Word of the Day

[Gargamel]

Bespoke: Made to order. "A bespoke suit"

I had heard it many times before, and thought I understood what it meant, I always thought it related specifically to clothing. But today I heard it used with furniture. So I looked it up. Cool.

Add your word of the day, something common or uncommon, that means something slightly or vastly different than what you thought.

[Gargamel]

And to top it off, I just found the word I have been looking for. Spent a few years wondering about the word, I knew the definition, but couldn't find the word.

Philomath: Lover of Learning.

[Aktungbby]

Wheelwright's use it too, especially in Lancaster county PA when you're 'hot to trot' the ol' buggy on a Saturday night!http://www.netanimations.net/bwbuggy2.gif :O: http://www.amishwares.com/members/1504461/uploaded/1011.jpg that's my bespoke wheel pair on the right http://www.amishwares.com/members/1504461/uploaded/1023.jpghttp://www.amishwares.com/site/1504461/page/4105876 (http://www.amishwares.com/site/1504461/page/4105876)

[Catfish]

Just when it comes to the english word "bespeak" or "bespoke", i will never be able to understand how this .. language works. Dictionary shows nine different meanings of said word, and they all have nothing to do with each other, or a common meaning. All depends on the context in which they are used :doh:

[Schroeder]

Just when it comes to the english word "bespeak" or "bespoke", i will never be able to understand how this .. language works. Dictionary shows nine different meanings of said word, and they all have nothing to do with each other, or a common meaning. All depends on the context in which they are used :doh:
So it has werfed Nebel ?:doh:

[vienna]

And to top it off, I just found the word I have been looking for. Spent a few years wondering about the word, I knew the definition, but couldn't find the word.

Philomath: Lover of Learning.

In the same vein: Polymath: A person highly knowledgeable and adept in many fields of learning...


<O>

[Aktungbby]

i will never be able to understand how this .. language works.In the same vein: Polymath: A person highly knowledgeable and adept in many fields of learning...


<O>
I'm not so sure: polymaths are pretty stuck-up buggers...'in the same vain' maybe!:woot:

[vienna]

i will never be able to understand how this .. language works.
I'm not so sure: polymaths are pretty stuck-up buggers...'in the same vain' maybe!:woot:


Ah, a pun! Very good!...

If you read the histories of some of the noted polymaths throughout history, you will find them not really vain at all; in fact, they were so consumed in pursuing their various studies, they had little time for acclaim, self or external. The impression of their being aloof or condescending comes mainly from an intellectual and, often, emotional, disconnect with the general populace occasioned by that which gave them their gifts; it is a price levied for their gifts or, as some would say, "The Lord gives; the Lord takes away"...


<O>

[Eichhörnchen]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/secular

For years I thought that the word secular meant "pertaining to religion", until I found that it means completely the opposite.

[Catfish]

^ ha i thought the same, until i read Niven's and Pournelle's "The Flying Sorcerers", where they secularise "holy trees"..

B.t.w. this is an excellent SciFi book, lots of puns and great fun to read. :up:
Maybe time for a "best books" thread?


@Aktung i read the wholly bible, but in vain.. :O:

[Jimbuna]

Bespoke: Made to order. "A bespoke suit"

I had heard it many times before, and thought I understood what it meant, I always thought it related specifically to clothing. But today I heard it used with furniture. So I looked it up. Cool.

Add your word of the day, something common or uncommon, that means something slightly or vastly different than what you thought.

Many of the diecast aircraft I commission are bespoke....one-off.

[Aktungbby]

The word that got me was foment: [to cause or try to cause the growth or development of (something bad or harmful)ie rebellion] which is often cross confused to ferment: one definition of which is [to be in a state of agitation or intense activity ie rebellion]...which leads to the completely fabricated cobbled word: forment... which does not exist! but is used in a book A World Lit only by Fire by no less than William Manchester to describe a political situation, but probably just a poorly paid proofer-typesetter's gross error.:hmmm:

[Eichhörnchen]

And plenty of people continue to get the words infer and imply confused.

[Jimbuna]

Never desert your friends in the desert.

[Aktungbby]

Never desert your friends in the desert.
Lest... in vengeance... your friends dish out your just desserts:O:

[Jimbuna]

"Scale the fish completely before weighing it on the scale."

[fireftr18]

I like medical terms. Some of them are so stupid, that you have to think that someone made it up just to confuse people. My favorite is "contralateral." It's always in reference to the arms or legs. It means the opposite or the other.
"When evaluating an injury in a leg, compare it to the contralateral limb."

[Eichhörnchen]

http://i.imgur.com/SLSV3So.jpg "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"

[Eichhörnchen]

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/prosaic

I always imagined this word referred to the poetic, or imaginative, in literature. Instead I later found that it in fact means dull or everyday.

[Catfish]

"Attaboy"
At a boy?
Atta-boy?
:doh:

[Jimbuna]

"I drove down the windy road on a windy day."

[Eichhörnchen]

http://i.imgur.com/riB8rF0.jpg "I always thought a gravejumper was a serious cardigan. But then I found out it's me!!"

[Jimbuna]

"You may see a rainbow in May."

[AndyJWest]

Cleave. A useful word, meaning to stick together. Or to split apart...

[Gargamel]

I like medical terms. Some of them are so stupid, that you have to think that someone made it up just to confuse people. My favorite is "contralateral." It's always in reference to the arms or legs. It means the opposite or the other.
"When evaluating an injury in a leg, compare it to the contralateral limb."

Once in a blue moon, out of boredom, I'd right up a fake run report for the dispatcher to have to process later that night. One time I had Big Bird going off his meds and jumping off Mr. Hooper's store, insurance via the autobahn society.

Well, one of my favorites during halloween was to write one about acephalic equestrian engineers. Headless Horseman.

[Gargamel]

BAHAHAHA too good to fix. Autobahn / Audubon. ROFL.

[ivanov.ruslan]

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester.....:)

[Aktungbby]

Autobahn / Audubon.!
An inspiration there! diet of worms https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Robin_eating_a_worm_in_spring.jpg/707px-Robin_eating_a_worm_in_spring.jpg (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Robin_eating_a_worm_in_spring.jpg)vs Diet of Worms https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/%D0%9B%D1%8E%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80_%D0%B2_%D0%92%D0%BE %D1%80%D0%BC%D1%81%D0%B5.jpg/502px-%D0%9B%D1%8E%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80_%D0%B2_%D0%92%D0%BE %D1%80%D0%BC%D1%81%D0%B5.jpg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%9B%D1%8E%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80_%D0%B2_%D0%92% D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D1%81%D0%B5.jpg) trying to curtail Martin Luther's 95 Theses ( a real can of worms) @AndyJWest: Cleave. A useful word, meaning to stick together. Or to split apart... Would certainly describe Henry VIII to a 'T': He married Anne of Cleves (cleave unto:huh:) and then immediately divorced( Cleave apart:doh:) her; beheading his minister Cromwell into the bargain; Cleaving head from shoulders...."I liked her before not well, but now I like her much worse." He described her as having unpleasant body odour (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_odour) and sagging breasts" ie her 'cleavage' didn't suit his royal taste!:O: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Anne_of_Cleves%2C_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg/220px-Anne_of_Cleves%2C_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anne_of_Cleves,_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.j pg)Anne outlasted all Hank's wives-one tough kraut!:up: and unlike wives Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard-both beheaded... No further serious 'cleavage' issues ensued!

[vienna]

"I was in the bow of the ship when an archer, with his bow, introduced himself, with a deep bow, and also introduced his daughter, who had a blue bow in her hair. At his point, a violinist joined us, with his instrument and its bow, but i has to leave due to another engagement, so I asked their pardon, since I had to bow out..."

One of my exes was studying Japanese at university and was bothered by the similarity of some words in the language. The most commonly cited example is hashi: depending on the context, inflection or accent emphasis, hashi can mean either "bridge", "edge", or "chopsticks". I used an example of the English word "bow" similar to to one above to show her such soundalikes are common in all languages...


<O>

[Torplexed]

Factoid and it's descent into meaninglessness.

The “-oid” ending in English is normally added to a word to indicate that an item is not the real thing. A humanoid is not quite human. Originally “factoid” was an ironic term indicating that the “fact” being offered was not actually factual. However, CNN and other sources took to treating the “-oid” as if it were a mere diminutive, and using the term to mean “trivial but true fact.” As a result, the definition of “factoid” is now hopelessly muddled and it’s probably better to avoid using the term altogether. Thanks CNN.

[Eichhörnchen]

http://i.imgur.com/GHgZrQU.jpg "Oooph! Mein hemorrhoids are most definitely real..."

[Catfish]

Factoid and it's descent into meaninglessness.

The “-oid” ending in English is normally added to a word to indicate that an item is not the real thing. A humanoid is not quite human. Originally “factoid” was an ironic term indicating that the “fact” being offered was not actually factual. However, CNN and other sources took to treating the “-oid” as if it were a mere diminutive, and using the term to mean “trivial but true fact.” As a result, the definition of “factoid” is now hopelessly muddled and it’s probably better to avoid using the term altogether. Thanks CNN.


A factoid is still something else than a fact, only Fox news treats it as such :O:

No you are right, the meaning has changed. But a factoid as i understand has now become a fragment or a small part of some complex fact (?)

And the junkyard or scrapyard, has become a recycling park :haha:
The Ministry of war is now the Ministry of defense, and so on.
I guess Miniwar has turned to Minideaf, then.

Orwellian Newspeak in full swing.

[vienna]

The word sophisticate, and its derivations, also has been redefined to mean its opposite. Originally, sophisticate was used to describe something false, tampered with or defiled; it now describes something, or someone, of a worldly, educated, or highly fashionable status...

Oddly, one other word, from the same root, still retains the original meaning of the root: sophistry, the use use of false or misleading arguments or deceptive actions for the purpose of deceit...

So, in the vein of the above post, is Fox News sophisticated or sophistry?... :D


<O>

[Sailor Steve]

"Gross" originally meant large, or great; slowly came to mean overly large or obese, so much so that it meant disgustingly obese. Now people use "gross" to describe anything disgusting or sickening.

[Aktungbby]

Especially when you're at weight watchers with 144 really fat people; that's really gross!:O:

[vienna]

That reminded me of something that happened to me a couple of decades back. There is a large building complex in downtown Los Angeles and it had a multi-level underground retail/restaurant mall. On the very lowest level, there was courtyard where they would sometimes put on entertainment and it had bench seating arranged around the central court area. I had just started a project in a nearby building, so I went to the mall, bought a good-sized lunch at one of the restaurants and decided to eat down at the courtyard. I was eating and reading a book I had brought along when I started to get the uneasy feeling someone was staring at me. I looked around to the front and the sides and saw no one watching me. Then I turned around and saw, through a storefront window, a large group of people seated in a meeting of some sort and many of them were staring at me with rather a bit of animosity. I looked up and read the sign above the storefront's door. I had the apparent bad luck of eating my good-sized lunch in front of a Weight Watchers store while a meeting/class was in progress...


<O>

[Aktungbby]

That reminded me of something that happened to me a couple of decades back. There is a large building complex in downtown Los Angeles and it had a multi-level underground retail/restaurant mall. On the very lowest level, there was courtyard where they would sometimes put on entertainment and it had bench seating arranged around the central court area. I had just started a project in a nearby building, so I went to the mall, bought a good-sized lunch at one of the restaurants and decided to eat down at the courtyard. I was eating and reading a book I had brought along when I started to get the uneasy feeling someone was staring at me. I looked around to the front and the sides and saw no one watching me. Then I turned around and saw, through a storefront window, a large group of people seated in a meeting of some sort and many of them were staring at me with rather a bit of animosity. I looked up and read the sign above the storefront's door. I had the apparent bad luck of eating my good-sized lunch in front of a Weight Watchers store while a meeting/class was in progress...


<O>I know the feeling; my wife's been a member for years!:O:
I don't just bring home a pizza...I'm an 'enabler'! :timeout:

[Jimbuna]

That reminded me of something that happened to me a couple of decades back. There is a large building complex in downtown Los Angeles and it had a multi-level underground retail/restaurant mall. On the very lowest level, there was courtyard where they would sometimes put on entertainment and it had bench seating arranged around the central court area. I had just started a project in a nearby building, so I went to the mall, bought a good-sized lunch at one of the restaurants and decided to eat down at the courtyard. I was eating and reading a book I had brought along when I started to get the uneasy feeling someone was staring at me. I looked around to the front and the sides and saw no one watching me. Then I turned around and saw, through a storefront window, a large group of people seated in a meeting of some sort and many of them were staring at me with rather a bit of animosity. I looked up and read the sign above the storefront's door. I had the apparent bad luck of eating my good-sized lunch in front of a Weight Watchers store while a meeting/class was in progress...


<O>

Classic :)

[Schroeder]

"Gross" originally meant large, or great;
Actually it's the German word for "big". Though we spell it "groß".

[Jimbuna]

"I sent my résumé hoping to find a job and resume working."

[Sailor Steve]

Actually it's the German word for "big". Though we spell it "groß".
Kaiser Friedrich "the big"? I think in this case "the great" would be the better translation.

[Platapus]

"I sent my résumé hoping to find a job and resume working."


That is one of my favourite peeves to pet. Either spell it with no accents (the 'merica way) or with two accents (the way the rest of the world seems to spell it. :D )

But not with only one accent mark.

It ain't writtin' English good. :nope:

[Torplexed]

People unfamiliar with the French-derived word “risqué” (‘slightly indecent”) often write “risky” by mistake. Bungee-jumping is risky, but nude bungee-jumping is risqué.

[Platapus]

One of my favourite words is "Disgruntled" While it may be difficult to know what exactly that means, I do feel confident that I am that thing most of the time.

The prefix dis usually means opposite or not. But to assume that disgruntled means not gruntled is incorrect. Another use of the prefix is as an intensifier. In fact it is the archaic use of the prefix dis that was applied to the term gruntle.

So we are now dealing with feeling more gruntled as opposed to not gruntled.

So what does gruntle mean? Well it means to grunt or grumble indicating disagreement (note the different use of the prefix dis) dissatisfaction, or unhappiness (Dishappiness? nah).

So when I am disgruntled, I am more unhappy. So if I can cure myself of my disgruntlement, I will be back to my normal level of unhappiness.

The opposite of disgruntlement is not being happy, but being less unhappiness.

That's weird. :D

[Platapus]

What's up with UP?

English is a crazy language.


You lovers of the English language might enjoy this . . . There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is "UP."

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP?

Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends.
And we use art to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.

We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

Fess UP...you like this!
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so............ Time to shut UP.....!


We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

:D

[tomfon]

@Platapus

You summed up the use of "up" in an interesting way!

Cheers and bottoms up!

:Kaleun_Cheers:

[Aktungbby]

https://40.media.tumblr.com/9c917326abb7de372fb0d5430fbc0975/tumblr_mjraeg5f8y1ra19mbo1_400.jpgnot to mention..."Hamming it up":arrgh!:http://twinstrivia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Hamms-bear2.jpg

[vienna]

Ah, UP to your old tricks again. eh?...


<O>

[Aktungbby]

Ah, UP to your old tricks again. eh?...Anther Doda controversy would later unwind when the Condor changed its big neon sign to show a representation of Carol; at first, the illustration on the sign was topless and the police raided the Condor for obscenity and pornography. A compromise was struck and a bikini top was added, but the Condor then added bright red lights for nipples on the the sign and the raids began again. This was in the midst of the Swinging 60s and 70s in San Francisco. I look back on those times with fondness...
.


<O>Guilty as charged :D and practicing a little....one-upmanship:http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx22/aktungbby/Capture_zpss4viabyi.png And just so the membership can bone up on the tragic loss of an icon http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=2357923#post2357923 (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=2357923#post2357923)

[fireftr18]

People unfamiliar with the French-derived word “risqué” (‘slightly indecent”) often write “risky” by mistake. Bungee-jumping is risky, but nude bungee-jumping is risqué.

Wouldn't nude bungee jumping be "risky risque?"

[Jimbuna]

"I would like to read the book you just read."