Word of the Day

[Giovanni Schwartz]

While I understand the etymology, I feel that if someone mistakenly understood that as a place for babies to be born, they wouldn't be out of line.

[Katya]

While I understand the etymology, I feel that if someone mistakenly understood that as a place for babies to be born, they wouldn't be out of line.

Well, it's not like they're mutually exclusive. Also, I'm really wishing I had access to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language right now, so that I could look up the Indo-European roots of both, because I've never noticed how similar those roots are (and I.-E. roots is one area where the OED is a bit weak).

[Giovanni Schwartz]

bu·col·ic

[ byoo kóllik ]


1.of countryside: relating to or characteristic of the countryside or country life
2.of shepherds: relating to or characteristic of shepherds, herdsmen, or flocks
3.pastoral poem: a poem about the countryside or country life


Used by my professor in class.

[Digit]

Eggcorn

An eggcorn is 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, such as "old-timers' disease" for "Alzheimer's disease".

But "I'm Board" isn't one if it's intended (intent makes it a pun).

[Katya]

bu·col·ic

[ byoo kóllik ]


1.of countryside: relating to or characteristic of the countryside or country life
2.of shepherds: relating to or characteristic of shepherds, herdsmen, or flocks
3.pastoral poem: a poem about the countryside or country life


Used by my professor in class.

I always forget that "bucolic" means something so pleasant, because it's such an ugly word.

[Digit]

mondegreen

PRONUNCIATION:
(MON-di-green)

MEANING:
noun: A word or phrase resulting from mishearing a word or phrase, especially in song lyrics. For example:
"The girl with colitis goes by" for "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes" in the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds".

ETYMOLOGY:
Coined by author Sylvia Wright when she misinterpreted the line "laid him on the green" as "Lady Mondegreen" in the Scottish ballad "The Bonny Earl of Murray". Earliest documented use: 1954.

USAGE:
"Since I live in Thailand, the most meaningful mondegreen for me was my own mishearing of a line from The Jam's Eton Rifles. Instead of the correct 'What chance do you have against a tie and a crest?', for years I heard 'What chance do you have against a Thai in a dress?'"
Richard Watson Todd; Much Ado about English; Nicholas Brealey Publishing; May 1, 2007.

[S.A.M.]

I always forget that "bucolic" means something so pleasant, because it's such an ugly word.

Same here. Always reminds me of bubonic plague.

[wryness]

I always forget that "bucolic" means something so pleasant, because it's such an ugly word.

Same here. Always reminds me of bubonic plague.

I'll add my support to that. It makes me think of someone throwing up, to be honest (though I couldn't say why).

I wanted to add patois to the list. It was in an article I read today:

Patois
("PA-twah" or "PA-twahs" is the ugly English pronunciation, but I like the french "pa-TWAH" better)
1a : a dialect other than the standard or literary dialect
1b : uneducated or provincial speech
2: the characteristic special language of an occupational or social group : jargon

[Yarjka]

Mother (n.)
1. Dregs, sediment; scum; mould; esp. the lees or sediment of wine; the scum rising to the surface of fermenting liquors.

[Digit]

Bezoar

A chunk of stuff that gets stuck in the gastrointestinal system. The word "bezoar" comes from the Persian pād-zahr (پادزهر), which literally means "antidote" because apparently long ago people thought that they had magic powers and if you drank a glass of water with one of these chunks in it that had been stuck in someone's stomach or intestines, it would be good for you.

Heard the term in an episode of House, M.D. in which a person had a bezoar made of all types of pharmaceuticals, causing a mishmash of symptoms as the drugs randomly dispersed into the guy's system.

[Katya]

bibelot /ˈbib(ə)ˌlō/ - A small, decorative ornament or trinket

Source: A fashion website.

[Katya]

sept - A clan, originally one in Ireland.

Source: Cataloging training. (I was learning how to structure the names of families, which includes the names of septs.)

[Digit]

palimpsest

PRONUNCIATION:
(PAL-imp-sest)

MEANING:
noun:
1. A writing surface such as a parchment that has been reused after partially or completely erasing the original text.
2. Something reused but still showing traces of its earlier form.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek palimpsestos, from palin (again) + psestos + (scraped).

USAGE:
"All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and re-inscribed exactly as often as was necessary."
George Orwell; Nineteen Eighty-Four; 1949.

[Katya]

palimpsest

I have a story about that word. I came across it (somehow) when I was an undergrad, and I thought it was a cool word, but I was a bit miffed that I would never have a chance to use it, because it's such a specialized term. A few days later, I was working at my early morning custodial job, cleaning a white board. In this case, the white board hadn't been cleaned very well or it was a cheap white board or something, because it just wasn't clean. Even when I started to clean off the most recent day's writing, there was still a lot of staining underneath, I realized that I could read an earlier day's text, which meant that the white board was technically . . . a palimpsest.

[Katya]

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

[Laser Jock]

luthier - someone who makes lutes

[Dead Cat]

Somnambulist: a sleep walker.

[Squirrel]

luthier - someone who makes lutes

A luthier can also refer to most every wood instrument, as far as I know, such as the dulcimer, psaltery, guitar, mandolin....

[C is for]

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?)

[Katya]

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.