Glad you mentioned this because I've been wondering exactly what that construction is supposed to convey. "Got me right in the feels" makes more intuitive sense than the first sentence--does it mean something like "A breakup story...will touch you emotionally?"
Many years ago I took my young husband a cup of hot coffee before he was fully awake in the morning. He roused himself a bit and said something like "Oh that's so hot...careful or you will have Stephen flamboy."
Said of a word (slang, usually) that is not included in any dictionary.
From The Language Wars by Henry Hitchings:
"Slang is a kind of sport; Otto Jespersen remarked that like all other sports it essentially belongs to the young. Slang is playful. . . Words undictionarized are considered smart and snappy; they have yet to be tamed."
This is a good one--it strikes a nerve with me. I need a good socionym for someone who habitually uses socionyms, many of which are unfamiliar to me. It is usually not denigrating, but I find it tiresome.
How 'bout I stick my hat out and throw my neck in the ring? I could put my nose to the grindstone and keep my ear to the ground until something better comes along.
I decided to try this, but it has me stumped... Really, I can't quite make sense of this one. Irons in the fire? Break a leg? Put some skin in the game? In the course of my "research," I did come across this list, which has me doubling over in stitches http://tigger.uic.edu/~rramakri/Readings/Fun/Mixed-Metaphors.htm
Erin, that makes me so happy. I am working on the list in memory of a TA in a taxonomy class I took many, many years ago. Also am trying to recall what I once knew!
The generic name, Adiantum, Greek for “unwetted,” refers to the fronds’ water repellency. The specific name, pedatum, is Latin for “like a (bird’s) foot” and refers to the splayed pinnae. The common name, maidenhair fern, appears to be an inexact translation of capillus-veneris, (literally, “Venus’s hair”), the epithet of a different species found in subtropical regions of both the Old and New Worlds. (Venus’s hair is a good choice for gardeners whose climate is too warm to grow A. pedatum.)
From an 1891 book called Slang and its Analogues Past and Present, v2, compiled by J.S. Farmer: "chisel, chizzle, or chuzzle verb (common): To cheat... Current during the first half of thee present century, it seems to have appeared in literature about 1840."
If Dickens intended this slang sense of chisel/chizzle/chuzzle, that would make the character a cheatwit. Is it an active or passive sense of cheat? More research required.
The narrow, slit-like windows often found in Medieval castles were called loopholes. Loop is a now obsolete word for "window", so a loophole was a "window hole". These narrow windows were used for defense of the castle - it was easy to launch arrows and other projectiles out of the castle through such slits, but awfully difficult to get them in. So it would make sense that this word might come to mean "some means of escape" and then "some technicality that allows one to evade some consequence of a contract".
However, that's not where today's loophole comes from! Well, at least not directly. Instead, it has been suggested that it comes from Dutch loopgat, the loop part of which comes from loopen "to run" (related to English lope and leap). It was probably influenced by the similar word loophole "window slit", perhaps even by folk etymology of the type we tried to fool you with above.
Loophole in the "technicality that allows evasion" sense was first used by the poet Andrew Marvell in 1663.
VM, I think this is just a description of her appearance, painting a picture of a hard-working woman whose arms are likely weather-worn by wind or sun or cold or all three. Orwell describes this scene:
"a monstrous woman, solid as a Norman pillar, with brawny red forearms and a sacking apron strapped about her middle, was stumping to and fro between a washtub and a clothes line pegging out a series of square white things which Winston recognized as babies' diapers."
Ha, VM, thanks for the laugh. I tried to edit a typo in my comment probably as you were making yours. Somehow I got the dread page-not-found and therefore deleted my comment. But, as I was saying, the next step is the self-declared weed. My name is Himalaya Blackberry and I am a weed. A very bad weed indeed
The wood grouse, largest of the grouse family, renowned for its mating display. aka Cock of the woods or cock-o-the-woods Also the name of a Scottish band.
Makes me think of some of the proposed reconfigurations of various states in the western US: Cascadia, Jefferson, State of Kootenai and Lincoln. I think Lincoln has been proposed for a couple of different locations.
Yes, I am also inclined to believe this is folk etymology, mainly because I can find no citations. Furthermore, I haven't found any evidence of "suffering savior" used as an oath. So I guess we will never know whether succotash suffers or is merely to be suffered.
People speculate about different explanations for bounding in this term. World Wide Words concludes that ". . .the bounding main is the open ocean with its waves that surge, billow and break."
Like crepe, if you iron it with a too-hot iron, you will sear the sucker right out of it. Or so my mother told me. As one friend told me, the ironing basket is where she puts clothes she will never wear again.
At one time white-haired ladies used a little bit of bluing to counteract the yellow tinge in their hair; a bit too much and the hair was blue; hence, bluehairs.
"Meriwether Lewis first collected it in 1806 in Montana When his pressed, dried specimen was examined months later, it still showed signs of life and when planted, it promptly grew so it was called rediviva, meaning 'restored to life.'"
from "Plants of Southern Interior British Columbia and the Inland Northwest" by Parish, Coupe, and Lloyd
"As in most civilized countries rejoicing in that paper medium which Cobbett tersely denounced as 'rags,' the imitation of bank notes is prohibited and severely punished, however innocent may be the intent. Just as in the last century debtors in the Fleet Prison printed notes on the 'Bank of Fleet,' and later jokers got up drafts on the 'Bank of Elegance,' both of which were employed, particularly when intermixed with genuine notes, to deceive the public, so is there a class still ignorant enough to be fleeced by gross deceptions."
From Tales of the Bank of England, published in 1882
Really? A botanist called a peanut a drupe? All the botanists I know say a peanut is a legume. A drupe is a stone fruit with a fleshy covering over the seed, including peaches, plums and many others.
mamuk is commonly rendered mamook in the Chinook Jargon. A typo in one web reference used mamuk instead of mamluk; mamluke is another transliteration of mamluk. There are several others.
Whew, was that as painful for you as it was for me?
Thanks, VM. When I was growing up the logger-talk was tedious and incomprehensible to me. Nevertheless some of the words stuck and now I enjoy learning about how that work was/is done.
Spar-tree—A tall tree that is trimmed of all branches, topped, then rigged with guy lines and blocks, and used as a derrick to yard logs, moving them from where they were felled to a landing where they can be loaded for shipment to the mill.
From the website of the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest
Well, now I am curious about the verb to yard. I grew up around a lot of logger talk, and there were frequent references to yarding logs. I called my brother the logger-cum-school administrator for a definition. After a short pause, he said that the pedantic answer would be that to yard is to draw in. I had the misapprehension that one yarded logs out. Very, very wrong. One yards logs in to a spar-tree. The area where they lay around the spar tree is called the cold deck.
"A person who actuated the whistle on an old-time steam yarder by pulling on a long wire." from Glossary of Logging Terms at Pacific Forestry Foundation website.
I went on the interwebs looking for an account of the expression only ever, and what did I find but an account of the pocket shark which has only ever been seen twice.
Often misconstrued to mean a good custom that is much flouted, rather than the original meaning of a bad custom that one would do well to dishonor.
From Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, scene 4: "But to my mind, though I am native here / And to the manner born, it is a custom / More honour'd in the breach than the observance." (Wiktionary)
A fun list. Lloyd habitually said forth and back, without irony or intent to provoke. Carolyn, nevertheless, was annoyed on the grounds that it was not idiomatic. Lloyd countered that it was more logical. One could hardly go back before first going forth. Carolyn ultimately attributed it to Lloyd's status as the son of Swedish immigrants. So riddle me this: is there a Swedish idiom equivalent to forth and back?
For one account of this term, see http://dictionary.babylon.com/winkle-hawk/, which says winkle-hawk derives from a word for a carpenter's square. Thus, perhaps, suggests a three-corned tear.
And I am always disappointed when I recall what potlicker is. I always feel the word should refer to something so delicious that the pot was licked clean.
See: http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-ado1.htm for a discussion of the historical rhetorical-training practice that later came to be called adoxography. Put's me in mind of a book I am reading, "How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read," by Pierre Bayard. The tongue-in-cheek thesis is that you are better equipped to discuss a book if you have not read it.
Chinook: A History and Dictionary by Edward Harper Thomas, first published in 1935. The author defines skookum as follows:
"Strong, powerful, potent. Originally a ghost, evil spirit, or demon.
This is one of the best known, most widely used and significant words in the Jargon. Its adoption by people of the Northwest has made it a regional English word...In fact, it is so common on the Pacific Coast as to have almost lost its Indian significance."
Comments by slumry
slumry commented on the word malternatives
Looks like it should refer to two or more bad options: the devil or the deep blue sea
February 19, 2019
slumry commented on the word celebritude
Ouch, I say. "...That extreme celebritude aside..." Kurt Andersen in a NYT review of Thomas Mallon's novel about GW Bush, today.
February 11, 2019
slumry commented on the word feel facts
Feel facts: They are not technically true, but you just feel they are.
December 14, 2018
slumry commented on the word fobi
fear of being irrelevant; comes wit]h advancing years cf superannuated
December 8, 2018
slumry commented on the word butt-weld
Also happens when you sit too long on a vinyl chair while wearing a bathing suit.
December 7, 2018
slumry commented on the word shitstorm
And it sounds like a German word to boot...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/world/europe/merkel-storm-translation-germany.html
December 6, 2018
slumry commented on the word feels
Glad you mentioned this because I've been wondering exactly what that construction is supposed to convey. "Got me right in the feels" makes more intuitive sense than the first sentence--does it mean something like "A breakup story...will touch you emotionally?"
October 12, 2015
slumry commented on the list but-is-it-edible
banana slug
October 7, 2015
slumry commented on the word distantiation
Also distanciation; see distantiate
October 5, 2015
slumry commented on the word Napoleon
Not to mention the Napoleonic Wars
October 3, 2015
slumry commented on the word combox
A comment box, apparently. A portmanteau word.
September 30, 2015
slumry commented on the word pigwiggin
from Pigwiggen?
September 26, 2015
slumry commented on the word gliff
Well, I tried...I think I will just go on not pronouncing it at all.
September 26, 2015
slumry commented on the word flamboy
Many years ago I took my young husband a cup of hot coffee before he was fully awake in the morning. He roused himself a bit and said something like "Oh that's so hot...careful or you will have Stephen flamboy."
September 26, 2015
slumry commented on the word false friend
short for false friend of a translator
September 24, 2015
slumry commented on the word phool
New usage: a person gulled by phishing; from Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception, by George Akerlof and Robert Shiller.
September 20, 2015
slumry commented on the word quirking
see quirk
September 18, 2015
slumry commented on the word just sayin'
bless their hearts
September 18, 2015
slumry commented on the word undictionarized
Said of a word (slang, usually) that is not included in any dictionary.
From The Language Wars by Henry Hitchings:
"Slang is a kind of sport; Otto Jespersen remarked that like all other sports it essentially belongs to the young. Slang is playful. . . Words undictionarized are considered smart and snappy; they have yet to be tamed."
September 18, 2015
slumry commented on the word dame school
An early form of private elementary school, usually taught by women in their own homes.
September 15, 2015
slumry commented on the list the-end--1
Sothe, nithe, lathe, withe, rithe, and tithe are also nouns
September 13, 2015
slumry commented on the word Minnesota Vikings
Viqueens!
September 9, 2015
slumry commented on the word microchimera
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/babys-cells-can-manipulate-moms-body-decades-180956493/#AvAHCTQjAmEHOzA1.01
September 7, 2015
slumry commented on the list rubber-phrases
rubber bridge
September 6, 2015
slumry commented on the list chocolate-phrases
hm...chocolate covered bilby is not listed either. What kinda dictionary is this?
September 6, 2015
slumry commented on the list chocolate-phrases
chocolate bilby...surely it has been said before...
September 6, 2015
slumry commented on the word talesman
That's for damn tootin'!
September 6, 2015
slumry commented on the word bedizen
according to etymonline, bedizen dates to the 1660s and is derived from be + dizen, "to dress"
September 6, 2015
slumry commented on the list cvc3s
driven to alternative spelling: portentus (corrupt)
September 6, 2015
slumry commented on the word Cymopterus douglassi
Douglass's spring-parsley. Found only in Idaho mountains.
September 6, 2015
slumry commented on the list canadianisms
riding?
September 5, 2015
slumry commented on the word male
NPR just told me male is a taboo word. So hard to keep up. . .
September 4, 2015
slumry commented on the list are-we-not-men
Nope, not all of us...
September 4, 2015
slumry commented on the word prodical
Not in the bic pigture.
September 4, 2015
slumry commented on the word prodical
Evidently a lot of people think prodigal is spelled with a c.
September 4, 2015
slumry commented on the word see something say something
Chuck Close displayed a banana and the entire audience said banana.
September 3, 2015
slumry commented on the word Hogwartian
I keep thinking Hogwashian
September 2, 2015
slumry commented on the list have-phrases
have at it
September 2, 2015
slumry commented on the list have-phrases
have (something) will travel
September 2, 2015
slumry commented on the word doab
Mesopotamia is etymologically, as well as physically, a land between rivers.
September 1, 2015
slumry commented on the word awesome sauce
New in OED, I hear.
August 29, 2015
slumry commented on the word Wallabies
the farm team for the Wallabies are the wannabies
August 26, 2015
slumry commented on the word deltoid pumpkin seed
The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed is a book by John McPheee. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEREON_26 for more.
August 26, 2015
slumry commented on the word socionym
This is a good one--it strikes a nerve with me. I need a good socionym for someone who habitually uses socionyms, many of which are unfamiliar to me. It is usually not denigrating, but I find it tiresome.
August 24, 2015
slumry commented on the word put your leg in the fire
I am glad you enjoyed the list, qms. I often wish I had saved some amazing figures of speech I have come across when doing editing.
August 24, 2015
slumry commented on the list idioms-to-try-out
How 'bout I stick my hat out and throw my neck in the ring? I could put my nose to the grindstone and keep my ear to the ground until something better comes along.
August 24, 2015
slumry commented on the word put your leg in the fire
I decided to try this, but it has me stumped... Really, I can't quite make sense of this one. Irons in the fire? Break a leg? Put some skin in the game? In the course of my "research," I did come across this list, which has me doubling over in stitches http://tigger.uic.edu/~rramakri/Readings/Fun/Mixed-Metaphors.htm
August 24, 2015
slumry commented on the word excrementitious
Oh, the excrementitious ramblings of spammers.
August 24, 2015
slumry commented on the list dmh
Erin, that makes me so happy. I am working on the list in memory of a TA in a taxonomy class I took many, many years ago. Also am trying to recall what I once knew!
August 23, 2015
slumry commented on the word AFTOL
Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life Project
August 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word superciliousness
No, nor with superseriousness
August 18, 2015
slumry commented on the word interland
oops...perhaps you mean interlard
August 18, 2015
slumry commented on the word disspelling
see also eye dialect
August 18, 2015
slumry commented on the word uparching
the bending of rocks into an anticline or dome, according to Merriam-Webster
August 18, 2015
slumry commented on the word pumpkinberry
Geocaulon lividum (aka Comandra lividum; Bastard Toadflax) Fruit is "edible but not palatable"
August 18, 2015
slumry commented on the word special snowflake
This site, http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/special-snowflake, traces the use of the term to the 1999 movie Flight Club.
August 16, 2015
slumry commented on the word shackles
As always, a pleasure.
August 15, 2015
slumry commented on the word maidenhair
The generic name, Adiantum, Greek for “unwetted,” refers to the fronds’ water repellency. The specific name, pedatum, is Latin for “like a (bird’s) foot” and refers to the splayed pinnae. The common name, maidenhair fern, appears to be an inexact translation of capillus-veneris, (literally, “Venus’s hair”), the epithet of a different species found in subtropical regions of both the Old and New Worlds. (Venus’s hair is a good choice for gardeners whose climate is too warm to grow A. pedatum.)
http://www.motherearthliving.com/plant-profile/an-herb-to-know-46.aspx
The etymology appears to be a little more circuitous than Wiktionary would have it.
August 15, 2015
slumry commented on the word shackles
According to OED, soup, stew or broth. http://findwords.info/term/shackles
August 15, 2015
slumry commented on the word wavewing
*tries again*
wavewing is the common name of several plants in the carrot family (Apiaceae) The name refers to the undulating wings of the plant's seed pods.
August 14, 2015
slumry commented on the list shapes--3
I like this list!
August 13, 2015
slumry commented on the word chuzzle
From an 1891 book called Slang and its Analogues Past and Present, v2, compiled by J.S. Farmer: "chisel, chizzle, or chuzzle verb (common): To cheat... Current during the first half of thee present century, it seems to have appeared in literature about 1840."
If Dickens intended this slang sense of chisel/chizzle/chuzzle, that would make the character a cheatwit. Is it an active or passive sense of cheat? More research required.
August 13, 2015
slumry commented on the word Snark of the Universe
head of the Hoo-Hoos
August 12, 2015
slumry commented on the word loophole
from http://www.takeourword.com/TOW120/page2.html comes this discussion of loophole:
The narrow, slit-like windows often found in Medieval castles were called loopholes. Loop is a now obsolete word for "window", so a loophole was a "window hole". These narrow windows were used for defense of the castle - it was easy to launch arrows and other projectiles out of the castle through such slits, but awfully difficult to get them in. So it would make sense that this word might come to mean "some means of escape" and then "some technicality that allows one to evade some consequence of a contract".
However, that's not where today's loophole comes from! Well, at least not directly. Instead, it has been suggested that it comes from Dutch loopgat, the loop part of which comes from loopen "to run" (related to English lope and leap). It was probably influenced by the similar word loophole "window slit", perhaps even by folk etymology of the type we tried to fool you with above.
Loophole in the "technicality that allows evasion" sense was first used by the poet Andrew Marvell in 1663.
August 11, 2015
slumry commented on the list there-is-no-place-like-nebraska
My pleasure!
August 11, 2015
slumry commented on the list there-is-no-place-like-nebraska
fond memories of a picnic lunch in the Nebraska National Forest
August 11, 2015
slumry commented on the list not-quite-the-real-thang
pyrite
August 11, 2015
slumry commented on the list not-quite-the-real-thang
factoid
August 11, 2015
slumry commented on the word declopation
I like it. Sounds like syncopation with a little clop thrown in.
August 10, 2015
slumry commented on the word vehement
I have occasionally heard someone use violent this way, but in a self-aware and humorous manner.
August 7, 2015
slumry commented on the word diabolocentric
Having hell as the center of the cosmos.
August 6, 2015
slumry commented on the word pomicide
Apple killers! What, you say a pear of them?
August 6, 2015
slumry commented on the list chelonians
The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks. . .
August 3, 2015
slumry commented on the list erythronium
Kew has published a monograph on the genus Erythronium I want it.
August 3, 2015
slumry commented on the word cantalever
See cantilever for a more complete definition. Also cantaliver. Vowel play.
August 3, 2015
slumry commented on the word Walla Walla
Way too many wineries to count now.
August 1, 2015
slumry commented on the word down cellar
Don't forget the wine cellar, she shouted from Walla Walla.
August 1, 2015
slumry commented on the word glass cannon
Thanks, TH for commenting on the word. I like it. No, I love it. And thanks, Zu for having the list.
July 31, 2015
slumry commented on the word sarvis
My grandfather allowed how sarvis tastes like a fool, but with some lemon juice the berries make pretty good jelly.
July 31, 2015
slumry commented on the word suller
Reminds me of sarvis, aka serviceberry
July 31, 2015
slumry commented on the list agentive-exocentric--v-n-n-compounds
I guess it would be stop-loss rather than stoploss, if at all.
July 31, 2015
slumry commented on the list agentive-exocentric--v-n-n-compounds
What do you think about quitclaim, stoploss and maybe loosestrife?
July 31, 2015
slumry commented on the list the-masses--the-common-or-ordinary-people
the 99%
July 30, 2015
slumry commented on the list the-masses--the-common-or-ordinary-people
the great unwashed
July 30, 2015
slumry commented on the list jaw--1
Thanks TH and zu! Keep 'em coming!
July 30, 2015
slumry commented on the list tubs
three men
July 30, 2015
slumry commented on the word red-armed
VM, I think this is just a description of her appearance, painting a picture of a hard-working woman whose arms are likely weather-worn by wind or sun or cold or all three. Orwell describes this scene:
"a monstrous woman, solid as a Norman pillar, with brawny red forearms and a sacking apron strapped about her middle, was stumping to and fro between a washtub and a clothes line pegging out a series of square white things which Winston recognized as babies' diapers."
July 29, 2015
slumry commented on the word jaws of greed
Tongs used by people as they share a pot of shabu-shabu.
July 29, 2015
slumry commented on the word totally tubular
Stored in the same part of my brain as Qiana.
July 29, 2015
slumry commented on the word tubular
In the sense of awesome, said to date from the advent of vacuum tubes.
July 29, 2015
slumry commented on the word slutter-tub
Borrowed from this https://www.wordnik.com/lists/hazel intriguing list.
July 29, 2015
slumry commented on the list tubs
The laundry setup I first remember: A wringer washer, two galvanized tubs for rinsing, and clotheslines. Pray for a rainless afternoon.
July 29, 2015
slumry commented on the word barrad
Or here: https://www.wordnik.com/lists/hats-off. Let's find all hatlists.
July 29, 2015
slumry commented on the word barrad
Could go here: https://www.wordnik.com/lists/names-of-hats, thus revivifying the list.
July 29, 2015
slumry commented on the list overlapping-open-compounds
Dare I suggest also https://www.wordnik.com/lists/sweet-tooth-fairy? Well, evidently I durst.
July 28, 2015
slumry commented on the word following sea
In boating, a wave direction that matches the heading of the boat.
July 27, 2015
slumry commented on the word train wrecker
Neolentinus lepideus
"Another strong mushroom which does not decay easily; recycles wood, including railroad ties."
Mushrooms of Northwest North America
Helene M.E. Schalkwijk-Barendsen
July 27, 2015
slumry commented on the word rag
highlighting this Century definition:
n. In Oxford University, a noisy, disorderly outbreak, in violation of established regulations: originally peculiar to English university life.
July 27, 2015
slumry commented on the list angle-of-repose
I love that book!
July 27, 2015
slumry commented on the word tear-pump
Or, as some would say, turn on the waterworks
July 24, 2015
slumry commented on the list fusion
Adhesion?
July 24, 2015
slumry commented on the word it could be worse
They told me, "cheer up, it could be worse," so I cheered up and sure enough, it got worse.
July 24, 2015
slumry commented on the word wandering Jew
Ha, VM, thanks for the laugh. I tried to edit a typo in my comment probably as you were making yours. Somehow I got the dread page-not-found and therefore deleted my comment. But, as I was saying, the next step is the self-declared weed. My name is Himalaya Blackberry and I am a weed. A very bad weed indeed
July 24, 2015
slumry commented on the word pyriform
wonderful...I just wish we could see the cut of the egg under plover
July 24, 2015
slumry commented on the word Capercaillie
The wood grouse, largest of the grouse family, renowned for its mating display. aka Cock of the woods or cock-o-the-woods Also the name of a Scottish band.
July 23, 2015
slumry commented on the word Benelux
As for the word Benelux, I keep thinking it should be the name of either a watch or a mattress. Good quality and luxurious.
July 23, 2015
slumry commented on the word Benelux
Makes me think of some of the proposed reconfigurations of various states in the western US: Cascadia, Jefferson, State of Kootenai and Lincoln. I think Lincoln has been proposed for a couple of different locations.
July 23, 2015
slumry commented on the word unsanitary
Like a taboo. For example, "I resent that they make it unsanitary to even discuss that subject."
July 23, 2015
slumry commented on the word suffering succotash
Yes, I am also inclined to believe this is folk etymology, mainly because I can find no citations. Furthermore, I haven't found any evidence of "suffering savior" used as an oath. So I guess we will never know whether succotash suffers or is merely to be suffered.
July 23, 2015
slumry commented on the word up and doing
Definition: busy; active
Indeed, Calvinists were constantly up and doing , searching for signs that they had received God's gift of grace.
Divine, Robert A. (editor) & Breen, T. H & Frederickson, George M & Williams, R. Hal AMERICA PAST AND PRESENT (1995)
Definition and citation from Collins Dictionary
July 23, 2015
slumry commented on the word proustite
a proustite called ruby silver
July 23, 2015
slumry commented on the list corny
What about come non-corn corns--cornucopia, cornflower, Cornus
July 23, 2015
slumry commented on the word a resounding silence
went over like a lead balloon
July 22, 2015
slumry commented on the list the-verbing-nouns
Hm..swimming rama...chicken swimming in peanut sauce?
July 22, 2015
slumry commented on the list wedge-schwa
Not sure about this. Unbuckle?
July 22, 2015
slumry commented on the word buckskin snag
A standing dead tree without bark. Evidently the barklessness can allow the wood to remain sound (and salable) for many years.
July 22, 2015
slumry commented on the word suffering succotash
According to the blog idiomation, the phrase suffering succotash originated as a bowdlerization of Suffering Savior
July 22, 2015
slumry commented on the word bounding main
People speculate about different explanations for bounding in this term. World Wide Words concludes that ". . .the bounding main is the open ocean with its waves that surge, billow and break."
July 22, 2015
slumry commented on the word clinging vine
a person who is overly dependent
July 22, 2015
slumry commented on the word Galloping Gertie
A bridge over the Tacoma Narrows which from the time that it was constructed moved vertically in the wind. It collapsed in 1940.
July 22, 2015
slumry commented on the word too many irons in the fire
From the world of blacksmithing
July 22, 2015
slumry commented on the list the-verbing-nouns
Oh, I would like to add screaming meemies, but I am afraid that it is not the meemies who actually do the screaming. . .what is a meemie anyway?
July 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word unsanitary
Someone I know uses unsanitary to mean something roughly synonymous with politically incorrect. I am wondering how widespread this usage is.
July 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word ironing basket
Ha! No pretense in this definition that an ironing basket is a repository for things that will be ironed.
July 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word seersucker
Like crepe, if you iron it with a too-hot iron, you will sear the sucker right out of it. Or so my mother told me. As one friend told me, the ironing basket is where she puts clothes she will never wear again.
July 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word sadden
Just make sure you don't over-sad-iron the crape, or you will iron the crepe right out of it.
July 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word bluing
At one time white-haired ladies used a little bit of bluing to counteract the yellow tinge in their hair; a bit too much and the hair was blue; hence, bluehairs.
July 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word memaloose
Chinook Jargon: dead, to die, etc. mamook memaloose is to kill, to murder, to execute
July 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word rediviva
restored to life
July 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word Lewisia rediviva
Common name, Bitterroot
"Meriwether Lewis first collected it in 1806 in Montana When his pressed, dried specimen was examined months later, it still showed signs of life and when planted, it promptly grew so it was called rediviva, meaning 'restored to life.'"
from "Plants of Southern Interior British Columbia and the Inland Northwest" by Parish, Coupe, and Lloyd
July 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word redivivus
see Lewisia rediviva
July 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word bank of elegance
Counterfeit:
"As in most civilized countries rejoicing in that paper medium which Cobbett tersely denounced as 'rags,' the imitation of bank notes is prohibited and severely punished, however innocent may be the intent. Just as in the last century debtors in the Fleet Prison printed notes on the 'Bank of Fleet,' and later jokers got up drafts on the 'Bank of Elegance,' both of which were employed, particularly when intermixed with genuine notes, to deceive the public, so is there a class still ignorant enough to be fleeced by gross deceptions."
From Tales of the Bank of England, published in 1882
July 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word marooned
It's what happened when the red ship and the blue ship collided.
July 19, 2015
slumry commented on the word what the deuce
An expression of surprise. I used to hear this regularly, but have not heard it for years.
July 19, 2015
slumry commented on the list perty
Thanks for the link, TH. That was fun.
July 17, 2015
slumry commented on the list the-verbing-nouns
ticking timebomb?
July 17, 2015
slumry commented on the word dirty shame-on-it
For example, "What dirty shame-on-it used up the toilet paper and did not put up a new roll?"
July 17, 2015
slumry commented on the word planet
Really? A botanist called a peanut a drupe? All the botanists I know say a peanut is a legume. A drupe is a stone fruit with a fleshy covering over the seed, including peaches, plums and many others.
July 16, 2015
slumry commented on the word Pertinax
A Roman emporer, briefly; apparently also the species name of a particular hoverfly.
July 16, 2015
slumry commented on the word rat-tailed maggot
If I knew of a most-disgusting-names list, this would surely go on that list. The name refers to a juvenile hoverfly.
July 16, 2015
slumry commented on the list perty
Wondering if I really want to list pertussis. The thought of it makes me cough.
July 16, 2015
slumry commented on the list perty
Thanks for the list. You are most pertinent!
July 16, 2015
slumry commented on the word paughty
I knew a malapert; he was paughty and paunchy, and barely eighteen.
July 16, 2015
slumry commented on the word malapert
a quick search of some -pert words suggests that there is no list.
July 16, 2015
slumry commented on the word pertinacious
one for the list
July 16, 2015
slumry commented on the word susurration
Outside my window, the sweet susurration of two squirrels scampering on the dry bark of a plane tree.
July 16, 2015
slumry commented on the word edumacate
a disspelling?
July 15, 2015
slumry commented on the word plutography
Sometimes they live in McMansions.
July 15, 2015
slumry commented on the word plutography
Ha! Now, July 15, 2015, this word can be redefined as photographing Pluto.
July 15, 2015
slumry commented on the word Nootka rose
Beloved wildflower, followed by great hips.
July 15, 2015
slumry commented on the list one-thing-leads-to-another
To answer your question, this list is about the discursiveness of Wordnikking on one particular day. The process is necessarily idiosyncratic.Nootka is used in a variety of names--Nootka rose, Nootka Sound, Nootka cedar and, I learned, Nootkatone for example.
mamuk is commonly rendered mamook in the Chinook Jargon. A typo in one web reference used mamuk instead of mamluk; mamluke is another transliteration of mamluk. There are several others.
Whew, was that as painful for you as it was for me?
July 15, 2015
slumry commented on the list one-thing-leads-to-another
VM, thanks--your question prompted me to notice an omission in my comment on Nootkatone. I edited the comment to mention grapefruit.
July 15, 2015
slumry commented on the word Nootkatone
An organic compound typically extracted from grapefruit, but also found in Chamaecyparis nootkatensis, hence the name Nootkatone.
July 15, 2015
slumry commented on the word I think I broke Wordnik
Do you earn a badge for that?
July 15, 2015
slumry commented on the list room-at-the-inn-2
Gideon Bible?
July 14, 2015
slumry commented on the list banes
doronicum--leopard's bane
July 14, 2015
slumry commented on the word lacamas
Camassia quamash, also known as camas. Chinook jargon: the camas.
July 14, 2015
slumry commented on the word Chamaecyparis nootkatensis
Variously known as Alaska yellow cedar, yellow cedar, Nootka cypress, or Alaska cypress
July 14, 2015
slumry commented on the word cross as two sticks
ill tempered
July 14, 2015
slumry commented on the word Boulder
Boulder! A coy oath. Hoover Dam was originally called Boulder Dam. At the time of its construction, it was the biggest dam in the world.
July 13, 2015
slumry commented on the word hotter than lection
hotter than an election
July 13, 2015
slumry commented on the word hotter than lection
It was hotter than lection in western Washington this past June.
July 13, 2015
slumry commented on the word yard
Thanks, VM. When I was growing up the logger-talk was tedious and incomprehensible to me. Nevertheless some of the words stuck and now I enjoy learning about how that work was/is done.
July 13, 2015
slumry commented on the list no--nay--never
Oh, and never in a month of Sundays
July 13, 2015
slumry commented on the list no--nay--never
never in my born days; never in my wildest imagination
July 13, 2015
slumry commented on the word spar-tree
Spar-tree—A tall tree that is trimmed of all branches, topped, then rigged with guy lines and blocks, and used as a derrick to yard logs, moving them from where they were felled to a landing where they can be loaded for shipment to the mill.
From the website of the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest
July 13, 2015
slumry commented on the word yard
Well, now I am curious about the verb to yard. I grew up around a lot of logger talk, and there were frequent references to yarding logs. I called my brother the logger-cum-school administrator for a definition. After a short pause, he said that the pedantic answer would be that to yard is to draw in. I had the misapprehension that one yarded logs out. Very, very wrong. One yards logs in to a spar-tree. The area where they lay around the spar tree is called the cold deck.
July 13, 2015
slumry commented on the list door--1
Door to Hell, doormat. The Doors of Perception, door gunner, doorchimes
July 8, 2015
slumry commented on the word Door to Hell
the Darvaza Crater
July 8, 2015
slumry commented on the list cycling-loanwords
pannier?
July 6, 2015
slumry commented on the word lestage
Duties paid for unlading goods in port.
July 6, 2015
slumry commented on the word bailiwick
Often misspelled.
July 4, 2015
slumry commented on the list fest-words
scarecrowfest?
July 4, 2015
slumry commented on the word metalepsis
also known as transumption
July 4, 2015
slumry commented on the word anautogenous
Females of anautogenous insect species require a meal of blood in order to reproduce effectively. Most species of horse flies are anautogenous.
July 4, 2015
slumry commented on the list provide--1
outfit?
July 2, 2015
slumry commented on the word whistle punk
"A person who actuated the whistle on an old-time steam yarder by pulling on a long wire." from Glossary of Logging Terms at Pacific Forestry Foundation website.
June 30, 2015
slumry commented on the list sounds-of-silence
cone of silence? Wordnik mining.
June 28, 2015
slumry commented on the word only ever
I went on the interwebs looking for an account of the expression only ever, and what did I find but an account of the pocket shark which has only ever been seen twice.
June 26, 2015
slumry commented on the list sounds-of-silence
an anechoic chamber, maybe?
June 25, 2015
slumry commented on the list sounds-of-silence
Deafening silence?
June 25, 2015
slumry commented on the list sounds-of-silence
You could hear a pin drop.
June 25, 2015
slumry commented on the word qualia
more, perhaps, than you want to know about qualia at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia/
June 25, 2015
slumry commented on the list buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo--etc
Don't let anyone buffalo you!
June 23, 2015
slumry commented on the word cucurbit
a unit of measure equal to the length of a cucumber, measured in dog years
June 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word more honored in the breach than the observance
Often misconstrued to mean a good custom that is much flouted, rather than the original meaning of a bad custom that one would do well to dishonor.
From Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, scene 4: "But to my mind, though I am native here / And to the manner born, it is a custom / More honour'd in the breach than the observance." (Wiktionary)
June 21, 2015
slumry commented on the list show-me-the-moolah
two bits
June 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word swelt
hence, swelter
June 20, 2015
slumry commented on the word pseudophonia
to avoid opprobrium?
June 20, 2015
slumry commented on the word custock
Thinking of a Cossack wearing a cassock and wielding a custock.
June 20, 2015
slumry commented on the list blue-remembered-hills
Makes me nostalgic for a place I have never been...
June 20, 2015
slumry commented on the list inexplicably-uncommon
Hmm...conflate appears frequently in my speech. I seem to see acts of conflation everywhere. Theodicy, on the other hand, makes me a bit uneasy.
June 20, 2015
slumry commented on the user DepthProbe
Or perhaps the examples are correct because these are the only instances of the word, typo or eggcorn that it may be.
June 19, 2015
slumry commented on the list never-going-back-there
Makes me also think of cut off your nose to spite your face
June 19, 2015
slumry commented on the word Norfolk Howard
bedbug
June 17, 2015
slumry commented on the word essence-peddler
a skunk
June 17, 2015
slumry commented on the word adjective-jerker
a journalist
June 17, 2015
slumry commented on the word kinnikinnick
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
June 17, 2015
slumry commented on the list clothing-missing-parts
Clothing with extra parts: toesocks
June 16, 2015
slumry commented on the word chestfallen
an eggcorn of crestfallen
June 11, 2015
slumry commented on the list words-ending-with--bite
bee-bite? I was just reading about bees that can sting AND bite. double jeopardy
June 10, 2015
slumry commented on the word coma
doggone it, what's that word that means one spelling of two different words, usually with different etymologies. . .that's what coma seems to be.
June 10, 2015
slumry commented on the word gerontosaur
owie. . .
June 10, 2015
slumry commented on the word Perchance
Perhaps (archaic)
June 5, 2015
slumry commented on the word penchance
Perchance an eggcorn of penchant?
June 5, 2015
slumry commented on the word stepped on a little frog
Oh, dear...taking a moment to remember Ajax the little green tree frog who took a ride on the rollers of a wringer washer. Once.
June 3, 2015
slumry commented on the word back-handed
see backhanded
June 2, 2015
slumry commented on the list cod
Oh my Cod! Today we have the word gubbings.
June 2, 2015
slumry commented on the word gubbing
Ah, a heavy defeat! And it rhymes with drubbing.
June 2, 2015
slumry commented on the word grass widow
Anatoly Liberman argues persuasively that "grace widow" should be dismissed as folk etymology. He has a interesting discussion of the history of the term grass widow at http://blog.oup.com/2009/02/grasswidows/
June 2, 2015
slumry commented on the word spyhop
foxes and wolves apparently spyhop also: aavvhttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spyhop
June 1, 2015
slumry commented on the list both-and-both
A fun list. Lloyd habitually said forth and back, without irony or intent to provoke. Carolyn, nevertheless, was annoyed on the grounds that it was not idiomatic. Lloyd countered that it was more logical. One could hardly go back before first going forth. Carolyn ultimately attributed it to Lloyd's status as the son of Swedish immigrants. So riddle me this: is there a Swedish idiom equivalent to forth and back?
May 31, 2015
slumry commented on the word dumbbell tenement
A tenement building that is (was, I suppose) designed in the shape of a dumbbell. One example of the adjectival use of dumbbell.
May 31, 2015
slumry commented on the word winkle-hawk
For one account of this term, see http://dictionary.babylon.com/winkle-hawk/, which says winkle-hawk derives from a word for a carpenter's square. Thus, perhaps, suggests a three-corned tear.
May 31, 2015
slumry commented on the word hiberdating
Ah!
May 31, 2015
slumry commented on the word hiberdating
oxymoron?
May 30, 2015
slumry commented on the word two bit piece
a quarter see two bits
May 30, 2015
slumry commented on the word bull cooking
This is what some "manly men" call it when they do small chores around home.
May 30, 2015
slumry commented on the word begunk
I can't resist thinking something like: "I hiked a muddy trail and now my shoes are all begunked." Folk etymology.
May 30, 2015
slumry commented on the word potlicker
And I am always disappointed when I recall what potlicker is. I always feel the word should refer to something so delicious that the pot was licked clean.
May 30, 2015
slumry commented on the word askew
cattywampus
May 30, 2015
slumry commented on the word adoxography
See: http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-ado1.htm for a discussion of the historical rhetorical-training practice that later came to be called adoxography. Put's me in mind of a book I am reading, "How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read," by Pierre Bayard. The tongue-in-cheek thesis is that you are better equipped to discuss a book if you have not read it.
May 29, 2015
slumry commented on the list gleanings1
Used as a verb: "We could short-sight this." Meaning, apparently, that we could implement a short-sighted remedy.
May 29, 2015
slumry commented on the word potlicker
from pot liquor
May 29, 2015
slumry commented on the word googleself
a person who constantly monitors his online reputation
May 28, 2015
slumry commented on the word chewcud
a person who ruminates endlessly
May 28, 2015
slumry commented on the word my left hind foot
See my foot.
May 21, 2015
slumry commented on the list jack--1
See also Getting to Know Jack and jack-of-all-trades
May 21, 2015
slumry commented on the word Jack tales
Appalachian folk tales, an oral tradition.
May 20, 2015
slumry commented on the list jack--1
This is a fun one, fbharjo! What about Jack Sprat, Jack tales, jack tar and the beloved Jack in the Beanstalk
May 20, 2015
slumry commented on the list triads
Don't know where this old one belongs: "Gotta getta gocart if you're gonna getta girl."
May 19, 2015
slumry commented on the word necronym taboo
In some societies, a taboo against using the name of someone who recently died.
May 19, 2015
slumry commented on the word rough diamond
Carolyn says, "Lloyd says he is a rough diamond, but I say he is just rough."
May 19, 2015
slumry commented on the word resurrection men
graverobbers,body snatchers
May 19, 2015
slumry commented on the list triads
the halt, the lame, and the blind
May 19, 2015
slumry commented on the list triads
see one, do one, teach one
May 19, 2015
slumry commented on the word a lick and a promise
For example, when you have to clean up quickly before unexpected company, you may give the house a lick and a promise.
May 19, 2015
slumry commented on the list erythronium
Thanks,ruzuzu. I had fun recalling all of those delicate wild lilies,
May 18, 2015
slumry commented on the word shellhead
Bicyclists with helmets, according to some wags.
May 16, 2015
slumry commented on the word share rows
A new term to me. Apparently it is a row of bicycles for sharing. Seattle has such a program
May 16, 2015
slumry commented on the word filibuster
So a filibusterer is akin to a freebooter (pirate). It makes sense, actually.
May 15, 2015
slumry commented on the user msmith
You have come to the right place, msmith. Do you fancy any particular sort of words?
May 15, 2015
slumry commented on the word guesstymologist
See etymologist
May 15, 2015
slumry commented on the word sinceriously
a portmanteau word
May 14, 2015
slumry commented on the word skookum
The Chinook dictionary that I rely on most is:
Chinook: A History and Dictionary by Edward Harper Thomas, first published in 1935. The author defines skookum as follows:
"Strong, powerful, potent. Originally a ghost, evil spirit, or demon.
This is one of the best known, most widely used and significant words in the Jargon. Its adoption by people of the Northwest has made it a regional English word...In fact, it is so common on the Pacific Coast as to have almost lost its Indian significance."
May 14, 2015
slumry commented on the list sturdy
If you are from the northwestern US, or from British Columbia, you might say skookum.
May 14, 2015
slumry commented on the list eccentric-girls-names
Those eccentric girls have some very peculiar names.
May 13, 2015
slumry commented on the word enate
A fine Mothers' day word!
May 10, 2015
slumry commented on the word syncopy
syncope
May 10, 2015
slumry commented on the word neutotypical
typo for neurotypical?
May 9, 2015
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