Search found 20 matches

by mbx_pdx
Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:24 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Pun Times at the Alpha Agora
Replies: 13
Views: 30937

Re: Pun Times at the Alpha Agora

Mother Goose does not appear in this series. Looks like Mother Goose to me! Gandhi was not very well off. He couldn't afford shoes, so he walked everywhere in his bare feet. He couldn't eat much, either, and what he could find cursed him with perpetual bad breath. I guess you could call him a "...
by mbx_pdx
Sun Sep 11, 2005 2:05 pm
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: CATASTROPHE
Replies: 3
Views: 8505

Is it wild fancy to also think that "Catastrophe" and "Disaster" both have something to do with the Ancient Greek propensity for seeing bad things in the stars? I don't know much Greek at all, but both words seem to contain "Astro" or "Aster," meaning "st...
by mbx_pdx
Sun Sep 11, 2005 2:00 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Mensa's Word Contest
Replies: 6
Views: 16417

Pas mal, mbx_pdx ; I see you're going to enjoy the Agora (and we your contributions) !...

Henri
Thank you very much, Henri!

21. Graftitude- [n.] Thankfulness for any addition onto an original entity or idea.
by mbx_pdx
Sat Sep 10, 2005 8:40 pm
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: mumpsimus
Replies: 13
Views: 21405

KatyBr , I make no claims to know everything. I just reject ideas that are damaging to individual and social advancement and freedom. As for the ending, I understand the Latin connotations of the suffix [-mus], but when used in English as a verb, I tend to apply the appropriate Latin plural noun en...
by mbx_pdx
Sat Sep 10, 2005 7:11 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Mensa's Word Contest
Replies: 6
Views: 16417

It is, indeed, an excellent word. ^_^

Let me think...

20. Corgitate- To have one's thoughts run around in circles and nip at one's ankles like a small, shrilly yapping dog.
by mbx_pdx
Sat Sep 10, 2005 3:51 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Mensa's Word Contest
Replies: 6
Views: 16417

:oops:

I shall not correct it, for it shows my beautiful flaws!
by mbx_pdx
Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:32 pm
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: mumpsimus
Replies: 13
Views: 21405

Thank you for that, now I have another term of reference for my parents...

I'm assuming the plural to be "mumpsimi?"
by mbx_pdx
Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:29 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Take My Privacy, Please !
Replies: 33
Views: 60477

I absolutely love the way this topic changed direction! Lovely! I especially don't like having financial transactions monitored. I use cash whenever I can help it. [Of course they're legitimate, shame on you!] As for temperature, we've been over the mid 80s F, and very humid for the past few weeks. ...
by mbx_pdx
Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:15 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Mensa's Word Contest
Replies: 6
Views: 16417

Mensa's Word Contest

Apparently, Mensa International sponsors a contest each year that involves changing a dictionary word by adding, ommitting, or changing a letter, and then giving it a new definition. I got this list of 2005 winners from a friend, so I don't know their original publication [Perhaps the Washington Pos...
by mbx_pdx
Sat Sep 10, 2005 3:20 am
Forum: Idioms
Topic: I see no brine...
Replies: 3
Views: 21348

I see no brine...

So why are we in a pickle again? Did the term really originate from the process of brining foodstuffs? Or is it related to the metallurgy term meaning [to the best of my knowledge] "to remove or clean a certain type of metal from a soldered or welded product?" [Or the chemical used for doi...
by mbx_pdx
Sat Sep 10, 2005 3:16 am
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Edward Gorey...
Replies: 5
Views: 12200

Howard Phillips Lovecraft. That literature scares me to death.
In a good way. Incredibly verbose gentleman. I suppose one would have to be, being mostly bedridden for life...
by mbx_pdx
Sat Sep 10, 2005 3:02 am
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: SNOG
Replies: 3
Views: 8649

I'm sorry, I'm just dissolving into helpless laughter hearing that looped on my WMV player.

Shame on you, Wayne!
by mbx_pdx
Fri Sep 09, 2005 10:55 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Edward Gorey...
Replies: 5
Views: 12200

Roald Dahl is definitely a favorite.
I find Douglas Adams to be a fine wordsmith, as well.
Carl Sagan [See the signature] wrote exactly as if he were talking, lovely books.
And, of course, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe should not be left out.
by mbx_pdx
Fri Sep 09, 2005 10:52 pm
Forum: Etymology
Topic: Some thing WICKED this way comes!
Replies: 38
Views: 222380

Thanks for your sentiments!
by mbx_pdx
Fri Sep 09, 2005 9:50 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Edward Gorey...
Replies: 5
Views: 12200

Edward Gorey...

I'm surprised that nobody has brought up this gentleman's work. Admittedly, it is dark humour, but his methods of writing are delightful, at least to me, in the manner in which they cavort on the tongue. As for vocabulary, I would recommend his piece, "The Nursery Freize," which is a serie...

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