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."
"But what's evolving here isn't the agents" -- the speakers -- "but the language itself. It has its own evolutionary imperative. It wants to be passed on, and finds ways of doing that. We're its hosts."
According to Dictionary.com, this is synonymous with ninny, but it's also a nonsense word that appears in hundreds of traditional British songs and poems. I was surprised to find it in Sh-boom, by the Chords. (See jibboom.)
Ah. I wasn't aware that there was a shirt called that. What an unfortunate appellation. It kind of looks like an undershirt worn by... Oh. Okay. I get it now.
It's like this, bilby. When a subject and an object love each other very much, they might get together to form a sentence. It's called "conjunction," and it's a very beautiful act. And if conjunction works, pretty soon a little dependent clause may come to live with them.
You can get a fairly good idea of who tagged what by going to their profile and clicking on their Tags. If "ridiculous" has been used two times total and two times by sionnach then it's pretty obvious who done it...
From the male perspective, it would be nice to have little tiny spigots that you could turn on or off as needed. Although I'm not sure where you'd put them.
Hi John, sir. I apologize for ever calling you a slack bastard, if, in fact, I ever actually did that.
On my profile page are multiple listings of two lists ("Technically It Means" and "To Busy to Scratch Myself") and one word (whippersnapper) that I did not favorite. I rarely use that feature of Wordie. What gives?
Interesting, bilby. I didn't favorite any of the lists above It Has a Name?, nor did I favorite whippersnapper. I'm going to speak to John about this. Reverentially, of course.
Besides being a beautiful (if somewhat redundant) word, it seems that it underscores additional support for chained_bear's assertions that intelligent people need to reproduce in ever-increasing numbers. From Planetsave:
"Notch up another one for the members of the Idiots Anonymous who have apparently been camping out in Bellingham, Washington. Apparently, rainwater doesn’t actually belong to individuals, but to the state as a whole. Therefore, all the wonderful efforts of communities to collect water are actually illegal.
Not just frowned upon, or morally unethical, or shifty – all of which water collection is not – but actually illegal, so much so that in the future such legalities could be used in a court of law.
It comes down once again to the simple fact that humanity is doomed to an ever continuing cycle of idiot and misanthropic events and situations that will, eventually, simply wear down those of us with half a brain, and leave planet Earth populated by half-wits and mimes (often the same thing)."
A paved road, dontcry! At least the part of it in that photograph.
Speaking of which, here's my favorite Alaska fact: There are more miles of roads in Rhode Island than in all of Alaska. Our highway system is pretty simple. There's Highway 1, Highway 2, and Highway 3.
Of course, you can't drive to our capital city since no roads go there.
I'm the photographer, reesetee. No room in that band for a guitarist. Or bass player. No keyboards, flutes, mandolins, banjos, fiddles, dulcimers or sitars either. You'd think there'd be something I could play in there somewhere...
The tendency of Wordie comments to increasingly stray from the original topic as they become more numerous. As an example, see...oh, hell, see just about anything on Wordie.
It's like a time line, but without any dates. Sort of...
"US President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have agreed to set a "time horizon" for US troop withdrawals as part of a long-term security pact, the White House said."
I may change my mind on Marmite before it deteriorates completely:
"In a study lasting three years, Jane Durga, of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and her colleagues found that people taking such supplements did better on measures of memory, information-processing speed and verbal fluency. That, plus evidence that folate deficiency is associated with clinical depression, suggests eating spinach, orange juice and Marmite, which are all rich in folic acid."
Of promite, vegemite, and marmite, the only one that sounds vaguely edible is vegemite--and that's only by comparison to the other two. They all sound like laxatives to me.
Growing up in the South during the 50s and 60s was a unique cultural experience, yarb. We had separate "white" and "colored" store entrances, drinking fountains, theaters, and waiting areas--all clearly marked as such.
An illiterate and somewhat vitriolic blog post I read today, in which the author calls Jesse Jackson an "uppity busybody," reminded me that I have rarely heard this word when it didn't apply specifically to African-Americans. Growing up in the US south, I was taught that there were two kinds of African-Americans--uppity ones and those who knew their place ("humble" being the code word that was most often used).
Interesting post, coming from a blog that describes itself as "A conservative journal of social, cultural, and ecclesiatical affairs grounded in a realistic Catholic Christian worldview. It is my hope that this site will be a reflection of Christ, the teachings of His Holy Church, and of the basic vision of a Christian social morality."
One and the same, sionnach. You can listen to the original broadcast here.
Regarding the myriad "*mites" that could adorn my crumpet, I'm standing by gooseberry jam and ricotta cheese. Barring that, cream cheese and sliced peaches.
"In a press conference today previewing a House Republican trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that’s meant to promote drilling, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) doubted the existence of actual wildlife in the refuge. “We’re going to look at this barren, Arctic desert where I’m hoping to see some wildlife,�? said Boehner. “But I understand there’s none there.�?
This comes as a great surprise to most Alaskans, not to mention the bears (polar, brown, and black) wolves, foxes, musk oxen, wolverines, moose, Dall sheep, hares, marmots, pika, fish, and countless native and migrating bird species that live there. Oh...and the 600,000 caribou in the Porcupine herd.
"A Minnesota National Guard helicopter lost a door while in flight around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. While flying over the Maplewood-Oakdale area, the door was lost and has not yet been recovered."
Here are a couple of videos made by an absolutely brilliant mentee of mine, a young man from Fairbanks named Wade. He's a guitarist who had this ukulele for about 3 weeks when he recorded these:
You know, it would be fun to substitute some of these colors for the ones used by the NSA in their threat advisories. "The current threat level was raised from Evening Hush to Atomic Tangerine today due to increased chatter on Islamic web sites..."
I'm surprised and sorry that you didn't see more ravens on your cruise, ofravens. They are more plentiful in the rest of the state than they are in Southeast. Like the ones nesting near my house--the fledglings can make an incredible racket.
That's crazy. I've watched Wile E. Coyote experience a sort of cinematic death several times an episode, and never once was I reminded of Eisenstein.
Kant is another matter, of course. Kant via the categorical imperative would hold that ontologically anvils dropping from cliffs exist only in the imagination.
Still, I love it when that anvil smashes Wile E. into the pavement.
We tend to leave the god work around here to John. The rest of us take care of the less godly work, such as making up new words and applying the Wordie Treatment.
What was the...I mean, someone had to think this up, right? What motivates someone to, on seeing some ram testicles, decide to press them into blocks, boil them, and cure them?
And that's after you've already decided to eat them in the first place.
When I was growing up in NC, a short film of military jet flights with this poem as a voice-over was used by a local TV network to sign off each Saturday night, right after Shock Theater with Dr. Paul Bearer.
1. Of, or contributing to, an involuntary or unanticipated hork on the part of a witness to a disgusting event (see puke bowl) or food substance (see Foods That Shall Not Be Named);
2. Describing an action resembling a hork--e.g., throwing up in your mouth when you laugh too hard or gagging at the site of someone else's vomit.
You have to wonder about a food described this way:
"There is no more certain way of putting anyone off tête de veau forever than to serve it undercooked. And the second is that once you have finished cooking it you must allow it to cool completely otherwise it will explode."
Regarding #3, arby--gherkin is the name of a variety of small cucumber grown for pickling. It's a gherkin before it gets pickled. So, are "gherkin" and "pickled gherkin" synonymous? This is so confusing...
Edit: Oh, and many thanks for the reference to Steve's site. It's twisted and disgusting. I love it!
I yield, Asa. I hadn't considered pickled pigs lips, or even head cheese.
I guess what I should have said is that it is the vilest shadow of the real thing that exists in the world of comestibles. Pickled pigs lips are supposed to be pickled pigs lips. Casu marzu (I'm still having nightmares over that one) is supposed to be decaying cheese with live maggots. But canned asparagus in no way resembles the fresh item.
But--I love your idea of a list of the vilest substances on the planet.
Thanks for the new items for the list, Asa. I'm not sure how candlefish and hooligan were left off the list, but they sure fit. (Although I believe they are also harvested as far south as California.) Candlefish are staples of most southeastern and southwestern Alaska subsistence diets.
Pro--you can see Ester in part of a morning. It's a small community of artists, progressives, intellectuals, aging hippies, and assorted ne'er-do-wells outside of Fairbanks. It is the essence of laissez-faire living. I feel right at home. Some interesting history and demographics here.
If you ever visit, you've got a place to stay. Bring pictures of Italy...
"City Alaska" is Anchorage. Everywhere else is Alaska Alaska.
Into the Wild has produced an interesting upswing in people trying--usually in vain--to recreate McCandless' journey into the wilderness north of Denali. The irony is that Alaskans go there all the time--usually late in the fall or during the winter when the Teklanika River is calmer--for hunting trips. Now "outsiders" are trying to work it into their summer vacations, which is the worst possible time to visit that area.
We also got a big kick out of Grizzly Man. What a dweeb...
This is the name of an annual bike ride put on by the Fairbanks Cycle Club. You bike out to Skinny Dick's Halfway Inn and back (about 50 miles) and have a weenie roast at the end of the ride.
See the discussion on the Real Names list for a bit more about Skinny Dick and his roadhouse.
Canned asparagus the the most vile substance on the planet--completely inedible and bearing absolutely no resemblance in any way to the real thing. I'd sooner starve than eat it.
But I do sometimes wonder if it makes your pee smell funny...
Pro, someone from Michigan would tell you that U.P. means the Upper Peninsula--that part of the state that's separated from the rest of it by Lake Michigan. I'd suggest it feels more like Canada than the US, eh?
So, how do you refer to New Jersey? I used to favor "the nation's armpit," but that was before I spent a delightful week in Cape May earlier this spring.
"Outside" means anywhere that is not Alaska, not just the lower 48. Asativum is correct in that "down south" usually refers to going to Seattle, since you typically have to go there to get anywhere else.
I had a wonderful knish in a little dive called Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery, on the lower East side of Manhattan a few weeks ago. Stop by if you get the chance...
Gawrsh, ptery--it's nothing. No, really...it's nothing. Just surf on over to the Unicode section of FileFormat.info and have a field day. (I have better results using the decimal HTML entity. All will be revealed when you visit the site.)
Water under pressure percolating up through a bed of sand--an unfortunate occurrence on some Midwest levees as a result of the tragic flooding there. Some interesting images.
Most commonly used in medicine to describe a wound that is (or should heal) closed--e.g., "The agent changes the molecular structure of the inside of the offending vessels so that they coapt or heal closed."
Oh. Hi guys. I was just practicing for the contest when you...wait...I can leave Hoboken? I'm kissing the contest goodbye and starting reconnaissance with Major Palooka for an open list with a tempting invitation.
Sir--I would be derelict in my duty not to go in when provoked so aggressively. I mean, come on--things I say to people? I surprised no one went in before me.
Speaking of which--thanks for the cover, reesetee... :-(
It sounds like you're mixing up words from the refrain from Bryan Hyland's "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," probably the greatest earworm ever produced.
Well, that explains why you rarely see anyone younger than 60 use it. We can't catch the disaprovees (aka "young whippersnappers") any longer and actually beat them with a stick, so we have to pantomime it.
Shaking your index finger at someone while simultaneously frowning to indicate your disapproval of what they are doing. Onset of FoD in humans seems to occur at about age 60.
The practice of sailboats traveling south along the US Atlantic coast to travel close to the shore to catch the southerly Labrador current and avoid the northerly Gulf Stream current farther offshore.
"Coasting" has an interesting double sense here--to coast along with a current and to stay close to the coast.
"Yes, a hat. A lion taming hat. A hat with 'lion tamer' on it. I got it at Harrods. And it lights up saying 'lion tamer' in great big neon letters, so that you can tame them after dark when they're less stroppy."
I can't find a reference to it anywhere, so let's just use Wordie to officially coin it. Those little bubbles need a name, and "wulm" has a nice collective ring to it--e.g., "That's a very active wulm you have going there, bard. Get the teabags ready."
I don't understand, Pro. When I added pimiento load, a downy woodpecker flew past my window. Then, when I added phthisical, it started to rain. Maybe you're not looking hard enough.
Or maybe you're not using enough exclamation points!!
Not to be too contrary, but I'd opt for just the opposite of gangerh's suggestion for expanding the "Most Citations..." and other lists pertaining to specific Wordies. Why not eliminate them altogether and focus solely on words?
You know, we have the makings of a very good list here--something having to do with, ummm, interesting bodily accretions. We already have toejam, fromunda cheese, earwax, pus, and smegma. Jolly!
If ever there were a word that sounded exactly like what it is, it has to be smegma.
If you wanted to feed cats what they really craved, those cans would be filled with live mice and dead birds with those mysterious little entrails that are always left at your door already removed.
Which, as far as I'm concerned, is far less disgusting than Tuscan dinners for cats.
You know, what we need here is a good Uranus joke. Like "There are strange radio signals emanating from Uranus," or "We need to send a probe deep into Uranus," or "I'd like to explore Uranus more once we've safely touched down."
When I am improvising (and not simply playing from muscle memory), I "see" landscapes with different configurations and textures. Going in a certain direction causes me to play one way, going in another direction results in something different. I can "hear" what it will sound like before I go there. It sometimes takes me while to reach that zone where I perceive landscapes. On a good night, I get there very quickly.
As in "Y'all quiet'n down so I can listen to General Hospital." Commonly used throughout the southern US.
Actually, I'm not at all sure how this should be spelled. I've always assumed it was a contraction of "quiet on," but I don't recall ever seeing it written. It is pronounced like triton (or chiton, for mollusque's benefit).
Hello, ofravens. My little part of Alaska is in the Interior, near Fairbanks in a small community named Ester--so it's not likely that you'll pass closely by on your cruise. Unfortunately, it's also not very likely that you'll see an aurora since there is so much daylight in June. You can read a book outside at 2:00 am in June at my house. (And I often do, in my hammock...) In the Southeast on your cruise, it gets dark enough for a couple of hours that you might see them. Come back in November if you want to live under them every night.
Annette Funicello; one of the original Mouseketeers. My infatuation ended when she started making beach movies with Frankie Avalon and with the advent of Elke Sommer...
I just couldn't let this phrase go unWordied. Found at Blender.com.
"How sure was MCA that slinky Irish teen Carly Hennessy was going to be a gargantuan pop star? So sure that in 1999 they staked the former Denny’s sausage spokesmodel with a $100,000 advance, $5,000 a month in living expenses and an apartment in Marina Del Rey, California, spending roughly $2.2 million in all on her 2001 debut, Ultimate High."
These were also popular in the 50s for boys due to a brief national infatuation with calypso music (and Harry Belafonte in particular.) They had fake rope belts and stripes down the outside of the leg. I have some embarrassing pictures of myself in them on the first day of school in about 1958. And no, I won't share them...
There's a war going on, but Dick Cheney valiantly finds a better way to serve his country through a series of five student deferments and a carefully planned pregnancy.
Another example to add on to yarb's and john's comments--the words on my Body Metaphors list are now tagged with anatomy, colloquialism, metaphor, body metaphors, and slang. The tags don't have to be literal--they can link your lists to other lists with even tangentially similar content. I'm anxious to see what other words have been tagged with "metaphor," for example.
It depends on where you look, mollusque. The "e" version is from Spanish but it's the version many climbing books use. I thought it might make a nice monovocalic...
My pleasure, ofravens. I love your username. I live in Alaska where ravens are common. They loom large in Athabascan lore. Some of them nest near my house. It's astonishing how many sounds they can make, and how intelligent they are. I never pass up a chance to watch them.
Hey, John...could you provide a way to bulk-tag existing lists? For example, there are currently 187 untagged entries on one of my lists. I'd love to be able to apply a tag (or set of tags) to one of my lists--or other folks' lists, for that matter. I'm far less likely to open each of those entries to apply tags, but if I could do it all at once...
Tags can be an enormous benefit in tracking down words and conversations. I'm as guilty as anyone in terms of forgetting to provide them, but if we all took tags a bit more seriously we'd all benefit.
An artificial channel with riffles along the bottom, set in a stream and fed with dirt or alluvium so that the dirt and lighter materials will wash away and the heavier gold will be trapped in the riffles. Commonly used by recreational miners.
Sharp ice peaks formed when sunlight reflects off of small depressions in the snow cover, melting the snow unevenly and forming tall peaks. Typically found when traveling on a glacier. When these refreeze at night, they can become quite hard and sharp, making travel difficult. Climbers usually call them neve penetentes. Nice image here.
Interesting, c_b. I would have guessed that usage would be much older. Now I'm wondering about hippopotamus. Must go look up when that came into common usage...
Edit: About 1300, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.
My guess is that it and Mesopotamia have something in common. :-) My other guess is that since Potomac comes from an Algonquin Indian word, any similarity is probably just a coincidence...
I can't stand golf, but I've always loved this term since I learned it from a golf-playing friend. From the Golf Rules dictionary:
Any temporary accumulation of water on the course (other than a water hazard) visible before or after the player takes his stance. It includes:
-snow and ice
-overflow from a water hazard if outside the hazard
-a pitch mark filled with water
It does not include:
-soft mushy ground
-water which appears when pressing a footmark down -dew and frost
-manufactured ice
-water on the putting green which was not visible when taking stance but which became visible when approaching the ball.
The player is entitled to relief when his ball lies in or touches casual water or when it is on the course and interferes with his stance or area of intended swing (or if the ball is on the putting green, his line of putt).
I'm delighted to know that rozzer is a vetted term. I remember a piece from Mad Magazine from a very long time ago that dealt with slang, and one of the example sentences was "It's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide." (Translation: "It's crazy to pay off a cop in phony money.")
Why I can remember that and not some of my students' last names from last semester is a puzzle to me. (Do you want to know my 7th grade locker combination? I've got that...)
Since seque basically means a way to transition from one segment (of a topic, scene, etc.) to another, it's logical that you'd think it would be spelled segway. I learned the term in film school, back when we actually used film...
My son recently told me about a game that he and his friends call "The Game." The only rule is that if you think about the game, you lose. You're supposed to say "Oh crap" (or something appropriately similar depending on your surroundings) when this occurs, and everyone is on the honor system.
From ananova.com: "A New Zealander ended up in court after punching a man over a breach of urinal etiquette."
I have always suspected there was such a code. It would have helped me during an incident in which I once peed right next to Ted Kennedy in the Salt Lake City airport. I was going to make a pun about Chappaquiddick (there are just so many possibilities there) but I refrained.
That reminds me of an HP Lovecraft story in which the protagonist, having acquired the ability to peer into the future, sees himself lying helplessly in a vegetative state. To prevent this from happening, he decides to take his life by shooting himself in the head. The attempt is not successful, though--his wounds put him into a vegetative state...
But during the noon darkness of Svalbard's winter, observers should be able to see the dayside aurora, which enter our atmosphere directly. Without the extra slingshot magnetic kick, these particles are less energetic, so produce a fainter, reddish glow.
I've never seen this. Must start looking. Full article here.
HA! I had forgotten all about our spam-bot friend. I just love his lyrical (and LONG!) account of the difficulties of reading while trying to get a tan. You've got to hand it to a guy who takes the initiative in solving some of the great problems of our time.
It shouldn't, but it does. I can't think of another word that affects me like this. I suspect it's a product of my upbringing. It was always associated with hate or prejudice.
Comments by skipvia
Show previous 200 comments...
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
skipvia commented on the list psychedelicatessen
Already feeling pretty mellow...
July 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word lamington
Wordievolution...
July 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word lamington
Sheik Yerbouti. A classic for the title alone--not to mention Crisco Wristwatch.
July 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word evolution
Interesting article in this Wired Science article about the evolution of language. My favorite notion:
"But what's evolving here isn't the agents" -- the speakers -- "but the language itself. It has its own evolutionary imperative. It wants to be passed on, and finds ways of doing that. We're its hosts."
July 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cuil
Gaelic for wisdom or knowledge; also the name of a new search engine. Pronounced "cool," according to the trades.
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crappo
Crapeaux are really bad French hats, n'est ce pas?
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word ash-hole
Send her over to Real Names, trivet.
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wordievolution
See currently.. plenilune.. or spelunk.
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the list shake-it
like a finger of disapproval
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wordievolution
There's always pollywog...
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word scaturient
I'd vote for brouhaha.
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word nonny
According to Dictionary.com, this is synonymous with ninny, but it's also a nonsense word that appears in hundreds of traditional British songs and poems. I was surprised to find it in Sh-boom, by the Chords. (See jibboom.)
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh nor more;
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never;
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into. Hey nonny, nonny.
-Much Ado about Nothing
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word jibboom
Also a great song by the Chords, which opens with the unforgettable lyric:
"Hey nonny ding dong, alang alang alang
Boom ba-doh, ba-doo ba-doodle-ay."
You remember--
"Oh, life could be a dream (jibboom)
If I could take you up in paradise up above (jibboom)
If you would tell me I'm the only one that you love
Life could be a dream sweetheart
(Hello hello again, jibboom and hopin' we'll meet again)..."
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word font
"Fonts are the clothes that words wear."
From this article at nationalpost.com.
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the list identify-the-wordie-2
OK. As the defending champion, I shall give no quarter.
asativum: bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk
bilby: psychasthenic
chained_bear: wabe
darqueau: mojo
dontcry: hunky-dory
frogapplause: relaxed
gangerh: cred-herring
john: clinchpoop
oroboros: thoughtful
palooka: chainsaw
plethora: ingenue
prolagus: cavalier
pterodactyl: sunflower
rolig: esemplastic
seanahan: irreverent
sionnach: zoetrope
skipvia: wouldn't you like to know?
whichbe: sigh
yarb: gravlax
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word gravlax
See also stinkhead.
July 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the list identify-the-wordie-2
Do we get a list of who actually entered?
July 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the list awesome-words
Welcome to the fold, B_c!
July 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the word simile
HA! Now that's a simile!
July 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the word simile
*Still having a difficult time coming up with a clever rejoinder, though*
July 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word simile
Ah. I wasn't aware that there was a shirt called that. What an unfortunate appellation. It kind of looks like an undershirt worn by... Oh. Okay. I get it now.
July 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word simile
I'm afraid I don't quite follow you, bilby...
July 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the list psychedelicatessen
Oh man--I've got a serious case of the munchies. Know a good delicatessen?
July 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the list psychedelicatessen
Oh wow. I'm going to...what were we talking about?
July 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the list psychedelicatessen
Let's do it right after the be-in in the park. Bring your incense and finger cymbals.
July 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word simile
So, metaphorically, the human genome is a stained T-shirt?
July 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word simile
The worst simile I have read in quite some time:
"Over time, DNA accumulates random mutations, just as the front of a white T-shirt tends to accumulate spots."
Where is Human Evolution Heading?, US News and World Report
July 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word saginaw
Indeed! A wonderful song on a transcendent album.
"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh,
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now."
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America.
America, from Bookends
July 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word psychedelicatessen
I'm pretty sure they'd have hash browns, dontcry.
July 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word pregnant pause
It's like this, bilby. When a subject and an object love each other very much, they might get together to form a sentence. It's called "conjunction," and it's a very beautiful act. And if conjunction works, pretty soon a little dependent clause may come to live with them.
Like the one in the second sentence above.
Now, go ask your mother...
July 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word pregnant pause
A dependent clause?
July 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the list 50-ways-to-leave-your-lover
Up here we might consider a dog sled, depending on the season.
July 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word far be it for me
You can get a fairly good idea of who tagged what by going to their profile and clicking on their Tags. If "ridiculous" has been used two times total and two times by sionnach then it's pretty obvious who done it...
July 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word psychedelicatessen
Also the name of a deli in Across the Universe.
July 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word rainwater
Wordievolution set in right out of the gate on this one, didn't it?
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word horkfest
It makes a lovely tag, too.
*scurries off to find casu marzu*
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word horkfest
See princess.
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word princess
Wow. Major horkfest occurring here.
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word spunk tanks
And it should come as no surprise who created that list. :-)
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word spank bank
*preparing for the worst, hoping for the best*
*realizing that could be interpreted in two ways...*
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cookie monster
Healthy Snacks Monster. Food Pyramid Monster. Low Sodium Monster.
We need a list...
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word spank bank
Hey. I listed Skinny Dick's Halfway Inn Weenie Ride. How much worse could it get?
Besides, I love spank bank--right up there with spunk tanks.
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word rainwater
Spunk tanks is the funniest euphemism I have heard in ages. Thanks, yarb.
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word rainwater
From the male perspective, it would be nice to have little tiny spigots that you could turn on or off as needed. Although I'm not sure where you'd put them.
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word rainwater
But for a vasectomy some years ago, I'd be all over it!
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word bugs
Hi John, sir. I apologize for ever calling you a slack bastard, if, in fact, I ever actually did that.
On my profile page are multiple listings of two lists ("Technically It Means" and "To Busy to Scratch Myself") and one word (whippersnapper) that I did not favorite. I rarely use that feature of Wordie. What gives?
*backs away slowly, bowing repeatedly*
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the user skipvia
Interesting, bilby. I didn't favorite any of the lists above It Has a Name?, nor did I favorite whippersnapper. I'm going to speak to John about this. Reverentially, of course.
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the list identify-the-wordie
Thanks, yarb, but--you know--you winsome, you lose some.
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word rainwater
Besides being a beautiful (if somewhat redundant) word, it seems that it underscores additional support for chained_bear's assertions that intelligent people need to reproduce in ever-increasing numbers. From Planetsave:
"Notch up another one for the members of the Idiots Anonymous who have apparently been camping out in Bellingham, Washington. Apparently, rainwater doesn’t actually belong to individuals, but to the state as a whole. Therefore, all the wonderful efforts of communities to collect water are actually illegal.
Not just frowned upon, or morally unethical, or shifty – all of which water collection is not – but actually illegal, so much so that in the future such legalities could be used in a court of law.
It comes down once again to the simple fact that humanity is doomed to an ever continuing cycle of idiot and misanthropic events and situations that will, eventually, simply wear down those of us with half a brain, and leave planet Earth populated by half-wits and mimes (often the same thing)."
July 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wheter you want it or not watermelon
I have plenty of my own misspellings, thank you very much. Typos. I mean typos...
July 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cookie monster
Couldn't we just name him Low Carb Monster? Or maybe Balanced Diet Monster? Ohhh...Atkins Monster!
July 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the word red hackle pipe band
A paved road, dontcry! At least the part of it in that photograph.
Speaking of which, here's my favorite Alaska fact: There are more miles of roads in Rhode Island than in all of Alaska. Our highway system is pretty simple. There's Highway 1, Highway 2, and Highway 3.
Of course, you can't drive to our capital city since no roads go there.
July 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the word red hackle pipe band
That's what GarageBand is for, reesetee--playing with yourself. In the musical sense.
July 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the word spelling
Sadly ironic video in which Fox News misspells the word "education" during its newscast.
July 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the user reesetee
But check out the cool news features that John has god worked for us.
July 21, 2008
skipvia commented on the word red hackle pipe band
I'm the photographer, reesetee. No room in that band for a guitarist. Or bass player. No keyboards, flutes, mandolins, banjos, fiddles, dulcimers or sitars either. You'd think there'd be something I could play in there somewhere...
July 21, 2008
skipvia commented on the word asperger's syndrome
Very well put, bilby, and an excellent guideline for all of us.
July 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word back stand back
I think this is also a line from
July 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wordievolution
The tendency of Wordie comments to increasingly stray from the original topic as they become more numerous. As an example, see...oh, hell, see just about anything on Wordie.
July 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the list yosemite-samite
I am smitten with this list. Hey...wait--smite!
July 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word time horizon
It's like a time line, but without any dates. Sort of...
"US President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have agreed to set a "time horizon" for US troop withdrawals as part of a long-term security pact, the White House said."
July 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word marmite
I may change my mind on Marmite before it deteriorates completely:
"In a study lasting three years, Jane Durga, of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and her colleagues found that people taking such supplements did better on measures of memory, information-processing speed and verbal fluency. That, plus evidence that folate deficiency is associated with clinical depression, suggests eating spinach, orange juice and Marmite, which are all rich in folic acid."
-Economist.com
July 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crumpet
Nothing, Prolagus. They're cute and cuddly. And voracious.
July 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word pink torpedo
"My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo
I'd like to sink her with my pink torpedo."
-Spinal Tap, "Big Bottom"
July 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word vulvarine
I believe their main prey is arctic ground squirrel. See, first they grind them...
*rim shot!*
July 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word vulvarine
Distant relative of the marmite and the pooka. See, of all things, crumpet.
July 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crumpet
In Asativum's world, yes. They're distantly related to the quite stroppy vulvarine.
July 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crumpet
That's right, Asa. They're often found in the same habitat as the much larger pooka.
*And they're off!*
July 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crumpet
Of promite, vegemite, and marmite, the only one that sounds vaguely edible is vegemite--and that's only by comparison to the other two. They all sound like laxatives to me.
July 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word stimthought
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said "faster horses." -Henry Ford
July 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word uppity
Growing up in the South during the 50s and 60s was a unique cultural experience, yarb. We had separate "white" and "colored" store entrances, drinking fountains, theaters, and waiting areas--all clearly marked as such.
July 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word uppity
An illiterate and somewhat vitriolic blog post I read today, in which the author calls Jesse Jackson an "uppity busybody," reminded me that I have rarely heard this word when it didn't apply specifically to African-Americans. Growing up in the US south, I was taught that there were two kinds of African-Americans--uppity ones and those who knew their place ("humble" being the code word that was most often used).
Interesting post, coming from a blog that describes itself as "A conservative journal of social, cultural, and ecclesiatical affairs grounded in a realistic Catholic Christian worldview. It is my hope that this site will be a reflection of Christ, the teachings of His Holy Church, and of the basic vision of a Christian social morality."
July 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word tuppence
Any light you could shed on bobs, guineas, and farthings would be greatly appreciated as well...
July 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crumpet
One and the same, sionnach. You can listen to the original broadcast here.
Regarding the myriad "*mites" that could adorn my crumpet, I'm standing by gooseberry jam and ricotta cheese. Barring that, cream cheese and sliced peaches.
July 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crumpet
Aren't we all related, bilby?
*starts to hum "it's a small world after all..."*
July 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crumpet
Well...I...ummm...I'm trying to cut down. Yeah, that's it.
July 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crumpet
Thanks, bilby. Don't mind if I do. But I think I'll pass on the vegemite.
July 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wildlife
"In a press conference today previewing a House Republican trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that’s meant to promote drilling, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) doubted the existence of actual wildlife in the refuge. “We’re going to look at this barren, Arctic desert where I’m hoping to see some wildlife,�? said Boehner. “But I understand there’s none there.�?
-ThinkProgress.
This comes as a great surprise to most Alaskans, not to mention the bears (polar, brown, and black) wolves, foxes, musk oxen, wolverines, moose, Dall sheep, hares, marmots, pika, fish, and countless native and migrating bird species that live there. Oh...and the 600,000 caribou in the Porcupine herd.
July 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crumpet
Did I forget to mention gooseberry jam and ricotta cheese? I was caught up in the moment.
July 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crumpet
Empress Hotel, Victoria, BC. Mmmmmm...
July 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word a good day ain't got no rain
"I know a woman
Became a wife.
These are the very words she uses
To describe her life
She said a good day
Ain't got no rain.
She said a bad day's when I lie in bed
And think of things that might have been."
-Paul Simon, Slip Slidin' Away
July 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word you've taken me for granted
"She was physically forgotten
Then she slipped into my pocket
With my car keys
She said you've taken me for granted
Because I please you
Wearing these diamonds."
-Paul Simon, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
July 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
"Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said be careful his bowtie is really a camera."
-Simon and Garfunkle, America
July 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word it's really not my habit to intrude
"She said it's really not my habit to intrude
Furthermore, I hope my meaning wont be lost or misconstrued
But I'll repeat myself at the risk of being crude
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover."
-Paul Simon, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"
July 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word the problem is all inside your head
"The problem is all inside your head, she said to me
The answer is easy if you take it logically
Id like to help you in your struggle to be free
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover."
-Paul Simon, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
July 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word yeah
"She said yeah, dum deedle dee dum dum
She said yeah, dum deedle dee dum dum
She said yeah, yeah yeah yeah
Come on baby I want to make love to you."
-The Rolling Stones, She Said Yeah
Not exactly "She Said She Said," is it?
July 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word i like the night life, baby
Let's Go; the Cars
July 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word she would never forget
"Though we kissed through the wild blazing nighttime,
She said she would never forget.
But now mornin's clear,
It's like I ain't here,
She just acts like we never have met."
-Bob Dylan, I Don't Believe You
July 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word dangling participle
"A Minnesota National Guard helicopter lost a door while in flight around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. While flying over the Maplewood-Oakdale area, the door was lost and has not yet been recovered."
-Fox News, Twin Cities
July 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the list bookmarks
The Awesome Words!!!!!!!! list has a conversation worth noting.
July 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word ukulele
Here are a couple of videos made by an absolutely brilliant mentee of mine, a young man from Fairbanks named Wade. He's a guitarist who had this ukulele for about 3 weeks when he recorded these:
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Wind Scene/Chrono Trigger
And here's a guitar video for good measure:
Bach, Inventions 9 and 15
I love it when students surpass their teachers.
July 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wafer kidnapping
I love the fact that the wafernapper in sionnach's link received threats to his afterlife.
July 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the user chained_bear
Hi, c_b. You're okay. :-)
July 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the list behr-paint-colors
You know, it would be fun to substitute some of these colors for the ones used by the NSA in their threat advisories. "The current threat level was raised from Evening Hush to Atomic Tangerine today due to increased chatter on Islamic web sites..."
July 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the user ofravens
I'm surprised and sorry that you didn't see more ravens on your cruise, ofravens. They are more plentiful in the rest of the state than they are in Southeast. Like the ones nesting near my house--the fledglings can make an incredible racket.
July 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word prime
Oro--you can use the <pre> and </pre> tags to recreate that grid; e.g.:
July 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wordiependancy
There. See? I stopped.
July 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wordiependancy
I can stop any time I want. Watch.
July 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word word war
I nominate Prolagus as official Wordie Historian.
July 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the list she-she-she
Sheesh, what a list!
July 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the user mollusque
She--you might enjoy the discussion on verbing. Or try nouning...
July 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word red hackle pipe band
They may not be Grade 1, but they're ours.
July 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word merkin
HA! (I've called him worse, though...)
July 11, 2008
skipvia commented on the word she
I don't know, bilby--a schlock list has a lot of appeal. Go for it!
July 11, 2008
skipvia commented on the word she
Great movie, too--if you like pre-1940s schlock. "She Who Must Be Obeyed..."
July 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the list stupid-drumming-terms-that-run-through-my-tiny-brain
A Motown fan would have to add "papa cita papa cita" to this list.
July 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word mouton enragé
I'm reminded of the list Vicious Sheep.
July 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word chimney sweep's cancer
Why would they be rubbing their testicles on the inside of chimneys?
July 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word film theory
I believe Renior is from St. Loius.
July 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word film theory
That's crazy. I've watched Wile E. Coyote experience a sort of cinematic death several times an episode, and never once was I reminded of Eisenstein.
Kant is another matter, of course. Kant via the categorical imperative would hold that ontologically anvils dropping from cliffs exist only in the imagination.
Still, I love it when that anvil smashes Wile E. into the pavement.
July 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word garniture
A decoration, adornment or embellishment.
July 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word nebraksa
Hey! Isn't that where St. Loius is located?
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word pescatarian
A vegetarian who eats fish.
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the list awesome-words
Ummm, there may be a typo or two in there somewhere, sir.
It's Prolagus' fault...
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the list awesome-words
Agreed, whichbe. Prolagus came threw when we kneaded him.
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the list awesome-words
Hang in their, Pro. Your going to make it.
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word suport you're local's
See spelling.
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the list awesome-words
This is glorious, comrades! It is a good day to dye!
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the list awesome-words
REPORTING FOR DUTY, SIR! Sorry...I had to fix dinner. Here I go...
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
Palooka, sir...awaiting your orders.
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
You're making this very difficult, bilby.
If palooka were here, he'd know what to do...
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
*trying not to hyperventilate*
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
We tend to leave the god work around here to John. The rest of us take care of the less godly work, such as making up new words and applying the Wordie Treatment.
Sooo tempted...
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word honi soit
...qui mal y pense.
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word love gun
"My love gun's loaded and she's in my sights
Big game is waiting there inside her tights, yeah"
--Big Bottom, Spinal Tap
July 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word argh!
Google is very specific about the way argh should be spelled.
July 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the list icelandic
But...but...you know everything about Iceland!
Don't you?...
*tears begin to well up*
July 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word casu marzu
Actually, when you compare it to balut, it sounds almost appetizing--larvae and all.
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word súrsaðir hrútspungar
*marvels at Asativum's immense knowledge*
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word balut
Wow. Canned asparagus is looking pretty good to me right now.
*still reeling*
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the list north-to-alaska
Anytime between November and April, bilby.
*thinking of some good Scrabble words to drop on bilby*
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word súrsaðir hrútspungar
What was the...I mean, someone had to think this up, right? What motivates someone to, on seeing some ram testicles, decide to press them into blocks, boil them, and cure them?
And that's after you've already decided to eat them in the first place.
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wind-swept
When I was growing up in NC, a short film of military jet flights with this poem as a voice-over was used by a local TV network to sign off each Saturday night, right after Shock Theater with Dr. Paul Bearer.
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word horkish
adj.
1. Of, or contributing to, an involuntary or unanticipated hork on the part of a witness to a disgusting event (see puke bowl) or food substance (see Foods That Shall Not Be Named);
2. Describing an action resembling a hork--e.g., throwing up in your mouth when you laugh too hard or gagging at the site of someone else's vomit.
3. Cats. (Thanks, arby.)
See also hork-prone.
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
"Gherkin" and "merkin" should make for a very...interesting limerick, arby. I can hardly wait.
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word hákarl
It has a horkish ring to it, doesn't it?
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the list north-to-alaska
You know, we could host some alsome Scrabble games.
*rethinking move*
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word antievolution
Geez. Mood killer...
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the list north-to-alaska
*thinking about moving*
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the list food-that-shall-not-be-named
That should certainly garner the food in question an automatic qualification for this wonderful list, Asa.
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word tête de veau
Calf's head. Here's a recipe, if you dare.
You have to wonder about a food described this way:
"There is no more certain way of putting anyone off tête de veau forever than to serve it undercooked. And the second is that once you have finished cooking it you must allow it to cool completely otherwise it will explode."
Wow.
July 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word stinkflipper
See stinkhead for a partial description.
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the list north-to-alaska
All of them, reesetee. Although you might get some arguments on "intellectual."
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
Regarding #3, arby--gherkin is the name of a variety of small cucumber grown for pickling. It's a gherkin before it gets pickled. So, are "gherkin" and "pickled gherkin" synonymous? This is so confusing...
Edit: Oh, and many thanks for the reference to Steve's site. It's twisted and disgusting. I love it!
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word antievolution
More evidence that chained_bear is probably right: How Ignorant Are We?.
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word puckerbrush
That has got to leave a mark.
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
Well, it's not always possible to find a McDonalds in the puckerbrush.
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
I yield, Asa. I hadn't considered pickled pigs lips, or even head cheese.
I guess what I should have said is that it is the vilest shadow of the real thing that exists in the world of comestibles. Pickled pigs lips are supposed to be pickled pigs lips. Casu marzu (I'm still having nightmares over that one) is supposed to be decaying cheese with live maggots. But canned asparagus in no way resembles the fresh item.
But--I love your idea of a list of the vilest substances on the planet.
*hint hint*
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the list north-to-alaska
Thanks for the new items for the list, Asa. I'm not sure how candlefish and hooligan were left off the list, but they sure fit. (Although I believe they are also harvested as far south as California.) Candlefish are staples of most southeastern and southwestern Alaska subsistence diets.
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the list north-to-alaska
Pro--you can see Ester in part of a morning. It's a small community of artists, progressives, intellectuals, aging hippies, and assorted ne'er-do-wells outside of Fairbanks. It is the essence of laissez-faire living. I feel right at home. Some interesting history and demographics here.
If you ever visit, you've got a place to stay. Bring pictures of Italy...
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word skinny dick's halfway inn weenie ride
You'll probably miss this year's ride, Asa, since it will be held this Sunday (6-Jul-08). It's usually around July 4th.
Skinny Dick's Halfway Inn has some t-shirts for those not easily offended (or those who have no taste).
Personally, I love them...
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the list north-to-alaska
"City Alaska" is Anchorage. Everywhere else is Alaska Alaska.
Into the Wild has produced an interesting upswing in people trying--usually in vain--to recreate McCandless' journey into the wilderness north of Denali. The irony is that Alaskans go there all the time--usually late in the fall or during the winter when the Teklanika River is calmer--for hunting trips. Now "outsiders" are trying to work it into their summer vacations, which is the worst possible time to visit that area.
We also got a big kick out of Grizzly Man. What a dweeb...
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word skinny dick's halfway inn weenie ride
This is the name of an annual bike ride put on by the Fairbanks Cycle Club. You bike out to Skinny Dick's Halfway Inn and back (about 50 miles) and have a weenie roast at the end of the ride.
See the discussion on the Real Names list for a bit more about Skinny Dick and his roadhouse.
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
Fried okra, prepared correctly, is humankind's loftiest culinary achievement.
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word antievolution
Who needs puppy eyes? You had me at "breeding."
July 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
Wow. Talk about counting your blessings...
Thanks for the explanation, ptery. Very interesting.
July 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
Never tried pickled asparagus, but I'm game. I do love pickled okra, but it's tough to find outside of the southern US.
For the longest time, I thought gherkins were pickles.
July 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word every time i eat asparagus...
Canned asparagus the the most vile substance on the planet--completely inedible and bearing absolutely no resemblance in any way to the real thing. I'd sooner starve than eat it.
But I do sometimes wonder if it makes your pee smell funny...
July 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word antievolution
Wow. Your place or mine?
July 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word phonundrum
I solved this problem by using 96 Tears for my ringtone.
July 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word finger fumbler
I should mention that I find the practice of aerobic gesticulation a very endearing quality in a culture.
July 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the list francophilia
And don't forget où est le boeuf? and vous méritez une coupure aujourd'hui. American culture has so much to offer the world.
July 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word finger fumbler
Q: What do you call a broken arm in Italy?
A: A speech impediment.
*hoping Prolagus takes no offense*
July 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word antievolution
Here's a good reason to move away from Louisiana if you have children in school. Or not.
Sometimes I wonder if our country doesn't have a collective death wish.
July 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fudgsicle
Pro, someone from Michigan would tell you that U.P. means the Upper Peninsula--that part of the state that's separated from the rest of it by Lake Michigan. I'd suggest it feels more like Canada than the US, eh?
July 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fudgsicle
So, how do you refer to New Jersey? I used to favor "the nation's armpit," but that was before I spent a delightful week in Cape May earlier this spring.
July 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word licchitta
Ha! I wove it!
July 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word gas music from jupiter
Must...resist...gas...from...Uranus...joke...
July 1, 2008
skipvia commented on the word diddy wah diddy
I think it means, roughly, "whop bop a loo bop, ba lop bam boom."
June 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fudgsicle
"Outside" means anywhere that is not Alaska, not just the lower 48. Asativum is correct in that "down south" usually refers to going to Seattle, since you typically have to go there to get anywhere else.
In Alaska, we refer to Hawaii as "Hawaii."
June 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fudgsicle
Pro--we've suggested that the folks in the lower 48 refer to Alaska as "the upper 1," but for some reason it has never caught on.
Yarb--I wake up every morning wondering about that myself.
June 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word all i have are sporks and no foons
I had a wonderful knish in a little dive called Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery, on the lower East side of Manhattan a few weeks ago. Stop by if you get the chance...
Edit: Yonah has a web site, of sorts.
Edit 2: I love the sweet potato ones best..
June 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fudgsicle
Shhh. We're trying to keep it a secret. Most of the folks in the lower 48 don't know we're part of the US, and we like it that way.
It's all a state of mind, anyway.
June 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fudgsicle
Right next to the banana stalactite, John.
But only in the winter...
June 30, 2008
skipvia commented on the word eggplant
Can you imagine a vegetable name (OK, fruit name) less appetizing than "eggplant" or one more enticingly savory than "aubergine?"
More people would probably eat eggplant if we'd quit calling it that.
June 29, 2008
skipvia commented on the word ə¿ə
See the list e?e.
June 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the list e-e
Gawrsh, ptery--it's nothing. No, really...it's nothing. Just surf on over to the Unicode section of FileFormat.info and have a field day. (I have better results using the decimal HTML entity. All will be revealed when you visit the site.)
June 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the list e-e
You know, it kind of looks like a character from Doonesbury.
Edit: Mark Slackmeyer.
June 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the list e-e
Why not write it ə¿ə and avoid having to turn your computer (or yourself) upside down?
June 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the word preemptive war
See Projecting Power.
June 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the list absolutely-nothing
"I'm a man of peace."
-G. W. Bush
"Bring it on."
-G. W. Bush
June 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the list absolutely-nothing
So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.
-Bob Dylan, With God On Our Side
June 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the list aron-s-list
Maybe we need a list of bands that we're trying to forget. I'd start with KC and the Sunshine Band.
Damn...
June 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the list aron-s-list
To wit...
June 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the list aron-s-list
Well, that would explain the vocals on some of their songs.
June 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the list aron-s-list
I'll bet no one remembers these guys.
June 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wordie treatment
See also the list Greetings.
June 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the list animals-as-verbs
Crab, monkey, ram, weasel, hog, parrot, fly, skunk, bear?
June 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the list waldo-s-list
Not...plan #3??!!!
June 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the word sand boil
Water under pressure percolating up through a bed of sand--an unfortunate occurrence on some Midwest levees as a result of the tragic flooding there. Some interesting images.
June 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the word bumpf
Hee hee. "There's a man in my rheum."
June 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the list waldo-s-list
I'm running out of ammo, rt...
June 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the list waldo-s-list
Reporting for duty, sir!
June 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the word coapt
Most commonly used in medicine to describe a wound that is (or should heal) closed--e.g., "The agent changes the molecular structure of the inside of the offending vessels so that they coapt or heal closed."
June 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word pretentious
Which he stole from the incomparable Fawlty Towers, "The Psychiatrist" episode.
June 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word tiramisù
Well, there goes that delicious fantasy...
June 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word tiramisù
I'm off to the kitchen as soon as I find out what mascarpone is.
June 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the list greetings
*clears throat*
♩ Doo be doo be doo, be doo be doo bee...
Oh. Hi guys. I was just practicing for the contest when you...wait...I can leave Hoboken? I'm kissing the contest goodbye and starting reconnaissance with Major Palooka for an open list with a tempting invitation.
*adjusts night vision goggles*
June 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word aeaeae
Yarb, aren't those some of the sacred words kept by the Knights Who Say "Ni?"
June 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the list greetings
Well...I guess we can hang the banner now:
June 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word deformed man lavatory
See this Wired article for a fascinating article on the evolution of English in the Far East--and maybe the rest of the world as well.
June 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the list greetings
Not...Hoboken! Sir--what about the Geneva Convention?
Hey--they use Compaqs at Wordie?
June 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the list greetings
Sir--I would be derelict in my duty not to go in when provoked so aggressively. I mean, come on--things I say to people? I surprised no one went in before me.
Speaking of which--thanks for the cover, reesetee... :-(
June 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word hello kitty scarification
That's so...adorable!
June 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the list greetings
Permission to speak freely, sir?
June 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the list greetings
I CAN'T STAND IT ANY LONGER! I'm going in! Cover me...
June 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the list greetings
I'm giving it one more day, reesetee. One more day, and then all hell breaks loose.
June 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the list real-names
Bilby, FA and DC--I've made this an open list so that you'll get credit for your wonderful contributions. Have a field day!
The Butt Brothers?
June 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the list greetings
Must...resist...Wordie Treatment...
June 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the word double double
John, I was with you right up until I saw this picture of animal style fries. Does it remind you in any way of this image?
June 22, 2008
skipvia commented on the word eentsy-weentsy
It sounds like you're mixing up words from the refrain from Bryan Hyland's "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," probably the greatest earworm ever produced.
Dang it...
June 22, 2008
skipvia commented on the word spoonerism
I understand the good Reverend once complained of addressing beery wenches each Sunday morning.
June 21, 2008
skipvia commented on the word penis bones
The empty links were here, but now they're gone--so we can resume our discussion of penis bones.
Unless we've pretty much exhausted that topic.
June 21, 2008
skipvia commented on the word a 2006 calendar
I'm saving mine!
June 21, 2008
skipvia commented on the word penis bones
See also oosik.
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the list what-the-h
Wow. Catarrh is a new one on me. Thanks kewpid, reesetee and bilby. In your collective honor I've made the list public.
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word whippersnapper
Well, I guess if the shoe fits...
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the list something-vishy
I suppose vicious would fit on this list if vitiate does, but I'll leave that up to you.
It's really difficult to come up with possibilities for this list--a good quality in a list, I always say.
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word dovish
Docile, easy-going, dove-like.
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word whippersnapper
Have you ever heard this word used when it was not preceded by "young?"
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word finger of disapproval
Well, that explains why you rarely see anyone younger than 60 use it. We can't catch the disaprovees (aka "young whippersnappers") any longer and actually beat them with a stick, so we have to pantomime it.
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fistshake
See also finger of disapproval.
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word finger of disapproval
Shaking your index finger at someone while simultaneously frowning to indicate your disapproval of what they are doing. Onset of FoD in humans seems to occur at about age 60.
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the list phth
Done, Pro. Many thanks. I think I'll just open this list up.
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word diphthong
Thanks for the new fodder for this list, jmp.
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word perry como rocks
That is a joke, right?
*please please please say yes*
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word perry como rocks
Much in the same way that Pat Boone rocks, reesetee?
Have you ever heard Pat Boone's version of Tutti Fruitti?
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word glam rock
So that's the source of my heartburn, bilby? :-)
June 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word coasting
The practice of sailboats traveling south along the US Atlantic coast to travel close to the shore to catch the southerly Labrador current and avoid the northerly Gulf Stream current farther offshore.
"Coasting" has an interesting double sense here--to coast along with a current and to stay close to the coast.
June 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word glam rock
Someday I'm going to start a list: Mistakes I Have Made on Wordie. I could start with Obstinant Buffaloes. Or maybe pimiento load.
It would be glorious.
June 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word glam rock
Not related to groceries, folks. Just another embarrassing mistake.
June 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word glam rock
Interesting description in that it says nothing about the music, only about it's performance context.
That's because the music sucked.
June 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word enophile
Or of the Eno River in North Carolina, my old stomping grounds.
June 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word strop
"Yes, a hat. A lion taming hat. A hat with 'lion tamer' on it. I got it at Harrods. And it lights up saying 'lion tamer' in great big neon letters, so that you can tame them after dark when they're less stroppy."
Vocational Guidance Counselor Sketch, Monty Python
June 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word glendaizer
What I'd like is a picketizer--a device that would make me sound like Wilson Pickett.
Or maybe a charlesizer...or a brownizer.
No...wait--a reddingizer!
June 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word drescherizer
But...why?
June 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word i'mpossible
I'd love to improve my English to something approaching yours, pro...
June 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wulm
I can't find a reference to it anywhere, so let's just use Wordie to officially coin it. Those little bubbles need a name, and "wulm" has a nice collective ring to it--e.g., "That's a very active wulm you have going there, bard. Get the teabags ready."
June 18, 2008
skipvia commented on the word smithereens
As is varmint. :-)
June 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word brangelina
Thank you, reesetee. That's a lovely sentiment.
Strange, but lovely... :-)
June 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the list doom-words
Four more years?
June 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the list common-english-words-that-are-also-first-names
I guess I missed ralph as well.
June 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word grapevine
"People say believe half of what you see
Son, and none of what you hear..."
-Marvin Gaye
Good advice.
June 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the list common-english-words-that-are-also-first-names
So, ptery, it's either Lance, Peg, Chip, Chuck, Stone, Rock, Bay, Buck, Max, Dash, Josh, Sally, Will, Mark, Jimmy, Rick, Wade, Sue, Gore, Pierce, Tab, or Ward?
Well, that narrows it down a bit. :-)
June 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word brangelina
OK. Since you asked...
If Annie Oakley married Don Juan, divorced him and married Ian Holm, she'd be Annie Juan Holm.
Or how about:
If Faith Hill married Dr. No, divorced him and married Dudley Moore, she'd be Faith No Moore.
But that's it. Really.
June 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word brangelina
From whence cometh most of my inspiration, bilby. I'll stop now.
June 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word brangelina
Please...help...me...
If Anna Olson married John Gotti, divorced him and married Caspara Davida, she'd be Anna Gotti Davida.
(belated earworm alert)
June 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the list double-double-2
Perhaps if we all sang a rousing triple triple chorus of "Chain of Fools."
Here we go: "Chain chain chaaaiiiiinnn..."
June 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word brangelina
Can't stop...
If Sarah Brightman married Scott Dockter, divorced him and married Ruben Hinojosa, she'd be Sarah Dockter Hinojosa.
June 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word brangelina
You may regret encouraging me on this.
If Dae Kim married Darren O'Day, divorced him and married Sadaharu Oh, she'd be Dae O'Day Oh.
"Hey, Mr. Tally Man..."
June 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word brangelina
And now from the "pouring salt in old wounds" department:
If Kaye Umansky married Wally Schirra, divorced him and married Georges Seurat, she'd be Kaye Schirra Seurat.
Whatever will be, will be, I guess.
June 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the list double-double-2
*sigh* I love the Wordie Treatment...
June 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the list any-words-list-its-open
I don't understand, Pro. When I added pimiento load, a downy woodpecker flew past my window. Then, when I added phthisical, it started to rain. Maybe you're not looking hard enough.
Or maybe you're not using enough exclamation points!!
June 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the list any-words-list-its-open
Its open!!! Add "anything" you want!! I'm going to add phthisical right now. Watch!
June 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word baby mama
Exactly! With Fox News, you get the best of both worlds!
That's real journalism, all right.
June 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word features
Not to be too contrary, but I'd opt for just the opposite of gangerh's suggestion for expanding the "Most Citations..." and other lists pertaining to specific Wordies. Why not eliminate them altogether and focus solely on words?
June 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word plutoid
The new, unfortunate-sounding name for dwarf planets like, umm, Pluto. See this news article for the rationale.
June 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word yumpin yiminy
That would be Wally Walrus, an acquaintance of Woody Woodpecker.
Woody Woodpecker would be a great name for a porn actor.
June 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word spelling
Sign, professionally printed, in the Payless Rental Car return lane at the Denver airport:
Please leave "keys" in the car.
You know--keys. *wink wink nudge nudge*
I don't get it...
June 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the list words-that-shouldn-t-be-used-on-a-first-date
I'd probably avoid any use of the word "tongue" on a first date, reesetee.
June 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word gong gong
That actually makes a lot more sense than Intelligent Design.
June 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the list words-that-shouldn-t-be-used-on-a-first-date
And threesome could actually work in your favor, given the right proclivities...
June 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the list words-that-shouldn-t-be-used-on-a-first-date
I had forgotten all about that embarrassing typo (pimiento load), yarb. Thanks for bringing it back up, so to speak... :-)
June 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word toejam
That's it, reesetee. I should have known you'd already have it on a list somewhere.
June 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word toejam
Interesting, VO. We always called it "sleep" when I was growing up, but I assumed we were using a madeupical euphemism of sorts.
June 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word toejam
C'mon, reesetee. You know you love it. :-) Anyway, here's a list.
What's that stuff that cements your eyelids together after a long sleep called?
June 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word toejam
You know, we have the makings of a very good list here--something having to do with, ummm, interesting bodily accretions. We already have toejam, fromunda cheese, earwax, pus, and smegma. Jolly!
If ever there were a word that sounded exactly like what it is, it has to be smegma.
June 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word toejam
Kind of reminds me of fromunda cheese...
June 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word sphendone
A semicircular part (as of an amphitheater) or place. Picked this up from the national spelling bee.
I would have missed it.
May 31, 2008
skipvia commented on the word ventifact
A rock formation that has been shaped, polished, or abraded by wind-driven sand. Picked up today at the American Natural History Museum in NYC.
May 27, 2008
skipvia commented on the word dork out
If you wanted to feed cats what they really craved, those cans would be filled with live mice and dead birds with those mysterious little entrails that are always left at your door already removed.
Which, as far as I'm concerned, is far less disgusting than Tuscan dinners for cats.
May 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word waldorf
"Celery, apples, walnuts, grapes...in a mayonnaise sauce."
See Free Association.
April 28, 2008
skipvia commented on the word crunchwave
I know what you mean, U. There are many joys related to being on Wordie. There are also many related to not being here.
But seeing you back makes me think that maybe I'll hang around more. Maybe.
April 26, 2008
skipvia commented on the word pumpernickel
I love this! I'm going to eat only pumpernickel bread from now on, just so I can say "fart goblin."
April 25, 2008
skipvia commented on the word anagram
Many thanks, oroboros. I haven't laughed that hard in some time.
April 24, 2008
skipvia commented on the list the-bucolic-abattoir
Thanks again, sionnach. In your honor, I opened the list up for everyone. Have a field day!
April 23, 2008
skipvia commented on the list the-bucolic-abattoir
Duly added, sionnach. I've let this list lie fallow for too long.
April 22, 2008
skipvia commented on the word malcuntent
Wouldn't I need a mirror for that, bilby?
April 22, 2008
skipvia commented on the user treeseed
Thanks for the Music Genome Project tip, Treeseed. I'm enthralled...
April 22, 2008
skipvia commented on the word vegetarian
Exactly, plethora. Like an Ed Wood movie. I believe even sionnach appreciates the beauty that is Ro-Man.
April 21, 2008
skipvia commented on the word vegetarian
Who needs thylacines when you've got Angbangbang? That's even better than Uranus!
Speaking of which..."Our last probe has detected sulfurous fumes rising from Uranus."
I just never get tired of those...
April 21, 2008
skipvia commented on the word vegetarian
You know, what we need here is a good Uranus joke. Like "There are strange radio signals emanating from Uranus," or "We need to send a probe deep into Uranus," or "I'd like to explore Uranus more once we've safely touched down."
You know, something like that...
April 21, 2008
skipvia commented on the word homedebtor
From this blog, an apparent neologism that refers to someone who owes more on his home than it is actually worth.
April 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word synaesthesia
When I am improvising (and not simply playing from muscle memory), I "see" landscapes with different configurations and textures. Going in a certain direction causes me to play one way, going in another direction results in something different. I can "hear" what it will sound like before I go there. It sometimes takes me while to reach that zone where I perceive landscapes. On a good night, I get there very quickly.
Musicians are strange...
April 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word luncheon meat
Don't go here. I warned you...
April 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word romanus est!
No, Prolagus, but it's a great movie...
April 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word pope
The Pope and the Dope.
April 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word skipvia stinger
Geez...I might have to take up drinking.
April 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fui in excelsis, sed numquam fui mecum
I hope part of that translates as "blows dead rats," because that's what that song does...
April 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word afflatus
I think you're referring to Firmament-Clogging Rotteness. Not a general list, though--these are from a specific source, so to speak...
April 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word quiet'n
As in "Y'all quiet'n down so I can listen to General Hospital." Commonly used throughout the southern US.
Actually, I'm not at all sure how this should be spelled. I've always assumed it was a contraction of "quiet on," but I don't recall ever seeing it written. It is pronounced like triton (or chiton, for mollusque's benefit).
April 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the user ofravens
Hello, ofravens. My little part of Alaska is in the Interior, near Fairbanks in a small community named Ester--so it's not likely that you'll pass closely by on your cruise. Unfortunately, it's also not very likely that you'll see an aurora since there is so much daylight in June. You can read a book outside at 2:00 am in June at my house. (And I often do, in my hammock...) In the Southeast on your cruise, it gets dark enough for a couple of hours that you might see them. Come back in November if you want to live under them every night.
You'll see lots of ravens, though. :-)
April 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word microsoft employees
Q: How many Microsoft employees does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. Bill Gates simply declares Dark(™) as the new standard.
April 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word last ditch effort
Also "last-ditch effort;" a final recourse, usually to prevent an unwanted outcome.
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word last paradise
Generally an indicator of impending commercial development.
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word the last shall be the first
The ultimate revenge, I suppose...
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word last frontier
I've heard this in reference to Alaska, the earth's oceans, and space.
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word the last empire
Usually refers to China.
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word last gasp
It's over, dude...
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word last resort
The final alternative for providing aid or solving a problem.
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word last minute
Completed in a hurry in order to meet a deadline.
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word last straw
Presumably the one that broke the proverbial camel's back.
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word last man standing
The person prevailing in a difficult or protracted struggle.
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word last man on earth
As in "I wouldn't wear that if I were the last man on earth," or "I wouldn't go out with him if he were the last man on earth."
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word last fool in the boat
Heard on NPR, describing the desire not to be the last person inventing in Bear/Stearns before it collapsed.
March 19, 2008
skipvia commented on the word krakenstein
Looks like our thoughts crossed there, samoritan.
March 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the word krakenstein
This may help. See kraken.
March 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the list first-crush
I'm not going there, palooka. :-)
March 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the list first-crush
Isn't it...ummm...obvious?
March 16, 2008
skipvia commented on the list first-crush
Annette Funicello; one of the original Mouseketeers. My infatuation ended when she started making beach movies with Frankie Avalon and with the advent of Elke Sommer...
March 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the word fundamental
People always wonder why I chuckle when they call themselves "fundamental Christians."
March 15, 2008
skipvia commented on the list squiddy
I guess I just don't get the squid thing...
*wondering what I'm missing*
March 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the list collective-nouns
There are a few other lists that cover similar ground: Obstinate Buffaloes, Prides, Not Prejudice, and Murders of Crows. I may have missed some.
March 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word sausage spokesmodel
I just couldn't let this phrase go unWordied. Found at Blender.com.
"How sure was MCA that slinky Irish teen Carly Hennessy was going to be a gargantuan pop star? So sure that in 1999 they staked the former Denny’s sausage spokesmodel with a $100,000 advance, $5,000 a month in living expenses and an apartment in Marina Del Rey, California, spending roughly $2.2 million in all on her 2001 debut, Ultimate High."
March 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word rapture of the neat
Coined by my favorite cartoonist Roz Chast, this describes the sense of well-being I am experiencing having just cleaned up my desk.
March 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word anthropomorphize
Perhaps she should be looking for a new line of work...
March 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word clamdiggers
These were also popular in the 50s for boys due to a brief national infatuation with calypso music (and Harry Belafonte in particular.) They had fake rope belts and stripes down the outside of the leg. I have some embarrassing pictures of myself in them on the first day of school in about 1958. And no, I won't share them...
March 14, 2008
skipvia commented on the word luncheon meats
See luncheon. Also see the Fake Food and Luncheon Meats lists.
March 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word haughty couture
And now, coldspire, you have witnessed what we like to call the wordie treatment.
March 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word haughty couture
Reminds me of pimiento load, urinal etiquitte, and many others for which I am responsible.
When reesetee mentioned that "it happens to the best of us," I think he meant me in particular...
March 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the list wirds-of-a-feather
I love the name of this list, as well as the contents.
What about eagle-eyed and legal eagle? Play chicken? Naked as a jaybird?
"The sun isn't yellow, it's chicken."
Bob Dylan, Tombstone Blues
March 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word haughty couture
See the discussion on haught couture.
I love it when someone else spells something wrong. That's usually my job. :)
March 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word haught couture
Haughty couture works for me, though.
March 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word a tree glows in brooklyn
Ooh, I sense a good story here. Want to share? :-)
March 13, 2008
skipvia commented on the word a tree glows in brooklyn
Something goes horribly wrong at the Con Edison nuclear reactor.
March 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word to sire with love
Mr. Thackeray tries to explain to his students that sex isn't just about reproduction.
It's also a movie. Do we need a new list?
March 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word apocalypse not
There's a war going on, but Dick Cheney valiantly finds a better way to serve his country through a series of five student deferments and a carefully planned pregnancy.
I know it's a movie, but sionnach got away with it.
March 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word first dude
The popular title given to the husband of our (Alaska's) current governor. He's a snow machine racer.
March 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word squarf
Hey! I think I have that movie in my collection.
March 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word segue
See segway for a related discussion.
March 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word vittersweet
It looks like Eliot Spitzer has given us yet another vittersweet moment to savor.
March 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the list the-porn-birds
I love this list and wonder how I missed it for three months. I'm still chuckling over thunder-pumper.
Don't forget the tufted titmouse...
March 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the word heart of wordie
Superb, yarb. Just perfect...
March 12, 2008
skipvia commented on the list panvocalics
Jeez, mollusque. If you can't find them, what chance do we have?
Still, I'm off to look...
March 11, 2008
skipvia commented on the word features
One way around the "dog" and "dogs" problem is to tag your word(s) with both. Same with nautical, marine, maritime, sea, etc. Use 'em all...
March 11, 2008
skipvia commented on the word features
Another example to add on to yarb's and john's comments--the words on my Body Metaphors list are now tagged with anatomy, colloquialism, metaphor, body metaphors, and slang. The tags don't have to be literal--they can link your lists to other lists with even tangentially similar content. I'm anxious to see what other words have been tagged with "metaphor," for example.
I'm loving this...
March 11, 2008
skipvia commented on the word features
Bulk-tagging is a phenomenal upgrade, John. I just tagged all my lists. I'm definitely going to use tags more often as a search tool on Wordie.
Thanks for your quick response.
March 11, 2008
skipvia commented on the word penetentes
It depends on where you look, mollusque. The "e" version is from Spanish but it's the version many climbing books use. I thought it might make a nice monovocalic...
March 11, 2008
skipvia commented on the word penetentes
You avoid them when you can, and walk very carefully when you can't.
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the list denizens
We like to think that it sounds more like "asteroids" than "hemorrhoids..."
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word olive oil
Virgin made me think of extra-virgin olive oil. No, really. See Free Association.
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the list absquatulate-bloviate-clinchpoop
It's difficult to say brouhaha without laughing... :)
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the list firmament-clogging-rotteness
My pleasure, ofravens. I love your username. I live in Alaska where ravens are common. They loom large in Athabascan lore. Some of them nest near my house. It's astonishing how many sounds they can make, and how intelligent they are. I never pass up a chance to watch them.
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word features
Hey, John...could you provide a way to bulk-tag existing lists? For example, there are currently 187 untagged entries on one of my lists. I'd love to be able to apply a tag (or set of tags) to one of my lists--or other folks' lists, for that matter. I'm far less likely to open each of those entries to apply tags, but if I could do it all at once...
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word features
Tags can be an enormous benefit in tracking down words and conversations. I'm as guilty as anyone in terms of forgetting to provide them, but if we all took tags a bit more seriously we'd all benefit.
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wide load
Amazing photo. Going around turns must require some fairly delicate choreography, if that term can be applied to trucks.
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the list o-ho
My pleasure. There are several thousand "o-matics" out there as well, but you probably don't want to go there.
I do love this list. "Will-o'-the-wisp" is such a beautifully evocative phrase.
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the list keep-on-truckin
This list reminds me that the toads will soon be showing up in Fairbanks...
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word toad
Also, a car being pulled by a camper or recreational vehicle for use away from the RV. Toads are a common sight in Alaska in the summer...
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word stope
Steps or shelves left around a mining site after the removal of ore-bearing dirt.
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word long tom
A long, narrow sluice box.
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word sluice box
An artificial channel with riffles along the bottom, set in a stream and fed with dirt or alluvium so that the dirt and lighter materials will wash away and the heavier gold will be trapped in the riffles. Commonly used by recreational miners.
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the list o-ho
How about "peg o' my heart?"
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word puckerbrush
Dense, often thorny brush that makes off-trail travel very difficult.
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the list o-ho
Shaquille O'Neal? (Just kidding, m...)
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the list denizens
Those of us that live in Ester, Alaska, call ourselves Esteroids.
March 10, 2008
skipvia commented on the word wyomingite
Awkward. It sounds like sort sort of mineral. Perhaps folks from Wyoming should refer to themselves as The Wyominions.
March 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word neve penetentes
See penetentes.
March 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word penetentes
Sharp ice peaks formed when sunlight reflects off of small depressions in the snow cover, melting the snow unevenly and forming tall peaks. Typically found when traveling on a glacier. When these refreeze at night, they can become quite hard and sharp, making travel difficult. Climbers usually call them neve penetentes. Nice image here.
March 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the list violin-parts
Many similarities with the Luthier's Craft list.
March 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word zowie
My first reaction to "Zowie" would be to pronounce it as it's pronounced in Frank Zappa's "Wowie Zowie." Zowie should sound like "wow," not "Zoe."
"It's spelled Raymond Luxury Yacht, but it's pronounced Throat Warbler Mangrove..."
March 9, 2008
skipvia commented on the word memberless
Mollusque, that reference always makes me cringe.
March 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word zowie
My understanding is that it's pronounced like "Zoey."
I would have gone with Chloe...
March 8, 2008
skipvia commented on the word frisco
Actually, I think it was this image that was the proverbial straw for me. It's not coincidental that I added it to the puke bowl discussion.
I may not like Cheez Whiz, but I love the phrase Cheese Was.
March 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word anisotropy
A wonderfully understandable article on the age of the universe as determined by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe is available here.
March 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word heart of dorkness
A similar incident happened once on Wordie. See dork out.
March 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word frisco
Eew. I mean, eeewwwwww.
March 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word potamic
Interesting, c_b. I would have guessed that usage would be much older. Now I'm wondering about hippopotamus. Must go look up when that came into common usage...
Edit: About 1300, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.
March 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word frisco
Cheez Whiz? On a chessesteak? Say it ain't so, reesetee...
March 7, 2008
skipvia commented on the word cunt
See also coynte.
March 6, 2008
skipvia commented on the word potamic
My guess is that it and Mesopotamia have something in common. :-) My other guess is that since Potomac comes from an Algonquin Indian word, any similarity is probably just a coincidence...
March 6, 2008
skipvia commented on the word casual water
I can't stand golf, but I've always loved this term since I learned it from a golf-playing friend. From the Golf Rules dictionary:
Any temporary accumulation of water on the course (other than a water hazard) visible before or after the player takes his stance. It includes:
-snow and ice
-overflow from a water hazard if outside the hazard
-a pitch mark filled with water
It does not include:
-soft mushy ground
-water which appears when pressing a footmark down -dew and frost
-manufactured ice
-water on the putting green which was not visible when taking stance but which became visible when approaching the ball.
The player is entitled to relief when his ball lies in or touches casual water or when it is on the course and interferes with his stance or area of intended swing (or if the ball is on the putting green, his line of putt).
Fascinating...
March 6, 2008
skipvia commented on the word segway
Nothing to apologize for, c_b. I had forgotten about my own list until yours showed up. They complement each other nicely.
March 6, 2008
skipvia commented on the word shooting skip
Hey--imagine how I felt...
March 6, 2008
skipvia commented on the list •unexpected-pronunciation-now-with-public-access
There are a bunch of these on my Say What? list, but I'm too lazy to move most of them over. Added a few, though.
March 6, 2008
skipvia commented on the word segway
You can embarrass yourself with gazebo as well...
March 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the list public-list-kill-the-wabbit
I won't comment on the appropriate use of "Daffy" in this image, but it's a nice Elmer Fuddism...
March 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word frisco
I know what you mean, palooka. It's like when people call Fairbanks "Bear Flanks." Although, come to think of it, it kind of fits...
March 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word rozzer
I'm delighted to know that rozzer is a vetted term. I remember a piece from Mad Magazine from a very long time ago that dealt with slang, and one of the example sentences was "It's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide." (Translation: "It's crazy to pay off a cop in phony money.")
Why I can remember that and not some of my students' last names from last semester is a puzzle to me. (Do you want to know my 7th grade locker combination? I've got that...)
March 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word segway
Since seque basically means a way to transition from one segment (of a topic, scene, etc.) to another, it's logical that you'd think it would be spelled segway. I learned the term in film school, back when we actually used film...
March 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word segway
Actually, shouldn't this be segue? A Segway is a scooter of sorts.
March 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the word apparent
"Police were trying Tuesday to piece together the violent events inside a brick home where six people were found dead in an apparent mass shooting."
How many victims does it take to make it an obvious mass shooting?
March 5, 2008
skipvia commented on the list skeleton
I know how you feel, cricket. See urinal etiquitte for my latest blunder...
March 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word game
My son recently told me about a game that he and his friends call "The Game." The only rule is that if you think about the game, you lose. You're supposed to say "Oh crap" (or something appropriately similar depending on your surroundings) when this occurs, and everyone is on the honor system.
March 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the list •open-list-your-life-in-6-words
Here's my abridged version:
Born, waiting...
March 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word hexapus
A six-legged octopus. Really.
March 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word urinal etiquette
See the embarrassingly misspelled urinal etiquitte for a discussion.
March 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word urinal etiquitte
Hey, John. If there are enough of us, we could start a list. :-)
March 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word urinal etiquitte
Oops. Etiquette. Sorry. I typed it wrong...again...
March 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word urinal etiquitte
I should probably add that it was in the men's room of the Salt Lake City Airport...
March 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word urinal etiquitte
From ananova.com: "A New Zealander ended up in court after punching a man over a breach of urinal etiquette."
I have always suspected there was such a code. It would have helped me during an incident in which I once peed right next to Ted Kennedy in the Salt Lake City airport. I was going to make a pun about Chappaquiddick (there are just so many possibilities there) but I refrained.
March 4, 2008
skipvia commented on the word obstinat
Isn't that missing an "n?" Oh...never mind.
March 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word yes we have no bananas
Wow, gangerh. My first crush was Annette Funicello. Maybe we should have a list...
March 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word suicide
That reminds me of an HP Lovecraft story in which the protagonist, having acquired the ability to peer into the future, sees himself lying helplessly in a vegetative state. To prevent this from happening, he decides to take his life by shooting himself in the head. The attempt is not successful, though--his wounds put him into a vegetative state...
March 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word essence of cute
Is this you, palooka?
March 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word dayside aurora
But during the noon darkness of Svalbard's winter, observers should be able to see the dayside aurora, which enter our atmosphere directly. Without the extra slingshot magnetic kick, these particles are less energetic, so produce a fainter, reddish glow.
I've never seen this. Must start looking. Full article here.
March 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the user mi-vox
HA! I had forgotten all about our spam-bot friend. I just love his lyrical (and LONG!) account of the difficulties of reading while trying to get a tan. You've got to hand it to a guy who takes the initiative in solving some of the great problems of our time.
March 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word niggertoe
It's just a cruel word, isn't it Treeseed? No matter what the context.
March 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word eww
Yep. It's a cool word. You can express varying degrees of disgust by adjusting the number of e's and w's. For example:
"Casu marzu? Eeeeewwwwwwww!"
Ah, English...
March 2, 2008
skipvia commented on the word niggertoe
It shouldn't, but it does. I can't think of another word that affects me like this. I suspect it's a product of my upbringing. It was always associated with hate or prejudice.
March 1, 2008
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