Although it does kind of advance the argument proffered by so many of Palin's supporters that "she's just like us." You know, those of us who watch Jerry Springer and buy People.
Another sign of global warming in the Arctic--new ice formed in areas of open water, thinner than the solid nila ice sheets usually found in the Arctic. Pancake ice is round, allowing for more open water between pancakes, increasing solar absorption and therefore global warming even more. See Pancake Ice Takes Over the Arctic.
I blame the Wolof for that misinterpretation, si. Boo Radley is one of my favorite characters and one on whom I've modeled much of my life. Him, and Billy Budd.
This could also be interpreted as "Jar Jar Binks lays the tacos by his young offspring, Jar Jar Mason." In Wolof, "bu rafet"--literally, Boo Radley--can refer to anyone of limited mental capacity or unusual behavior and may be used to indicate that an individual (in this case, "Jabar," or Jar Jar) is inarticulate, cloying, immensely stupid, and without any redeeming qualities whatsoever.
"To put it in a nutshell, in this quest I first found that whatever way you look at it the quantum mechanical formalism, when taken at face value, compels us to consider that two particles that have once interacted always remain bound in a very strange, hardly understandable way even when they are far apart, the connection being independent of distance.
Even though this connection-at-a-distance does not permit us to transmit messages, clearly it is real. In other words space, so essential in classical physics, seems to play a considerably less basic role in quantum physics.
I soon found out, as often happens, that these things had been known for quite a long time. Schrödinger had even given them a name: entanglement..."
The thin zone around a sun within which a planet's temperature is neither too hot nor too cold to hold liquid water and, therefore, perhaps, life--as we know it, Jim.
A bank whose debts are greater than its assets but that continues to operate due to an infusion of government capital--the walking dead of financial institutions. CitiBank is currently in that category, as are a few others. See this article for a reference.
"NORTHERN Australia is facing a fresh wave of potentially catastrophic mammal extinctions, experts warn...
Dr Legge said about 1500 animals and plants were currently threatened with extinction in Australia, and 'critical declines' had been noted on pastoral and indigenous lands, as well as national parks.
Among the species at risk are the Northern Quoll, Golden Bandicoot and Bilby!"
I love the precision in the law's language: "the postpubertal human female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola." I wonder how long it took to come up with that, or how they would determine that point in a court case?
Also, the name of the house band (the Shindogs) on the TV show Shindig--featuring James Burton on guitar and, at one point, Glen Campbell. I'm pretty sure that's Delaney Bramlett singing. Not a bad band...
"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule--and both commonly succeed, and are right."
I find it a little disturbing that installing an indoor grease reservoir with outside drainpipe access only "all but eliminates" vermin infestation. Why go to all that expense if, the next time you dipstick your grease reservoir, you still might find vermin?
Geez, si, you're really serious about this, aren't you? I got nothin' on they. How about going off on folks that pronounce jewelry JOO ler ee? Would that help?
So, the theory behind this fragrance is that females are attracted to males who smell like burgers? I think someone at Burger King got the genders reversed.
I've actually seen Redoubt erupt twice before. It's a spectacular sight--not much in the way of lava, but enormous quantities of steam and ash.
It's near Anchorage, and the ash plume usually results in the ceasing of all air traffic to most of Alaska since most of it goes through there. I've seen two other eruptions from volcanoes near Redoubt--Spurr and St. Augustine.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory keeps pretty close tabs on imminent eruptions. It's a fun site to monitor.
Also, the band that gave us this very bizarre performance on the Mike Douglas show back when things like remembering the words to songs were not a prerequisite for performing them on TV.
The remains of a bird that has struck an airplane. Heard today on All Things Considered during a discussion of the Hudson River US Airways jet ditching. Snarge is collected and carefully studied after impact in order to learn more about the bird and the nature of the accident.
Sorry for the unfortunate mental image, reesetee...
Actually, all we know is that that squirrel didn't have rabies. They may have been lulling you into a false sense of complacency...waiting...and watching...
I seem to be running across more and more incorrect uses of this phrase lately. Here's one from the Washington Post:
"In just six days, Israeli Defense Forces advanced to the edge of the Suez Canal, and in one foul swoop, gained control of Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula, and the whole of Jerusalem."
Yaybob-this is a very mild example of the wordie treatment, a phenomenon of some standing around here; first identified by reesetee on the luncheon discussion as far as I can tell. A more spectacular (and more deliberate) example may be found at greetings. And just about everywhere else, now that I think of it.
OK--I don't think there is any reason to exclude words that have the same root, such as aphthous and aphtha. Both belong in equal measure. I'm glad to know that aphthous is a word, and I probably wouldn't have run across it elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned, if the sequence phth occurs in the word, it goes on the list.
But--this is a public list you can add or not add whatever you want for whatever reason you want and I'd happily accept it. You could even add 'chthonic' if you want, although I'd love to see it on a separate list of your own. I'm sure I'd learn much from that list.
For folks living in the far north, winter solstice is a big deal. From that point until mid-June, you are gaining daylight. Definitely an element of re-creation there.
I love the whole mythos of Christmas, in the true sense of mythology. It's a time out of time that recreates the world for me. It's probably the only ritual in which I actively participate. The tree--probably through some long-forgotten genetic pagan memory--is essential to that recreation.
I'm not a Christian, by the way. But I do love the music.
Lowbrow humor? Geez--where should we start, reesetee? How about fernando poo? Dork out might make a good start. Luncheon? It doesn't get much lower than that. Chained_Bear--help us out here. We need to make Yaybob feel more comfortable here...
In a political context it could have completely different connotations: "That was a shovel-ready speech if I ever heard one," or "It looks like Ted Stevens is about shovel-ready."
I heard this term (referring to construction projects that are ready to be implemented) for the first time today on NPR and was surprised to find it in fairly common use. There's even a shovelready.com.
I remember liking End Zone back in the early seventies, but then it was the early seventies. I supposed Logos College was a bit obvious, now that I think about it.
If you don't roll the dough (at least 1 inch thick) on a floured board and cut it into circles with biscuit cutters, you're not making biscuits. Drop "biscuits" do not belong in the same kitchen--nay, the same space-time continuum--as real biscuits.
Is there a word for discovering a Wordie list for the first time after it has been up for months, and you wonder how you could have missed it because now it's one of your favorite lists and why didn't you get in on the ground floor of this one?
Real biscuits are soft--made of flour, butter, milk, and nothing else--and are served hot. If you are served biscuits in a Southern restaurant and they get cold, you will be brought a basket of hot'uns.
After much thought, I've decided to love this word just because everyone else hates it so. That way, I can experience schadenfreude each time a Wordie squirms at its appearance...
Geez--now that I've actually used it in a sentence, I hate it even more. Never mind.
I suppose that, by applying mundane terms to horrible acts, we make them a little less horrifying. Giving them a name makes them more acceptable, somehow.
It's so chilling to hear about terms like "spritzen." I think they make the act seem even more horrifying.
I'm with c_b. This is way up on my list of least favorite words, largely because it describes a person that performs one of the least useful services I can imagine.
Probably, reesetee. There are sure a lot of Dylans out there. Not too many Arethas, though--perhaps because that sounds like part of the excretory system.
"Republican commentators such as David Brooks and George Will mourned the loss of the Republican center. Others noted the Republicans have become anti-intellectual. "Anti-intellectual?" They wish! How about simply anti-literate?"
"I think if there are allegations based on questions or comments that I made in debate prep about NAFTA or about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context, and that is cruel and mean-spirited, it's immature, it's unprofessional, and those guys are jerks," Palin said." (Reuters)
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are too. And I call dibs on ending this right now, no take backs! Jerks!"
Many years ago I read a study of group dynamics that included a reference to an experiment done with a group of schooling fish to try and determine how and why they seemed to move as one unit. One of the fish was randomly selected and pithed (spinal cord severed, fish not killed), causing it to make random movements and directional changes. The rest of the school followed that fish and were last seen heading out over the continental shelf.
Whether that was true or not, it makes a good model for political leaders and helps to explain why folks like Bush and Berlusconi (and I'd include Hitler and some other megalomaniacs in that group, behaviorally if not politically) end up leading countries over virtual continental shelves to certain destruction.
In competitive rowing, catching a crab means to either get your oar stuck in the water or to miss the water altogether, thereby throwing off the rhythm of the team.
There is one comment in particular from a McCain aide that guaranteed to heighten friction between the two camps. The angry aide described the Palin family shopping spree to Newsweek as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast."
"Mr. Scheunemann, who picked up the phone in his office at McCain campaign headquarters on Wednesday afternoon, responded that “anybody who says I was fired is either lying or delusional or a whack job.
Mr. Scheunemann was referring to widely disseminated criticism by Mr. McCain’s advisers in the final days of the campaign that Ms. Palin, as first reported in Politico, was a 'whack job.'�?
-Internal Battles Divided McCain and Palin Camps; The New York Times.
It's getting difficult to tell one whack job from another these days.
I cried. When I was growing up African Americans couldn't enter the same stores, drink at the same fountains, eat at the same restaurants, or even use the same bathroom as I could. This is huge.
So--I was all set to add my comments to this discussion when John's caveat stopped me cold. It was going to be glorious.
However, if you're in the mood (here I'm thinking mainly about about Prolagus), there has been a...situation developing on this list for quite some time. I think I'm going in...
"Wasn’t that enough time for McCain to get to know Palin? Wasn’t that enough time for his crackerjack “vetters�? to investigate Palin’s strengths and weaknesses, check through records and published accounts, talk to a few people, and learn that she was not only a diva but a whack job diva?"
"Mackenzie predicts McCain would be afflicted with the same malady as Richard Nixon, who savored foreign policy but was less interested in the budget and other domestic matters, a disease known as MEGO, short for My Eyes Glaze Over.
"I think we'd see a lot of that with McCain," he said."
Ummm...I'm afraid all I've got is Fernando Pooper. I was hoping chained_bear, with her vast knowledge of all things excremental, could come up with something better. Or maybe Asativum?...Reesetee?
Not very many words in isolation make me laugh, but this one does. I don't know if it's the initial mental image it conjures up or its potential as an insult. Maybe it's just because it has turd in it.
One of these days I'll get around to asking you how a young Italian has such intimate knowledge of a song from my US childhood, which was over with way before you were born. (If one's childhood is ever really over, I mean.)
I imagine most of you have seen this, but it's still fascinating:
"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."
My tpniyg otefn lkoos tihs way, but I sspcuet taht smtnihoeg esle is at wrok in my csae.
As a matter of fact, c_b, I almost hit one with my car on the way home today. I'm pretty sure it was the brother of the young cow I photographed a couple of days ago.
My first and only encounter with the term was in a reader comment clearly intended to refer to Sarah Palin ("...bring McSame and igloo trash into the job especially after what George W. bush has done to our country"). If the term existed before that or if it was ever intended to slur an ethnic or economic group, I'm not aware of it. I assumed it was a play on trailer trash.
But I'm feeling a little of c_b's guilt now myself.
Apocryphal is a pretty decent word to describe moose, John, since they look as if they were put together from random ungulate parts with no overall design in mind. But when you see one maneuver in deep snow, they begin to make sense.
I can't believe you lived in Maine and never saw one. The trails around Katahdin are crowded with them.
I should mention, lest you think that moose are weenies, that I have seen a cow moose back a brown bear about 200 yards up a ravine to protect her calf.
If they don't come and check out our garden at least weekly, we worry about them. I just happened to have my camera out when these dropped by. (They were eating the remains of the garden that we pulled up last week when it snowed a bit.)
"John Q. Public is a generic name in the United States to denote a hypothetical member of society deemed a 'common man.' He is presumed to have no strong political or social biases relevant to whatever topic is at hand, and to represent the randomly selected 'man on the street.'
Roughly equivalent, but more pejorative, are the names Joe Six-pack, Joe Blow, and Joe Schmoe, implying a lower-class citizen (from the Yiddish schmo: simpleton, or possibly Hebrew sh'mo: (what's)-his-name)."
“Oh, I think they’re (critics) just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying you know what? It’s time that a normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency, and I think that that’s kind of taken some people off guard, and they’re out of sorts, and they’re ticked off about it,�? she (Sarah Palin) said."
I don't know why I'm reminded of this (yes I do, too) but I suspect you'd appreciate it. On leaving a comment on a blog the other day I was asked to type in an anti-spam word. The word was "lovehaft." I kid you not.
If you can define this, please let the powers that be know. For what it's worth, there are in excess of $40 trillion dollars involved, but no one seems to know exactly what they are.
"But the more worrisome responses were the ones that betrayed her lack of curiosity about current events and reliance on bumper-sticker wisdom over complex thoughts. There were moments, in fact, in which you wondered whether she had been paying any meaningful attention to the world outside Alaska before McCain picked her as his running mate a month ago."
Reminds me of cp/m, a forerunner of DOS which ran many early computers. It stood for "control program for microcomputers" but those of us forced to use it and try to understand it were convinced it meant "conspiracy to protect the ministry."
Caribou are quite common here, c_b, and where there's one there are usually several hundred more, at least in the winter. I've seen herds of thousands on many occasions.
With Sarah Palin, what you see is not what you get. Her leadership skills consist mainly of hiring her friends and firing her enemies, defined as anyone who disagrees with her or who doesn't believe that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time. There's a reason that McCain limits access to her. She's perfectly capable of looking you directly in the eye and lying to you. (In that regard she's a pretty good match for McCain.)
They rest their hooves on the hindquarters of the caribou in front of them, kind of like a chorus line forming across the tundra. Then they click their heels--tendons, actually--rhythmically and move in huge circles, periodically kicking their right hind legs out and grunting in unison. It's an awesome sight.
Anything else, yarb? I'm kind of running out of good caribou information.
They sleep lying down in wide open spaces to give themselves time to get away from wolves. In winter their preferred spot is the middle of a frozen lake.
They walk constantly. Their main forage is lichen, which is not exactly loaded with nutrients. They have to keep walking in order to be able to find enough to eat.
Caribou have a tendon at the back of their leg that automatically snaps the leg back into walking position without the caribou having to expend any energy to do. You can hear it when they walk--even more impressive when you are listening to a large herd. The click isn't their hooves on the ground--it's the tendon snapping back into place.
"Uppity" is a code word in the same vein as states' rights and family values. Westmoreland knew exactly what he was saying and exactly who he was saying it to. A dog-whistle if there ever was one.
Even words that are offensive have etymologies and social contexts that make them legitimate points for discussion on Wordie. While I have no intention of using a word like "gaytarded" because of its doubly offensive nature, I'm interested to know that it's a word that some people use in some contexts. It helps me shed some of my naivité.
Nigger is an extraordinarily offensive word to me. I can barely force myself to key it into this comment. But, it's necessary to use it sometimes to understand the context from which it comes. Fuck has that effect on some people--but we regularly discuss it in various contexts here.
We're on Wordie because words fascinate us. As long as we don't have the intent to offend with the words that we post, we should be able to discuss them with civility and respect. Barring that, we all have a phenomenal power that I like to call "skipping over the parts that you don't like." It works.
I agree with c_b that this has been a touchy subject lately, but I've always loved the word "dunce" for reasons I don't fully understand. Same for dunderhead.
I saw a whole bunch of sizeable albino squirrels in Barrow, Alaska. They have stubby tails, long muzzles, huge teeth, and like to chase seals. I'm pretty sure those were the most sizeable albino squirrels I have ever seen.
Hey C_B--you forgot step 8: Then they come back anyway.
Seriously, the acerbic tone has been very bothersome to me lately--largely why I have just stayed out of most of the discussions. However, your point about countering hate speech with more speech is well-taken and I applaud you for that. Very well put.
And finally--guinea pigs scare me! Those beady little brown eyes and tiny paws...what are they plotting? ;-)
Finally, someone is willing to say what they really mean:
"His top contenders are said to include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent."
Alas, I haven't lifted a bow in many years. I was a state champion in NC when I was 14 or so. The technology has certainly advanced since we used a longbow through the arrow slits in the castle wall...
But I have been able to catch a bit of the streamed video. It (obviously) bothers me that wonderful sports (i.e., those that don't require background music and judges) like archery don't get any prime coverage.
Chuck Norris can sit through multiple rebroadcasts of the US womens gymnastic team's heartbreaking close losses and soaring, triumphant victories, KNOWING FULL WELL THAT OTHER WORTHY SPORTS LIKE ARCHERY AND CANOEING ARE GOING ON, without throwing a chair through the television.
Clear thinking from the political science department:
"I am not, indeed, sure whether it is not true to say that the Milton who once seemed not unlike a seventeenth-century Shelley had not become, out of an experience ever more bitter in each year, more alien to the founder of that Jesuit sect which nothing could induce him to tolerate."
Hey! The more the merrier! Now all we need is some dramatic music, some waterfalls, and maybe some sparklers rising dramatically up from the water as the divers enter.
There's a small but dedicated group of atlatl fanciers here in Fairbanks. The advantage achieved by using one is substantial, but it takes a lot of practice. I got most of my attempts to go forward. Some of my attempts.
Atlatls were used pretty much all over Alaska. I haven't been able to find an Athabascan or Yupik term for them, but I'm looking...
A failed actress and model who couldn't even make it as a porn star, this pony ekes out a living assuring that male actors are kept ready for action between takes on the set.
From Wikipedia: "The Streisand effect is a phenomenon on the Internet where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information backfires, causing the information to be widely publicized." So named because Barbara Streisand once sued to have an aerial photo of her home removed from a study of beachfront erosion published on the 'net, citing privacy concerns--thus insuring that the photo was mirrored to multiple sites across the web.
I have to say that I'm utterly amazed by your panvocalic efforts, mollusque. It has changed the way I look at words. (Thanks to you, Wordie probably represents the most complete and organized collection of panvocalics in existence.)
David Brooks' neologism for the inability of the world community to collectively solve problems--e.g., genocide in Darfur, nuclear proliferation, etc. From this editorial.
He was a post-Yoko vegetarian, but apparently not a strict one. That's hardly the question, though. I can't imagine that his estate would stoop so low as to allow his image to be used hawking sub sandwiches. Someone's gonna get sued...
Roz Chast used a similar term ("sppooo") for "cookies" on the cover of "Parallel Universes" many years ago. Here's a peek, although it's much funnier in context.
"The world's oldest recorded joke has been traced back to 1900 BC and suggests that toilet humor was as popular with the ancients as it is today.
It is a saying of the Sumerians, who lived in what is now southern Iraq and goes: 'Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap.'"
I don't know, reesetee. I can't seem to rise to the occasion. My mind has gone flaccid, my imagination soft. I feel like a limp dishrag, like too-old celery. This impotence is killing me. I wish I could harden my resolve, steel my nerves, and burst forth with a clever rejoinder.
Speaking of 60s clothes--Here's a picture of my son taken several years ago in a pair of white levis that I painted when I was in high school in '68. We called them "psychedelevis."
C_B's comment reminded me of the Sheriff of Rottingham's immortal line in Robin Hood; Men in Tights, when, on encountering Marian's chastity belt, he exclaims, "That's really going to chafe my willie."
Comments by skipvia
Show previous 200 comments...
skipvia commented on the list if-wordie-were-a-movie-or-tv-series-it-would-be-called
Oh my...can't stop...
April 11, 2009
skipvia commented on the word sleeps
♩
Take me to the river.
Drop me in the WAH TER...
♩
April 10, 2009
skipvia commented on the word sleeps
The lyrics are actually "a weenie whack a weenie whack a weenie whack a weenie whack."
Common mistake...
April 10, 2009
skipvia commented on the word the 2009-2014 world outlook for 60-milligram containers of fromage frais
Or Victor?...
April 10, 2009
skipvia commented on the word evolution
Word. I'm going to start posting these observations there.
April 6, 2009
skipvia commented on the word evolution
OK--this isn't about evolution, specifically, but it partially answers a question I posed a few days ago: Can we get any more stupid?
Apparently, we can.
April 6, 2009
skipvia commented on the word embiggenated
Enlarged, as in "click here to see an embiggenated one." Seen here on DiscoverMagazine.com.
April 5, 2009
skipvia commented on the word boy-girl party
More like a rite of passage for American teenagers, VO. *still waiting for first invitation*
April 5, 2009
skipvia commented on the word wasilla hillbillies
Although it does kind of advance the argument proffered by so many of Palin's supporters that "she's just like us." You know, those of us who watch Jerry Springer and buy People.
April 5, 2009
skipvia commented on the word wasilla hillbillies
I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.
April 5, 2009
skipvia commented on the word facebook
John, maybe you had better take a look at this.
April 4, 2009
skipvia commented on the word facebook
I like flush. It's harsh, but, like, what were they doing there in the first place, right?
April 3, 2009
skipvia commented on the word mount redoubt
"Readout" is correct, yarb.
C_B: Bears of any stripe (or no stripe) can always find a home in Alaska.
Reesetee: If a place requires reservations, I usually don't go there. Skinny Dick's is not such a place.
March 31, 2009
skipvia commented on the word mount redoubt
No fair rethinking your trip, reesetee. I've already made reservations at Skinny Dick's.
March 30, 2009
skipvia commented on the word mount redoubt
Locally it's pronounced REE doubt.
March 30, 2009
skipvia commented on the word headline
Headline of the day: Britain Running Out of Cocks. Fortunately, Wangs there are growing.
March 30, 2009
skipvia commented on the word hawk moth caterpillar
Triple play!
March 30, 2009
skipvia commented on the word metaphor
A metaphor for our times: "This social networking comedy of errors spread like dancing hamsters across Twitter."
-Twitter Gets You Fired in 140 Characters or Less
March 29, 2009
skipvia commented on the list animal-animalia
Wow. I seen it! I seen it! I believes now!
March 27, 2009
skipvia commented on the list animal-animalia
Never heard of a skunk ape until just now, when I found it on Wikipedia. I guess I'll constrain my list to real animals.
March 27, 2009
skipvia commented on the list animal-identity-crisis
See also the Animal-Animalia list.
March 27, 2009
skipvia commented on the word licky red panda
See also red panda for more unbearable cuteness...
March 27, 2009
skipvia commented on the word mount redoubt
More excellent (updated) photos, including some amazing micrographs of ash particles, here.
March 27, 2009
skipvia commented on the word blipper
Spaces count?
March 26, 2009
skipvia commented on the word vegetables
Sorry, yarb. It's been a long time since I visited a McDonalds...
March 26, 2009
skipvia commented on the word vegetables
How depressing, bilby. Add two all beef patties (god, I hate that word) and a drink (supersize!) and you've got yourself a Big Mac Happy Meal.
March 26, 2009
skipvia commented on the word nila
Thick sheet ice traditionally typical of Arctic seas; now being replaced by pancake ice as a result of global climate change.
March 25, 2009
skipvia commented on the word pancake ice
Another sign of global warming in the Arctic--new ice formed in areas of open water, thinner than the solid nila ice sheets usually found in the Arctic. Pancake ice is round, allowing for more open water between pancakes, increasing solar absorption and therefore global warming even more. See Pancake Ice Takes Over the Arctic.
March 25, 2009
skipvia commented on the word evolution
There's certainly ample evidence for that, c_b. See American Kids; Dumber Than Dirt.
What was that about breeding, c_b?
March 25, 2009
skipvia commented on the word evolution
I'm so glad the good folks in Texas have our backs. Can we get any more stupid?
March 25, 2009
skipvia commented on the word red panda
Cover your eyes, c_b.
March 24, 2009
skipvia commented on the word mount redoubt
All is well, but I'm glad I don't have to fly anywhere today. Planes are grounded because of the ash cloud.
If we get any ashfall, (unlikely this far north) I'll try and collect some for you.
EDIT: Some good hi-res images here.
March 23, 2009
skipvia commented on the word i will marry a beautiful wife this time
You may ask yourself...
March 23, 2009
skipvia commented on the word i will marry a beautiful wife this time
I blame the Wolof for that misinterpretation, si. Boo Radley is one of my favorite characters and one on whom I've modeled much of my life. Him, and Billy Budd.
I can be quite gullible...
March 23, 2009
skipvia commented on the word i will marry a beautiful wife this time
This could also be interpreted as "Jar Jar Binks lays the tacos by his young offspring, Jar Jar Mason." In Wolof, "bu rafet"--literally, Boo Radley--can refer to anyone of limited mental capacity or unusual behavior and may be used to indicate that an individual (in this case, "Jabar," or Jar Jar) is inarticulate, cloying, immensely stupid, and without any redeeming qualities whatsoever.
March 23, 2009
skipvia commented on the word foreclosure dog
Dogs relegated to the pound by families experiencing foreclosure on their homes and are no longer capable of caring for pets.
Sign of the Times - Foreclosure Dog
March 22, 2009
skipvia commented on the word quantum entanglement
"To put it in a nutshell, in this quest I first found that whatever way you look at it the quantum mechanical formalism, when taken at face value, compels us to consider that two particles that have once interacted always remain bound in a very strange, hardly understandable way even when they are far apart, the connection being independent of distance.
Even though this connection-at-a-distance does not permit us to transmit messages, clearly it is real. In other words space, so essential in classical physics, seems to play a considerably less basic role in quantum physics.
I soon found out, as often happens, that these things had been known for quite a long time. Schrödinger had even given them a name: entanglement..."
Quantum weirdness: What we call reality is just a state of mind.
March 22, 2009
skipvia commented on the word solleret
Historydorky is an awfully good word not to be claimed by anyone...
March 21, 2009
skipvia commented on the word whenever i see you, you are masticating
It's a normal, natural part of growing up, bilby. Society stigmatizes it, but...wait. Oh. Never mind.
March 21, 2009
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
You may have missed the somewhat related Euell Gibbons discussion on lingonberry, fb.
March 20, 2009
skipvia commented on the word goldilocks zone
The phrase "too hot nor too cold to hold" certainly has a lot of Os in it...
March 18, 2009
skipvia commented on the word goldilocks zone
The thin zone around a sun within which a planet's temperature is neither too hot nor too cold to hold liquid water and, therefore, perhaps, life--as we know it, Jim.
-Cruising the Goldilocks Zone -The Search for "Earth's Twins"
March 18, 2009
skipvia commented on the word fufluns
Nothing perks up my day more than a good Uranus joke.
March 15, 2009
skipvia commented on the word colon blow
How many bowls of your cereal would it take to get the fiber in one bowl of Colon Blow?
March 13, 2009
skipvia commented on the word banana
*whew*
March 6, 2009
skipvia commented on the word banana
Am I the only person that thinks that some people may use these items for...umm...something other than protecting bananas?
March 6, 2009
skipvia commented on the word the untied states
One of my former professors had a sign in his office that read "Dyslexics untie!" It took me a while to get it. I'd be a lousy copy editor.
March 6, 2009
skipvia commented on the word spinal chord
See the discussion on vocal chords.
March 3, 2009
skipvia commented on the word vocal chords
I've always thought that spinal chord made sense because having one places you in the chordata phylum. I guess it's an eggcorn as well.
March 3, 2009
skipvia commented on the word me and you and a dog named boo
♩
We tried to make some newtons
From the fruit it bore, but
It wasn't fig.
♩
A good lyric can really make a song...
March 3, 2009
skipvia commented on the word zombie bank
A bank whose debts are greater than its assets but that continues to operate due to an infusion of government capital--the walking dead of financial institutions. CitiBank is currently in that category, as are a few others. See this article for a reference.
March 2, 2009
skipvia commented on the word me and you and a dog named boo
OK, now Seasons in the Sun has replaced Me and You... in my head and I fear that sionnach may be right about this.
It was a really pleasant Sunday until, you know...
March 2, 2009
skipvia commented on the word me and you and a dog named boo
AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!!
March 2, 2009
skipvia commented on the list looseygooseys-list
Concrapulate is my new favorite word and a major contender for Word of the Year 09, in my book.
February 28, 2009
skipvia commented on the word skip
So, I've gone from being a dumpster to being a joke? My mom would be so proud.
February 25, 2009
skipvia commented on the word skip
This is a whole new world for me. Things were rough when the Skipper doll came out. And we won't even go into Skippy Peanut Butter...
February 24, 2009
skipvia commented on the word skip
I kind of like "bound off one point after another." Anything but "a mistake resulting from neglect," I suppose. Or dumpster.
February 24, 2009
skipvia commented on the word shovel ready
See also shovel-ready.
February 24, 2009
skipvia commented on the word skip
Hey. I resemble that remark.
February 23, 2009
skipvia commented on the word llama
¡Cuidado! ¡Llamas!
February 23, 2009
skipvia commented on the word embergoose
I've never heard that one, mollusque. What a beautifully apt moniker.
February 21, 2009
skipvia commented on the user bilby
Say it ain't so...
"NORTHERN Australia is facing a fresh wave of potentially catastrophic mammal extinctions, experts warn...
Dr Legge said about 1500 animals and plants were currently threatened with extinction in Australia, and 'critical declines' had been noted on pastoral and indigenous lands, as well as national parks.
Among the species at risk are the Northern Quoll, Golden Bandicoot and Bilby!"
Extinction looms as 1500 species in danger
February 20, 2009
skipvia commented on the word postpubertal
See the discussion on discernibly turgid.
February 19, 2009
skipvia commented on the word discernibly turgid
I love the precision in the law's language: "the postpubertal human female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola." I wonder how long it took to come up with that, or how they would determine that point in a court case?
February 19, 2009
skipvia commented on the word discernibly turgid
They don't miss a trick in Mississippi. Especially concerning...you know...the "s" word.
February 19, 2009
skipvia commented on the word discernibly turgid
OK, but it's still true.
February 19, 2009
skipvia commented on the word discernibly turgid
Did you know that it is against the law in Mississippi for a male to appear in public in a discernibly turgid state?
*wondering if they enforce this for middle school boys at public swimming pools*
February 19, 2009
skipvia commented on the word shindog
Also, the name of the house band (the Shindogs) on the TV show Shindig--featuring James Burton on guitar and, at one point, Glen Campbell. I'm pretty sure that's Delaney Bramlett singing. Not a bad band...
February 18, 2009
skipvia commented on the word denali
Who needs a rental? I'll come pick you up. There's also a lovely train ride between the park and Fairbanks...
February 18, 2009
skipvia commented on the word democracy
"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule--and both commonly succeed, and are right."
- H.L. Mencken
February 16, 2009
skipvia commented on the word denali
Wait---you're coming to Alaska this summer? Denali Park is only 150 miles from Ester...
February 16, 2009
skipvia commented on the word snice
A combination of snow and ice; something to avoid if you are a climber due to its tendency to give away under pressure from crampons or ice hammers.
February 15, 2009
skipvia commented on the word denali
Maybe this will be the year... *hoping*
February 15, 2009
skipvia commented on the word non-linear
I thought Brenneh and Bonnie were, like, so over each other.
*hoping sionnach is enjoying this one*
February 13, 2009
skipvia commented on the word render
I find it a little disturbing that installing an indoor grease reservoir with outside drainpipe access only "all but eliminates" vermin infestation. Why go to all that expense if, the next time you dipstick your grease reservoir, you still might find vermin?
I've got to see this in action someday...
February 13, 2009
skipvia commented on the word render
I have got to subscribe to this journal, if only to find out exactly what a "vermin-infested stow" is and how one goes about dipsticking one.
February 13, 2009
skipvia commented on the user Prolagus
Hmm...they're made of harder stuff, pleth. (Sionnach and Prolagus, I mean, not your cupcakes.)
*cupcakes. hee hee*
February 11, 2009
skipvia commented on the word they
Geez, si, you're really serious about this, aren't you? I got nothin' on they. How about going off on folks that pronounce jewelry JOO ler ee? Would that help?
February 11, 2009
skipvia commented on the user Prolagus
I don't know, pleth--this doesn't seem to be working. *appreciates the cupcake, though*
February 11, 2009
skipvia commented on the user Prolagus
Boys, boys...how about a newly discovered Sumerian joke?
Q: Why are there no ice cubes in the province of Akkadia?
A: Alas, the wench with the recipe was sacrificed in order to please Enmesarra and prevent a plague in the land.
February 10, 2009
skipvia commented on the list my-little-phonies
They live! *turdiform... snort*
February 9, 2009
skipvia commented on the word they
"Chocolate chips in the gorp of life." What a lovely expression, ptery.
February 7, 2009
skipvia commented on the word sumptuary
I think we need a new revolution.
February 5, 2009
skipvia commented on the word sumptuary
What could one possibly do to a commode that would make it worth $35,000? I find it profoundly disturbing that such a thing exists at all.
Where do we draw the line?
February 4, 2009
skipvia commented on the word gratituous sex
*Whew* It wasn't only me, then.
February 3, 2009
skipvia commented on the word apostrophe
It's a catastrophe for the apostrophe in Britain.
February 2, 2009
skipvia commented on the word flame
So, the theory behind this fragrance is that females are attracted to males who smell like burgers? I think someone at Burger King got the genders reversed.
January 31, 2009
skipvia commented on the word runaway
♩
I'm a-walkin' in the rain,
Tears are fallin' and I feel the pain,
Wishin' you were here by me,
To end this misery
And I wonder... I WAH WAH WAH WAH wonder.
Why... WHY WHY WHY WHY she ran away?
And I wonder
Where she will stay
My little Runaway.
My Run Run Run Run Runaway.
♩
Del Shannon was like a god to me.
January 31, 2009
skipvia commented on the word mount redoubt
You never know, Yarb. There are flights to the lower 48 that originate in Fairbanks (too far north for most ash clouds) so you might be rebooked.
I've just got to know what you'll be doing that far north. It's...ummm...winter up there.
But hey--if you get rerouted to Fairbanks, let me know.
January 31, 2009
skipvia commented on the word mount redoubt
I've actually seen Redoubt erupt twice before. It's a spectacular sight--not much in the way of lava, but enormous quantities of steam and ash.
It's near Anchorage, and the ash plume usually results in the ceasing of all air traffic to most of Alaska since most of it goes through there. I've seen two other eruptions from volcanoes near Redoubt--Spurr and St. Augustine.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory keeps pretty close tabs on imminent eruptions. It's a fun site to monitor.
January 31, 2009
skipvia commented on the word runaway
MAJOR earworm alert.
January 31, 2009
skipvia commented on the word cavemen
Also, the band that gave us this very bizarre performance on the Mike Douglas show back when things like remembering the words to songs were not a prerequisite for performing them on TV.
Has anyone heard of these guys?
January 29, 2009
skipvia commented on the word placozoan
Are we getting closer to knowing what lies at the base of the tree of life?
January 28, 2009
skipvia commented on the word waffle
That's way better than "SOLDIERS ABANDON POSTS IN AFGHANISTAN."
January 28, 2009
skipvia commented on the word condiment-stuffed french fries
*sigh* The terrorists have already won.
January 24, 2009
skipvia commented on the word lingonberry
Tastes like wild hickory nuts!
He died of Dutch Elm disease, you know...
January 22, 2009
skipvia commented on the word inauguration
I grew up in the South in the middle of the Civil Rights movement. This is an astonishing day.
January 21, 2009
skipvia commented on the word wensleydale
Or the Cheese Shop.
January 20, 2009
skipvia commented on the user skipvia
Fixed it, Pro. Thanks for the tip.
January 20, 2009
skipvia commented on the user hernesheir
And all manufacturers of dairy products.
January 20, 2009
skipvia commented on the word huckleberry
Don't forget this guy.
January 19, 2009
skipvia commented on the word snarge
The remains of a bird that has struck an airplane. Heard today on All Things Considered during a discussion of the Hudson River US Airways jet ditching. Snarge is collected and carefully studied after impact in order to learn more about the bird and the nature of the accident.
Sorry for the unfortunate mental image, reesetee...
EDIT: An interesting pictorial on the topic from Wired.
January 17, 2009
skipvia commented on the word lutraphobia
Actually, all we know is that that squirrel didn't have rabies. They may have been lulling you into a false sense of complacency...waiting...and watching...
January 15, 2009
skipvia commented on the word nekkid
Often preceded by butt.
I should point out that the verb "did" in v_m's example is optional and is usually omitted. :-)
January 14, 2009
skipvia commented on the word i should not have clicked on this page.
This would make a good list...
January 10, 2009
skipvia commented on the word nerd boner
Let your freak flag fly, dude... :-)
January 4, 2009
skipvia commented on the word fell swoop
That occurred to me too, lcs. I wondered if perhaps it was a play on words.
December 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fell swoop
I seem to be running across more and more incorrect uses of this phrase lately. Here's one from the Washington Post:
"In just six days, Israeli Defense Forces advanced to the edge of the Suez Canal, and in one foul swoop, gained control of Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula, and the whole of Jerusalem."
December 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word pish
A sound, described as a cross between a whistle and a whisper, used by birders to attract birds. Right, reesetee?
December 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word metaphysis
I discovered this word when I mistyped metaphysics in a review I was writing.
December 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wordie word of the year 2008
I'm partial to raccoonnookkeeper for its spectacular visual appeal and and in spite of the fact that it's monumentally difficult to type.
December 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word mwah
Here's a video, in case you were born too late.
""What color are his eyes?"
"I don't know, he's always wearing shades."
Mmmmm...
December 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word mwah
As articulated so beautifully by the Shangri-Las:
♩
Gonna walk right up to him,
Give him a great big kiss.
MMWAH!
Tell him that I love 'im.
Tell him that I care.
Tell him that I'll always be there.
♩
December 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word quantum leap
See rolig's excellent observation (and sionnach's response) on quantum. I've been getting this wrong for years.
December 21, 2008
skipvia commented on the word hemispheric
I keep telling myself it's only a month, but somehow that doesn't help much.
December 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word gigmania
Like shouting in public, for example. :-)
December 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word famine
More than a sin, reesetee. It's a crime. Compassionate conservatism my ass.
December 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word onoskelis
They must be referring to your Emmy.
December 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word podophthalmia
Done. Merry Ram Schist to you! *snuggles into moose scarf*
December 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word podophthalmia
*trying hard to continue with effective pout, but finding it difficult to ignore the aroma of chocolate and the nice Christmas tree*
December 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word podophthalmia
OK...I guess it's not really the treatment. *slinks into corner by self*
December 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word podophthalmia
Yaybob-this is a very mild example of the wordie treatment, a phenomenon of some standing around here; first identified by reesetee on the luncheon discussion as far as I can tell. A more spectacular (and more deliberate) example may be found at greetings. And just about everywhere else, now that I think of it.
December 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word causal dress
This could precipitate an office-wide outbreak of comfort.
December 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word ponzi
Actually, it made me laugh out loud. Sorry for stepping on it... :(
December 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the list phth
*catching my breath*
OK--I don't think there is any reason to exclude words that have the same root, such as aphthous and aphtha. Both belong in equal measure. I'm glad to know that aphthous is a word, and I probably wouldn't have run across it elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned, if the sequence phth occurs in the word, it goes on the list.
But--this is a public list you can add or not add whatever you want for whatever reason you want and I'd happily accept it. You could even add 'chthonic' if you want, although I'd love to see it on a separate list of your own. I'm sure I'd learn much from that list.
December 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word ponzi
Wait--Fonzi or Potsie? *confused as usual*
December 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word bliss
For folks living in the far north, winter solstice is a big deal. From that point until mid-June, you are gaining daylight. Definitely an element of re-creation there.
December 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word detachiballs
Mmmmmm...
December 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word detachiballs
See the discussion on mouthful.
December 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word mouthful
Well taken, John. Still, I like the image of chayce's detachiballs...
December 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word mouthful
It appears that chayce's testicles detach, somehow.
December 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word viagra spill
Or this.
I know--it's been used before, but that's what first popped into my mind. Should I be worried?
December 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word als een potvis in een pispot pist, heb je een pispot vol met potvis pis
I love the Dutch...
December 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word bliss
I love the whole mythos of Christmas, in the true sense of mythology. It's a time out of time that recreates the world for me. It's probably the only ritual in which I actively participate. The tree--probably through some long-forgotten genetic pagan memory--is essential to that recreation.
I'm not a Christian, by the way. But I do love the music.
December 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word bliss
Sitting around the just-decorated tree listening to Christmas music with a cup of hot chocolate as it's snowing outside.
December 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the list flora-and-fauna-ending-in-x
Not...not...Skinny Dick's Halfway Inn! *gasp* Is he ready?
Oh, what the hell...
December 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word skinny dick's halfway inn
A real place near Fairbanks, Alaska. Or is it?...
See also skinny dick's halfway inn weenie ride.
December 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word unknown unknowns
So, he who knows he who knows and knows that he knows knows much indeed.
December 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the list flora-and-fauna-ending-in-x
And, don't forget, Pro--you have to like AWESOME WORDS!!!!!! The awesomer, the better.
December 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word antikythera
It's alive!
December 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the list flora-and-fauna-ending-in-x
Lowbrow humor? Geez--where should we start, reesetee? How about fernando poo? Dork out might make a good start. Luncheon? It doesn't get much lower than that. Chained_Bear--help us out here. We need to make Yaybob feel more comfortable here...
December 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word shovel-ready
In a political context it could have completely different connotations: "That was a shovel-ready speech if I ever heard one," or "It looks like Ted Stevens is about shovel-ready."
December 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word shovel-ready
I heard this term (referring to construction projects that are ready to be implemented) for the first time today on NPR and was surprised to find it in fairly common use. There's even a shovelready.com.
December 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word guts
I'd be careful how I worded that, Pro...:-)
December 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word guts
Whose heart wouldn't be warmed by opening a beautifully wrapped package and finding a plush large intestine just waiting to be cuddled?
December 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word what would jesus buy
Ah. So, it's from the myrrhky depths, then?
December 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word what would jesus buy
What is myrrh, anyway?
December 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word mirdle
It had to happen: the latest in "shapewear" for men. Men Go For It By Any Name besides Girdle.
December 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word scrim hats
Now don we all our scrim hats, fill our mirth sacs, and ready our shirt cams for the holidays. So says Mr. Ass Itch, who should know.
December 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word terrorist
*sigh* It looks like the terrorists have finally won...
December 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word pthalo
Shouldn't that be phthalo? Or am I once again missing something obvious...
December 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word white noise
I remember liking End Zone back in the early seventies, but then it was the early seventies. I supposed Logos College was a bit obvious, now that I think about it.
December 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cape may
Hunting Island, SC. And Myrtle Beach, when there were just a couple of houses and miles of sand. Not too far from Calabash...
December 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word but will you love me tomorrow
Or just a moment's pleasure?
I want to see your record collection, mollusque.
December 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word internet search
Point very well taken, Pro.
December 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word bra
...sits down next to this girl and says "do you know Anal?"
December 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word internet search
I think it has more to do with the fact that more people want to see Britney Spears naked than Obama.
December 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word under the boardwalk
♩ Under the boardwalk...BOARDWALK. ♩
November 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word who-cooks-for-you; who-cooks-for-you-all
Reesetee?...
November 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word under the boardwalk
We'll be havin' some fun...
November 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fox's glacier mints
Wow. I...wow.
November 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word turkey vs lame duck
No contest. Turkey.
EDIT: Was lame duck ever used more appropriately?
November 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fox's glacier mints
You might mention to those tribunals (and to the folks at Fox's Glacier Mints) that polar bears do not live anywhere near glaciers.
November 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word mounteback
Hee hee...
November 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cut vs drop
If you don't roll the dough (at least 1 inch thick) on a floured board and cut it into circles with biscuit cutters, you're not making biscuits. Drop "biscuits" do not belong in the same kitchen--nay, the same space-time continuum--as real biscuits.
In my humble opinion...
November 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cookie vs biscuit
It looks like we need a definitive comparison chart.
November 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cookie vs biscuit
Would that make you the cheez whiz, Pro? ;-)
November 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cookie vs biscuit
So, is this a good time to introduce crackers into the discussion?
November 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cookie vs biscuit
I believe that warm blueberry scones are humankind's greatest culinary achievement.
November 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the list •-words-and-phrases-that-i-would-love-to-have-on-a-wordie-t-shirt
Is there a word for discovering a Wordie list for the first time after it has been up for months, and you wonder how you could have missed it because now it's one of your favorite lists and why didn't you get in on the ground floor of this one?
November 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cookie vs biscuit
Real biscuits are soft--made of flour, butter, milk, and nothing else--and are served hot. If you are served biscuits in a Southern restaurant and they get cold, you will be brought a basket of hot'uns.
How's that, c_b? :-)
November 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the list hickbonics
There are a few more on the A Southern Season list, Pro.
November 21, 2008
skipvia commented on the word schadenfreude
After much thought, I've decided to love this word just because everyone else hates it so. That way, I can experience schadenfreude each time a Wordie squirms at its appearance...
Geez--now that I've actually used it in a sentence, I hate it even more. Never mind.
What is it about this word?
November 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word porajmos
I suppose that, by applying mundane terms to horrible acts, we make them a little less horrifying. Giving them a name makes them more acceptable, somehow.
It's so chilling to hear about terms like "spritzen." I think they make the act seem even more horrifying.
November 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word porajmos
What's distressing isn't that we have so many words to describe violence toward each other, it's that we have so many ways of carrying it out.
November 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word trannie
You must be thinking of the mechanics' reference term for a car's transmission, right?
November 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word shoah
It was the first time I had ever heard the term used as a threat--as in "we'll create another shoah in Gaza." It was kind of chilling...
November 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word kill
God Angrily Clarifies the 'Don't Kill' Rule.
Maybe we'll listen this time.
November 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the list sexy-minus-y
This all sounds like fun to me.
November 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word punditry
I'm with c_b. This is way up on my list of least favorite words, largely because it describes a person that performs one of the least useful services I can imagine.
November 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word denali
Actually, it does sort of describe her ego.
November 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word denali
Ironic, given it's Athabascan translation.
November 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word punditry
Wouldn't pundits as a collective noun be pundits?
November 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word obama baby
Geez, now I've got Angel Baby stuck in my head.
Kind of a neat song, though. Way better than Santa Baby...
*checks the mirror, just in case*
November 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word obama baby
Probably, reesetee. There are sure a lot of Dylans out there. Not too many Arethas, though--perhaps because that sounds like part of the excretory system.
November 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word urinal cake
Two words that should never appear together.
November 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cicada
The cicada sat poised
On your outstretched finger
As you rushed into the house
On that night when the moon painted shadows in the woods.
"Come see," you said
Settling into the couch
Eyes fixed on the opalescent carapace
As if your gaze would hold it there.
An almost imperceptible pinch.
The carapace burst open
And the cicada left its perch
As your eyes tried in vain to bring it back.
"I must have scared it off," you said.
But l know it wanted only to be with you.
November 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word auk
I think it's been done, John. Remember Vi?
November 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word auk
Not to be confused with the Auke, an Alaska native group related to the Tlingit. Hence Auke Bay, Alaska (near Juneau), which has no auks.
November 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word anti-literate
"Republican commentators such as David Brooks and George Will mourned the loss of the Republican center. Others noted the Republicans have become anti-intellectual. "Anti-intellectual?" They wish! How about simply anti-literate?"
-Frank Schaeffer, The Huffington Post
Sad but true...
November 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word click
Pure transcendence.
November 11, 2008
skipvia commented on the word all you've gotta do is call
Beechwood 4-5789,
You can call me up and have a date any old time.
The Marvellettes rule, but not as much as Wilson Pickett.
November 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word all you've gotta do is call
634-5789.
November 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the list the-end-is-nigh
Geez...I graduated from college and still didn't know what I wanted to do.
It was the early seventies...
November 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word immature
"I think if there are allegations based on questions or comments that I made in debate prep about NAFTA or about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context, and that is cruel and mean-spirited, it's immature, it's unprofessional, and those guys are jerks," Palin said." (Reuters)
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are too. And I call dibs on ending this right now, no take backs! Jerks!"
November 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word suntanned
Many years ago I read a study of group dynamics that included a reference to an experiment done with a group of schooling fish to try and determine how and why they seemed to move as one unit. One of the fish was randomly selected and pithed (spinal cord severed, fish not killed), causing it to make random movements and directional changes. The rest of the school followed that fish and were last seen heading out over the continental shelf.
Whether that was true or not, it makes a good model for political leaders and helps to explain why folks like Bush and Berlusconi (and I'd include Hitler and some other megalomaniacs in that group, behaviorally if not politically) end up leading countries over virtual continental shelves to certain destruction.
November 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word red crab
Catch a crab has another meaning in rowing sports--to get your oar stuck in the water or to miss the water altogether.
November 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word catch a crab
In competitive rowing, catching a crab means to either get your oar stuck in the water or to miss the water altogether, thereby throwing off the rhythm of the team.
November 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word deer god
Hee hee. I just thought Bambi's father looked rather god-like in the movie.
By the way--have you ever seen Bambi Meets Godzilla?
November 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word deer god
Do you mean Bambi's father?
November 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wasilla hillbillies
There is one comment in particular from a McCain aide that guaranteed to heighten friction between the two camps. The angry aide described the Palin family shopping spree to Newsweek as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast."
-Strains Between McCain and Palin Aides Go Public
I feel a song coming on...
The Wasilla Hillbillies
(Sung to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies Theme)
♩
Come listen to my story from the land of snow
It's about Sarah Palin and I thought you ought to know
What began in Alaska shooting at some moose
Ended up in a store on 5th Avenue.
(Saks, that is. Neiman Marcus...)
Well they gave her a credit card and said "Go to town.
Buy yourself a couple suits and maybe one gown."
But Sarah saw the chance to start dressin' like a diva.
"It's a whole lot easier than trapping your own beaver."
(The animal, that is. Not what you're thinking, c_b. Think oosik.)
Well Todd and the kids all got new suits.
Todd got a pair of designer SnoGo boots.
The register at Saks was smokin' like a pistol
When Sarah bought maternity clothes for daughter Bristol.
(Knocked up, you know. So much for that virginity pledge...)
I've told you my tale, it's sad but true.
I could tell you more. If you only knew...
You may not understand exactly what I meant,
But at least she's not our next vice president.
(But we still elected a convicted felon to the Senate....)
♩
Coming soon: The Ballad of Uncle Ted. Here's the first verse:
♩
Well Nixon said a crime's not a crime;
If you're the president then you don't do time.
Uncle Ted started wondering if he really meant it
When applied to a convicted felon serving in the Senate.
♩
We're so proud of our politicians here...
EDIT: Saks, not Sack's. That's a mattress store in Wasilla.
November 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word whack job
More whack job merriment from the Republicans:
"Mr. Scheunemann, who picked up the phone in his office at McCain campaign headquarters on Wednesday afternoon, responded that “anybody who says I was fired is either lying or delusional or a whack job.
Mr. Scheunemann was referring to widely disseminated criticism by Mr. McCain’s advisers in the final days of the campaign that Ms. Palin, as first reported in Politico, was a 'whack job.'�?
-Internal Battles Divided McCain and Palin Camps; The New York Times.
It's getting difficult to tell one whack job from another these days.
November 6, 2008
skipvia commented on the word yes we can!
Amen, sister.
November 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word yes we can!
I cried. When I was growing up African Americans couldn't enter the same stores, drink at the same fountains, eat at the same restaurants, or even use the same bathroom as I could. This is huge.
November 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word shhhh!...
Maybe you should check your spelling, VO... :-)
November 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word axolotl
See Mexico City's 'Water Monster' Nears Extinction for the current sad state of the axolotl in what's left of its native habitat.
November 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word when the revolution comes
I'll finally close several unclosed circles.
If it comes...
November 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word whack job
Mmmmmm....puke bowl.
Hey--that would make a good entry for the My Little Phonies list. So would turd-barrel.
Edit: See cauliflower, since no one has yet claimed "turd-barrel."
November 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word english research
My FAVORITE SNL sketch, except for maybe Eddie Murphy as James Brown in the hot tub.
♩
"Wookin' por nub..."
♩
October 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the list phrases
"Are you sure it's in?" is bound to raise some eyebrows in certain situations. And that's about all...
October 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the list phrases
"Tastes like chicken" is always acceptable in formal occasions.
October 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the list phrases
How about "my infomercial got prempted by a webinar?" It's surprisingly easy to work into conversation these days.
October 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word simip
So--I was all set to add my comments to this discussion when John's caveat stopped me cold. It was going to be glorious.
However, if you're in the mood (here I'm thinking mainly about about Prolagus), there has been a...situation developing on this list for quite some time. I think I'm going in...
October 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word dick fingers
You'll have to watch this to fully appreciate the reference.
See also air quotes.
October 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word whack job diva
It just keeps getting better and better:
"Wasn’t that enough time for McCain to get to know Palin? Wasn’t that enough time for his crackerjack “vetters�? to investigate Palin’s strengths and weaknesses, check through records and published accounts, talk to a few people, and learn that she was not only a diva but a whack job diva?"
-McCain Camp Trying to Scapegoat Palin; Yahoo News
October 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word whack job
I am thrilled that whack job ended up on whichbe's My Little Phonies list. I can't read that list without laughing out loud.
*turdiform...hee hee*
October 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word whack job
I should hardly be the one to be critical. I'm usually able to see misspelled words when someone else presents them, but I never seem to catch my own.
Just ask reesetee...
October 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word whack job
Even though I think you mean "impale," dc, there has got to be a joke about impale and Palin in here somewhere...
October 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word dusty bottom
No, that would be:
♩
Oh, the Camptown ladies sing this song,
Do-dah, doo-dah..
♩
And please don't associate me with anything having to to with Bush... :-)
October 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word whack job
"In convo with Playbook, a top McCain adviser one-ups the priceless 'diva' description, calling her (Palin) 'a whack job.'"
-Mike Allen's Playbook, Politico.com.
I'm not even going to list "convo." That term deserves to die.
October 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the word dusty bottom
♩
We are the Three AH HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Migos!
♩
October 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the word excrete
Hee hee. I love this usage. My students sometimes excrete a paper or two.
October 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the list panvocalics
All Wordies are in awe of your accomplishment, mollusque. Congratulations.
October 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the word mego
"Mackenzie predicts McCain would be afflicted with the same malady as Richard Nixon, who savored foreign policy but was less interested in the budget and other domestic matters, a disease known as MEGO, short for My Eyes Glaze Over.
"I think we'd see a lot of that with McCain," he said."
-If Elected, How Would McCain Govern? - Boston.com
October 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the word is no elitist
Why do you hate freedom?
October 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moose nuggets
Here are what fashionable Alaskan governors are wearing these days.
October 22, 2008
skipvia commented on the list age-of-asparagus
I was kidding you, dharma. It was actually Chestnut Blight.
October 22, 2008
skipvia commented on the list age-of-asparagus
Didn't Euell Gibbons die of Dutch Elm disease?
October 22, 2008
skipvia commented on the list x-s-y-where-x-is-not-somebody-s-name
Oh, for heaven's sake.
October 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fernando poo
Sung to the tune of "I've Never Been to Spain."
♩
You've already been to Spain
And the Cayman Islands too.
But you've never been to heaven
'Til you've seen Fernando Poo.
Not Vanuatu
Not Timbuktu
Fernando Poo
You can travel the world over
Passport stamps up the wazoo.
Though there's islands there a'plenty
There's only one Fernando Poo.
Not Vanuatu
Not Timbuktu
Fernando Poo
♩
(Sorry about the link. The only other choice was Three Dog Night, and I have my standards.)
October 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word stimthought
If they're called "scholarships" why do most of them go to athletes?
October 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word palindrome
Bilby's recent seeding of many excellent palindromes in various places around the Wordieverse reminds me of two things:
1. I love palindromes.
2. I suck at creating them. The best I can do is "You buoy!" or "Yo, Bob! Oy!"
October 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word suck
No argument here, Asa...
October 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word make whoopee
Also a song with some of the most bizarre, depressing lyrics I've ever heard--an anti-paean to love and marriage.
October 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fernando poo
Ummm...I'm afraid all I've got is Fernando Pooper. I was hoping chained_bear, with her vast knowledge of all things excremental, could come up with something better. Or maybe Asativum?...Reesetee?
October 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fernando poo
What would you call a native of Fernando Poo?
*Hoping everyone appreciates the straight line*
October 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word alley-oop
*Sigh* They don't write 'em like that anymore...
October 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word dast
My first awareness of dast and dasn't in print was the L'il Abner comic strip, but it was used commonly in the South during my childhood.
October 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word alley-oop
He'll knuckle your head before you count to foh-wah...
October 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word alley-oop
And (without the hyphen) a song by the Hollywood Argyles, after the comic strip of the same name.
October 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word turdiform
Not very many words in isolation make me laugh, but this one does. I don't know if it's the initial mental image it conjures up or its potential as an insult. Maybe it's just because it has turd in it.
October 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the list may-or-may-not-be-specific-but-it-s-definitely-not-excrement
*Turdine. Hee hee.*
October 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fernando poo
(Sung to the tune Peggy Sue)
♩
Fernando Poo
I love you
With a love so rare and true
Fernando
FERNANDO Poo-a-hoo poo hoo-a-hoo-hoo
Otcho, Bioko, you're still Fernando Poo
♩
October 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the list may-or-may-not-be-specific-but-it-s-definitely-not-excrement
It's a stretch, but how about shih tzu?
*Turdiform. Snicker...*
October 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the list may-or-may-not-be-specific-but-it-s-definitely-not-excrement
Nincompoop?
*Turdiform. Hee hee.*
October 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the list may-or-may-not-be-specific-but-it-s-definitely-not-excrement
Winnie?
October 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the list may-or-may-not-be-specific-but-it-s-definitely-not-excrement
Oh! Oh! How about crappie? As long as you don't pronounce it correctly...
October 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fernando poo
Your recent foray into non-excremental pooping would be a good candidate for that list.
October 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fernando poo
But fortunate for that child, I guess...
October 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fernando poo
Too bad I had a vasectomy, because I know what I'd be naming my next child.
October 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word with lovers and friends i can still recall
Perhaps the most perfect song ever written, unless it's "Over the Rainbow."
October 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word love is strange
Well sung, Pro.
One of these days I'll get around to asking you how a young Italian has such intimate knowledge of a song from my US childhood, which was over with way before you were born. (If one's childhood is ever really over, I mean.)
October 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word nightingale
More like NIGHT n gale.
October 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word love is strange
I simply say: Baaaaaaaby, OOOOHHHH baaaaabeeee, My sweet baaaaaby, you're the one.
*screaming guitar riff*
October 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word love is strange
Oh, LOVERBOY...
October 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word love is strange
Hee hee. Still, I love the way Sylvia says "C'mere, loverboy."
October 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word love is strange
Once you get it, you'll never wanna quit (no, no)...
Whatever happened to Mickey and Sylvia?
October 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word troopergate
I love it.
October 11, 2008
skipvia commented on the word mind
I imagine most of you have seen this, but it's still fascinating:
"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."
My tpniyg otefn lkoos tihs way, but I sspcuet taht smtnihoeg esle is at wrok in my csae.
October 11, 2008
skipvia commented on the word igloo trash
As a matter of fact, c_b, I almost hit one with my car on the way home today. I'm pretty sure it was the brother of the young cow I photographed a couple of days ago.
October 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word igloo trash
My first and only encounter with the term was in a reader comment clearly intended to refer to Sarah Palin ("...bring McSame and igloo trash into the job especially after what George W. bush has done to our country"). If the term existed before that or if it was ever intended to slur an ethnic or economic group, I'm not aware of it. I assumed it was a play on trailer trash.
But I'm feeling a little of c_b's guilt now myself.
October 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word igloo trash
Could be either, c_b, although the author of the phrase was clearly referring to an individual. Think lipstick.
October 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word igloo trash
Seen today in a reader comment on a Washington Post blog. Given the current political climate, I'll let you guess to whom this refers...
October 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moose
Apocryphal is a pretty decent word to describe moose, John, since they look as if they were put together from random ungulate parts with no overall design in mind. But when you see one maneuver in deep snow, they begin to make sense.
I can't believe you lived in Maine and never saw one. The trails around Katahdin are crowded with them.
October 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moose
This just wouldn't look right with a moose in place of the elk, Pro.
Actually, it looks kind of creepy with the elk, too.
October 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moose
Hey. I know a moose poem, too.
Moose Goosers
How about them Moose goosers, Ain't they recluse?
Up in them boondocks, goosin' them moose.
Goosin' them huge moose, goosin' them tiny,
Goosin them medlin' moose in they hinny!
Look at them Moose goosers, Ain't they dumb?
Some use an umbrella, some use they thumb.
Them obtuse Moose goosers, sneakin' through the woods,
pokin' they snoozey moose in they goods,
How to be a Moose gooser? It'll turn you puce;
Get your gooser loose, and rouse a drowsy moose!
-Mason Williams, The Mason Williams Reading Matter
October 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moose
Not to change to subject, but does anyone actually pronounce the "o" in opossum?
October 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word this is not my beautiful wife
I was asking myself that very question just now...
October 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word spelling
Perhaps this guy should switch to a language with words that aren't so difficult to spell.
October 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moose
No moose worth her dewlap would try and face you down, c_b. :-)
October 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moose
I should mention, lest you think that moose are weenies, that I have seen a cow moose back a brown bear about 200 yards up a ravine to protect her calf.
October 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moose
That cat was fearless. Utterly fearless. But not very bright.
October 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moose
If they don't come and check out our garden at least weekly, we worry about them. I just happened to have my camera out when these dropped by. (They were eating the remains of the garden that we pulled up last week when it snowed a bit.)
Our cat once chased two moose from our back yard.
October 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moose
Her brother was nearby but wasn't cooperating with me.
October 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moose
This young lady is outside my window right now.
October 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word bodega
I rarely feel genteel, but this is cool anyway.
October 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the list triple-contractions
Bilby has a list you might like.
Shouldn't that last apostrophe be between the n and the t? I'd've put it there.
October 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word no baked alaska
Really? She embarrassed a lot of Alaskans.
October 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word doughnut
Beef, cheese, bacon, and doughnut sandwiches. Could it get any worse than this?
October 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word jake and elmo
Elwood, now that I think about it. I must have been thinking of Sesame Street...
October 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word trailer trash
See Joe Sixpack.
October 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word joe sixpack
A little research:
"John Q. Public is a generic name in the United States to denote a hypothetical member of society deemed a 'common man.' He is presumed to have no strong political or social biases relevant to whatever topic is at hand, and to represent the randomly selected 'man on the street.'
Roughly equivalent, but more pejorative, are the names Joe Six-pack, Joe Blow, and Joe Schmoe, implying a lower-class citizen (from the Yiddish schmo: simpleton, or possibly Hebrew sh'mo: (what's)-his-name)."
Wikipedia
“Oh, I think they’re (critics) just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying you know what? It’s time that a normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency, and I think that that’s kind of taken some people off guard, and they’re out of sorts, and they’re ticked off about it,�? she (Sarah Palin) said."
Townhall.com
In the interest of the American electorate, I propose that the Secretary General in the next administration represent trailer trash.
October 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the list my-little-phonies
Lickspigot is about my favorite word ever. Hurlwind is a close second.
A stroke of genius, whichbe.
October 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fuck
No, no, c_b. We went over Deanna before. B'Elanna Torres was on Voyager, which, as yarb correctly posits, blows dead rats.
October 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fuck
You're thinking of B'Elanna, there, yarb.
Me too, now.
October 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fuck
I don't know why I'm reminded of this (yes I do, too) but I suspect you'd appreciate it. On leaving a comment on a blog the other day I was asked to type in an anti-spam word. The word was "lovehaft." I kid you not.
October 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the list ugly-words-3
What a wonderful list!
October 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fuck
It's funny that you should mention Dara Torres and 42 in the same conversation, because that's how old she'll be next year.
Shaft. *hee hee*
October 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fuck
In high school, we referred to Norfolk, Virginia as "No-fuck Vagina." As often as we could. We thought it was very funny. Then.
September 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word unregulated credit default swap
If you can define this, please let the powers that be know. For what it's worth, there are in excess of $40 trillion dollars involved, but no one seems to know exactly what they are.
September 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word bumper-sticker wisdom
"But the more worrisome responses were the ones that betrayed her lack of curiosity about current events and reliance on bumper-sticker wisdom over complex thoughts. There were moments, in fact, in which you wondered whether she had been paying any meaningful attention to the world outside Alaska before McCain picked her as his running mate a month ago."
-TIME, Sarah Palin's Foreign Policy Follies
September 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word content blob
We'd be the only people reading there. My kind of place. :-)
September 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cpm
Reminds me of cp/m, a forerunner of DOS which ran many early computers. It stood for "control program for microcomputers" but those of us forced to use it and try to understand it were convinced it meant "conspiracy to protect the ministry."
September 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word content blob
Perhaps it's just you and me, reesetee. Bring a copy along with you when you come to Skinny Dick's and we'll have a grand old time.
September 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word content blob
A dense, "booklike" page (or a PDF file) on a web site that will probably not get read by viewers of the page unless it is printed out.
-Mark Bauerlein, Chronicles of Higher Education, Sep 19 2008
September 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word suicide soda
See also graveyard.
September 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word some html
See the link above the comment box.
September 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word la foule
Caribou are quite common here, c_b, and where there's one there are usually several hundred more, at least in the winter. I've seen herds of thousands on many occasions.
They...ummm...weren't in chorus lines.
September 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the user skipvia
But seriously, folks...
With Sarah Palin, what you see is not what you get. Her leadership skills consist mainly of hiring her friends and firing her enemies, defined as anyone who disagrees with her or who doesn't believe that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time. There's a reason that McCain limits access to her. She's perfectly capable of looking you directly in the eye and lying to you. (In that regard she's a pretty good match for McCain.)
Don't get me started, John...
September 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the user skipvia
Yes--and her name is Sarah Palin.
*rimshot!*
September 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word la foule
They rest their hooves on the hindquarters of the caribou in front of them, kind of like a chorus line forming across the tundra. Then they click their heels--tendons, actually--rhythmically and move in huge circles, periodically kicking their right hind legs out and grunting in unison. It's an awesome sight.
Anything else, yarb? I'm kind of running out of good caribou information.
C'mon up, reesetee. We'll dance with the caribou.
September 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word la foule
They sleep lying down in wide open spaces to give themselves time to get away from wolves. In winter their preferred spot is the middle of a frozen lake.
September 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word la foule
They walk constantly. Their main forage is lichen, which is not exactly loaded with nutrients. They have to keep walking in order to be able to find enough to eat.
September 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word la foule
Caribou have a tendon at the back of their leg that automatically snaps the leg back into walking position without the caribou having to expend any energy to do. You can hear it when they walk--even more impressive when you are listening to a large herd. The click isn't their hooves on the ground--it's the tendon snapping back into place.
September 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word shrinkage
I prefer Cialis Cooper.
September 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word bright are the stars that shine
Dark is the sky...
September 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word lottie
Q: Who was Annie Hall's favorite tennis player?
A: Lottie Dodd, Lottie Dodd...
September 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word shrinkage
More like the frozen carcass of the Jolly Green Giant after a tragic boating mishap, perhaps?...
September 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word shrinkage
It's not always so.
Who says we don't have any fun up here in the Arctic in winter?
September 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cremp
Related perhaps to "put a crimp in?"
September 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word uppity
"Uppity" is a code word in the same vein as states' rights and family values. Westmoreland knew exactly what he was saying and exactly who he was saying it to. A dog-whistle if there ever was one.
September 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word petard
Arby--petard sounds like Picard if you're a bit liberal with the pronunciation.
September 6, 2008
skipvia commented on the word petard
I associate it with The Enterprise.
September 6, 2008
skipvia commented on the word stimthought
A peanut is neither.
September 6, 2008
skipvia commented on the word lawyered up
Don't get me started, John. Those of us that live in Alaska knew the specific excrement would hit the fan as soon as she opened her mouth...
September 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word librarya
Only the hard parts...
September 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word librarya
Well, he did finish The Pet Goat.
September 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word ukelin
Fear not. Here's another.
September 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word nummulated
I propose adding papadams to the list of nummulated foods, should anyone care to create that.
*hint hint*
September 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word nummulated
I like your definition much better.
September 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word deathstick
42?
September 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word radix is spam
Whither thou goest, Palooka, there shall we follow.
August 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word i'm pink therefore i'm spam
Sadly, I thought of an even better version after I posted this. Here it is, for posterity:
"I stink, therefore I'm spam."
Maybe I'll go post it anyway...
August 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the user radixand
Well, poop.
August 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the word gaytarded
Even words that are offensive have etymologies and social contexts that make them legitimate points for discussion on Wordie. While I have no intention of using a word like "gaytarded" because of its doubly offensive nature, I'm interested to know that it's a word that some people use in some contexts. It helps me shed some of my naivité.
Nigger is an extraordinarily offensive word to me. I can barely force myself to key it into this comment. But, it's necessary to use it sometimes to understand the context from which it comes. Fuck has that effect on some people--but we regularly discuss it in various contexts here.
We're on Wordie because words fascinate us. As long as we don't have the intent to offend with the words that we post, we should be able to discuss them with civility and respect. Barring that, we all have a phenomenal power that I like to call "skipping over the parts that you don't like." It works.
August 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the user radixand
Which well-known offshore web developer was recently convicted of embedding illegal spam relay bots in their end products?
August 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the list unkind-words
I agree with c_b that this has been a touchy subject lately, but I've always loved the word "dunce" for reasons I don't fully understand. Same for dunderhead.
August 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the list well-known-places-youve-never-heard-of
♩ That's nobody's business but the Turks... ♩
August 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the list towns-with-sizeable-albino-squirrel-populations
I saw a whole bunch of sizeable albino squirrels in Barrow, Alaska. They have stubby tails, long muzzles, huge teeth, and like to chase seals. I'm pretty sure those were the most sizeable albino squirrels I have ever seen.
August 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the user skipdivided
Nope. My alter-ego is...wait, is this a trick to get me to reveal my alter-ego?
August 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the user chained_bear
Wordiewan here. In honor of the latest example of The Pattern, why don't we call it "42?" For example--"that new guy really 42ed on us, didn't he?"
August 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the list castles-and-keeps
I should have looked here before I said "arrow slits..."
August 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the user chained_bear
Hey C_B--you forgot step 8: Then they come back anyway.
Seriously, the acerbic tone has been very bothersome to me lately--largely why I have just stayed out of most of the discussions. However, your point about countering hate speech with more speech is well-taken and I applaud you for that. Very well put.
And finally--guinea pigs scare me! Those beady little brown eyes and tiny paws...what are they plotting? ;-)
August 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the user chained_bear
Well, for you I would... :-)
August 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the user skipvia
Hee hee. Not this time, Pro, but I try.
August 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the list ideas-for-names-for-logos
Not going there, Pro. ;-)
August 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the word prick
Finally, someone is willing to say what they really mean:
"His top contenders are said to include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent."
-AP, Obama Veep Announcement Expected in Coming Days
August 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the list non-vital-organs
I used to lust after a Vox Guitorgan. In fact, I still lust after one.
August 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word joey buttafuoco
So, urine-iss is somehow better than your-anus?
August 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word chuck norris
Alas, I haven't lifted a bow in many years. I was a state champion in NC when I was 14 or so. The technology has certainly advanced since we used a longbow through the arrow slits in the castle wall...
But I have been able to catch a bit of the streamed video. It (obviously) bothers me that wonderful sports (i.e., those that don't require background music and judges) like archery don't get any prime coverage.
August 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word chuck norris
Chuck Norris can sit through multiple rebroadcasts of the US womens gymnastic team's heartbreaking close losses and soaring, triumphant victories, KNOWING FULL WELL THAT OTHER WORTHY SPORTS LIKE ARCHERY AND CANOEING ARE GOING ON, without throwing a chair through the television.
August 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word struthious
Or the ever-popular Struthiomimus.
August 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the user chained_bear
One should always ask oneself, "Can your wallpaper do all this?"
August 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the user chained_bear
C_b--knowing your penchant for guinea pigs and the Olympics, I think you've got to see this.
August 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word joey buttafuoco
It's kind of like naming a planet "Uranus."
I went to school with a girl named Rhythm Belcher, who inspired this list some time ago.
August 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word 42
How old Dara Torres will be next year! I can hardly wait!
Were you aware that she's 41 now??!!
August 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word penitentes
See also penetentes.
August 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the user super-logos
You don't hear "Myrtle" too often these days.
August 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the user super-logos
Too bad "The Supreme Being" is already taken.
Anyone seen him lately? Maybe he's been taken up...
August 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word not
Clear thinking from the political science department:
"I am not, indeed, sure whether it is not true to say that the Milton who once seemed not unlike a seventeenth-century Shelley had not become, out of an experience ever more bitter in each year, more alien to the founder of that Jesuit sect which nothing could induce him to tolerate."
-Harold Laski, quoted in "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell.
Interesting how the meaning clouds up a bit each time "not" appears...
August 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word synchronised synchronised diving
Like this one!
Now that's real swimming.
August 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word synchronised synchronised diving
Hey! The more the merrier! Now all we need is some dramatic music, some waterfalls, and maybe some sparklers rising dramatically up from the water as the divers enter.
Wait...isn't that in an Esther Williams movie?
August 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word axolotl
There's a small but dedicated group of atlatl fanciers here in Fairbanks. The advantage achieved by using one is substantial, but it takes a lot of practice. I got most of my attempts to go forward. Some of my attempts.
Atlatls were used pretty much all over Alaska. I haven't been able to find an Athabascan or Yupik term for them, but I'm looking...
August 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word synchronized diving
This has to be the stupidest idea for a sport since synchronized swimming.
August 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word axolotl
My feeble brain always confuses this word with atlatl, although I'll have to admit that neither comes up in conversation very often.
August 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the list roy-g-biv
Hendrix's Rainbow Bridge?
August 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wooly-bear
Or Woolly Bully...
August 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word moistened bint
Dibs. This one shouldn't go it all alone.
August 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word soaky dokey
I was not aware of that, whichbe--but I'm all over it! This is a great game with lots of potential to keep me amused for days.
There's a pony named DANGLES?!! Ooh...I can hardly wait.
August 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fluffaluff
A failed actress and model who couldn't even make it as a porn star, this pony ekes out a living assuring that male actors are kept ready for action between takes on the set.
August 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word urolagnia
A sexual fetish in which participants derive sexual pleasure from urine and urination.
August 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word soaky dokey
A pony who is into urolagnia.
Hey...this is fun! And there's more!
August 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the list the-chained-unbearable-cuteness-of-beings
Pipistrelle away, c_b! If you think it's cute, it belongs here.
August 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word chunky baby chow chow
See tapir for the original citation, and also this image from mollusque.
August 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word favre's syndrome
a.k.a. Clinton's Syndrome.
Go away, already...
August 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word streisand effect
From Wikipedia: "The Streisand effect is a phenomenon on the Internet where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information backfires, causing the information to be widely publicized." So named because Barbara Streisand once sued to have an aerial photo of her home removed from a study of beachfront erosion published on the 'net, citing privacy concerns--thus insuring that the photo was mirrored to multiple sites across the web.
August 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word syrup of ipecac
Right there under our noses all this time!
I have to say that I'm utterly amazed by your panvocalic efforts, mollusque. It has changed the way I look at words. (Thanks to you, Wordie probably represents the most complete and organized collection of panvocalics in existence.)
August 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word frickin'
As in the much loved Christmas carol:
"We want some frickin' pudding,
So bring it right here."
August 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word globosclerosis
David Brooks' neologism for the inability of the world community to collectively solve problems--e.g., genocide in Darfur, nuclear proliferation, etc. From this editorial.
August 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word craudestopper
But there's no translation error like a Chinese-English translation error!
August 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word piccaninny
Highly pejorative term in the southern US--as offensive to most people as nigger. Both are terms that actually pain me to commit to paper or page.
August 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word like
Okay--which one of you Wordies is behind this movement?
Anyone seen chained_bear lately?
August 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word craudestopper
Hee hee! Reminds me of this admonition from the portico of the Duomo in Siena.
*wondering how Prolagus did so well on the TOEFL with models like these*
August 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word faq
Here is a really good reference for using character entities in comments. Each entity begins with an ampersand and ends with a semicolon.
August 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the list psychedelicatessen
He was a post-Yoko vegetarian, but apparently not a strict one. That's hardly the question, though. I can't imagine that his estate would stoop so low as to allow his image to be used hawking sub sandwiches. Someone's gonna get sued...
August 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word pud
Or a middle school boys' locker room....
August 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word nadir
Zenith Apogee would make a great name for a comic book character.
*wondering if some celebrity has already used it for a new baby name*
August 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word toefl
This comes as absolutely no surprise to any Wordie. Congratulations, Pro!
August 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word smartserve chicken
Amazing 3D technology! Don't miss it!
August 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word spoo
Roz Chast used a similar term ("sppooo") for "cookies" on the cover of "Parallel Universes" many years ago. Here's a peek, although it's much funnier in context.
I wonder if Babylon 5 is paying homage?...
August 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word nadir
Except for that unfortunate association with Ralph...
August 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the list identify-the-wordie-2
Probably the last person you'd want to ask for a word that describes himself/herself is a Wordie.
Hmmm...is this a thinly veiled hint?
August 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word teeth
I was with you right up until the tea-dipping, dc.
*hork*
August 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word teeth
Long live the Empire, yarb!
August 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word joke
Newly discovered Sumerian joke:
Q: How many Akkadians does it take to light a lamp?
A: None. The Akkadians, in their ignorance, pray to Enlil for deliverance from the curse of darkness.
August 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word thuringer
Okay. I've got one:
In the pantheon of processed meats, summer sausage and some aren't.
I didn't say it was a very good one.
August 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word joke
From this story on Yahoo News:
"The world's oldest recorded joke has been traced back to 1900 BC and suggests that toilet humor was as popular with the ancients as it is today.
It is a saying of the Sumerians, who lived in what is now southern Iraq and goes: 'Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap.'"
Those zany Sumerians! What a laff riot!
August 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word thuringer
Besides, it's hard to top frogapplause's response. Hee hee...
August 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word thuringer
I don't know, reesetee. I can't seem to rise to the occasion. My mind has gone flaccid, my imagination soft. I feel like a limp dishrag, like too-old celery. This impotence is killing me. I wish I could harden my resolve, steel my nerves, and burst forth with a clever rejoinder.
I hear this happens to a lot of guys...
August 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the list psychedelicatessen
DC--as far as I know those pants have never been washed. (Hey--it was the 60s...)
August 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word abonomible
Just found this using "random word" and fell in love with it. Reminds me of b'sghetti.
July 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the list psychedelicatessen
Speaking of 60s clothes--Here's a picture of my son taken several years ago in a pair of white levis that I painted when I was in high school in '68. We called them "psychedelevis."
Thought I'd burnish my 60s creds...
July 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word phallic
I know what you mean, Pro. What could the designer have been thinking?
*better not answer that*
July 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word phallic
Don't miss this one. I think it's supposed to be a pagoda...
July 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word genius
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting
July 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word chafe
Hard cheese for a web designer, placing borked code on a public site.
*contemplating moving to another line of work*
July 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word chafe
Bork away, John. I didn't catch the error before it appeared. What was the issue?
July 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word chafe
C_B's comment reminded me of the Sheriff of Rottingham's immortal line in Robin Hood; Men in Tights, when, on encountering Marian's chastity belt, he exclaims, "That's really going to chafe my willie."
July 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word lamington
Oops. I must have dallied too long at the psychedelicatessen, I guess. You're correct.
July 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wordie ice shelf
Damn. You never know what you've got 'til it's gone...
We should make James Wordie some sort of patron saint.
July 30, 2008
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