# Words and expressions you encountered today



## joen_cph

As the title says it ... some words and expressions you encountered today and took a note of, due to their relevance, or their peculiar character ....

From today's news feed:

- a die in protest (you lay on the ground, as a part of a rally)
- Fuhgeddaboutit 
- schoolstrike4climate


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## joen_cph

- he should take a long walk off a short pier
- _Ich bin ein Brückenbauer _ (tweet by an American-Georgian activist-reporter on a journey in Germany)
- to faceplant
- 'my biker gang fans'


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## Yornlig

joen_cph said:


> - he should take a long walk off a short pier
> - _Ich bin ein Brückenbauer _ (tweet by a activist reporter)
> - to faceplant
> - 'my biker gang fans'


+1


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## CnC Bartok

"Our gun laws will change".

From a head of government who - understandably - sounded like she meant it.


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## Dim7

"roaming bands of armed, aggressive and tyrannical plumbers"


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## joen_cph

Dim7 said:


> "roaming bands of armed, aggressive and tyrannical plumbers"


We've actually got some here in Denmark too, especially Irish ones, it seems: for several seasons, a group has been driving around in a van, knocked on the door of some elderly house owners, suggested a cheap repair of some installations or the roof or the like, did an extremely lousy job, got their money, possibly via threats, and then rushed off ...


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## LezLee

A magnificent new word in the Guardian:

An article about the success of a 4-day working week and reduced hours altogether, noted that they’re not always feasible in retail where ‘presenteeism’ is required. Didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Edit: my friend now tells me it was in use 20 years ago when she was a social worker.


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## joen_cph

- 'One can't disprove a negative'


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## philoctetes

"I'll bet you're as bright as you are good-looking"

Joe Biden, to a 10-year old girl in Houston over the weekend...


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## Totenfeier

philoctetes said:


> "I'll bet you're as bright as you are good-looking"
> 
> Joe Biden, to a 10-year old girl in Houston over the weekend...


Poor old Uncle Joe - he just keeps trying. Probably thought "good-looking" would get him in less trouble than "pretty" - actually, no...no actual thought was occuring.

I didn't encounter this today, but could someone clarify the distinction between a "boy" and a "boi?" Are they _pronounced_ differently? And is there a female equivalent? Would it be "goil?" Suddenly I'm a misogynistic Popeye. Help?


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## joen_cph

- 'exhibits a level of multidimensional idiocy'


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## joen_cph

- 'noctilucent' (e.g. sunlit clouds in the early night)
- 'childism' (a upcoming term, it seems)
- 'airy, high, political concept talk'


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## Jacck

a funny expression that some physicists use is "spherical bstrd", ie no matter from what side or angle you look at him, he is still a bstrd
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spherical *******


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## joen_cph

United Kingston
Prince of Whales


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## KenOC

In the US, a relatively recent Orwellianism liberals use when they speak of people living in run-down crime-infested areas is "underserved."


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## LezLee

KenOC said:


> In the US, a relatively recent Orwellianism liberals use when they speak of people living in run-down crime-infested areas is "underserved."


Not recent over here, Ken. It means 'inadequately provided for' and can refer to any area or group without many amenities or even essentials such as schools, shops, housing and particularly public transport.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Not my circus, not my monkeys


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## joen_cph

- Polyamorous
- Super-Earth


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## joen_cph

"_The BS asymmetry:

"The amount of energy needed to refute BS is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it_."

- Alberto Brandolini"


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## joen_cph

- Brexlit (literary fiction dealing with Brexit)
- Newsjacking (commercials utilizing the current news stories)


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## Guest

Sign at a lake in Maryland:

*No Fishing for Turtles.*

Fishing for turtles? Wouldn't that be "turtling?"


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## Guest

^^^The one time I was tempted to become a graffiti artist. To append:

"And no turtling for fish, either!"


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Pantheism.
Sorry for being ignorant, but this word is new to me. Anyway the meaning is appealing


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## Manxfeeder

Kjetil Heggelund said:


> Pantheism.
> Sorry for being ignorant, but this word is new to me. Anyway the meaning is appealing


Worshipping cookware? Definitely appealing.


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## starthrower

Neurocapitalism, coming soon to a dystopia near you.
https://www.vox.com/2019/8/30/20835137/facebook-zuckerberg-elon-musk-brain-mind-reading-neuroethics


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## Roger Knox

hazmat = abbreviation for Hazardous Materials
adhocracy = a type of government, presumably run in an _ad hoc_ (unplanned?) way


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## Larkenfield

I was bumfuzzled to come across "nudiustertian" — the recent past (literally “the day before yesterday”).


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## CnC Bartok

What does this exciting word "mendacious", which I keep hearing about our sweet new Prime Minister and his kind gentle team, mean?


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## Jacck

starthrower said:


> Neurocapitalism, coming soon to a dystopia near you.
> https://www.vox.com/2019/8/30/20835137/facebook-zuckerberg-elon-musk-brain-mind-reading-neuroethics


not that easy. I did this some 5 years ago. We scanned the brains of healthy people and people with some brain disorder, and then trained machine learning on the brain scans. You can predict various things in this manner, ie we could predict homosexuality with 65% accuracy, schizophrenia with 80% accuracy etc. You can also do it with fMRI, ie show the person some images in the scanner, and train the machine learning on the patterns of brain activity associated with the image, and use it for prediction (this is the "mind-reading"). It is again quite inaccurate. The problem is the inherent limition of MRI imaging, which has a resolution of some 2mm voxel size. You can incrase the magnetic field from 3 Tesla to 7 Tesla to increase the resolution, but then you get more artifacts etc. The actual communication between the neurons happens on a much much smaller scale and there is no current technology how to read or scan it. Elon Musk is a snake oil salesman. I guess similar limitations will be found in the brain interface that Musk is building. It is one to control some robot arm, but another thing to completely read the mind. But maybe I am wrong. We will see.


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## Dorsetmike

CnC Bartok said:


> What does this exciting word "mendacious", which I keep hearing about our sweet new Prime Minister and his kind gentle team, mean?


Lying barstewards, (Google gives the following alternatives; untruthful, dishonest, deceitful, false, dissembling, insincere, disingenuous, hypocritical, fraudulent, double-dealing, two-faced, Janus-faced, two-timing, duplicitous, perjured, perfidious
I think that describes the current mob in parliament, I could probaby come up with a few more appropriate words & phrases, but methinks the mods might object.


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## joen_cph

- Sharpiegate. Scandal due to attempted, amateurish re-shaping of original map/paper sources, with a pen (=sharpie).


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

fairsuckofthesav -Australian slang - exclamation of incredulity, as in 'You've got to be kidding'.


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## Larkenfield

*tarantism* - a psychological illness characterized by an extreme impulse to dance, prevalent in southern Italy from the 15th to the 17th century, and widely believed at the time to have been caused by the bite of a tarantula.


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## geralmar

Flop sweat

Perspiration caused by fear of failure.


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## joen_cph

"_Why is everyone on Twitter in such a bad mood?_"


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1172072043862532099
A remark that could be transferred to a real lot of social media websites, especially those dealing with the news & politics ...


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## joen_cph

"_Oh god ... Can we just have a referendum on using our nuclear weapons on ourselves_."


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## Room2201974

New word I encountered today: urprised 

Used in a sentence: "I was completely urprised at finding this word in TC."


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## joen_cph

- Ambient audio: 
tech giants surveillance including phones (text messages, spoken word) cf. the researcher Shoshana Zuboff.

- Libra, the planned Facebook currency. It's been mentioned for a while, but I only heard the name today, when PayPal announced they're pulling out of the plans.


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## Dim7

...............


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## Tikoo Tuba

*ennui*

This word I've seen but never had heard . I was making a 5x5 crossword puzzle and it fit . Too personally , now I also know what it means .


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## Strange Magic

I have forgotten the context, but remember clearly the phrase describing the irrational behavior: "The situation was like two bald men fighting over a comb."


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## Guest

"Lurgi" (or "lurgy"), a fictitious or undefined disease. The term can be traced to a 1950's radio show.


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## Pat Fairlea

Baron Scarpia said:


> "Lurgi" (or "lurgy"), a fictitious or undefined disease. The term can be traced to a 1950's radio show.


Ah yes. I believe the correct medical term is "dreaded lurgy"


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## Strange Magic

Baron Scarpia said:


> "Lurgi" (or "lurgy"), a fictitious or undefined disease. The term can be traced to a 1950's radio show.


The word, as plural "lurgies", turns up in John le Carré's _Smiley's People_, as George Smiley is mining the capacious memory of Connie Sachs. Connie falters in her narrative, then tells Smiley she's ''getting her lurgies" and needs more drink, but then succumbs to a panic attack: "Spot of _timor mortis_, darling" says Connie when the attack passes. The term maybe is a corruption of "allergy"?


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## Ingélou

Strange Magic said:


> The word, as plural "lurgies", turns up in John le Carré's _Smiley's People_, as George Smiley is mining the capacious memory of Connie Sachs. Connie falters in her narrative, then tells Smiley she's ''getting her lurgies" and needs more drink, but then succumbs to a panic attack: "Spot of _timor mortis_, darling" says Connie when the attack passes. *The term maybe is a corruption of "allergy"*?


That's the way I've always understood it.


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## Guest

Strange Magic said:


> The term maybe is a corruption of "allergy"?


According to several sources it was part of a prank on a comedy radio show:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lurgy

The similarity to allergy may be why it caught on.


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## Ingélou

Pat Fairlea said:


> Ah yes. I believe the correct medical term is "dreaded lurgy"





Baron Scarpia said:


> "Lurgi" (or "lurgy"), a fictitious or undefined disease. The term can be traced to a 1950's radio show.


It got wider currency for my generation when it was part of the Telegoons, shown on the BBC in the early 1960s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Telegoons

I've always found it a most useful word - I used it yesterday when referring to the 'nasty digestive lurgi' which is bugging me at present and for the moment does indeed remain *undefined*.
I really do wish it was also 'fictitious'. 

It may indeed have no relation to 'allergy' but I think the bit about the 'hard g' in your wiki link, Baron Scarpia, :tiphat: proves nothing, as it could be a comic mispronunciation/ malapropism.

It's a very common usage among British Baby Boomers and I was surprised to learn that it was new to you.


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## Guest

Ingélou said:


> It got wider currency for my generation when it was part of the Telegoons, shown on the BBC in the early 1960s.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Telegoons
> 
> I've always found it a most useful word - I used it yesterday when referring to the 'nasty digestive lurgi' which is bugging me at present and for the moment does indeed remain *undefined*.
> 
> It may indeed have no relation to 'allergy' but I think the bit about the 'hard g' in your wiki link, Baron Scarpia, :tiphat: proves nothing, as it could be a comic mispronunciation.
> 
> It's a very common usage among British Baby Boomers and I was surprised to learn that it was new to you.


I fear the consequences if the dreaded lurgi crosses the Atlantic, as we have no exposure and will have developed no immunity to it. A lurgi pandemic may follow.


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## Ingélou

Baron Scarpia said:


> I fear the consequences if the dreaded lurgi crosses the Atlantic, as we have no exposure and will have developed no immunity to it. A lurgi pandemic may follow.


Perish the thought!

But actually 'lurgi' and the Goons in general are very British and a bit of a cult. Maybe not really that funny.

I remember watching 'Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in' c. 1970, and not understanding it at all - had never heard the expression 'sock it to me' - but laughing along with all the other university students in our common room, because it was cool and of the minute.

Quite nice to have a bit of mystification going the *other* way across the Atlantic.


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## Guest

Ingélou said:


> Perish the thought!
> 
> But actually 'lurgi' and the Goons in general are very British and a bit of a cult. Maybe not really that funny.
> 
> I remember watching 'Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in' c. 1970, and not understanding it at all - had never heard the expression 'sock it to me' - but laughing along with all the other university students in our common room, because it was cool and of the minute.
> 
> Quite nice to have a bit of mystification going the *other* way across the Atlantic.


I don't know if anyone understood "Laugh-In." Now that I think of it, I guess the title was a modification of sit-in, a common protest tactic of the day. Basically it was Hollywood trying to monetize a sanitized hippie culture.


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## Dim7

"Multiverse-wide Cooperation via Correlated Decision Making"

Sounds dope.


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## Guest

Baron Scarpia said:


> I don't know if anyone understood "Laugh-In." Now that I think of it, I guess the title was a modification of sit-in, a common protest tactic of the day. Basically it was Hollywood trying to monetize a sanitized hippie culture.


I noticed that Laugh-In is included in a streaming service I subscribe to. Put one on just for nostalgia sake. Ok my got, it was bad. Unwatchable for more than 2 minutes.


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## Merl

A Weegie (Glaswegian) told me he got 'rooked' last week. Apparently it means to be swindled out of money. Some Weegies use it as meaning skint, too.


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## Open Book

Baron Scarpia said:


> "Lurgi" (or "lurgy"), a fictitious or undefined disease. The term can be traced to a 1950's radio show.


Underrated song from Radiohead's underrated first album "Pablo Honey", when their music was more conventional.


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## starthrower

The president of the United States, the world's most powerful white man used the word "lynching" to portray himself as a helpless victim concerning his impending impeachment proceedings. I'd say that makes it a rather historic day. And not in a good way.


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## joen_cph

Engxit

(reduced version of Brexit)


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## Ingélou

Goety - I found it in our Scrabble Book.

Shame to think it's archaic, as it might be quite a useful word at this time of year.

Definition from Merriam-Webster:

*goety* noun
go· ety | \ ˈgōətē\
plural -es
Definition of goety
*archaic
: black magic or witchcraft in which the assistance of evil spirits is invoked : NECROMANCY*


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## LezLee

My husband coined (I think) a wonderful word for how the dreaded lurgi (it was always 'dreaded') made him feel.

I think we can all understand what *THRON* feels like


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## joen_cph

- Homo Turisticus

(the 'touristy human', referring to related problems of over-tourism)


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## joen_cph

FOE = Freedom Of Expression,
hadn't seen the abbreviation before.


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## DaveM

Ingélou said:


> Perish the thought!
> 
> But actually 'lurgi' and the Goons in general are very British and a bit of a cult. Maybe not really that funny.


Growing up in Canada, I was very familiar with the Goon Show and had one of their LP albums. I subsequently moved to Southern California and years later, in my workplace, happened to meet Max Geldray who was now in his 80s (he died in 2004). He was was very happy that I would even know his Goons history.


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## Oldhoosierdude

Overheard this:

"If you kids cared one iotum for your mother..."

That's Indiana talk.


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## Oldhoosierdude

starthrower said:


> The president of the United States, the world's most powerful white man used the word "lynching" to portray himself as a helpless victim concerning his impending impeachment proceedings. I'd say that makes it a rather historic day. And not in a good way.


He's a helpless victim of our electoral process. What other country elects a reality game show host to office?


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## starthrower

Our reality game show host in Chief has given us a new word. "Foistered" According to the watchdogs he's used it three times now in his propaganda rallies.


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## KenOC

I read that millennials are now referring to us old folks as "boomers," using the term in a pejorative sense. This is likely a sign of upcoming intergenerational economic struggles.

In any event, I will certainly resist responding, "Boomers, eh? Well, we've not only spent your inheritance on our own comfort and consumption, but your next 10-20 years' earnings as well. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, along with whatever psychoactive substance you prefer."


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## Jacck

KenOC said:


> I read that millennials are now referring to us old folks as "boomers," using the term in a pejorative sense. This is likely a sign of upcoming intergenerational economic struggles.
> 
> In any event, I will certainly resist responding, "Boomers, eh? Well, we've not only spent your inheritance on our own comfort and consumption, but your next 10-20 years' earnings as well. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, along with whatever psychoactive substance you prefer."


yes, they are a generation of sociopaths
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...opaths-review-trump-baby-boomers-ruined-world
https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/people-who-stole-the-world-alvarez
https://www.businessinsider.com/baby-boomers-ruining-the-world-2016-6


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## Oldhoosierdude

While in line at the grocery I overheard one hillbilly inform another "That Crisco Columbus was a great man, he invented the United States."


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## Room2201974

Bodulation = using an online ap to change your appearance before you post the pic!*




*Ok, actually, I just made that up, but it does sound right, doesn't it?


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## Dim7

_"...which is essentially the theory of what happens when monkeys type into computers."_


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## Merl

I use the expression "he's got a bag-on" all the time but my fellow Scottish workers were totally unaware of this Mancunian expression. It means "he's in a bad mood", if you didn't know. I thought everyone knew it.


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## Ingélou

Merl said:


> I use the expression "he's got a bag-on" all the time but my fellow Scottish workers were totally unaware of this Mancunian expression. It means "he's in a bad mood", if you didn't know. I thought everyone knew it.


I've never heard it! 
If you hadn't explained it, I'd have surmised it was some reference to a TV joke (was it Blackadder? can't recall) about having to wear a paper bag over one's head if one's mate was very ugly.


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## Dan Ante

A word that has been been stolen by music goers is "gig" in my day it was used by musicians to mean a job. 
eg, "I have a gig tonight at the Leofrick Hotel" meaning I am playing at the Hotel with the resident ens.
today it means I am going to a concert (I think).


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## Roger Knox

*Spoofed call* - attempt by a *telescammer* to steal money or information


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## BobBrines

Roger Knox said:


> *Spoofed call* - attempt by a *telescammer* to steal money or information


Not Quite. Spoofing is putting a fake phone number in the caller ID. The better spoofs will be your own area code and local exchange. The makes it look like the call is from one of your neighbors.


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## joen_cph

BobBrines said:


> Not Quite. Spoofing is putting a fake phone number in the caller ID. The better spoofs will be your own area code and local exchange. The makes it look like the call is from one of your neighbors.


Have received a good deal of those recently from people who then present themselves with English first names (but have a clear Pakistani or Indian accent) and (reading from a text) claim to be from Microsoft or Windows, desperate to 'fix' my computer with some updating, as a friendly service. From local, Danish phone numbers.

I know it's been been very common elsewhere, but the recent barage is new in my case.


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## joen_cph

Hacktivism - 
According to its followers: intruding 'graffiti' on websites, a kind of 'graffiti online'.


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## Room2201974

Tuna price fixing!

https://www.wsj.com/articles/starki...on-fine-in-tuna-price-fixing-case-11568233353


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## Dim7

_"10-year-old girl keeps same pet tortoise 56 years"_


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## Guest

Jiggery-pokery. As near as I can tell, it means “like what Culshaw used to do.”


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## Flamme

A six shooter...For a ''piece''...


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## geralmar

Boot/shoe clicker: person who cuts the uppers (out of leather or man-made material) for boots or shoes. Also cuts holes for laces.


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## Tikoo Tuba

I'm in the milk , and the milk's in me .


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## geralmar

Fatberg: congealed mass in a sewer system formed by the combination of flushed non-biodegradable solid matter, such as wipes, and congealed grease or cooking fat.

Words I learn during the pandemic... .


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## Flamme

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Razzmatazz
:lol:


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## geralmar

"Wet signature".

How the coronavirus has infested our language.


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## Flamme

The ''petri dish'' is all around us...


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## Room2201974

The latest misnomer....Swedish Grandmother!


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## Flamme

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Piñata


> A female who is overweight and is rumored to come from a lot of family money or who has a trust fund.


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## Caesura

Not quite today, but about a week or two ago, the Prime Minister of Canada said not to "speak moistly" to others! :lol:


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## Flamme

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/valet


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## Room2201974

Our Dublin correspondent just turned us all onto:

"Natural exit strategy"

Hmmmm, I gotta hunch that we shall see this term in the future.


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## Flamme

A state of euphoria resembling a brainless underwater creature usually caused by drugs, music, alcohol, or some combination of all the above.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jellyfish


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## geralmar

gunite nozzleman

A perfectly honest profession, it must be said.


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## Flamme

Knucklebuster
A car, usually an old American car (1930's-1970's) who seems determined to skin, slice, and slash the hands of every mechanic who touches it, regardless of their skill-level. Resistant to tools, penetrating oils, vice grips, and laws of physics. Any bolt that is in this car will STAY in this car, whether you want it there or not, and if you try to remove it, it WILL break off, and leave you requiring 15 stitches in the process.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Knucklebuster


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## geralmar

"Nonexpendable individuals"

A throwaway term in 2061: Odyssey Three, Arthur C. Clarke; but I like the Orwellian connotation.

"... the sons and daughters of wealth, privilege and political power" .


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## geralmar

"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes".

AKA: karma.


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## Flamme

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apostate


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## Dim7

"You’d be surprised what we nonexistent beings can do."


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## geralmar

"Pregnant People"

Heard today on a radio news report on medical problems they may have. Problem with oppressive gender designation?


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## WNvXXT

lariat surcingle - Was reading the Dee Brown novel Action at Beecher Island, based on the 1868 Indian battle / siege.


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## Jacck

humblebragging
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture...os-leadership-memoir-did-not-age-well/618213/

I did not know that Engllish can create words like this, it is reminiscent of the German language which typically compounds words to create new ones, such as Schadenfreude, Wanderlust or Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän


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## Ingélou

Thanks, Jacck! :tiphat:
Humblebragging - what a useful word. It's a common custom.


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## Jacck

the German language in times of Covid

Mindestabstandsregelung - a regulation (Regelung) regulation the minimal (Mindest) distance (Abstand)
Anderthalbmetergesellschaft - 1,5m dinstance company
Mundschutzmode - mouth protection fashion
Coronafußgruß - corona foot greeting
Maskentrottel - mask idiot
Impfneid - envy of those who have been vaccinated

a full list of new German covid words
https://www.owid.de/docs/neo/listen/corona.jsp


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## HenryPenfold

Jacck said:


> humblebragging
> https://www.theatlantic.com/culture...os-leadership-memoir-did-not-age-well/618213/
> 
> I did not know that Engllish can create words like this, it is reminiscent of the German language which typically compounds words to create new ones, such as Schadenfreude, Wanderlust or Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän


The Germans are second to none on this!

I remember reading a sign on a beach in German, forbidding swimming in the water sports section. I can't remember the German, but in English it would have been:

"Swimminginginthisdesignatedareaforwatersportsstrictlyforbiddenandisillegal". :lol:


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## joen_cph

From what I understand, they have different, additive principles in the Greenlandish language/dialect, and to an excessive degree. For example, you'll have a word like

Nalunaarasuartaatilioqateeraliorfinnialikkersaatiginialikkeirsaatilillaranata-goorunarsuarooq.

meaning
"Once again they'd try to build a huge radio station, but apparently it was all still just on a preparatory level".

(it is in one word, but somehow the computer intelligence can't handle a continuous spelling of it in this post)

(source: https://dk.linkedin.com/pulse/8-gode-råd-hvis-du-skal-udtale-et-grønlandsk-ord-martine-lind-krebs )


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## Ingélou

joen_cph said:


> From what I understand, they have different, additive principles in the Greenlandish language/dialect, and to an excessive degree. For example, you'll have a word like
> 
> _Nalunaarasuartaatilioqateeraliorfinnialikkersaatiginialikkersaatilillaranata-goorunarsuarooq_
> 
> meaning
> "Once again they'd try to build a huge radio station, but apparently it was all still just on a preparatory level".


I feel the Greenlanders must be a very patient people. :tiphat:

(Memo to self - must read posts more carefully in future.  )


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## joen_cph

Yes, life conditions have been extremely hard up there in Greenland, so they have probably facilitated some patient outlook, compared to say the modern city buzz ...


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## joen_cph

HenryPenfold said:


> (...)
> 
> I remember reading a sign on a beach in German, forbidding swimming in the water sports section. I can't remember the German, but in English it would have been:
> 
> "Swimminginginthisdesignatedareaforwatersportsstrictlyforbiddenandisillegal". :lol:


I think it must have been a joke of continued writing, maybe a German could compose roughly that meaning in one word, but I think the described components are probably too diverse.

EDIT: Maybe

'Wassersportsseeschwimmenverbotsaufrechterhaltung'

would at least make some sense, didn't look it up though.

BTW you could have a word like that in Danish too (vandsportsområdesvømmeforbudsopretholdelse /~ water sports area swimming prohibition overseeing), since it is all nouns.


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## Art Rock

Pretty sure that's made up, although the principle of long words put together like that does occur in German.

My father made up a few in the sixties for fun (weird how one remembers such details), such as Luxuszuckerwerksaubonbonmithandangriff for a lollipop.


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## Jacck

joen_cph said:


> I think it must have been a joke of continued writing, maybe a German could compose roughly that meaning in one word, but I think the described components are probably too diverse.
> 
> EDIT: Maybe
> 'Wassersportsseeschwimmenverbotsaufrechterhaltung'
> 
> would at least make some sense, didn't look it up though.


you can create some artificial words in German that are too long, for example
Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft
("association of subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services")

but there are also some actual words, that are equally crazy, for example this actual name of a law
Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
(beef labeling regulation and delegation of supervision law)

https://www.thoughtco.com/longest-german-word-in-the-world-4061494

other languages create new words in different manners. In Czech, we use many pre- and suffixes attached to the root of the word, which can drastically alter the meaning. English does not seem to have any complex grammar mechanisms to create new words, but it is believed that English has the most words of any language


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## Taggart

Jacck said:


> other languages create new words in different manners. In Czech, we use many pre- and suffixes attached to the root of the word, which can drastically alter the meaning. English does not seem to have any complex grammar mechanisms to create new words, but it is believed that English has the most words of any language


English relies on prefixes and suffixes to build up words (agglutinative construction.) like

anti-dis-*establish *-ment- arian-ism


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## Ingélou

Taggart said:


> English relies on prefixes and suffixes to build up words (agglutinative construction.) like
> 
> anti-dis-*establish *-ment- arian-ism


As for having lots of words - having different feeder-languages - Norman French & Anglo-Saxon - must help, providing sets of words with different shades of meanings, e.g. meeting and assembly, mutton and sheep etc.

The impact of the feeder languages colliding, the fact that English wasn't the official language in the early middle ages, and the consequent breakdown of grammatical rules means more freedom too, so verbs can become nouns and vice versa - Shakespeare was very flexible in this regard, and also used the sort of word-building that's been commented on above, as in Sonnet 57 - "Nor dare I chide the *world-without-end* hour/Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you...'


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## WNvXXT

Looked these up while reading about the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic:

cantonment... military garrison or camp
pusillanimity... showing a lack of courage or determination; timid
recrudescence... break out again; recur
sequelae... condition which is the consequence of a previous disease or injury


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## Dan Ante

joen_cph said:


> Nalunaarasuartaatilioqateeraliorfinnialikkersaatiginialikkeirsaatilillaranata-goorunarsuarooq.
> 
> .


*
Are youusingwindows 10 Igetthisproblemallof ttttthetime*


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## joen_cph

Yes  but it persists on a Samsung smartphone ...

I noticed the letter limit in posts by others too, though.


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## Dan Ante

joen_cph said:


> Yes  but it persists on a Samsung smartphone ...
> 
> I noticed the letter limit in posts by others too, though.


I have given up replying via my nice new DELL lap top with W10 ugh, and revert back to my old desk top with Vista (no problems).


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## WNvXXT

micaceous... shiny silicate mineral with a layered structure, found as minute scales in granite and other rocks
dihedral... the angle between the left and right wings (or tail surfaces) of an aircraft
tesseract... the four-dimensional analogue of the cube; the tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square


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## Pat Fairlea

On another thread here I read the expression "outwith my ken", meaning 'beyond my knowledge or understanding'. Don't think I have ever seen this exact phrasing before. Nice.


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## HenryPenfold

Pat Fairlea said:


> On another thread here I read the expression "outwith my ken", meaning 'beyond my knowledge or understanding'. Don't think I have ever seen this exact phrasing before. Nice.




On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

BY JOHN KEATS

Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold, 

And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; 

Round many western islands have I been 

Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. 

Oft of one wide expanse had I been told 

That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne; 

Yet did I never breathe its pure serene 

Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: 

Then felt I like some watcher of the skies 

When a new planet swims into his ken; 

Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes 

He star'd at the Pacific-and all his men 

Look'd at each other with a wild surmise- 

Silent, upon a peak in Darien.


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## Malx

I can recall my cousin visiting Fife for the first time many years ago - for a while she wandered around with a quizical expression until she eventually asked "Who is this 'Ken' everyone is talking about he must be popular'.

It was hard to explain if ye ken whit a mean!


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## Pat Fairlea

Malx said:


> I can recall my cousin visiting Fife for the first time many years ago - for a while she wandered around with a quizical expression until she eventually asked "Who is this 'Ken' everyone is talking about he must be popular'.
> 
> It was hard to explain if ye ken whit a mean!


I have come across 'outwith' often enough, even use it myself sometimes. And the Scots use of 'ken' is familiar. But put the two together and suddenly I was thinking "Eh? Can you say that? Is that allowed?"


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## Strange Magic

Barbebleu introduced me to the delightful phrase "to over-egg the pudding". I love it!


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## Roger Knox

"to on-shore" (vb.) bring manufacturing of something to the home country
"I am trying _to on-shore_ as many of the critical components in order to manufacture vaccines," Mr. Champagne said in an interview with the _Globe and Mail_. (Philippe Champagne is the Canadian Industry Minister.)

"nutritional content"
"slime video"
"Chances are you would want your kid to have more _nutritional_ things to watch as a YouTube Original than just a _slime video_, you know." Head of pre-school content for YouTube Originals (_Globe and Mail_)


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## Ingélou

In the newspaper yesterday I came across the word 'nod-crafty' referring to the habit of nodding your head with great wisdom as someone speaks though you have no idea what they're talking about. 

Some of my nearest and dearest do this and it drives me up the wall!


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## Strange Magic

Ingélou said:


> In the newspaper yesterday I came across the word 'nod-crafty' referring to the habit of nodding your head with great wisdom as someone speaks though you have no idea what they're talking about.
> 
> Some of my nearest and dearest do this and it drives me up the wall!


In one of Stephen Potter's excellent and truly droll books on _Lifemanship_ or _One-Upmanship_, he details the art of nodding sympathetically and making thoughtful-sounding sucking and gurgling noises with ones' pipe as one listens to another's tale of either wonder or woe.


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## DaveM

Ingélou said:


> In the newspaper yesterday I came across the word 'nod-crafty' referring to the habit of nodding your head with great wisdom as someone speaks though you have no idea what they're talking about.
> 
> Some of my nearest and dearest do this and it drives me up the wall!


In these Covid days where the host of cable news channels will have several guests in a Zoom gallery, it is typical that when the host says almost anything, several guests nod 'knowingly' whether they get the point or not.


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## Guest

I cringe every time the BBC refers to a Covid vaccine as a "jab." For instance, a headline today, "AstraZeneca must catch up on jab deliveries." It is idiotic. "Jab" is an action. They don't have to catch up on deliveries of jabbing, then need to catch up on the little bottles full of liquid.


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## Dan Ante

Jab is a colloquial expression in the UK and most English speaking countries which translates to sticking a needle in your body.


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## joen_cph

Decibel-democracy.

The meaning more or less gives itself - 
decision-making based on those
producing the loudest voices.


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## Dim7

"Paradoxical undressing"


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## Flamme

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/eejit


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## joen_cph

"_semiconductor-superconductor-magnetic insulator heterostructures"_

The official subject of a talk at the physics institute here today.


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## Chilham

"You were holding a monkey's paw when you asked for that."

Never heard it before today.


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## joen_cph

_The Metaverse_

If you expect to live say for 10 more years, or longer, you'll be meeting this stuff increasingly, and apparently it will try to take more and more of your time and work life. Facebook allegedly has 10,000 people working with keeping up on that advancing trend.

Personally, I'm not particularly interested, though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse
https://www.theverge.com/22588022/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-ceo-metaverse-interview


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## geralmar

"Inflatable Missile Detection System".

https://apnews.com/article/business...groups-hamas-3dc07c50c9f24582bc0562bbd5cb4e5b


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## atsizat

Not today but.....what does not having time for monkey business mean?

Freddie Mercury says ''I don't have no time for no monkey business''

What is a monkey business?


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## Dan Ante

Try this https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/monkey+business ..............................


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## atsizat

Dan Ante said:


> Try this https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/monkey+business ..............................


English is full of strange-ness.


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## Dan Ante

atsizat said:


> English is full of strange-ness.


Yes even to native Englanders + the many accents that add to confusion, I used to live in Coventry and as a youth went to a lot of Dances Halls at the week ends and one place in particular 'Hinckley' had the most gorgeous girls but you could not understand what they were talking about. I think accents are slowly disappearing due to the ease of travel, radio and of course the www and it is a loss.


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## mikeh375

Dan Ante said:


> Yes even to native Englanders + the many accents that add to confusion, I used to live in Coventry and as a youth went to a lot of Dances Halls at the week ends and one place in particular 'Hinckley' had the most gorgeous girls but you could not understand what they were talking about. *I think accents are slowly disappearing due to the ease of travel, radio and of course the www and it is a loss.*


dont no wot u meen dere Dan lah....

Here's a word I'd all but forgotten about until I read it in a book recently...perigrination. How's that for strangeness @atsizat?


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## Dan Ante

mikeh375 said:


> dont no wot u meen dere Dan lah....
> 
> Here's a word I'd all but forgotten about until I read it in a book recently...perigrination. How's that for strangeness @atsizat?


Yeh it should be pedigrated ...


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## atsizat

mikeh375 said:


> dont no wot u meen dere Dan lah....
> 
> Here's a word I'd all but forgotten about until I read it in a book recently...perigrination. How's that for strangeness @atsizat?


Looks like it is not a peregrinatable word. Unlike talkable.


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## Malx

'perigrination'

Is that where falcons live?


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## atsizat

Malx said:


> 'perigrination'
> 
> Is that where falcons live?


It can't be peregrinatable, right?


----------



## philoctetes

Ben Rothlisberger on John Elway: "He could throw a ball through a car wash and it wouldn't get wet"


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## Roger Knox

mikeh375 said:


> Here's a word I'd all but forgotten about until I read it in a book recently...perigrination.


I've always liked the idea of the _Tonus peregrinus_ (wandering tone) in Gregorian chant. My preference tends to be for the outlier:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonus_peregrinus


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## Rogerx

Being courteous or kind to someone never hurt anyone.


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## science

Rogerx said:


> Being courteous or kind to someone never hurt anyone.


Probably not true but in ordinary life close enough.


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## joen_cph

_Techno-signature_

https://astronomy.com/news/2021/12/...ima-centauri--and-why-astronomers-rejected-it


----------



## Ariasexta

"catechize"

From Twelfth Night by Shakespeare.


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## Ingélou

eyre
/ɛː/

noun HISTORICAL
a circuit court held in medieval England by a judge (a justice in eyre ) who rode from county to county.
"in 1221 six justices went on eyre (or circuit) in the western counties"

I'm reading history books by Dan Jones & got it from 'The Plantagenets'. Before that, it was just Jane's surname before she married Mr Rochester, or a useful word in Scrabble.


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## joen_cph

"safe news" 

- a bliss, as opposed to disputable or allegedly 'fake' ditto.


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## science

Ingélou said:


> eyre
> /ɛː/
> 
> noun HISTORICAL
> a circuit court held in medieval England by a judge (a justice in eyre ) who rode from county to county.
> "in 1221 six justices went on eyre (or circuit) in the western counties"
> 
> I'm reading history books by Dan Jones & got it from 'The Plantagenets'. Before that, it was just Jane's surname before she married Mr Rochester, or a useful word in Scrabble.


I'd somewhere picked up the idea that it was an alternative (edit: "archaic" would have been better) spelling for "eyrie" (an eagle's nest), but that appears to have been untrue.


----------



## Art Rock

QI word of the day:

BAYARD - someone with all the self-confidence born of ignorance


----------



## joen_cph

_Ambazonia_

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambazonia


----------



## starthrower

"Jewface" concerning Helen Mirren being cast as Golda Meir. How crude!


----------



## joen_cph

_Sadopopulism_

(cf. Timothy Snyder)


----------



## Jay

"Bespoke." I knew it as a verb but not in its current adjectival form. I see/hear it everywhere now.


----------



## Allegro Con Brio

I learned that some people call a drinking/water fountain a "bubbler." Though I currently live in the American Midwest, that wasn't necessarily the culture I was raised in. Has anyone else heard this one? What do you call it where you live?


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## Josquin13

Yes, I've heard it called a "bubbler" before. We called it a plain old water fountain where I grew up on the East coast. I'm wondering if "bubbler" isn't what the British call it, to sensibly distinguish it from actual water fountains in gardens?


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## geralmar

algolagnia

Pleasure in experiencing or inflicting pain.

Amazing: a word that encompasses both sadism and masochism.


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## mikeh375

Josquin13 said:


> Yes, I've heard it called a "bubbler" before. We called it a plain old water fountain where I grew up on the East coast. I'm wondering if "bubbler" isn't what the British call it, to sensibly distinguish it from actual water fountains in gardens?


I've not heard the expression 'bubbler' over here in the UK in relation to a drinking fountain J13. We normally just pour lager all over ourselves in the summer if thirsty....


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## joen_cph

'Urbicide'.

You might be able to guess the current circumstances.


----------



## fbjim

Josquin13 said:


> Yes, I've heard it called a "bubbler" before. We called it a plain old water fountain where I grew up on the East coast. I'm wondering if "bubbler" isn't what the British call it, to sensibly distinguish it from actual water fountains in gardens?


"Bubbler" is very specifically a New England expression.


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## Ingélou

Yesterday's left-hand 'Dordle' word was *hapax*! I've always thought that Dordle was the meanest of the currently fashionable word-games.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/hapax

It has a precise technical meaning but it could be used as a metaphor for a 'one-off' of any sort.


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## Biwa

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I learned that some people call a drinking/water fountain a "bubbler." Though I currently live in the American Midwest, that wasn't necessarily the culture I was raised in. Has anyone else heard this one? What do you call it where you live?


Yes, "bubbler". A nice splash from the past. . That was what everyone called it when I lived in the Midwest (namely in Indiana and Wisconsin). I don't see them very much these days. Now people call it bottled water. LOL!


----------



## Ingélou

Today, from a game of scrabble played with my husband, I learned the word zendo (= 'a place used for Zen meditation'). I was behind in the closing stages of the game and it won me the game as I was able to place the z on a blue triple square and the whole word on a double, for a score of 68. 

You learn something new every day - and then promptly forget it.


----------



## joen_cph

Ingélou said:


> (...)
> 
> You learn something new every day - and then promptly forget it.


  :lol: .............................

Well, after all, there are exceptions from that overall rule ... :lol:


----------



## Biwa

Ingélou said:


> Today, from a game of scrabble played with my husband, I learned the word zendo (= 'a place used for Zen meditation'). I was behind in the closing stages of the game and it won me the game as I was able to place the z on a blue triple square and the whole word on a double, for a score of 68.
> 
> You learn something new every day - and then promptly forget it.


Well done! I guess you had one of those zen moments (Sorry, I couldn't resist. ) But I do find it interesting to see which words are borrowed from other languages and become part of the culture.


----------



## geralmar

"Congress is Hollywood for ugly people".

Capitol police officer speaking on insurrection and aftermath.


----------



## geralmar

"Structurally stupid"

Academic term. Can apply to pretty much any social theory.


----------



## mikeh375

geralmar said:


> "Structurally stupid"
> 
> Academic term. Can apply to pretty much any social theory.


...or brain perhaps.
Here's a good one - 'tergiversation'.


----------



## Merl

I encountered the expression '*vabbing*' whilst reading something, this morning. Part of me wishes I hadn't looked it up. 😳 I thought it was a joke but it's not. Still seems a bit fishy to me. 🤨


----------



## geralmar

Double-tap strike

A drone strike involving a target, waiting five to twenty minutes for first responders and rescue workers to arrive, then bombing the target again.

A term I'm sorry is even necessary.


----------



## joen_cph

"neo-idealism".

Might become a trend. Based on some current big-scale events.


----------

