One of my favorite bits, sluggo! That's the signpost up ahead...your next stop...the thread topic: aggravate. The Pythons turned aggravation to comedy. -gailr Personally, I never did like the Pythons that much. I remember watching their shows way back when and thinking, "this is a load of old ...

As for whiskeys, single-malts are the only way I fly.

That's all we need....fundamentalism. Oh crap...another six-syllable word. Soon, I'll be accused of being 'snooty'.

-- PW (who actually eschews whisky of all kinds)

Any other cases of "portmanteau" words?

Yessir.

-- PW

Meaning: a vile coward; an abject wretch; a villain of the lowest type (OED) Also appears as "niding". In Use: strangely, I've never heard this word used, though I confess I could've used it on occasion. Origins: OE niðing from ON niðingr Odd that this word seems not to have survived into ...

Glitterati pl.n. Informal Glamorous people, famous, rich, or fashionable people thought of as a group, especially those who are frequently photographed by the press. Etymology: blend of glitter and literati. ...although I believe the glitter is highly tarnished. Any other blended english words out ...

This is our equivalent of war stories, and we throughly enjoy sharing them, whether aggravating, exacerbating or exaggerating. Well, I didn't go to Catholic School, but I did have to walk five miles to school and back. Uphill both ways , a$$deep in snow. Teachers would flog us with barbed wire for ...

I sometimes think that such bully pedagogues should be given the old heave-ho. Other times, though, I think they serve a certain purpose: to encourage youngsters to develop independent thought together with a healthy measure of iconoclasm.

The jury's still out.

-- PW

I recall being told in grammar school (as we called it then) that aggravate can only mean "make worse" and not simply "annoy", as in "This zipper aggravates me when it sticks like this." My teachers didn't know, however, that the word had borne both meanings since the ...

- fear of people who say "hmm"

-- PW

And you have this fear because...?

Hmm.

-- PW

Stargzer: in addition to Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia Fear of the number 666, this guy recognizes Demonophobia or Daemonophobia Fear of demons and Hadephobia Fear of hell. Fear not, PW: Methyphobia Fear of alcohol. Interestingly, this list ignores the thousands (if not tens of thousands) suffering...

The Good Doctor's apposite use of the soon-to-disappear-from-the-English-language word "whence" brought a smile to my lips and a spring to my step.

Punk made my day.

-- PW

Did you really draw your avatar, Bailey? I think It's cute! It has great composition. But I will only give credit if it is your masterpiece. This one does not frighten the children. . ..Ok. I think I'll go mop the floors... or something. I hate these group hug things. :oops: yes, of course I drew i...

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia ( Stargzer decides to leave the pronunciation of this behemoth to the experts. ) So, here I was, sorta half-listening to a program about the Anti-Christ on the History Channel, when I decided to do a little Wikipedia wandering to see what it had to say about The Number...

"Just shoot the messenger." is gone. I use it too much at work in sentences like: "Be careful, I always shoot the messenger." When asked why, I explain that it makes me feel better and that there's always a slim chance that they'll run out of messengers. This new one seems approp...

Thanks, I did. After reading that article, I am less inclined than ever to pine for the good old days of the Roman Empire.

So really, a delator is simply a rat.

-- PW