Word of the day:
specious
[ spee-shuhs ]
adjective
apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible.
... View MoreWord of the day:
specious
[ spee-shuhs ]
adjective
apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible.
Example: "And his own reasoning in these pages tends to be specious or skewed. He sets up ridiculous paper tigers to knock down easily …"
Michiko Kakutani, "Novelist's Crash Course on Terror," New York Times, April 8, 2008
Word of the day: Chancletas. Something a little different today; another Panamanian thing. Indulge me. I was born in Texas but raised in Panama. Unlike many of my Canal Zone friends, I lived in the Re... View MoreWord of the day: Chancletas. Something a little different today; another Panamanian thing. Indulge me. I was born in Texas but raised in Panama. Unlike many of my Canal Zone friends, I lived in the Republic. So, my culture identity is conflicted. I often say, "Passaporte Americano, Corozon Panameno." I am the most fortunate of fellows. So, the word chancletas. There are many opinions about the word's derivation but as usual, I am correct. Most of you call them flip-flops. Here's my take. There were a lot of Chinese folks in Panama and they almost always wore chancletas. So the way I see it, the Chan part is obvious. Cletas? Well, any mode of transportation. Motorcicleta, bicicleta, lo que sea. Anyone can come up with a better idea but I like mine just fine.
Word of the day: harridan
[ hahr-i-dn ]
noun
a scolding, vicious woman; hag; shrew. Not that any of us knows one... It's highly theoretical...
Word of the day:
fustigate
[ fuhs-ti-geyt ]
verb (used with object)
to criticize harshly; castigate.
... View MoreWord of the day:
fustigate
[ fuhs-ti-geyt ]
verb (used with object)
to criticize harshly; castigate.
Example:
"He fustigates them energetically a few years later for their political affiliations, their efforts to bring about a social revolution, their commitment to the physical, whereas, according to Artaud, the great revolution must be a revolution of the spirit, a metamorphosis of what he called the soul."
Leonard Cabell Pronko, Theater East and West, 1967
Word of the day:
peduncle
[ pi-duhng-kuhl, pee-duhng- ]
noun
a flower stalk, supporting either a cluster or a solitary flower.
The Richard Feynman Learning Method
Richard Feynman's learning technique is a simple 4-step method of memorization.
Phrase of the day: Hobson's Choice. noun
A choice of taking what is available or nothing at all.
Example: "The regional council must decide whether a private toll bridge is better than no bri... View MorePhrase of the day: Hobson's Choice. noun
A choice of taking what is available or nothing at all.
Example: "The regional council must decide whether a private toll bridge is better than no bridge at all—it's a Hobson's choice." Thomas Hobson (1554–1631) was a mid-17th century Cambridge carrier who hired out horses, giving the customer the ‘choice’ of the one nearest the door or none at all. He had discovered that his best horses were most sought out by customers so he put in a system of rotation so that they all got exercise. So... when the cable company tells you that you must buy the entire sports package when all you want is to view one team, tell them what they can do with their overpriced Hobson's choice. By the way, for the longest time Ford really did only offer one color. With little market competition, he had no reason to spend money on diversification. Ha!
Word of the day: Haimish. [ hey-mish ]
adjective
homey; cozy and unpretentious.
The Yiddish adjective haimish (also spelled heimish) means “cozy, comfortable, unpretentious,” pretty much the same ... View MoreWord of the day: Haimish. [ hey-mish ]
adjective
homey; cozy and unpretentious.
The Yiddish adjective haimish (also spelled heimish) means “cozy, comfortable, unpretentious,” pretty much the same as English homey. Heimish comes from the Middle High German adjective heimisch (German heimisch), a compound of the Middle High German noun heim “home,” from Proto-Germanic haimaz, the same source as Old English hām (English home). The adjective suffix –ish comes from Proto-Germanic –iska-, source of English –ish. The Proto-Germanic suffix is related to the Greek suffix –iskos, used to form diminutive nouns such as neanískos “youth,” a diminutive of neanías “young man.” Heimish entered English in the mid-1950s.
Example: "It’s irresistibly haimish, with exposed-brick walls and, behind the oak-and-tile bar, an eighteenth-century map of Rome. Everybody knows everybody, by sight or by name—diners, waiters, staff."
Sarah Larson, "A Neighborhood Restaurant's Last Night, For Now," The New Yorker, March 30, 2020
Word of the day: Nescience
[ nesh-uhns, nesh-ee-uhns, nes-ee- ]
noun
lack of knowledge; ignorance.
Nescience, “lack of knowledge, ignorance,” comes straight from Late Latin nescientia, a noun f... View MoreWord of the day: Nescience
[ nesh-uhns, nesh-ee-uhns, nes-ee- ]
noun
lack of knowledge; ignorance.
Nescience, “lack of knowledge, ignorance,” comes straight from Late Latin nescientia, a noun formed from nescient-, the stem of nesciēns, the present participle of nescīre “to be ignorant, not to know,” and the Latin (and Greek) noun suffix –ia. In Latin (and other archaic Indo-European languages, with the exception of Greek), ne– was the original negative for sentences: thus the pair sciō “I know,” and nesciō “I don’t know.” The usual sentence negative in Classical Latin is nōn, probably from earlier noenum “not one (thing),” itself a strengthening of ne with oenum (Classical Latin ūnum). Something similar happened in English, the adverb not being a reduced form of nought (also naught), a compound of the negative adverb ne and the noun wiht “thing, wight.” Nescience entered English in the first half of the 17th century.
Ex: “The unexpected vantage point can help induce a beneficial nescience that disarms us of existing tools and systems of thinking.”
David Gray, "Wanted: Chief Ignorance Officer," Harvard Business Review, November 2003
Irish word of the day: Macushla.
noun, Irish English. It means "darling". Macushla is a phonetic English spelling of the Erse (Irish Gaelic) mo chuisle, literally “my pulse,” or translated more roma... View MoreIrish word of the day: Macushla.
noun, Irish English. It means "darling". Macushla is a phonetic English spelling of the Erse (Irish Gaelic) mo chuisle, literally “my pulse,” or translated more romantically, “my heartbeat, my sweetheart, darling.” The mo-, ma– in macushla, mo chuisle means “my”; cushla, chuisle “pulse, heartbeat, vein,” comes from an earlier Erse cuisle, of uncertain etymology, but most likely a borrowing of Latin pulsus “striking, beating, pulse.” Cuisle appears in another Irish idiom: a chuisle “my dear, darling,” in full, a chuisle mo chroí, literally, “pulse of my heart.” (The phrase Mother Machree “Mother dear” entered English in the first half of the 19th century.) The a is the Gaelic vocative particle, a particle used in direct address, and equivalent to English exclamation O. Chroí “heart” comes from Old Irish crid-, which closely resembles Welsh craidd, Latin cord-, Greek kard-, and Hittite karts, all meaning “heart.” Macushla entered English in the first half of the 19th century.
Example:
"To hear teenagers quietly speaking Irish. To read Maurice O’Sullivan’s Twenty Years A-Growing. To find out that the endearment “macushla” comes from the Irish word for pulse. These are the things that would encourage a person to look more closely at the Irish language."
"Broken syntax identity of a nation tongue-tied by Irish," Irish Times, March 17, 2008
Word of the day: Hapless; adjective. Hapless is another word for unlucky
Unlucky is used a few different ways. It can describe things that are thought to bring bad luck, such as unlucky number, or i... View MoreWord of the day: Hapless; adjective. Hapless is another word for unlucky
Unlucky is used a few different ways. It can describe things that are thought to bring bad luck, such as unlucky number, or it can describe people that have been unsuccessful in an endeavor or that been met with unfortunate circumstances. Hapless deals with the latter. This pitiable adjective is defined as “luckless” or “unfortunate,” and it most commonly describes people that simply can’t catch a break. The lamentable status of a hapless individual is reflected in the adjectives that regularly appear near it, such as poor (meaning unfortunate), helpless, hopeless, and miserable (the poor hapless fool was utterly hopeless!).
Word of the day: Corrigible. We hear the term incorrigible all the time but rarely plain old, unadorned corrigible. What is it? An adjective meaning subject to being revised, improved, or made more ac... View MoreWord of the day: Corrigible. We hear the term incorrigible all the time but rarely plain old, unadorned corrigible. What is it? An adjective meaning subject to being revised, improved, or made more accurate: a corrigible theory.
Example: "First, policy decisions demand closure, conclusiveness, and certainty. By contrast, science is by its nature cautious, contingent, and corrigible."
http://www.icanfixupmyhome.com/WPBlog1/2021/03/13/the-history-of-cancel-culture/
How language is used to revise history and engineer society through bullying and economic pressure.
The History of Cancel Culture
Cancel culture, censorship, and social engineering have always been with us, but are more of a threat today due to social media and fake news.
A List of Random Trivia Facts
Trivia is human history in an interesting and fun form. Most people can't remember it all, so this trivial list was born.
Word of the day: Autoschediasm. [ aw-toh-skee-dee-az-uhm ]
noun
something that is improvised or extemporized.
Example: "The first thing is to collect the material. This must comprise the whole ran... View MoreWord of the day: Autoschediasm. [ aw-toh-skee-dee-az-uhm ]
noun
something that is improvised or extemporized.
Example: "The first thing is to collect the material. This must comprise the whole range of ancient literature, always carefully weighing the nature of the evidence, so as to reject mere autoschediasms."
Ernst Riess, "On Ancient Superstition," Transactions of the American Philological Association, Vol. 26, 1895
Word of the day: Waesucks.
interjection: means alas. Waesucks or waesuck, “alas, woe (is me),” is a Scots word composed of wae, the Scots form of woe, and suck or sucks, Scots variants of the noun s... View MoreWord of the day: Waesucks.
interjection: means alas. Waesucks or waesuck, “alas, woe (is me),” is a Scots word composed of wae, the Scots form of woe, and suck or sucks, Scots variants of the noun sake, now used only in the expression “for the sake of X, for X’s sake.” But Robert Burns uses waesucks in The Holy Fair (1786), which makes waesucks a keeper. Example: "Waesucks! For him that gets nae lass, / Or lasses that hae naething!"
Robert Burns, "The Holy Fair," Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 1786
Word of the day: Mugwump. Coined when a Republican refused to support the party nominee, James G. Blaine, in the presidential campaign of 1884. A person who is unable to make up his or her mind on an ... View MoreWord of the day: Mugwump. Coined when a Republican refused to support the party nominee, James G. Blaine, in the presidential campaign of 1884. A person who is unable to make up his or her mind on an issue, especially in politics; a person who is neutral on a controversial issue. In other words, the stereotypical RINO.
Word of the day: Promethean. adjective
of or suggestive of Prometheus.
creative; boldly original.
In Greek mythology, he was the Titan who stole fire from Olympus and gave it to mankind; Zeus (whos... View MoreWord of the day: Promethean. adjective
of or suggestive of Prometheus.
creative; boldly original.
In Greek mythology, he was the Titan who stole fire from Olympus and gave it to mankind; Zeus (whose agenda was for mankind to perish) punished him for his disobedience by chaining him to a rock where an eagle gnawed at his liver on a daily basis (the dang thing kept growing back overnight) until Hercules rescued him. So, if you are defiant of authority or limits and couldn't give a big rat's ass, you are Promethean.
Example: There is something truly Promethean in the struggle of the Russian youth against their overpowering antagonist.
Violence and the Labor Movement|Robert Hunter
This feud between the two literary heavyweights was legendary and illustrates their respective writing styles. Faulkner was more verbose but Hemingway pared his down to the bone. Which do you prefer?
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