Word of the Day

[vorpal blade]

I know how to do that! And people never believe me when I use it against them.

I don't remember playing anyone who didn't know that rule.

[Portia]

greige
grāZH
noun

1. a color between beige and gray.

Source: my Zappos order.

[Cindy]

Pack year: a unit for quantifying the amount a person has smoked over a long period of time.

Number of pack years = (average number of cigarettes per day/20 cigarettes per pack) x years of smoking.

[Katya]

soteriology - the doctrine of salvation

[Tally M.]

concupiscence - strong sexual desire; lust

Source: Colossians 5:3

[Yarjka]

Desideratum - Something wanted or needed.
(plural - desiderata)

Apparently 'desiderate' ('to wish or long for') is a word too (but not according to my spellchecker).

[Portia]

Hôtel particulier - a grand townhouse.

From this New Yorker article on Undine Spragg.

With each husband, she changes city, house type, and architectural style, moving from brownstone to château to hôtel particulier. It is Undine’s misreading of those houses (she assumes big house equals money equals freedom) that leads her into each bad marriage, and pushes Wharton’s plot forward.

[Whistler]

So, the article mentioned that the character is named Undine after her father's hair-wave tonic, but it did make me wonder if anyone actually named their child Undine... it looks like there was an actor who went by Ondine but it seems like a rather unpopular name.

I know it's also the name of a water spirit, and there's a famous Undine sonata for flute by Reinecke, but also a reference to the water sprite.

[Portia]

fuzz (n.)
1590s, fusse, first attested in fusball "puff ball of tiny spores," of uncertain origin. Meaning "the police" is American English, 1929, underworld slang, origin and connection to the older word unknown. Perhaps a variant of fuss, with a notion of "hard to please.

The slang meaning was in today's Peanuts comic.

[Yarjka]

fuzz (n.)
1590s, fusse, first attested in fusball "puff ball of tiny spores," of uncertain origin. Meaning "the police" is American English, 1929, underworld slang, origin and connection to the older word unknown. Perhaps a variant of fuss, with a notion of "hard to please.

The slang meaning was in today's Peanuts comic.

I take it you've not seen Hot Fuzz?

[Portia]

fuzz (n.)
1590s, fusse, first attested in fusball "puff ball of tiny spores," of uncertain origin. Meaning "the police" is American English, 1929, underworld slang, origin and connection to the older word unknown. Perhaps a variant of fuss, with a notion of "hard to please.

The slang meaning was in today's Peanuts comic.

I take it you've not seen Hot Fuzz?

Nope. And I'm glad Wikipedia warned me, "Not to be confused with the Killers album Hot Fuss."

[Katya]

otiose (adj.) - serving no practical purpose or result

[Katya]

to winkle - to extract or obtain something with difficulty

[Tally M.]

to winkle - to extract or obtain something with difficulty

This makes leaving out the R in "A Wrinkle in Time" that much more interesting.

[S.A.M.]

to winkle - to extract or obtain something with difficulty

This is what my niece does when she scrunches up her face trying to wink.

[Katya]

orotund - (of the voice or phrasing) full, round, and imposing

[Imogen]

concupiscence - strong sexual desire; lust

Source: Colossians 5:3

Catholics view this word as just meaning our tendency to sin of all kind. Interesting.

[Katya]

thalweg - the line of lowest elevation within a valley or watercourse.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Guys I was playing Balderdash today and I learned SO MANY WORDS that I promptly forgot.

[Laser Jock]

precatory - of, relating to, or expressing a wish or request.