Word of the Day

[Dead Cat]

legerdemain - skillful use of one's hands when performing conjuring tricks

Isn't that "light of hand" in French all squished together, or am I just making things up?

You're correct.

And now I'm wondering about the etymology of "slight of hand"--"light of hand" makes more sense, now that I think about it--but I feel too lazy to google right now.

[Marduk]

That's *ahem*sleight of hand, which if memory serves, is from the Saxon part of our language, not the Roman (unlike legerdemain.)

[Katya]

legerdemain - skillful use of one's hands when performing conjuring tricks

Isn't that "light of hand" in French all squished together, or am I just making things up?

Yes, although I was originally parsing it as leger-demain ("light tomorrow"), which made no sense.

[Katya]

That's *ahem*sleight of hand, which if memory serves, is from the Saxon part of our language, not the Roman (unlike legerdemain.)

Well, with that "gh" it could hardly be anything but (although I didn't realize it was "sleight" until just now). Also, it's apparently a cognate with "sly."

[Portia]

ukase: yo͞oˈkās,-ˈkāz/
noun
noun: ukase; plural noun: ukases
an edict of the Russian government.
"Tsar Alexander I issued his famous ukase unilaterally decreeing the North Pacific Coast Russian territory"
an arbitrary command.
"defying the publisher in the very building from which he had issued his ukase"

From a 1984 William Safire "On Language" column about the term "Ms."

[Katya]

cynosure - a person or thing that is the center of attention or admiration

[Whistler]

horology - the study and measurement of time, or the art of making clocks and watches

[Whistler]

ailuromancy - divination, especially weather prediction based on the actions of cats

[Katya]

louche - disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way

[vorpal blade]

ukase: yo͞oˈkās,-ˈkāz/
noun
noun: ukase; plural noun: ukases
an edict of the Russian government.
"Tsar Alexander I issued his famous ukase unilaterally decreeing the North Pacific Coast Russian territory"
an arbitrary command.
"defying the publisher in the very building from which he had issued his ukase"

From a 1984 William Safire "On Language" column about the term "Ms."

This was the word my wife didn't get in last week's USA Today cross word puzzle.

[Whistler]

Ice wine/Eiswein - wine made from grapes frozen while on the vine, making a sweet wine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_wine

[mic0]

FUBAR = f'd up beyond all reason.

Saying "FUBAR" just makes me giggle. It's so silly sounding. Also, I had no idea "SNAFU" was/is also an acronym.

[Marduk]

I'd always heard "recognition." (Which the Wikipedia page says is also acceptable. So I guess this comment doesn't really add anything. Oh well.)

[Katya]

palynology - the study of plant pollen, spores and certain microscopic plankton organisms (collectively termed palynomorphs) in both living and fossil form

[Katya]

staddle stones - Stones used as supporting bases for granaries, hayricks, game larders, etc. The staddle stones lifted the granaries above the ground thereby protecting the stored grain from vermin and water seepage.

[Portia]

Two phrases: cute hoorism, from an article about the Irish national character.

steady clip, I knew what this meant, but had a hard time explaining it to a coworker. Which of these etymologies is most applicable is unclear to me. She thought it was a reference to meaning 1.2 about ammunition. In my head it was related to clip-clop, but that is probably a folk etymology.

[Portia]

Gaslighting:

Gaslighting is a form of mental abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making a victim doubt his or her own memory, perception and sanity. Instances may range simply from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred, up to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim.

The term "gaslighting" comes from the play Gas Light and its film adaptations. The term is now also used in clinical and research literature.

Source: boardboard

I first found it here, if you're interested.

Don't have the time to read that in its entirety now, but I'm going to revisit.

[Katya]

trenchant - vigorous or incisive in expression or style

[Katya]

LORAN - LOng RAnge Navigation, a system of long-distance navigation in which position is determined from the intervals between signal pulses received from widely spaced radio transmitters

[Tally M.]

pyhrric - (of a victory) won at too great a cost to have been worthwhile for the victor