1. The word must be a word you do not use and have not used in the past, to the best of your knowledge.
2. The word must be well established in English, and not a recent borrowing or a recent coin or portmanteau. The word "portmanteau" is an example of an acceptable borrowing because it has been in use in English for a long time. Slightly archaic words are fine, but they must still be usable in modern English.
3. The word must not be overly technical or field specific; ie: no jargon.
My weird word of the day is: perspicacious, adj, having a ready insight into and understanding of things. "This movie offers quite a lot to think about for the perspicacious viewer."
What is your weird word of the day?
Posted by Wendybird (Member # 84) on :
I'll play!
My word is: autoschediastic, adj. meaning done on the spur of the moment or improvised. "My weekend trip to the Bahamas was purely autoschediastic."
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
Wendybird how long is a long time ago?
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Perhaps related to earlier jolt head "a big, stupid head" (1533).
Big, stupid head? Huh? How does that make any sense, in any context?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
What, you've never heard 5 year olds taunting each other?
"You smell like dog poop!"
"You're a big stupid head!"
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I have heard that. How do you leap from "you're a big stupid head" to "The economic stimulus package is intended to give the economy a jolt by encouraging consumer spending"?
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
I think you answered your own question.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Someone who's been rattled or "jolted" hard enough is a bit stupid? Hence, a jolt head? You know, nowadays they'd prosecute the parents; back then, they just called the kid a jolt head.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
I'm afraid it still violates the first rule, although you are using an archaic meaning, the common meaning applies, and it is a word you have probably used.
Weird Word rejected.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
My Weird Word of the Day: Leman: Noun, A lover or sweetheart, esp. an illicit lover or mistress. (Archaic).
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: I'm afraid it still violates the first rule, although you are using an archaic meaning, the common meaning applies, and it is a word you have probably used.
Weird Word rejected.
But, I really don't use the word "jolt". Not that I recall. I've heard other people using it, but I don't think I do.
In fact, I'm sure I don't. I challenge you to find one instance (outside of this thread) of me using that word.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
Common, you've never jolted out of bed, or jolted for the door, or been afraid of getting an electric jolt? Highly doubtful.
Posted by Wendybird (Member # 84) on :
quote:Originally posted by T:man: Wendybird how long is a long time ago?
Hmm lets see. I was one of the originals back when the forum was at Big Mouth Lion (or something like that). I honestly don't know what my original join date was but sometime in 1997 or so? When they transferred everything over to this forum I guess they didn't have a date for me so they put A Long Time Ago and since I don't remember either I just left it!
Posted by Wendybird (Member # 84) on :
Okay, my word for the day:
Drazel: meaning a slut or a vagabond wench. Dude, she's such a drazel.
I think this word should come back into fashion. I work at a high school. Maybe if I use it enough people will catch on? LOL
Posted by lobo (Member # 1761) on :
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: Common, you've never jolted out of bed, or jolted for the door, or been afraid of getting an electric jolt? Highly doubtful.
So we not only can't have used the word, but now we can't have done what the word is??
It is your thread, but you, my friend, are a word nazi...
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I've synonymed! Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
In PUBLIC?!?
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
truc·u·lence (trŭk'yə-ləns) n. 1) A disposition or apparent disposition to fight, especially fiercely. 2) Ferociously cruel actions or behavior.
A couple of months ago, two of my WoW guildies were in an argument and one of them used this word. I had to look it up. I've been looking for an opportunity to use it since then, but haven't found one yet. Which I'm glad of, because I've just now realized that I would have pronounced it incorrectly.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
I object to the rule that specifies you can't have used it. If it's a cool word, of course I'm gonna use it!
Horripilated: adj. With hair standing on end from fright.
And, yes, I've used it.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: I've synonymed!
Posted by Vadon (Member # 4561) on :
I've wanted to use this word, but I haven't found the opportunity.
Defenestrate - v. To throw out of a window.
Posted by C3PO the Dragon Slayer (Member # 10416) on :
I love that word.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
I heard that recently on, I think, NPR. It's a great word.
These are the kinds of words I was looking for- words with general meanings that you never hear.
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
quote:Originally posted by Vadon: I've wanted to use this word, but I haven't found the opportunity.
Defenestrate - v. To throw out of a window.
Fenster is German for window... *goes to look up the origin of defenestrate*
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Pulchritude - it means beauty.
To me, the word sounds like it should be describing something that's rotting. I'm glad it's not used but rarely.
Posted by Reshpeckobiggle (Member # 8947) on :
Bourgeoisie. I never used it because I didn't know how it was pronounced, and when I finally realized how it was pronounced, I refused to ever say it because I'm not secure enough in my sexuality to ever chance having someone hear that word come from my mouth. I'll make out with a dude first.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
It also has a strongly pro-Marxist connotation, so there is rarely call for using the word in anything but a discussion about Marxism- which for me doesn't come up often.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Vadon: I've wanted to use this word, but I haven't found the opportunity.
Defenestrate - v. To throw out of a window.
I've used it in my nursing notes. I get to sneak all kinds of good words into my nursing notes, and when my boss asks what they mean, I can tell her to look them up.
"Copious copralalia" was a good one, too.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I was over the moon when I discovered to word "merdivore" 15 years ago.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
Tart: a skank....
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
quote:Originally posted by Noemon: I was over the moon when I discovered to word "merdivore" 15 years ago.
Hm, that looks yucky.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by T:man: Tart: a skank....
(To Doh, a Dear)
Tart, a skank, a female skank
Ho, a girl who ***** for drugs
Pimp, a man, who sells these girls
John, a guy who can't get laiiiidd
Cops, the guys who watch it allll
Tricks, just want to have some fuuunnnn
and that should bring, us, back, to Tart!
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
What is the sexual connotation of Bourgeoisie out of curiosity? The urban dictionary and the normal dictionaries don't come up with anything for me.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
How about Gibbous. No that is not the Governor of Nevada. I saw a beautiful one this morning at 4:30, a Waxing Gibbous. I'm a little surprised that we don't use this one. It's a phase of the moon that is bigger than a quarter but not yet full. (waining gibbous would be smaller than full but not yet to the quarter)
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sean Monahan:
quote:Originally posted by Noemon: I was over the moon when I discovered to word "merdivore" 15 years ago.
Hm, that looks yucky.
It sure does. Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: What is the sexual connotation of Bourgeoisie out of curiosity? The urban dictionary and the normal dictionaries don't come up with anything for me.
I believe it has a more political connotation, but the sexual connotation would follow from the word's invocation of conventionality and materialism. So Bourgeois ideas about sex would be boring and conventional.
If you were asking about gender, then bourgeoisie is masculine, and bourgeoise is feminine, which is in the Oxford English Dictionary, but hardly ever used.
Posted by Wendybird (Member # 84) on :
Here's a fun word.... use this one at work and see what happens.
Calamistrate - from the Latin word meaning curling iron - to curl one's hair.
This morning I calamistrated.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Thats possible, but it doesn't seem to fit Resh's use of it. (i.e. Resh doesn't feel secure enough with boring and conventional sex, that he would rather "make out with a dude first"?)
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Orincoro, I love your tart poem. But I really think you missed "ti". I keep counting them and getting frustrated. I'll pay you to add one more. Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
PSI T, I had the same thing happen. It's very frustrating to my musical brain.
Once, my dad played on piano the lead-in part (the fifths) to Thus Spake Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, which of course we all know as the 2001 movie theme. He built it up to a huge crescendo, then just walked away and left it hanging without resolving it with those final two chords. He was always doing weird musical stuff like that, to be funny. They should have inducted Dad into the hall of fame of the department of musical pathology.
Oh, and when he practiced trombone he often played Bach things, which sound great with just a single melodic line, and which are very challenging on the trombone, making them good pieces to use for practice. He had a fixed habit, though, of playing some horribly wrong note for the very last note. It was apparently something he just had to do. I guess it would have killed him to play the right note for the last note of a piece. I heard them that way so often that the right note would have sounded wrong, I think.
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
Technically, it sounds to me like "fa" is the one that's missing.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by PSI Teleport: Orincoro, I love your tart poem. But I really think you missed "ti". I keep counting them and getting frustrated. I'll pay you to add one more.
I did know that, but I just got to ti, and couldn't think of anything, and then realized I wasn't confined to a major scale, so I gave up.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: He had a fixed habit, though, of playing some horribly wrong note for the very last note. It was apparently something he just had to do. I guess it would have killed him to play the right note for the last note of a piece. I heard them that way so often that the right note would have sounded wrong, I think.
It's actually very common for classical and especially Baroque players to introduce one false note into a performance, or their "interpretation" of a piece to make it unique, and also because there is a long held superstition that no performance of Bach can be perfect. The reasoning there is, I suppose, don't try. I add a note when I play one of the cello suites on guitar- just one note, just a habit.
Posted by lobo (Member # 1761) on :
one ping, one ping only...
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
Can you me give a ping Vacilly? One Ping only please...
Posted by Herblay (Member # 11834) on :
Tumescent.
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro:
quote:Originally posted by PSI Teleport: Orincoro, I love your tart poem. But I really think you missed "ti". I keep counting them and getting frustrated. I'll pay you to add one more.
I did know that, but I just got to ti, and couldn't think of anything, and then realized I wasn't confined to a major scale, so I gave up.
Or you could remove one and make it pentatonic. Posted by Reshpeckobiggle (Member # 8947) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: Thats possible, but it doesn't seem to fit Resh's use of it. (i.e. Resh doesn't feel secure enough with boring and conventional sex, that he would rather "make out with a dude first"?)
I don't think you got the joke.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sean Monahan:
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro:
quote:Originally posted by PSI Teleport: Orincoro, I love your tart poem. But I really think you missed "ti". I keep counting them and getting frustrated. I'll pay you to add one more.
I did know that, but I just got to ti, and couldn't think of anything, and then realized I wasn't confined to a major scale, so I gave up.
Or you could remove one and make it pentatonic.
Rapscallion!
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Uxorious: [uhk-sawr-ee-uhs, -sohr-, uhg-zawr-, -zohr-] –adjective doting upon, foolishly fond of, or affectionately submissive toward one's wife.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
unctuous |ˈə ng (k) ch oōəs| adjective 1 (of a person) excessively or ingratiatingly flattering; oily : he seemed anxious to please but not in an unctuous way. 2 (chiefly of minerals) having a greasy or soapy feel.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
quote: I'm a little surprised that we don't use this one. It's a phase of the moon that is bigger than a quarter but not yet full.
I use gibbous all the time.
quote:I've wanted to use this word, but I haven't found the opportunity.
Defenestrate - v. To throw out of a window.
Take a literature course where they read and discuss Flannery O'Connor's "Wise Blood."
My word is "Omphaloskeptic" - one who contemplates his belly button.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
valetudinarian: 1. an invalid. 2. a person who is excessively concerned about his or her poor health or ailments. –adjective 3. in poor health; sickly; invalid. 4. excessively concerned about one's poor health or ailments. 5. of, pertaining to, or characterized by invalidism.
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
I don't know if it counts as a weird word, but I've never used it, to my recollection: dither (adj., a highly nervous, excited or agitated state). Also, just learned that one meaning of the verb form is to shiver or tremble.
Now that I've spent time thinking about this, I'm sure that the word will work it's way into my vocab soon. Someone will surely be all in a dither in the next couple of days. I don't see myself using it as a word for shiver, though. "She dithered fearfully"?
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
From wikipedia (and the meaning of dither that has a common modern usage):
quote:…one of the earliest [applications] of dither came in World War II. Airplane bombers used mechanical computers to perform navigation and bomb trajectory calculations. Curiously, these computers (boxes filled with hundreds of gears and cogs) performed more accurately when flying on board the aircraft, and less well on ground. Engineers realized that the vibration from the aircraft reduced the error from sticky moving parts. Instead of moving in short jerks, they moved more continuously. Small vibrating motors were built into the computers, and their vibration was called dither from the Middle English verb "didderen," meaning "to tremble." Today, when you tap a mechanical meter to increase its accuracy, you are applying dither, and modern dictionaries define dither as a highly nervous, confused, or agitated state. In minute quantities, dither successfully makes a digitization system a little more analog in the good sense of the word. – Ken Pohlmann, Principles of Digital Audio[1]
Posted by Starsnuffer (Member # 8116) on :
The main use of dither I would use is: "That woman just dithers on" (meaning she keeps talking when it would probably be best to stop, and she's talking "nervously" as your definition suggsets).
I too use gibbous(what a great word).
Oh, this one's from balderdash, but totally usable in everyday life: Fubsy (Fuhb-zee) adj. Pleasantly short and plump. example: That gerbil is so fubsy and cute!
I also love the word canonize. I enjoy using it as "to be shot from a cannon," and knowing that I know what it really means also.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
Starsnuffer, the weird word of the day can't be your pet weird word. It has to be a weird word you don't use.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Dither is a lot more common in the UK.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
You're MOM's a lot more common in the UK.
Posted by Starsnuffer (Member # 8116) on :
*your
I may like the word but I use it very rarely, and I couldn't think of another.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
No I was saying: "You are 'Mom's a lot more common' in the UK."
"Mom's a lot more common," is an English translation of the name, Mamsalat Murkamen, which is what I believe Teshi's real name to be. And it's clear that Mr. Murkamen, if that is his *real* name, lives in the UK.
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