Search found 468 matches
- Wed May 08, 2024 11:36 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Urbicide
- Replies: 2
- Views: 83
Re: Urbicide
Latin urbs appears in English urban and urbane "citified, elegant". Its origin is a mystery. Pokorny thinks it is a mangled form of PIE gherdh-/ghordh- "to enclose, surround", but others think it came from PIE uerbh-/uorbh- "to turn" in the sense of "to encircle&q...
- Wed May 01, 2024 10:55 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Counter
- Replies: 2
- Views: 86
Re: Counter
“Counter” is one of those delicious (squiggly?) English words that takes off in so many different directions that many dictionaries divide it in to multiple entries. How the word accreted such diverse meanings could fill pages of etymological discourse. Hey, you think the first offer you got when yo...
- Mon Apr 29, 2024 11:33 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Conscience
- Replies: 2
- Views: 109
Re: Conscience
“Conscience” is an excellent and timely good word. We should make more use of it. Unfortunately, like “shame”, “conscience” is a concept that is losing its relevance in the current state of the culture. Closely related to “conscience” (both etymologically and conceptually) is the word “scienter,” a ...
- Wed Apr 17, 2024 5:15 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Spanner
- Replies: 3
- Views: 721
Re: Spanner
"Spanner" demonstrates the limitations of idiomatic usages, even within a single language. "Spanner" is a word virtually no American would recognize. In 1965 John Lennon published a book of nonsense stories with the punning title "A Spaniard in the Works." The cover art...
- Sat Apr 13, 2024 12:58 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Adoxography
- Replies: 5
- Views: 797
Re: Adoxography
In defense of adoxography… My reference to John Updike’s execrable poem in a prior post notwithstanding, “adoxography” is not necessarily a pejorative or trivial exercise. Here’s a recurring example: Dan Neil writes the automobile reviews for the Wall Street Journal that are full of adoxography. As ...
- Tue Apr 09, 2024 1:03 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Adoxography
- Replies: 5
- Views: 797
Re: Adoxography
What a great word! I’m OK with the “fine” point in the definition. But must “adoxography” be limited to fine prose? Why not fine poetry, too? Here is an extreme example of poetic adoxography, “The Beautiful Bowel Movement,” a poem published and anthologized by Updike. This is not some joke poem he d...
- Thu Apr 04, 2024 9:01 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Obfuscate
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1134
Re: Obfuscate
Here is a prodigy of the use of the adjective "obfuscatory." It appears in a letter to the editor in today's Wall Street Journal: "In contrast, Eisenhower could be deliberately obfuscatory when presented with diplomatic or political challenges, preferring to be perceived as confused w...
- Wed Apr 03, 2024 10:35 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Verge
- Replies: 5
- Views: 546
Re: Verge
I was wondering about verger, the guy who holds the verge, which according to dictionary.com is "a rod, wand, or staff, especially one carried as an emblem of authority or of the office of a bishop, dean, or the like." Spot on, Slava. In Anglican and Catholic practice, the verger leads ec...
- Mon Apr 01, 2024 11:57 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Exodic
- Replies: 1
- Views: 249
Re: Exodic
“Exodic” is a terrific word (new to me) that has many possible applications. Thanks! There are other Biblical adjectives that can be deployed productively which are worth auditioning for wider usage. “Abrahamic” describes several diverse religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Druze. Per...
- Fri Mar 29, 2024 10:18 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Perdition
- Replies: 3
- Views: 4725
Re: Perdition
Paying attention to the first rather than the last syllable, there's "pain perdu ", a rather elegant French toast. I discovered that “perdu” is itself a legitimate English word. It is defined as “hidden; concealed; obscured.” It deserves wider currency. Perdu is definitely a good word: te...
- Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:18 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Cenacle
- Replies: 1
- Views: 589
Re: Cenacle
santa cena.jpg In Spanish speaking countries, the Last Supper is known as la Última Cena or Santa Cena. When the Spaniards conquered Peru they imposed Catholicism upon the native population, with some nods to local culture. In the cathedral in Cusco, there is a painting of the Last Supper, roughly ...
- Sun Mar 24, 2024 2:49 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Sultry
- Replies: 3
- Views: 861
Re: Sultry
So, how did we get from death to seduction? That linkage has arisen in other English words as well. John Donne, Shakespeare and the metaphysical poets punningly exploited the word “die” to mean mortal death and, well, not to mince words here, orgasm. Lots of graduate students and assistant professo...
- Sat Mar 16, 2024 7:53 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Enfilade
- Replies: 9
- Views: 13979
Re: Enfilade
I just watched “Saving Private Ryan,” a great film, and one I have seen several times. For this viewing I selected the “close captioning” option so that I could closely follow the dialog, some of which is obfuscated by the noise of battle. I noticed that the Tom Hanks character shouted to his advanc...
- Tue Mar 12, 2024 2:08 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Luftmensch
- Replies: 4
- Views: 860
Re: Luftmensch
In “The Joys of Yiddish,” Leo Rosten provides this charming gloss on luftmensch (Rosten spells the word without a penultimate "c"): The prototype of the luftmensh was one Leone da Modena, a sixteenth century Venetian Jew, who listed his skills and cited no fewer than twenty-six professions...
- Wed Feb 28, 2024 10:42 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Courtesan
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1907
Re: Courtesan
Hmm…. So how did we get to the verb “to court,” a thoroughly respectable verb, whether it is “to court favor with …” or to engage in the respectable ritual of slowly and publicly trying to persuade a nice woman that you would be a suitable husband?