Word of the Day

[D. Allan]

plication (pli-KAY-sh’n), noun. or plicature (PLIK-eh-choor; PLIK-eh-chehr), nouns:

Both have the same definitions:

1. the act of folding

2. a fold

3. surgery: the folding and suturing tucks in bodily tissue.

[M.E. plicacioun; OFr, < L plicare, to fold]

plicate, plicated, adjectives: folded, tucked or plaited, esp. folded like a paper fan with parallel folds.

plicate, verb: to fold into pleats

plicately, adverb

plicateness, noun

plica, pl. plicae, anatomy, a fold as of skin, muscle, or other tissue

endoscopic plication

“The stoma was then plicated with 3 sutures. Two patients had their gastric pouch plicated near the stoma. All patients to date report feeling full earlier with decreased caloric consumption and subsequent weight loss.” - Michael Schweitzer. Journal of Laparoendoscopic & Advanced Surgical Techniques. August 1, 2004, 14(4): 223-226. doi:10.1089/lap.2004.14.223.

“The prime fact to be noted is the universal plication and crumpling of rocks which were at first nearly horizontal.” - Sir Archibald Geikie, Geographical Evolution (lecture of March 24, 1879) ; anthologized in The Harvard Classics, p. 353, Charles William Eliot, Editor (1910)

“A [mushroom] cap that is pleated, like a skirt or a fan, is said to be plicate.”

- http://www.ilmyco.gen.chicago.il.us/Terms/plica393.html

“The primary function of plicateness in orchid leaves is photosynthetic, providing a large surface area for exposure to light. . . “ - www.orchidspng.com/orfam.html

plicately folded paper fan.

[Gail]

You could have had matching English and French words for the day, as the verb for fold in French is "plier".

[Gail]

"Rhythm helps your two hips move"?????

Just saw that...

[D. Allan]

Thanks for that, Gail! I have several pair of 'pliers'. Handy tools!

[D. Allan]

sough (suhf, sou) noun and verb (rhymes with ‘tough’ or ‘too’)

n.

1. a soft, low, murmuring, sighing, or rustling sound.

2. hence, a rumor (esp. Scotland & N. England)

v.i. to make a sough

[Origin: bef. 900; (v.) ME swoghen, OE sw&#333;gan to make a noise; c. OS sw&#333;gan, OE swégan, Goth –sw&#333;gjan. The noun is c.1381, from the verb. OE. swough, swogh, a sound.]

soughing soughed

soughingly, adverb

soughfully, adverb

soughless, adjective

“Tired as he was, the bleating of the sheep, the clear ring of the bell on Black Bolly, and the faint tinkle of lighter bells on some of the rams, drove away sleep for a while. Accompanied by the sough of the wind through the cedars the music of the bells was sweet, and he listened till he heard no more.” –Zane Grey, The Heritage of the Desert

“The fresh milky odor is quite perceptible, also the perfume of hay from the barn. The perpetual rustle of dry corn-stalks, the low sough of the wind round the barn gables, the grunting of pigs, the distant whistle of a locomotive, and occasional crowing of chanticleers, are the sounds. –Walt Whitman, The Complete Prose Work

“His voice rose very shrill and mad against the regular deep soughing of the swell coiling heavily about the outer face of the sea-wall.” Joseph Conrad, To-Morrow

“The trees about the portal of the chapel moved soughingly in a soft wind. A sad silence was upon the little guarding edifice.” Stephan Crane, The Red Badge of Courage

“This didn’t accord with my experience: as the wind soughed over the heather I saw only a posse of young travelers — indigenous Irish nomads ...” New York Times, May, 18, 2007

“Secessionist whispers have soughed through Vermont for years.” -Bill Kauffman, “Free Vermont”, The American Conservative, Dec. 19, 2005

“I wish the fowk wid visit us,” soughed Lisa. “I’d like fine tae hae a new frock the colour o the lift an anither room tae oor hoose far we could sit on the sabbath, an fine tummlers made o crystal, an….” –Les Wheeler, The Flying Bannock (A German Folk Tale) - http://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/kist/search/display.php?lwee67.dat

“The execution of Jeanie was what all expected would happen; but when the news reached the town of the other parts of the sentence, the wail was as the sough of a pestilence, and fain would the council have got it dispensed with.” John Galt, The Provost

“Whereupon solemn waving of hats; indistinct sough of loyal murmur from the universal Landshut Population; after which, continued to the due extent, they return to their spindles and shuttles again. “ -Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia

“ . . . he kept himself cannily aloof from all sort of town matters; deporting himself with a most creditable sobriety; in so much, that there was at one time a sough that Mr Pittle, the minister, our friend, had put him on the leet for an elder.” John Galt, The Provost

“As for the young ladies, they could na endure him at all, for he had aye the sough and sound of love in his mouth, and a round-about ceremonial of joking concerning the same. . . “ -John Galt, The Provost

“Them and their socialism! There's more gumption in a page of John Stuart Mill than in all that foreign trash. But, as I say, I've got to keep a quiet sough, for the world is gettin' socialism now like the measles. – John Buchan, Mr. Standfast

[D. Allan]

Right: The Anointing of King David

unctuous (UNK –choo-wus, UNGK-choo-us), adjective

This word may feel somewhat slippery at first (it even sounds slippery), but seeing how its various uses relate to one idea, will help one grasp it securely, so it won’t slip back into the deep dark waters. It comes from a Latin verb, “uguere” to anoint, via its past participle “unctus,” anointed, referring to applying an oil or unguent to a sick person; or to a baptism or confirmation. Some Christian churches use “extreme unction,” or “last rites,” for the dying. Unction and unctuous have the same Latin root.

unction : n.

The act of a religious, ceremonial, or healing ritual of anointing

An ointment, oil or salve

Something soothing

Affected or exaggerated earnestness.

unctuous : adj.

An excessively pious or moralistic fervor, especially in an affected manner.

Like an unguent (ointment), fatty, oily, greasy

Having a smooth, slick feel, slightly greasy as certain minerals

Affectedly, insincerely or excessively smooth, suave or ingratiating in manner or speech

The basic idea seems to be about “oil” and its smoothness whether of physical or spiritual or social things . A slice of American, or Swiss cheese has a smoothly unctuous feel to the fingers. Some minerals have an unctuousness about them: feel a piece of coal, a soapstone, graphite – all slightly oily. Salad dressing is like an unguent. Southern fried chicken is a delicious unctuosity! An unctuous complexion would be an oily face. To call a person unctuous is not a compliment. It may mean s/he has an artificial slick-shine of oily sentimentality; or has, in spite of good intentions, an off-putting insincere earnestness; or s/he may be a slick smooth-talking hypocrite 'anointed' with ulterior self-serving motives.

Related words:

unctuously, adverb

unctuousness, noun

unctuosity, noun

unguent , noun

chrism, (criz-uhm) [from Greek] an anointing oil mixed with spices, usually balsam, used in religious rites.

synonyms: unctuous, oily, greasy, unguinous, oleaginous, oleic, unguentary, chrismal, fatty, sebaceous, tallowy, suety, lardy, lardaceous, buttery, soapy, saponaceous, paraffinic, slick, sleek, slippery, flattering, smarmy, smooth, suave, slick, affected, insincere, self-serving, smugly agreeable or earnest, gushy, hypocritical, self-important, sanctimonious, self-righteous, goody-goody, pharisaical .

“The sweet potatoes take on earthiness from sautéed mushrooms, and their sweetness is countered by the unctuousness of seared chicken livers, playing off the tradition of something sweet with something rich. . . “ -Charlie Trotter, New York Times, March 7, 2001

“The tart is then baked to order until the pastry is lightly browned and crisp, the mushrooms unctuously tender. A brush with olive oil and a sprinkling of herbs adds a whiff of immediacy.” – Amanda Hesser, The New York Times, Dec. 3, 1997

“He approached Sean wearing a smile so unctuous it seemed about to slide right off his face.” Naeem Murr, "The Boy"

“I believe this whang-nosed fanatic is a more despicable creature than even Gen. Wild; he is one of the sleek, unctuous kind that tries to cover his rascality under the cloak of religion, but his - (word illegible) comes out too strong for that much patched garment to hide.” – Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865

“But wait. An obstacle lies between them and wedded bliss in the unctuous, smiling person of Robin Williams, who plays a minister with definite ideas about what it takes to make a marriage work...” -A. O. Scott, Movie Review-‘License to Wed’, The New York Time, July 3, 2007

He wanted students who showed ''unctuous rectitude'' as part of his original requirements. –Janet Maslin, New York Times, Nov. 29, 2007

“ 'Fish are friends, not food,’ goes the mantra he repeats in an unctuously imperious drawl whenever he's tempted to gobble up a passing morsel.” Stephen Holden, The New York Times, May 30, 2003

“Vanilla-soaked bread pudding, an imposing cube of unctuosity accompanied by a caramel-swathed scoop of white chocolate gelato, relegates the cheesecake to also-ran status. “ - William Grimes, The New York Times, July 11, 2001

“. . . a very coarse and awkward, if not a very scandalous stroke of business, by unctuous affectation of sympathy with the poor clergy of Darlington and the good cause, . . . “ - Harpers Magazine, May, 1861

‘’ Oglethorpe thought of raclette, a mountain cheese famous in Switzerland and France but almost unknown in England. Raclette is unctuous and pliable where cheddar is dry and crumbly.’’ -Cory Kummer, “The Art of Aging Well” Atlantic Monthly, (Nov. 2007)

[D. Allan]

A blood-red or "sanguine" flower.

sanguine ( SANG-gwin), adjective

1. red, of the color of blood

2. passionate; amorous or quick to fall in love; (medieval physiology) having the warm cheerful temperament and healthy reddish complexion of one who has blood as their dominant bodily humor .

3. cheerfully confident; optimistic

ME,<OF sanguine, < L sanguineus, <sanguis, sanguin, = blood

related:

sanguinely , adv

sanguineness , sanguinity nouns

Medieval physiology had the notion of four humors (fluids) of the body by which they classified maladies and temperaments: sanguine (blood), phlegmatic (phlegm), choleric (yellow bile) or melancholic (black bile). The temperament of the sanguine person was considered to be courageous, hopeful and quick to fall in love. Sanguine still refers to cheerfulness and optimism of the temperament but no longer has a direct reference to medieval physiology.

The English word sanguinary, however, has not been influenced by the theory of the cheerful, amorous sanguine humor or temperament. It is a vicious word. It means “bloodthirsty, bloodstained, flowing with blood, with much murder or carnage.”

‘’ In Arkansas, Mrs. Clinton was perceived as the cold realist to Bill's more sanguine softy.’ She was much more inclined to see people's dark sides,’ Mr. Moore said.” – Mark Leibovich, “The Long Run” New York Times, Dec. 9, 2007

‘’ Sadness is probably more endemic to the human subtext than sanguine spirits, which is why funereal songs like Billie Holiday’s “Gloomy Sunday” strike a universal chord and why Freud conjectured that “ordinary unhappiness” (as opposed to what he called “hysterical misery”) was the best the talking cure could hope to achieve.’’ - Daphne Merkin, “Darkness Invisible” New York Times, Sept. 16, 2007

‘’ The awkwardness is that he isn't even wrong about his impact, and yet you wish for more of the sanguineness that led Nabokov, asked to rank himself in modern literature, to snort, ‘Jolly good view from up here,’ and leave it at that. ‘’ - Tom Carson, “Zimmerman Unbound,” New York Times, Oct. 24, 2004

‘’ He showed the solid principles upon which the enterprise was founded, and the advantage that must attend its success, and the glory it must shed upon the Spanish Crown. Isabella, being warm and generous of nature and sanguine of disposition, was moved by the representations of Juan Perez, and requested that Columbus might be again sent to her.’’ -Frances Jenkins Olcott, Good Stories For Holidays

[D. Allan]

squamous (SKWEY-muhs ), also squamose , adjective:

1. formed of or covered with scales; scaly

2. scalelike, thin and flat

related forms: squamously, squamosely, adverb; squamousness, squamoseness, noun.

1541 from Latin squamosus “covered with scales, scaly.”

M.E. had squame (c. 1385) “a scale” from O.Fr. esquame, from L. squama

“Squamose Krispies, a new breakfast cereal !”

"Skin is composed of two main layers; the outer epidermis overlaying the thicker dermis. The epidermal layer is composed of stratified squamous epithelial tissue."

http://kentsimmons.uwinnipeg.ca/16cm05/16labman05/lb7pg8.htm

“The death knell tolls, then, for dandruff, that little icon of our humanity resting gently on your left shoulder. Scientists have untangled the skeins of its DNA and will doubtless snuff out the ’druff long before it begins to create squamousness of the scalp; ending a quest for a cure begun when Pliny the Elder recommended garlic.” - “Flake Out, Times Online, Nov. 6, 2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article2813952.ece

“For very dry and fissured skin of hands. It [Eucerin hand cream] softens the rough skin surface and prevents its excessive squamousness.” - http://www.docsimon.com/article/eucerin-hand-cream-for-dry-to-very-dry-skin-5-urea-75-ml

“. . . modernists' urgent desire to recover an original wholeness but nevertheless imposing on unpatterned reality the squamousness of the abstracting mind, ...” Alan Wilde, Irony in the Postmodern Age: Toward a Map of Suspensiveness

“Dr. Richard C. Wender, president of the American Cancer Society, said the form of cancer Mrs. Bush had, a squamous cell carcinoma, was far more easily treated than breast cancer, with an overwhelmingly high recovery rate.” -Jim Rutenberg, New York Times, Dec. 20, 2006

“Here commence the land ferns, and those kinds indeed whose so-called capsules open in a valvular manner, just as in the liverworts; . . . the trunk is provided with squamose leaves or lobes, . . . “ -Lorenz Oken, Alfred Tulk, Ray Society, Elements of Physiophilosophy, p. 292, (1847)

“Carapace hardly longer than broad across eyes, densely and finely squamosely sculptured, the scales not hispid;. . . “ -M. Beier, Insects of Micronesia

[D. Allan]

Comedian Will Ferrell who coined the word.

dignitude ( DIG-neh-tood ), noun

1. an attempt to act with dignity successful in the actor’s eyes, but undignified to others. -

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dignitude Feb, 12, 2005

2. a blend of dignity and “attitude” (with undignified results)

“I'd add one more, inspired by George W. Bush, who has himself made important contributions to the language (embetter, misunderestimate). But the comedian Will Ferrell, in the role of President Bush, gave us dignitude ("As President, George W. Bush carried himself with great dignitude"). Dignitude is a blend of dignity and attitude; with a sort of surfer-dude gravitas, it manages the remarkable feat of puffing out its chest while not taking itself seriously. More dignitude is what America needs, and if we have to throw out vacuous or supercilious to make room, then so be it.” - Cullen Murphy, Innocent Bystander, The Atlantic Monthly, March, 2003

“Restoring dignitude to the White House.” Oct. 19, 2006, http://derenegade.blogspot.com/2006/10/restoring-dignitude-to-white-house.html

[D. Allan]

spicule (SPIK-yool)

1. a small or minute, slender, sharp-pointed body or part; a small, needlelike crystal, process, or the like.

2. Zoology. one of the small, hard, calcareous or siliceous bodies that serve as the skeletal elements of various marine and freshwater invertebrates.

3. Astronomy. a jet of gas several hundred miles in diameter rising from the sun's surface to heights of 3000 to 6000 miles (4800 to 9600 km).

- Random House Unabridged

related: spicular, spiculate, spiculated , adjectives ; spiculation, noun

[Origin: 1775–85; < L sp&#299;culum spearhead, arrowhead, bee stinger, equiv. to sp&#299;c(a) ear of grain, spica + -ulum –ule]

“Spicules of fear were forming in his mind.”

“Presently, too, a new wonder for a midsummer afternoon--a snow scene all around, and spicules of ice settling and remaining frozen on the coatsleeve.” - John M. Bacon, The Dominion of the Air: The Story of Aerial Navigation

"The usual treatment for spicules is a local injection (around the spicule), with a good response rate (around 70%). We have operated on some cases, with a good result." Dr. Maigne, http://www.coccyx.org/whatisit/spur.htm

“The deep-sea sponge Euplectella, or the Venus flower basket, grows attractive glassy fibres, called spicules. Now, researchers led by Joanna Aizenberg of Bell Laboratories in New Jersey have shown that these are superb optical fibres.” - Jonathan Sarfati, http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v26/i2/optics.asp

“The objective of this paper is to propose a method to automatically detect spicule shadows in mammograms. The method is consisted of two steps, enhancement and feature selection. First, spicule shadows are enhanced . . . . Second, a concentration expression is given with gray levels and two features are selected for recognition of tumors with spicules.” - H. Jiang, W. Tiu, S. Yamamoto, S.-I. Iisaku, "Detection of spicules in mammograms," icip, p. 520, 1997 International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP'97) - Volume 3, 1997

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/porifera/porskel.html pictures of spicules as sponge skeletons

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040802.html a great picture of solar spicules from NASA

[D. Allan]

schlub ( shluhb ), noun, slang , also zhlub, rhymes with club, and grub

someone clumsy, stupid or unattractive

[Yiddish, from Polish Zhlob, trough, blockhead.]

related: adj. schlubbish, schlubby, adv: schlubbishly; adj. zhlubbish, zhlubby, adv: zhlubbishly

‘According to Sol Steinmetz, et al., in ''Meshugganery,'' an informal dictionary of Yiddishisms, the word is spelled schlub and means ''a crude individual lacking in social skills and blessed with insensitivity, clumsiness and no manners.'' A less pejorative sense is ''oaf, bumpkin.'' A third sense, similar to nebbish, less often used, is ''a person of no color'': the lexicographers refer to an ad placed in the personals by a schlub reading: ''Sweet Jewish guy, 40. No skeletons, no heavy baggage. No personality, either.'' In its form as a modifier, zhlubby is synonymous with the British naff, ''unfashionable, tasteless.'' ‘ – William Safire, New York Times, Oct. 05, 2003,

''Lads'' describes the life of a hapless schlub in romantic affairs, a charlatan in professional matters and a loser in the game of life. – David Carr, New York Times, 14 Sept. 2004

“Although the lexicographers at M-W classify as “slang” such terms as schlub (stupid person), schlump (sloppy person) and schmuck and schmo (both jerks), they have accepted as Standard English the noun schlock (something of low quality) and the verb schmooze (to converse informally, also “to chat in a friendly and persuasive manner especially so as to gain favor, business or connections” — that last a superb definition of a verb that filled a void in business communication).” -William Safire, New York Times, 16 Sept. 2007

‘ Ted Friedman, author of Electric Dreams: Computers in American Culture, suggests that the emergence of the schlub and geek as heroes “has to do with the rising influence of technology”, whereas, he says, “when I was in high school, to be a nerd or a geek was just shameful and not valued”. ‘ – Christopher Goodwin, ‘The sorry state of masculinity in American movies’, timesonline.co.uk

[D. Allan]

We’wha (1849 – 96) a Zuni berdache, of New Mexico, dressed in women’s clothing, and holding a ritual vessel.

berdache (ber-DASH ), noun

in some Native American Indian tribes: a man who adopts the dress and social roles traditionally assigned to women.

[The older term "berdache" is a generic term used primarily by anthropologists, a loan from French bardache , and is frequently rejected as offensive by Native Americans. It has been replaced by two – spirit or badé.]

related: berdachism , noun

Many Native Americans tribes thought of gender as a trait that is acquired rather than being inborn, and is not limited to male and female but that there is an ‘alternative’ third gender with two spirits, male and female in one body: a berdache. They were considered spiritually gifted, and were valued by the people of the tribe as a sacred trust given them by the Great Spirit. The women of the family appreciated them for they could do more and harder work in the household than females, with no down time for pregnancy.

“In my book "The Zuni Man-Woman," I tell the story of a male berdache from Zuni, named We'wha, who spent six months in Washington in 1886 as the guest of the anthropologist Matilda Stevenson. All Washington -- even President Grover Cleveland, who received We'wha in the White House -- assumed that this six-foot-tall, muscular Zuni was an Indian "princess." ‘ WILL ROSCOE, San Francisco , New York Times, Letter to the Editor, June 16, 1991

links:

http://www.geocities.com/westhollywood/stonewall/3044/zunibook.html - Book review of “The Zuni Man-Woman”

http://staff.jccc.net/scorbett01/ch8/zuni_berdache.htm Early anthropology, Matilda Stevenson

http://depts.washington.edu/chid/intersections.php?article=1994c Historical Overview

[D. Allan]

pome (pohm), noun

1. a type of fruit with excess flesh separated from central seeds in the ‘core’.

2. a mispronunciation of the word “poem.”

3. Australia, acronym : Prisoner Of Mother England

A pome is not something made by a poet! It is a good word to use in your next po-em , however. Pome rhymes with brome, comb, chrome, dome, foam, home, loam, Nome, roam, Shalom, tome, . . . .

Just one bite of the pome

And poor Eve lost her home. . .

In botany a pome is a type of fruit with a large area of edible flesh surrounding the seeds in the center. Apples, hawthorns, rose hips, pears, quince are all pomes. Other types of fruits are berries and drupes.

related: pomelike

“Sometimes I feel so pomelike – with an excess of flesh!”

“Lord Alfred Tennyson was a celebrated poet, and he wrote a lot of beautiful pomes with long hair. His greatest pome is called ‘The Idle King.’ He was made a Lord, but he was a good man. . . ‘ “ "School Boy’s Estimate of Tennyson," The New York Times, Jul 06, 1905

“Sensing this receptive mood beneath the surface pieties of his time, Whitman [poet Walt Whitman], with help from friends like Clapp, became a tireless self-promoter. Long before Norman Mailer and Truman Capote appeared on television talk shows in the 1960's or Tom Wolfe tried on his first white suit, he constructed an ''image'' of himself. Careful (according to Alcott) to pronounce the word poem as the monosyllable ''pome,'' he cultivated his reputation as ''one of the roughs.'' –Andrew Delbanco, ‘Barbaric Yawp’ New York Times 22 Aug. 1999

“. . . , explaining that he is proud to be an Australian whose grandfather emigrated as a ''POME,'' a prisoner of Mother England.” John J. O’Connor, New York Times, 20 May 1984

[LynnDel]

Wow, something new every day - so much variety, and so impressively presented! Thank you!

[D. Allan]

Thank YOU, LynnDel!

Have you any cool words that entrance you?

[D. Allan]

spume (spyoom ) rhymes with fume

1. noun: foam, froth or scum

2. verb : to foam, to froth, become bubbly

[[Origin: 1300–50; ME < L sp&#363;ma foam, froth]

adjectives: spumous, spumy

synonyms : bubbles, froth, suds, spray, head, fluff

Spume can be found not only at the sea side but in our homes, too: spumy bubble baths, foaming dishwater, spumous boiling jelly scum, shaving spume; and in the gardens spittle-bug spume on plant stems.

“Swooning patchouli, fragrancy that clings –

Seeking to drug our senses to their sway:

To me more potent is the spume that flings

The tang and tingle of the clean salt spray.” - Richard Le Gallienne

“. . . and presently Dick found that they had crossed the whole width of the beach, and were now fighting above the knees in the spume and bubble of the breakers.” - Robert Louis Stevenson, Black Arrow

“. . . there was a popping sound, then a spume of foam from the neck of a Champagne bottle. ''And what exactly are we celebrating?'' Alice asked, . . . “ – Ian Rankin, New York Times Magazine, June 03, 2007

“ . . . I prefer to sit alone in the dark and think. Chattering young things about me, with nothing but foam and spume in their heads, on their tongues, would drive me mad. Of a surety they would drive me mad-so mad that I will spit into every clam shell, make faces at the moon, and bite my veins and howl." -Jack London, Jerry of the Islands

“And there had they arrived, where with his spume The horse was making his rich bridle white. . . “ - Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso

[D. Allan]

calidity (kah-LIH-dih-tee ), noun (obsolete)

heat

[L. calidus, from calere to be hot.]

related words:

calid (KAL- id?), adj . Hot; burning; ardent. [Obs.] Bailey.

caliduct, noun , A pipe or duct used to convey a heating medium such as hot air, steam or water.

Synonyms: heat, caloric, hotness; temperature, warmth, warmness, calefaction, fervor, calidity (obs) torridity; incalescense (obs), incandescence; glow, flush, fever

Dictionaries claim the word is obsolete, yet there are modern usages, I’ve found. The most useful might be as an antonym to sexual “frigidity.” I believe this is the usage of St. Thomas Aquinas, and at least implied in the quote from James Buel below.

“The male is the agent in procreation, and the female is the patient, wherefore greater calidity is required in the male than in the female for the act of procreation. Hence the frigidity which renders the man impotent would not disable the woman.” - St. Thomas Aquinas, The Summa Theologica , Literally translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Online Edition Copyright 2008 by Kevin Knight, http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5058.htm

“There seems to be no maximum age. Although old persons, says St. Thomas, do not have sufficient calidity to procreate, they have enough for carnal union.” Eugene Edward Slaughter, Virtue According to Love, in Chaucer, (pub. 1957)

“He was in every respect a lady’s man; symmetrical in form, with handsome features and attractive ways, but carrying in his veins the passions engendered by tropical calidity, no barrier was high enough to keep him out of pastures fruitful with opportunity.” - James William Buel, Mysteries and Miseries of America’s Great Cities Embracing New York, p. 172 (1883)

“The magistrate’s face was damp and swollen, the fever radiating from him like the calidity from a bellows-coaxed blaze.” -Robert McCammon, Speaks the Nightbird (pub. 2007)

“Day and night the land was oppressed by the same stifling heat, a sweltering calidity possessing the characteristics of a steam-laundry, . . .” –Guy Boothby, My Strangest Case (pub. 2007)

“To mitigate its heat, the author suggests starting with just a half a teaspoon of cayenne in a glass of eight ounces of lukewarm water (or even less if desired). Have another glass of just water nearby as drinking cold water after the cayenne drink will help mitigate the calidity of the drink's after effects.” – Glenn Reschke, http://ezinearticles.com/?Cayenne-Pepper...?&id=391768

“Subterranean caliducts have been introduced.” – Evelyn , Webster’s 1913 Dictionary

[D. Allan]

numeracy, noun: the ability to reason with numbers and other mathematical concepts

numerate, adjective: possessing numeracy

innumerate, adjective: unfamiliar with mathematical concepts and methods; unable to use math.

innumerate, noun: an innumerate person

innumeracy, noun: being innumerate

Numeracy is a contraction of the phrase “numerical literacy.” If most were as “literate” with numbers as with words there might be a “Number of the Day” thread on this forum in addition to the “Word of the Day!” To many, those of us afflicted with innumeracy, Mathematics is a foreign language spoken in Mathemania. (By the way, does anyone know the capital city of Mathemania?)

“Here is another example of the ubiquitous innumeracy that is gripping this country. . . .

The secretary of defense gave the president his daily briefing. He concluded by saying:

‘Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed.’

‘Oh No!" the president exclaimed. "That's Terrible!’

His staff was stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sat, his head in his hands. Finally, the president looked up and asked, ‘Just how many is a brazillion?’ quoted from http://www.ilstu.edu/~gcramsey/Innumer.html

“. . . several aspects of what might now be called middle-class values changed significantly from the days of hunter gatherer societies to 1800. Work hours increased, literacy and numeracy rose, and the level of interpersonal violence dropped. –Nicholas Wade, New York Times, Aug. 07, 2007

“For 15 years, James R. Newman, a lawyer with a love for mathematics and philosophy, collected essays that he hoped would help innumerate humanists better appreciate the esoteric art. The result was a four-volume collection that includes Alan Turing on machine intelligence, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrodinger on quantum theory, Gregor Mendel on the mathematics of heredity, Henri Poincare on mathematical creativity and Thomas Robert Malthus on the calculus of hunger. –George Johnson, New York Times, May 25, 1989

Links:

GARY C. RAMSEYER'S FIRST INTERNET GALLERY OF STATISTICS JOKES

http://www.ilstu.edu/~gcramsey/Gallery.html (you have to paste this one in)

Super-impossible math questions.

http://www.ringsurf.com/ring_browser.php?id=53261

[Gail]

Quote:

Finally, the president looked up and asked, ‘Just how many is a brazillion?’

Priceless!

[D. Allan]

brusque also brusk (bruhsk; esp. Brit. broosk), adjective

Abrupt, curt in manner or speech; impolitely blunt

brusquely, adverb

brusqueness, noun

brusquerie, noun

Synonyms: unceremonious, short, curt, gruff, peremptory, rude

Quotations:

“Outraging the sensibilities of fellow conservatives is a thing I do not want to do. When I do it, it's through carelessness. I shall try to be more careful. Honest, but polite. And not too brusque.” - John Derbyshire, National Review online, March 01, 2006

“There was much less talk in the working-class homes. Parents were more likely to issue brusque orders, not give explanations..” –joeo, -http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2006/11/do_americans_overparent.php

“After he had been called back for encore after encore — a half-dozen by the end — the crowd still stood and roared. Mr. Sokolov finally retreated, as he had arrived, expressionless, with a brusque nod, bent slightly at the waist, one hand fastened behind his back like a captain on the deck of his ship, facing into a nasty head wind.” – Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times, April 17, 2008

“The train halted at the Turkish border town of Kapikule, where a customs official brusquely ordered us outside into a freezing downpour. It was 4:30 a.m.” Robert D. Kaplan, The Atlantic Online, July 15, 1998

“. . . there was a brusqueness, a savage contempt in his manner, that made Gudrun's blood flare up, and made Loerke keen and mortified. For Gerald came down like a sledge-hammer with his assertions, anything the little German said was merely contemptible rubbish.” -D. H. Lawrence, Women in Love

“. . . and he was almost fierce in his brusqueness when any one asked him a question about his son.” –George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss

“The door was opened brusquely. A woman appeared, her eyes flashing, and remained standing on the threshold.” –Guy De Maupassant, A Queer Night in Paris

“We borrowed "brusque" from French in the 1600s. They, in turn, had borrowed it from Italian, where it was "brusco" and meant "tart." It could suggest something good when used of wine, but it could also refer to a sour disposition. French "brusque" in the 1600s meant "brisk and lively," and "vin brusque" was pleasantly sharp, effervescent wine. But "brusque" ultimately comes from "bruscus," the Medieval Latin name for butcher's broom, a shrub whose bristly leaf-like twigs have long been used for making brooms. In the end, the good senses were swept aside in English (as well as in French). "Brusque" came to denote a harsh and stiff manner -- which is just what you might expect of a word bristling with associations to stiff, scratchy brooms.” - http://osdir.com/ml/culture.language.word-of-the-day/2003-11/msg00017.html

[D. Allan]

colloquy (KOL-uh-kwee), noun

1. a conversation, dialogue,

2. an organized public discussion or forum on a special subject

[Latin colloquium; formed of col- ‘with’ + -loqui ‘to speak’ ]

related words:

colloquial, adj. of or relating to conversation

colloquist, noun speaker

colloquium , noun a usually academic meeting at which specialists deliver addresses on a topic or on related topics and then answer questions relating to them. A religious colloquy to settle differences of doctrine or dogma, is also called a colloquium.

She would have liked to sit there, drinking more tea, and continuing to talk of herself to Rosedale. But the old habit of observing the conventions reminded her that it was time to bring their colloquy to an end, and she made a faint motion to push back her chair.” - Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth

“It was such a law, not so superfluous then, that sent Mirabeau to the Gardens of Saint-Cloud, under cloak of darkness, to that colloquy of the gods; and thwarted many things. Happily and unhappily there is no Mirabeau now to thwart.” - Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution

“In his own experience, prayer, associated with neither temple nor altar, was an intimate, familiar colloquy between his soul and God. To any one with stiff and formal attitudes in religion, Jeremiah's prayers are even today positively sacrilegious. He argued with God, questioning him – ‘Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?’ . . . “ - Harry Emerson Fosdick, A Guide To Understanding The Bible

“...Germany's best-known contemporary authors, and Miss Oates, the American novelist and teacher, were participating in a colloquy Sunday evening on ''the writer's responsibility in an endangered world.'' - Herbert Mitgang, New York Times, 08 March 1983

“A related matter is what might be called the level of language in a translation. How formal and literary should the language be, as opposed to informal and colloquial? One answer is that ideally the English should mirror the level of the original Hebrew or Greek -- which clearly varies from book to book and sometimes from passage to passage.” -Barry Hoberman, The Atlantic Monthly, Feb. 1985

“Talk story about colloquialisms in Washington, D.C. Washington is a city with a language all its own--a jargon-studed dialect that contributes mightily to the view of most Americans that their capital is a foreign country, if not another planet. In Washington, "appropriate" is used mainly as a verb…” – John Heilemann, The New Yorker, June 09, 1997

“SHOUTS & MURMURS Casual about a clothing catalogue as it would be if written by playwright David Mamet, known for his tough, colloquial dialogue. OUR FLANNEL SHIRTS ARE AS WARM AS A CUP OF COCOA!” -Frank Cammuso, The New Yorker, May 09, 1994

[D. Allan]

adumbrate ( a-DUHM-breyt, AD-uhm-breyt ) transitive verb

1. to give a faint shadow or vague resemblance; to sketch or disclose partially

2. to prefigure; foreshadow; give a vague indication of what is to come

3. to shadow or obscure; overshadow

[L. adumbro, to shade, from umbra, a shade. –Webster’s 1828]

synonyms: hint, insinuate, imply, give an inkling of, foreshow, presage, foreshadow, predict, reflect, figure, embody, exemplify, body forth, personate, illustrate, prefigure, pretypify; darken, obscure, shade, dim, tone down, overcast, obfuscate, obumbrate, becloud, bedim bedarken, cast gloom

related:

adumbration noun

adumbrative, adjective

adumbrant, adjective, (John Ash’s dictionary, 1795)

adumbratively, adverb

adumbral, adjective: shadowy; shady

“Mr. Morris here seems primarily concerned with structure, how dance can echo and adumbrate musical form.” -John Rockwell, New York Times, March 09, 2006

“. . . what new marvels the battery might reveal. The least imaginative man could see that here was an invention that would be epoch-making, but the most visionary dreamer could not even vaguely adumbrate the real measure of its importance.” - Henry Smith Williams, A History of Science – Vol. III

“I might call it gigantic - tentacled - proboscidian - octopus-eyed - semi-amorphous - plastic - partly squamous and partly rugose - ugh! But nothing I could say could even adumbrate the loathsome, unholy, non-human, extra-galactic horror and hatefulness and unutterable evil of that forbidden spawn of black chaos and illimitable night.” - Howard Philips Lovecraft, Out of the Aeons

“In the lady, too, willing to marry her parchment-bound suitor for the sake of co-operating in his abstruse mental labours, we have a faint adumbration of the simple-minded Dorothea.” -George Eliot, Blind Mathilde

“The supreme purpose of the Christian is the imitation of Christ. That is the decisive clue to the concrete adumbration of the future.” – Julian Norris Hartt, Theological Method and Imagination

“’Twould serve but to torment

Me, whose is such content,

That weak were words and all inadequate

A tittle of my bliss to adumbrate.” -Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron

“In passing from Plato to Aristotle, we are conscious of a marked change of atmosphere. Instead of the deeply poetic temperament, which sees all things in relation to a unitary ideal, fuses them to form a single picture, and endeavors, by all sorts of partial lights, to adumbrate the infinite and unspeakable, we have what is more closely allied to the scientific type of mind,. . . “ –Arthur Kenyou Rogers, A Student’s History of Philosophy (1921)

This picture (below) illustrates well the word adumbrate. Notice the great difference between the adumbrating shadow and the reality of the ice-covered wire.

[Jeannieb43]

I LOVE words!

And I love learning these new words!

Thank you, thank you D.Allen for this column.

[Do you use all these words in your own active vocabulary??]

If so, you must be an interesting conversationalist.

[D. Allan]

No, I don't talk much, Jeannie, and just use whatever words come to mind at the time. But one never knows when just such an obscure word may be the precise one needed to express lucidly some idea that might otherwise remain adumbral to one's fellow colloquists.

Usually it is better to use more familiar words if they will do the job. Like: "You never know when some strange word might be just the one to make your conversation a pane of glass, so your listeners or readers can clearly see what's in your imagination."

But for reading it is good to know many words in order to see through some adumbral writing!

Thanks, I really appreciate your comments!

-dAb

[Gail]

So many words, so little time!