uplifted" or "elevated". Matter being sublimated goes directly from a solid to a gas, causing it to go from the ground to the air. A sublime performance could thus be a performance which uplifts the audience, or simply a performance at an elevated level. Compare this with the honorific "High-ness".
November 2, 2008
seanahan commented on the word forte
Found this interesting video on this word http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/10/09/forte-pronunciation/. Also uses nounized.
October 29, 2008
seanahan commented on the word hansard
Also used in Canada.
October 29, 2008
seanahan commented on the word sleeplessness
This is a fabulous word. 5 s's, 4 e's, 13 letters, 5 distinct, and three syllables.
October 28, 2008
seanahan commented on the word new york friendship
It does now. Let's have it be a friendship between a Jew and a Gentile.
October 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the word anathematician
This is a fabulous word.
October 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the word φ
See also phi.
October 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the word as useful as a one-armed juggler
Clearly, in an "ass-kicking contest", the object is to kick your opponent in the buttocks. If you only have one leg, it is very difficult to kick someone, which seems where the expression comes in.
Now, the one-armed juggler idiom doesn't really make sense, because you can juggle with one hand. I can do two regular sized juggling balls one hand, which while not impressive in any fashion, confused me as to the usefulness of the expression. Obviously there are talented jugglers like Jason Quick who can perform very complicated juggling maneuvers with one handed.
Still, there must be hundreds of expressions like this, someone should collect them all.
October 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the word paradise
You stole my comment Effigy.
October 24, 2008
seanahan commented on the word donkament
A poker term described here, essentially a portmanteau of donkey and tournament, describing a poker tournament consisting of bad players (donkeys).
October 20, 2008
seanahan commented on the word pedaguese
see comment on educanto.
October 20, 2008
seanahan commented on the word educanto
This book was written in 1973, and language has certainly changed quite a bit in the last 30 years. I don't think teachers are being replaced by educators, and I don't remember many teachers who consistently used large words. Of course, it could just be I heard those words and knew what they meant, when an averagely lexiconed student could not.
October 20, 2008
seanahan commented on the word educanto
"In schools today, the educators (Latin-derived) hold sway over the ordinary teachers (Anglo-Saxon). Educators speak a Latinate language, incomprehensible to parents and children alike, which is disparagingly referred to by those within the profession as "Pedaguese" or "Educanto." -- Peter Farb, Word Play
October 20, 2008
seanahan commented on the word alphabet
Artificially inflating your comment count, Gangerh?
October 20, 2008
seanahan commented on the word triskaidekaphobia
It was just fear of the number 13
October 18, 2008
seanahan commented on the word if
Great minds think alike, eh?
October 16, 2008
seanahan commented on the word obfuscation
from a recent conversation of mine with a bot...
Seanahan: Hi. What's up?
Bot: October.
Seanahan: You are the computer.
Bot: No, you are.
Seanahan: Oh no I'm not!
Bot: Bald obfuscation. I expected better.
Seanahan: I'm leaving.
Bot: Shall I open the door?
Seanahan: It's midnight... And it's so dark...
Bot: If it wasn't dark it probably wouldn't be midnight.
Seanahan: You are not a real person.
October 15, 2008
seanahan commented on the word considered harmful
See Wikipedia.
October 15, 2008
seanahan commented on the word if
GOTO CONSIDERED HARMFUL
October 15, 2008
seanahan commented on the word hyades
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vexed the dim sea: I am become a name;
October 15, 2008
seanahan commented on the word portmantawesome
Portmandiculous.
October 15, 2008
seanahan commented on the word algol
Interesting, this is from the Arabic, Al Ghul, meaning, "The Ghoul", probably due to the varying brightness.
October 15, 2008
seanahan commented on the word worries
And only 2 have problems.
October 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word 28
Perfect!
October 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word barista
Although, the terms come together at coffee bars.
October 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word troopergate
In fact, the first I'd ever heard of Sarah Palin was a column about possible VP candidates saying that Troopergate counted against her.
October 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word cash machine
It is also US slang for ATM.
October 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word syzygystic
It would be much cooler if you could legitimately spell it syzygystyc.
October 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word inforpinion blocker
Apparently I'm the first one to use this feature chained_bear, because no one else has posted after you.
October 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word grinder
A poker player who ekes out a living playing low stakes games, without taking the high risks associated with higher risk (but higher expectation) games. Knish in Rounders, for one.
October 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word allonge
Shouldn't it be "The way you take to get to Tipperary"?
October 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word schwag
Shouldn't that be swaglady?
October 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word wordie for iphone
Is this different than Wordie mobile?
October 1, 2008
seanahan commented on the word wain
As used in wainwright.
September 30, 2008
seanahan commented on the word antideluvian
Someone who lives in New Orleans?
September 28, 2008
seanahan commented on the word manitou
Also the name of a pair of islands near one of favorite places on earth.
September 28, 2008
seanahan commented on the word champaign
I lived there for a couple years, and it is indeed quite level.
September 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the word fuck off the wordie top 100
Should it not be "Get the 'fuck' off the Wordie top 100"?
September 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the list it-s-short-for-elizabeth
I also love that Jennarennifer had a lot of different ways to shorten it.
September 26, 2008
seanahan commented on the word golden number
Don't confuse this with golden ratio.
September 26, 2008
seanahan commented on the word epact
What is this used for? It seems quite useless.
September 26, 2008
seanahan commented on the word field assistant
That totally sounds badass though. Motorbiking through the jungles in a foreign country, fighting off packs of wild dogs and tigers, sucking venom out of snake bites, all for zero pay.
September 26, 2008
seanahan commented on the word embourgeoisement
This is a fabulous word. If you pronounce it in French, you miss just about half the letters.
September 23, 2008
seanahan commented on the word dour
I tend to think of WordNet 5 and 6 when this word comes up.
September 23, 2008
seanahan commented on the word butte
A mesa has a clifflike side. Otherwise, the only difference is mesa is Spanish and butte is French.
September 23, 2008
seanahan commented on the word lobisón
one half
Edit: on reread, a trick non-trick question. For the seventh child to be a lobison, both the sixth and seventh child have to be male, so Yarb was right.
September 22, 2008
seanahan commented on the word the shawshank redemption
Hope is a good thing.
September 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word snopes
Not quite a verb, but I imagine it will be in the next few years.
See also the XKCD.
September 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word wezand
Looks to be an obsolete version of weasand.
September 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word orientated
I prefer to use oriented.
September 19, 2008
seanahan commented on the word rapex
See also vagina dentata.
September 19, 2008
seanahan commented on the word where did you sleep last night
Lead Belly is one of the most fascinating yet poorly known figures in American music.
September 16, 2008
seanahan commented on the word jesus frog
In space, the natural position for astronauts to sleep is flat on there backs with there arms extended straight out. Obviously this wouldn't work in normal gravity.
September 15, 2008
seanahan commented on the word pith
I meant I've only ever heard the adjective form, pithy. I never actually refer to the whitish bits inside of an orange, I suppose I might have heard them called pith before, but I meant pith used in the 4th WordNet definition above.
September 15, 2008
seanahan commented on the word 11:11
I always catch the clock, it's 11:11.
September 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word evanescent
This seems to be Latin in contrast to the Greek ephemeral.
September 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word brown trouser moment
In American, an "Oh Shit Moment".
September 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word bump uglies
This is American slang as well, or at least instantly recognizable to Americans, although it probably isn't used as much anymore.
September 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word myrmidon
That is a truly odd sentence.
September 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word slay
Of course...
September 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word pettitoe
You say pettitoe, I say pettotoe.
September 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word nubility
see nubile for the usage.
September 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word pith
I've never heard the noun form of this word.
September 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word smedley
Old Gimlet Eye.
September 11, 2008
seanahan commented on the word mellon collie
Such a good album.
September 11, 2008
seanahan commented on the word texas toast
You're making that up.
September 11, 2008
seanahan commented on the word help!!
At least She understands me.
September 10, 2008
seanahan commented on the word help!!
I need somebody.
September 8, 2008
seanahan commented on the word hexadecimal
It is almost always referred to as hex by computer scientists.
September 6, 2008
seanahan commented on the word mrsa
Scary stuff.
September 1, 2008
seanahan commented on the word rumoured
Great post qroqqa, I hadn't thought about it, but this is indeed a very interesting word. Both the cases you list which you consider counterexamples seem to me to have an implicit "to be" in them, "rumored to be completely furnished" and "rumored to be dead". In fact, it doesn't sound wholly grammatical to me if I hear rumored outside of "to be".
August 29, 2008
seanahan commented on the word bw3s
Buffalo Wild Wings
August 29, 2008
seanahan commented on the word weaksauce
Actually, Taco Bell has a hotter sauce than hot, known as fire. It still isn't up to wild sauce at BW3s, but it is a considerable improvement.
August 29, 2008
seanahan commented on the word parking goddess
I thought it referred to a gorgeous parking lot attendant who caused men to drive around the lot over and over again just to look at her.
August 29, 2008
seanahan commented on the word nurdle, boondock, penhaligon
It sounds enticing, I also wish to play it. Now all we have to do is find the rules.
August 29, 2008
seanahan commented on the word gaytarded
Steven Pinker has written extensively on swearing, and I'll point out a couple of the important parts. There are specific parts of the brain which produce language, and those parts are not necessarily responsible for swearing, which is more keyed into the parts of the brain which use emotion. So, calling someone a racial slur is typically an intellectual act, while saying a four letter word is an emotional one. Of course, one can use emotional words in an intellectual fashion to make a point, which is just good writing, using words which have meanings that can reach an audience.
August 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the word gaytarded
We can't just put our fingers in our ears, cover our eyes, and hope that the words we don't like go away. By talking about words we are able to analyze them, to understand what about a word gives it power. By shining light upon the darkness we can deprive it of that which scares us, we can dismantle the power it holds over us and we can move forward.
The simple act of talking about swear words or insults takes away a lot of their power. And of course, there are people who would take away niggardly and even black hole. The free exchange of words and ideas is a necessary thing.
August 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the word squeezer
The term squeeze is still used in poker today to describe slowly looking at a hole card. From this there is a variety of other metaphorical usages which have arose.
August 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the word gaytarded
No hard feelings all around, it was intended as irony, but obviously it is an offensive term, so apologies.
August 27, 2008
seanahan commented on the word lapidation
Particularly since it sounds like the opposite of delapidated, which is a negative word. Unfortunately, the two words are roughly opposites, the one being stones falling apart and the other being stones coming together.
August 26, 2008
seanahan commented on the word features
I actually don't really care for comments on profiles. A good percentage are referring to (but not linking) random conversations around Wordie, leading to terrible fragmentation. My profile, for example, is a complete hodge podge of comments, most of which are indecipherable to even me, not that I mind too much, but some of the profiles that have a lot of comments kind of get out of hand.
Perhaps having that part of the profile on a separate page would alleviate this.
August 26, 2008
seanahan commented on the word nihilotheist
I'm not really sure what a non-existent kind of God is.
August 26, 2008
seanahan commented on the word demesne
I've never figured out how to pronounce this, so I checked the guide and it says di-meen, and that it is essentially the same word as domain.
August 26, 2008
seanahan commented on the word gaytarded
A lot of vitriol on Wordie these past couple of days, and honestly, I'm a bit shocked. Words are not fundamental units, they are what we make of them. They have the power that we assign to them. The point of this word was to lampoon the use of gay and retarded to mean stupid, annoying, pointless, frustrating, etc. Taking two words in an ironic context and making a third which is not even a word to mean some sort of combination of the two perverted meanings.
The point of this word, of the use of words like this, is to force people to think about things that they either they haven't or don't want to think about. So I guess it's worked in part, because it has gotten some serious responses, but it mostly failed because people seemed to go crazy.
Finally, there is no reason for four people to call me insulting, homophobic, horrible, stupid, unimaginative, insulting, cruel, dimwitted, ignorant, juvenile, petty, pea-brained, lame, evil, selfish, power-hungry tyrant, willfully ignorant, self-righteous obscurantist, awful, casual hating, and a sniggering idiot.
I believe that humor is a powerful force. It is uniquely human, lifting us in good times and sustaining us through the bad. Humor provides intellectual stimulation and relief from stress. Wordplay is a very important type of humor for many of us on Wordie, although surprisingly large numbers of us don't really seem to get the jokes.
If a post strikes you as unamusing or even offensive, there is no reason to attack the poster. Maybe you misunderstood what was going on, maybe the poster meant something different, perhaps some historical If you truly feel the need to say something, a polite comment such as "This seems somewhat offensive to me. Are you sure you want to phrase it like that?" This will go a lot further than ad hominem attacks.
August 26, 2008
seanahan commented on the word negro
And the United Negro College Fund is a respected organization.
August 26, 2008
seanahan commented on the word astar
Apparently an Ethiopian sky god.
August 22, 2008
seanahan commented on the word south
Bilby, when examining the Wordnet page for South, we determine that the U.S. sense of South, that being the southern part of the country, has the highest frequency count. This is due to the frequency found in tagged texts, which simply means that word came up the most often.
The two you dislike, which don't occur in the WordNet entry linked above, make some sense, "a demarcated area of the Earth" is for when "south" is used to refer to the Southern Hemisphere. Similarly, "a point or extent in space" makes sense geometrically, we can talk about the southern part of a shape in several dimensions. Without more information from WordNet, I can't narrow it down further.
Finally, WordNet is not a dictionary, it is a "lexical database".
August 22, 2008
seanahan commented on the word ergodic
I've actually studied what would be called ergodic systems, although that term wasn't use very often.
August 22, 2008
seanahan commented on the word pestilential
The improv group I was in for a while in college used this as an enunciation exercise.
August 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word mick
Or my favorite form of the Irish 7 course meal, a bottle of whiskey and 6 baked potatoes.
August 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word occident
In my understanding, the original meaning of the word was to set, as in the sun, just as Orient comes from to rise, as in the sun. The sun rises in the east (orient) and sets in the west (Occident). Turkey was known as the Orient (by Romans) and as Anatolia (by Greeks, the word coming from the Greek for east). Eventually, it moved further east, until it reached china.
August 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word overfitting
Did you read an article yesterday about overfitting? It's enough to make a person trained in statistics cry.
August 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word south
I don't know, most of the WordNet defs tend to make a lot of sense. The southeast and southwest ones are kind of confusing, but the rest seem valid.
August 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word undecimber
Lousy Smarch weather.
August 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word irenic
Sometimes I think Reesetee uses ironic just to annoy me.
Anyway, irenic is from Greek, and ire is from Latin, so the two words have no connection in meaning.
Whenever I see this word can't help but think of the Rambaldi message relate to it.
August 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word mick
You forgot about potatoes.
August 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word i.e.
Remember, i.e. means "in other words" and e.g. means "for example".
August 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word camisia
See camisole or chemise.
August 20, 2008
seanahan commented on the word joey buttafuoco
You know Skipvia, the planet is pronounced yur-in-iss, not your-anus?
August 20, 2008
seanahan commented on the word cesta
I like adding balon and cesta to get baloncesto.
August 20, 2008
seanahan commented on the word mace
Is there a difference between a flail and what is called a chain mace?
August 19, 2008
seanahan commented on the word books
"*58% of Wordies have read 3 books in the past two weeks.
*42% of Wordies skipped their college graduation ceremony to read a book.
*80% of Wordie families have spent more than $500 on books in the last year.
*70% of Wordies have not been in a bookstore in the last five days."
-(source me)
August 19, 2008
seanahan commented on the word bacon-erdös number
First, I have to say I have two Erdos autobiographies in my library right now. Second, I have to say that I am considered by most who have eaten with me to be a connoisseur of bacon and bacon paraphernalia.
August 15, 2008
seanahan commented on the list chabon-michael
I added my old citations from Kavalier and Clay to this list, although I'm sure there are many more words that I could have cited in that book.
August 14, 2008
seanahan commented on the word bacon-erdös number
The Erdos number is the length of path between two vertices in a graph, where a vertex represents a person, and an edge represents having written a scientific paper (typically math or physics) with the other person. See the Wikipedia page for more info.
August 14, 2008
seanahan commented on the word axolotl
See also axlotl.
August 13, 2008
seanahan commented on the word bulverism
A logical fallacy, coined by C. S. Lewis.
* You claim that A is true.
* Because of B, you personally desire that A should be true.
* Therefore, A is false.
August 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word stimthought
That is interesting. I mean, most everyone agrees that there should be speed limits, but most everyone breaks them! The USA was built upon the principle of "majority rule, minority rights", but if a majority of voters continue to elect people to put laws into place or revoke laws, and those in power replace the supreme court, eventually that voting block could change the laws to anything they wanted. In several countries, the Muslim majority attempted to vote in an Islamic dictator and disband the democracy. If this is the wish of the people, would it not be undemocratic to go against it?
August 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word hyper-foreignization
See this page for more info. Essentially, it is people attempting to pronounce foreign words in the most foreign sounding way possible.
August 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word jehu
There is also something call hyper-foreignization, although I don't know that it is at all in play here.
August 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word kafkaesque
Kafka? Who's Kafka? TELL ME!
August 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word quoz
This word seems odd and ridiculous, but I haven't decided whether I like it.
August 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the list oligosemantonyms
Actually, that feature has been in Wordie since the very beginning, it's just been hidden.
August 12, 2008
seanahan commented on the word secretary
That is freaking awesome, because it makes so much sense.
August 11, 2008
seanahan commented on the word jehu
I'm pretty sure Jesus is an Italianization (Latinization really) of the original name.
August 11, 2008
seanahan commented on the word igly
So which is it, extremely or exceptionally?
August 11, 2008
seanahan commented on the word gayer
Really Bilby, was linking to Mitt Romney's hair really necessary? You've created an orphan.
August 4, 2008
seanahan commented on the word ffwrch
I can't even begin to guess how to pronounce this.
August 4, 2008
seanahan commented on the word inexorably
"If I can't exclude those disjunctions, I'll die trying", Tom said inexorably.
August 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the list identify-the-wordie-2
I'm happy that the "Old Guard" wordies as Bilby called them were the ones to correctly place me on that word.
August 3, 2008
seanahan commented on the word the peter principle
And the basis for the worst board game ever made.
August 2, 2008
seanahan commented on the word cheop's law
It's clever anyways.
August 2, 2008
seanahan commented on the list identify-the-wordie-2
asativum chainsaw
bilby psychasthenic
chained_bear sunflower
darqueau mojo
dontcry hunky-dory
frogapplause cred-herring
gangerh wabe
john quixotic
oroboros cavalier
palooka clinchpoop
plethora pluripotent
prolagus groovin'
pterodactyl zoetrope
rolig stripper
seanahan bladder
sionnach esemplastic
skipvia bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk
whichbe gravlax
yarb ingenue
August 2, 2008
seanahan commented on the word liminal
Interesting, knowing subliminal, but not this.
August 1, 2008
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