Word of the Day

[Katya]

erg - An area of shifting dunes in the Sahara.

(It's also a unit of work, but I was already familiar with that meaning.)

[Whistler]

hermeneutics - The branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, esp. of the Bible or literary texts.

"Others place primary emphasis on the reasoning of post-apostolic theologians or on biblical hermeneutics and exegesis." - D. Todd Christofferson

(I'm guessing that's not where you found the word?)

Heh, no, I found it in the BYU library catalog when I was looking up Book of Mormon-related subject headings.

I have to look up hermeneutics every time I see it.

[Laser Jock]

erg - An area of shifting dunes in the Sahara.

I always think of Dune when I see erg used in the desert sense. (Actually, that may be the only time I've seen it used in the desert sense...)

[Yarjka]

riparian (adj.)
Of, pertaining to, or situated or dwelling on the bank of a river or other body of water: riparian villas.

Found in jurisdictional disputes section of Wikipedia article on Liberty Island.

[Digit]

riparian (adj.)
Of, pertaining to, or situated or dwelling on the bank of a river or other body of water: riparian villas.

Found in jurisdictional disputes section of Wikipedia article on Liberty Island.

Strange that Theodora expressed absolutely no concern over riparian situations in the most recent movie.

[Yarjka]

The term "SNATIATION" was coined by Judith G. Hall. The term is a backronym created from a portmanteau of the words sneeze and satiation. It stands for Sneezing Non-controllably At a Time of Indulgence of the Appetite—a Trait Inherited and Ordained to be Named.
(source)

[Katya]

hootenanny - An informal gathering with folk music and sometimes dancing.

Sadly, the origin of this word is unknown.

[Emiliana]

hootenanny - An informal gathering with folk music and sometimes dancing.

Sadly, the origin of this word is unknown.

My very southern grandmother says this a lot.

[Katya]

hootenanny - An informal gathering with folk music and sometimes dancing.

Sadly, the origin of this word is unknown.

My very southern grandmother says this a lot.

It is a word I'd heard before, but I didn't know the exact meaning.

[Yarjka]

hootenanny - An informal gathering with folk music and sometimes dancing.

Sadly, the origin of this word is unknown.

My very southern grandmother says this a lot.

My wife's family has a German pancake recipe that has been used for several generations with the name 'hootenanny'. It's fun to tell people that we will be having a hootenanny with lots of syrup!

[Laser Jock]

My wife's family has a German pancake recipe that has been used for several generations with the name 'hootenanny'. It's fun to tell people that we will be having a hootenanny with lots of syrup!

My mom made us hootenanny growing up, too, though I'm not sure where she got it from.

[Cindy]

Snakehead -- someone who smuggles people from China into another country; the Chinese equivalent of a Mexican coyote.

Found in Chen v. Gonzales, 470 F.3d 1131 (5th Cir. 2006).

[UffishThought]

I learned that from the movie Premium Rush! Good old Mr. Gordon-Levitt, teaching me all the cool words.

[Dead Cat]

Thaumavore: a creature that eats magic.

[Katya]

Mediatisation - The subsumption of one monarchy into another monarchy in such a way that the ruler of the annexed state keeps his sovereign title and, sometimes, a measure of local power.

[Yarjka]

Dhimmitude is a neologism borrowed from the French language. It is derived by adding the productive suffix -tude to the Arabic noun dhimmi, which refers to a non-Muslim subject of an Islamic state.

Found in a quote in Diana West's recklessly conservative The Death of the Grown-Up.

[Katya]

alembic - an alchemical still consisting of two vessels connected by a tube.

Source: A New Yorker article about absinthe!

[Whistler]

oh, I'm actually familiar with that one from a Nabokov novel, but had completely forgotten what it meant.

[Katya]

tendentious - Expressing or intending to promote a particular cause or point of view, esp. a controversial one: "a tendentious reading of history".

[Portia]

Numismatics, from an article about a $2M to $5M 1913 Liberty Head nickel. It means coin collecting.