Author Topic: Good words, and their definitions (Read 53104 times)

jamster · « **Reply #100 on:** Thu, 18 February 2021, 19:57:52 »

Quote from: Kavik on Thu, 18 February 2021, 11:34:41

I agree with you that "value" is an uncountable noun in this context, so preceding it with an indefinite article makes no sense. It's like saying, "a sand". The exceptions would be when using "value" in a programming or mathematical context, e.g. "A variable is assigned a value", or using it in the sense of "principle", e.g. "That is a core value of his beliefs."

Aha, I had not even come across the concept of an "uncountable noun" before, so could not even figure what kind of word "value" was.

That phrase led me to some useful reading about how they are treated, which is clearing this up for me nicely. Thanks!

jamster · « **Reply #101 on:** Tue, 23 February 2021, 02:47:42 »

This is a weird word, which I have never heard anyone use.

Milquetoast, "a timid or feeble person."

fohat.digs · « **Reply #102 on:** Tue, 23 February 2021, 07:43:55 »

Quote from: jamster on Tue, 23 February 2021, 02:47:42

which I have never heard anyone use.

Milquetoast

My father used to say that pretty often.

funkmon · « **Reply #103 on:** Tue, 23 February 2021, 08:28:19 »

What's the etymology of milquetoast?

Kavik · « **Reply #104 on:** Tue, 23 February 2021, 16:54:07 »

Quote from: funkmon on Tue, 23 February 2021, 08:28:19

What's the etymology of milquetoast?

According to Merriam Webster, it's just a reference to a wimpy character in a 1920 or 1930s cartoon.

jamster · « **Reply #105 on:** Tue, 23 February 2021, 19:20:48 »

Quote from: funkmon on Tue, 23 February 2021, 08:28:19

What's the etymology of milquetoast?

Named after someone who was too shy to ever ask for more than milk and toast for breakfast?

tp4tissue · « **Reply #106 on:** Wed, 24 February 2021, 00:47:02 »

Quote from: jamster on Tue, 23 February 2021, 19:20:48

Quote from: funkmon on Tue, 23 February 2021, 08:28:19
What's the etymology of milquetoast?

Named after someone who was too shy to ever ask for more than milk and toast for breakfast?

Milk is highly carcinogenic and contaminated. It accelerates hormone dependent cancers such as breast / prostate cancer, it also softens Toast.

A person who drinks milk or ingests milk products is surely to become feeble //etymology

_rubik · « **Reply #107 on:** Wed, 11 August 2021, 11:05:18 »

New-to-me word of the day

palaver noun
puh·LAV·er

1: a long discussion or meeting parley usually between persons of different cultures or levels of sophistication

noisyturtle · « **Reply #108 on:** Wed, 08 September 2021, 19:05:47 »

noisyturtle · « **Reply #109 on:** Thu, 16 September 2021, 21:17:21 »

Eggcorn

An idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word, or words, that sound similar or identical in the speaker's dialect. The new phrase introduces a meaning that is different from the original but plausible in the same context.
An eggcorn can be described as an intra-lingual phono-semantic matching, a matching in which the intended word and substitute are from the same language. Together with other types of same-sounding phrases, eggcorns are sometimes also referred to "oronyms".

e.g. "old-timers' disease" for "Alzheimer's disease"

jamster · « **Reply #110 on:** Thu, 16 September 2021, 22:09:49 »

Quote from: noisyturtle on Thu, 16 September 2021, 21:17:21

Eggcorn

An idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word, or words, that sound similar or identical in the speaker's dialect. The new phrase introduces a meaning that is different from the original but plausible in the same context.
An eggcorn can be described as an intra-lingual phono-semantic matching, a matching in which the intended word and substitute are from the same language. Together with other types of same-sounding phrases, eggcorns are sometimes also referred to "oronyms".

e.g. "old-timers' disease" for "Alzheimer's disease"

How weirdly coincidental- I just came across this word last week.

_rubik · « **Reply #111 on:** Thu, 16 September 2021, 22:58:30 »

preying mantis and praying mantis
ice cream and iced cream
lapkin and napkin
wheelbarrel and wheelbarrow
pass mustard and pass muster
illicit response and elicit a response

so many good eggcorns!

noisyturtle · « **Reply #112 on:** Thu, 16 September 2021, 23:03:00 »

Quote from: _rubik on Thu, 16 September 2021, 22:58:30

preying mantis and praying mantis
ice cream and iced cream
lapkin and napkin
wheelbarrel and wheelbarrow
pass mustard and pass muster
illicit response and elicit a response

so many good eggcorns!

my favorite is 'a damp squid' vs damp squib

rowdy · « **Reply #113 on:** Sun, 19 September 2021, 17:37:58 »

Quote from: noisyturtle on Thu, 16 September 2021, 23:03:00

Quote from: _rubik on Thu, 16 September 2021, 22:58:30
preying mantis and praying mantis
ice cream and iced cream
lapkin and napkin
wheelbarrel and wheelbarrow
pass mustard and pass muster
illicit response and elicit a response

so many good eggcorns!

my favorite is 'a damp squid' vs damp squib

Squids work best when they are wet, and squibs work best when they are dry.

noisyturtle · « **Reply #114 on:** Sat, 30 October 2021, 20:26:59 »

Hygge - (hue-guh)

noun A Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment.

"Having the bills paid and a cold beer in hand brings me a sense of hygge."

fohat.digs · « **Reply #115 on:** Tue, 30 November 2021, 08:26:03 »

Psithurism - the sound of wind in the trees and the rustling of leaves on the ground

jamster · « **Reply #116 on:** Wed, 01 December 2021, 10:33:09 »

Quote from: EMC Labs on Thu, 04 July 2019, 23:17:36

Quote from: rowdy on Thu, 04 July 2019, 23:09:09
anathema noun
anath·e·ma | ə-ˈna-thə-mə

Definition of anathema

1a : one that is cursed by ecclesiastical authority
1b : someone or something intensely disliked or loathed —usually used as a predicate nominative … this notion was anathema to most of his countrymen.— Stephen Jay Gould
2a : a ban or curse solemnly pronounced by ecclesiastical authority and accompanied by excommunication
2b : the denunciation of something as accursed
2c : a vigorous denunciation : curse

I also use this word from time to time. But I've only ever heard other people use it twice, and one of those times the word was used as an allegedly common word that few people would have been able to guess.

nice

Huh, I will be well impressed if after "anathema," that "nice" was a sly reference to the Neil Gamain and Terry Pratchett book, Good Omens.

"Nice" is a word that has had it's meaning changed significantly, more than once, over the course of last centuries.

https://www.dictionary.com/e/nice-guys/:

What’s the origin of nice?
Nice, it turns out, began as a negative term derived from the Latin nescius, meaning “unaware, ignorant.” This sense of “ignorant” was carried over into English when the word was first borrowed (via French) in the early 1300s. And for almost a century, nice was used to characterize a “stupid, ignorant, or foolish” person.

Starting in the late 1300s, nice began to refer to “conduct, a person, or clothing that was considered excessively luxurious or lascivious.” However, by the 1400s a new, more neutral sense of nice was emerging. At this time, nice began to refer to “a person who was finely dressed, someone who was scrupulous, or something that was precise or fussy.”

By the late 1500s, nice was further softening, describing something as “refined, culture,” especially used of polite society.

The high value placed on being coy, delicate, and reserved was instrumental in the semantic amelioration of the term nice in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Jane Austen, for instance, mocked this now-positive term in Northanger Abbey (1817) when Henry Tilney teases the naive Catherine Morland for her overuse of nice. He jokes: “… and this is a very nice day, and we are taking a very nice walk, and you are two very nice young ladies. Oh, it is a very nice word, indeed!—it does for everything.”

treeleaf64 · « **Reply #117 on:** Tue, 07 December 2021, 21:27:44 »

I stumbled upon the word descry.

verb
a) to catch sight of
b) to find out, discover

I chose this word to post because my favorite thing in the world is to learn new things.

treeleaf64 · « **Reply #118 on:** Thu, 09 December 2021, 18:45:16 »

noisyturtle · « **Reply #119 on:** Sun, 12 December 2021, 03:52:09 »

pluperfect adjective

Literally more than perfect : Utterly perfect/complete

xtrafrood · « **Reply #120 on:** Sat, 16 July 2022, 05:28:26 »

Akimbo

adjective or adverb

akim·bo | \ ə-ˈkim-(ˌ)bō

Definition of akimbo

1: having the hand on the hip and the elbow turned outward

xtrafrood · « **Reply #121 on:** Sun, 08 December 2024, 17:27:16 »

Galvanize

1. To subject to the action of an electric current especially for the purpose of stimulating physiologically
galvanize a muscle

2. To stimulate or excite as if by an electric shock
an issue that would galvanize public opinion

3. To coat (iron or steel) with zinc

News:

Author Topic: Good words, and their definitions (Read 53104 times)