Word of the Day

[D. Allan]

cu.cul.late (kyoo-kuh-leyt, kyoo-kuhl-et) also cu.cul.la.ted(kyoo-kuh-lay-tid, kyoo-kuhl-eh-tid), adjective.

[Origin: 1785–95; < LL cucullātus having a hood]

1. cowled, hooded.

2. resembling a cowl or hood.

cu.cul.late.ly, adv.

"Again, Between the Cicada and that we call a Grashopper, the differences are very many, …. For first They are differently cucullated or capuched upon the head and back, and in the Cicada the eyes are more prominent: the Locusts have Antennæ or long horns before, with a long falcation or forcipated tail behind; and being ordained for saltation, their hinder legs do far exceed the other." - Sir Thomas Browne (1646; 6th ed., 1672) Pseudodoxia Epidemica, V.iii (pp. 274-275)

Sir Thomas Browne (1605 - 1682)

More of the entertaining language of Sir Thomas:

"The Locust or our Grashopper hath teeth, the Cicada none at all; nor any mouth according unto Aristotle: the Cicada is most upon trees; and lastly, the fritinnitus or proper note thereof is far more shrill then that of the Locust; and its life so short in Summer, that for provision it needs not have recourse unto the providence of the Pismire in Winter." -ibid

Source: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/pseudo53.html

[D. Allan]

"Trees of Heaven", 1980, acrylic on canvas by Roger Brown (1941 – 1997)

http://midwestmuseum.us/images/art/Trees_of_Heaven.jpg

Elysium (ih-LIH-zee-uhm, ih-LEEH-zhee-uhm), noun:

1. in Greek mythology the seat of future happiness; Paradise.

2. hence, any place or condition of ideal bliss or complete happiness. Also Elysian fields.

3. (also a city: Elysium, Minnesota, USA, zip-code 56028)

Elysian (ih-LIHZ-uhn, ih-LEE-zhuhn), adj.

1. in or like Elysium.

2. happy; blissful; delightful.

Both words are from Latin Elysium < Greek Elysion, short for Elysion pedion

"Elysian fields",' the ancient Grecian heaven. The name of the famous avenue in Paris, the Champs-Élysées,means "Elysian Fields;" Paris must be a heavenly place!

"…cookbook fans often spend less time at the stove than stretched out on the sofa, turning the pages and letting their imaginations wander to that happiest of places, the culinary Elysium where all food is perfectly prepared and all settings are romantic, where no bill arrives and no one gains weight. -William Grimes, "Cooking", New York Times, December 7, 1997

[D. Allan]

Quiz for week ending May 05, 2007-05-05

1. Which word best describes an animal which leaves others to raise its young?

a. nervous.

b. cuculiform.

c. optimistic .

2. The bride’s wedding veil was:

d. cucullated.

e. diaphanous.

f. cuneiform.

3. “The music was Elysian,” means it was:

g. a heavenly sounding music.

h. composed in an ancient Grecian scale.

i. a style of folk music found only in Minnesota .

4. cuckoo-spit can be found:

j. in bird nests.

k. under toad stools.

l. on stems of plants.

5. Another word for zero is:

m. cipher.

n. nil.

o. naught.

6. Which of these garments is cucullated?

p. a hooded sweatshirt.

q. blue jeans that have tears and holes.

r. a brides veil.

Key: the correct answers spell out a new word coined just for this quiz:

be.glop (bee-GLAHP), also be-glop, verb [coined word from the prefix be- + (informal) glop]

to spatter, or cover someone or something with glop.

"The baby had beglopped her mother with undigested milk."

[D. Allan]

The Sun Dispels the Morning Fog – William P. Silva (1859-1948), American painter

aubade (oh-BAHD), noun.

[French < Spanish albada < alba, dawn < Latin albus, white]

1. A piece of music or a poem suitable for greeting the dawn, or suggestive of morning.

2. A song or poem of lovers at dawn.

[Gail]

I've got a Word of the Day!!

Quote:

Word of the Day: Malapropism (Noun)

Pronunciation: ['mæ-lê-prahp-iz-êm]

Definition: The unintentional use of one word that sounds a bit like another (almost homophones), but which is completely and hilariously wrong in context.

Usage: Like another recent Word of the Day, "spoonerism," a malapropism is a type of speech error that happens to be funny. A "malapropist" is someone noted for their malapropisms and the adjective is "malapropian." However, "malaprop" may be used by itself as a noun, verb, or adjective: "Her malaprops will keep her from the top" or "Her malaprop speech undermined her career" or "He could have been a contender but he malapropped once too often in a top-level meeting."

Suggested Usage: Comedian Norm Crosby, king of the malaprops, always speaks from his diagram and drinks only decapitated coffee. Still, we don't suggest you malaprop but simply enjoy the malapropisms you hear around you: "This restaurant has quite a lovely ambulance!" "Such an attractive man—he's got a very appalling way about him." "A missile defense shield could start a new clear war." Enough already! To paraphrase Mrs. Malaprop, lead the way out of here and we'll precede.

Etymology: A commonization (conversion from proper to common noun) circa 1849 from Mrs. Malaprop, a character noted for her misuse of words in Richard Sheridan's comedy "The Rivals" (1775). Sheridan created her name from the French phrase mal à propos "inappropriate." Mrs. Malaprop thus is the eponym of "malapropism."

—Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com

Young children are so good at this!

[D. Allan]

Thank you for the neat word, Gail. I appropriate it very much! We have some spotted yellow topical fruit on the counter; when I call them 'badnanas' people say my annunciation is bad but I never did take any vows! Anyway I can't think straight right now because I have sleep-depravity and all last night I was dreaming that I was awake. I would see a doctor about it but they are so expensive - Oh, to be effluent! Sometimes they are so fresh, you know what I mean? - like one listened to my heart and when I complained about achey joints she told me that I am very rheumantic, and I didn't even think she was cute!

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

My aunt always liked to brag that my cousin was in exhilerated classes at school!

And then there was a patient's mother who told us her son was having problems because he didn't take his peanut butter balls regularly... (phenobarbitol)

[Gail]

ROFLOL!!! You guys are great!

[D. Allan]

I was just chatting with Mrs Malaprop, and she reminded me that "the early word alway gets the berm;" so getting back to the WOD 'aubade,' she advised me not to trust those artsy, eggs- heads who say it deviated from French and Latin when it is so plainly English! Those inner-lecturals, she says, going around with their thumbs up their noses couldn't smell a devient if it was right in front of them. Anyway, when I posted the 2nd def. above I omitted to say that the 'aubade' is a poem or song of or about lovers "parting at dawn;" this being a Christian Forumn and all. Well, Mrs Malaprop reminded me that it is exploratory of its deviance to have that specified because when the church board heard about it they all said, "OH, BAD!!!" Thus it is plainly of English deviance, and a New England accent is retrained even into the prescient day.

Further more, you all know, I'm sure, so I won't say anything.

On second thought maybe I should or I might be mistaken for not understanding what is on your minds. What's on my mind is how the French want to blame everything on the English, vices-verses even. If Aubade were actually a French word, it would be a different word not English, therefore eksetera (< Gr. eksetarov) and so on..... we see that the "au-" in French means "to the," or "of the" or "in the" for the French can never make up their minds...(hehe)... and the "-bade," means something else. My little French Dictionary says that "Bade" is a fem. pronoun, referring to Baden, a region of Germany. In French then, "aubade" if it means anything is an Expletive meaning "to Germany! (with you!!)." Many Sincere Thanks to you, Mrs Malaprop, for multiplying these deductions you have made a huge addition to the correct division of the truth about something important to somebody somewhere.

[D. Allan]

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Images/Chicago/mech2.jpeg

ululate (UL-yoo-layt, YOOL-yoo-layt), intransitive verb. [ < Latin ululatus, p.p. of ululare, to howl; echoic]

1. To howl, as a dog or a wolf.

2. To wail or lament loudly.

ululant, adj.

ululation, noun.

Ululate is an echoic word imitating the sound of the howling or the wailing which it denotes, as you will understand if in saying the word you make the first syllable to sound for four or five seconds; then say it again louder and higher in pitch sounding the first syllable even longer and letting it drop gradually in pitch and fade away on the last two syllables.

“Voters, some ululating with joy, others hiding their faces in fear, cast ballots in higher-than-expected numbers in Iraq's first multi-party election in half a century.” – Yahoo news story

[D. Allan]

titivate (TIT-uh-vayt), transitive and intransitive verb, also tittivate.

To smarten up; to spruce up.

titivated

titivating

titivation, noun

titivator, noun

[Titivate is perhaps from tidy + the quasi-Latin ending -vate; perhaps tidy + ele-vate, thus to 'tidy-up', elevate one's appearance. When the word originally came into the language, it was written tidivate or tiddivate.]

"It's easy to laugh at a book in which the heroine's husband says to her, "You look beautiful," and then adds, "So stop [size:11pt]titivating yourself."

-- Joyce Cohen, review of To Be the Best, by Barbara Taylor Bradford, New York Times, July 31, 1988

[D. Allan]

If one's vocabulary seems rather dull and commonplace one might begin to titivate it with today's word. Titivation of one's home could involve a new coat of paint on some dingy siding, or replacing stained and worn carpeting. One is a titivator of her car when she washes and vacuums it. Let's not be messy, and grumpy; let's titivate our appearances and our moods so that we may be more pleasing to our friends and families. :)

[D. Allan]

ne.ol.o.gism (nee-OLL-uh-jiz-um), noun: [The French word neologisme, from which the English is borrowed, is made up of the elements neo-, "new" + log-, "word" + -isme, -ism (all of which are derived from Greek).]

1. A new word or expression.

2. A new use of a word or expression.

3. The use or creation of new words or expressions.

4. (Psychiatry) An invented, meaningless word used by a person with a psychiatric disorder.

5. (Theology) A new view or interpretation of a scripture.

related words:

neological, adj.

neologist, noun

neologistic, adj.

neologistical, adj.

neologize, v.i., neologized, neologizing

neology, noun

"If the work is really a holding operation, this will show in a closed or flat quality in the prose and in the scheme of the thing, a logiclessness, if you will pardon the neologism, in the writing." -- Harold Brodkey, "Reading, the Most Dangerous Game", New York Times, November 24, 1985

[D. Allan]

[size:14pt]neologisms

I found these on the internet yesterday:

o meanderthal, meander + Neanderthal , someone ahead of you taking their good old time when you are in a hurry.

o sarcastrophe, sarcasm + catastrophe, when an attempt at humorus sarcasm fails and others are deeply offended.

o spork, spoon + fork , an utensil for eating concave like a spoon and having rudimentary fork-like tines; usually plastic and found at fast-food eateries.

o andropause or viropause, formed along the lines of menopause; loss of virility in men.

o obesogenic, obese + -genic, having a tendency to cause obesitiy.

o Christianese, language used only by or appreciated only by practicing Christians.

o triviata, a collection of trivial things or facts; the word first entered our language as a book title in 1975.

o chatterati, noun, elite members of the chattering classes

o pygmalionism, noun, being in love with one’s own creation. In Greek mythology, Pygmalion created a statue of a female so beautiful he fell hopelessly in love with her, until the Goddess of Love brought the statue to life. George Bernard Shaw wrote a play based on this story which was in its turn the basis of the musical, My Fair Lady.

It would be interesting to see what new words the rest of you have encountered lately.

[there buster]

Reminded me of the Muppets discussing animal operas:

Pigoletto and

La Traviotter

[D. Allan]

Ah! Pigoletto. I would love to hear Miss Piggy in the starring role.

And she would be great in Verdi's Ham -lette!!

[Gail]

So THAT'S what it's called!

Word of the Day: Nephelococcygia (Noun)

Pronunciation: [ne-fê-lê-kak-'si-jee-yê ]

Definition 1: (Literally, "Cloudcuckoosville") Interpreting the shapes of clouds.

Definition 2: La-la land, a dream land cut off from reality.

Usage 2: Nephelococcygia was dreamed up by Aristophanes for his comedy, "The Birds" (414 BC). In this play, two characters turn into birds and immediately begin planning a city (never realized), which they decide to call "Nephelococcygia." Capitalize the word if it refers to the imaginary city. The adjective would be "nephelococcygic," as in "Bertie is suffering nephelococcygic delusions."

Suggested Usage: Here is Geoffrey Smith's test of Nephelococcygia. You are living in Nephelococcygia if you think: (a) "we're here to help you," ( "the new form will make it much easier for you," © "this will only take a minute," or (d) "I have a strategic plan. I know what I'm doing." However, most of those using the word associate it with defining images in cloud banks: "The kids are in the backyard indulging in a bit of nephelococcygia; Forrest is doing essentially the same thing on the living room couch."

Etymology: Greek nephelekokkygia from nephele "cloud" + kokkyx "cuckoo." "Nephele" derives from *nebh- found with the same suffix, -l, in Latin nebula "cloud" and German Nebel "mist, fog." Russian nebo "sky" derives from the same source. Nasalized, this root emerges in Latin nimbus "rain, cloud." "Cuckoo" and Greek "kokkyx" are onomatopoetic (imitative) creations unrelated except through the fact that all cuckoos sing the same song.

—Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com

[D. Allan]

Joseph Dreaming

o.nei.ric (oh-NEYE-rik), adjective, [Oneiric comes from Greek oneiros, "dream."]

Of, pertaining to, or suggestive of dreams; dreamy.

oneirocritic, n., a person who interprets dreams.

oneirocritical, adj., of or having the power of an oneirocritic.

oneirocritically, adv.

oneiromancy, n., the art claiming to foretell the future by the interpretation of dreams.

Oneiros, proper n., an ancient Greek god of dreams, also Oniros.

-Based on Random House Unabridged Dictionary

"Her large images, which are cloaked in an elegant oneiric mist, transport the viewer to an ideal world where bodies seem to have become weightless ghosts of themselves." -- Simona Vendrame, "Nature and the solitary self, translated by Jacqueline Smith", Temaceleste

"Some -- not all -- of Caravaggio's painting uniquely compels you to grope for words… . They're at once coldly precise, voluptuously real and strangely oneiric. -- Peter Robb, "Candid camera", The Guardian, October 20, 2001

[D. Allan]

Word Of The Day quiz 2007.05.13

1. An aubade is :

u. an epithet meaning “to Germany with you!”

t. in French a way of saying “farewell.”

s. poetry or music suitable for greeting the morning.

2. A malapropism is:

r. a very bad word.

q. an inappropriate action.

p. an unintentional wrong use of a word for another which sounds similar, with humorous results.

3. To ululate is to:

o. howl.

n. drool.

m. growl

4. To titivate is to:

l. spruce or tidy up oneself or something.

k. stimulate one’s senses.

j. giggle quietly.

5. A neologism is:

i. a newly-made word.

h. a nervous spasm.

g. a member of the Nazi party.

6. Nephelococcygia is a:

f. an injury occurring when one falls on their ‘behind.’

e. mental abnormality characterized by dreaming about chickens.

d. a fictional city.

7. oneiric is an adjective meaning:

c. unpleasant.

b. unified.

a. dreamlike.

The correct answers spell out the letters spolida ; which we could consider to be a neologism waiting for a meaning. (I can't find it {spolida} in French, Spanish, Italian or Portugese; maybe its a word in Swedish, Dannish, Finnish...?)

[Gail]

Word of the Day: Lagniappe (Noun)

Pronunciation: [lahn-'yahp]

Definition: A gratuity given by a merchant to a customer beyond the value of a purchase; a bonus or additional benefit of any sort.

Usage: Today's word entered US English directly from the language of the Acadians (Cajuns) of Louisiana and has spread rapidly eastward. In 'Life on the Mississippi' (1883) Mark Twain writes, "We picked up one excellent word—a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word 'lagniappe.'" He was so right. The custom of tipping the customer is wide-spread around the world but it must be new in the English-speaking world, since English had to go elsewhere for a word expressing it.

Suggested Usage: Kids, here a way to really impress your parents with your progress in school, "Guess what, Mom? Linda gave me two of her kittens as a lagniappe for taking one of the puppies!" Adults will find uses for it, too, whenever they need a word for a pleasant, unexpected bonus, "Frieda had thoroughly enjoyed the party and seeing the dog bite her boss' leg was the perfect lagniappe to cap the evening off."

Etymology: Louisiana French Creole, from American Spanish la ñapa "the gift, tip" from la "the," derived from Latin illa, feminine of ille "that," originally "yonder." The same pronoun is also the origin of French "le" and "la" which also mean "the." This word traces its root to *al- which we find in alter "other" at the base of English "altercation," "alter ego," and "alternate." In English it emerged as "else." The noun ñapa is even more interesting. It comes from yapa, which means "gift" in the South American Indian language, Quechua, from the verb yapay "to give more."

—Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com

[D. Allan]

grav.id (GRAV-id), adjective [ origin: 1590-1600; < Latin grav(is) burdened, loaded + -idus]

pregnant; carrying developing young or eggs.

related words:

gra.vid.i.ty , noun.

grav.id.ness , noun.

grav.id.ly, adverb

gravida, noun: a pregnant woman

Gravid is a word which one could easily assume to be related to 'grave' , as in a grave or serious situation. To say someone is in the hospital in a very gravid condition is not to say they are in a critical condition, but well on the way to giving birth; and, one would hope, not in a critical condition. The word ‘grave’ derives from the ‘Germanic’ languages and not the ‘romance’ languages.

For the moment the Cap'n Toby lies at rest outside the harbor, and the twelve-inch mackerels that Brian and I are cutting up for lobster bait are ripe, their bellies gravid with either blood-red roe or milt the color of sailors' bones. - Richard Adams Carey, Against the Tide

- based on Random House Unabridged and http://reference.dictionary.com

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Gravida (from Wikipedia)

In medicine, gravidity refers to the number of times a woman has been pregnant.

A gravida is a woman.

A nulligravida or gravida 0 is a woman who has never been pregnant.

A primigravida or gravida 1 is a woman who is pregnant for the first time or has been pregnant one time.

A multigravida or more specifically a gravida 2 (also secundigravida), gravida 3, and so on, is a woman who has been pregnant more than one time.

An elderly primigravida is a woman in her first pregnancy, who is at least 35 years old.

The term gravida is generally coupled with para and abortus to indicate more details of the woman's obstetric history.

Gravid is term used in entomology to describe a mated female insect.

Gravid is term used in biology to describe the condition of a female live bearing fish when carrying young internally.

*************************************************************

It awesome to realize how we can take part in the creation of the future. Even those without physical offspring are gravid with ideas, attitudes, actions of caring and so on, all of which help shape the future of life on this planet.

[bevin]

In medicine, we refer to the GPA of a woman

Gravid: How many pregnancies she has had

Para: How many live births

Abortions: How many natural or induced miscarriages

Or, as the EMT's learn, G.... three times, and P.... twice...

/Bevin

[D. Allan]

So would you call it a GPA of 3.2.1 or a GPA of 66 percent?

[Guest]

Or, as the EMT's learn, G...three times, and P.... twice...

[Halfstep-Denise]

D. Allan and Bevin - The EMT quote and D.Allan's response to that quote are both crude, disgusting and in very bad taste!

You obviously have no regard for the feelings of women!

Halfstep Denise