Search found 465 matches
- Wed Apr 17, 2024 5:15 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Spanner
- Replies: 3
- Views: 158
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: 259
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: 259
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: 424
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: 341
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: 142
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: 4635
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: 169
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: 212
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: 11698
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: 811
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: 1855
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?
- Sat Feb 24, 2024 9:52 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Alembic
- Replies: 1
- Views: 3216
Re: Alembic
Yes, a rare and arcane Good Word, but one which deserves currency, as this recent example demonstrates: Emperor Napolean managed, through the alembic of his personal charisma, to transform [the patriotic singing of the “Marseillaise”] into a personal loyalty that endured,at least in part, through hi...
- Wed Feb 21, 2024 11:51 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Flourish
- Replies: 3
- Views: 277
Re: Flourish
Thanks Slava. I agree and would like to add to your list one of my favorite (but rare) words which blossoms from the same root word: “floruit.” Dictionary.com defines it as “he (or she) flourished: used to indicate the period during which a person flourished, especially when the exact birth and deat...
- Mon Jan 08, 2024 9:47 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Etiolate
- Replies: 2
- Views: 6441
Re: Etiolate
I just came across this exquisite metaphorical use of “etiolate.” James Gleick, who is the reviewer in this case, is a writer of clarity, style and eloquence who makes complex science and its history accessible to lay readers. From James Gleick’s review of “Free Agents: How Evolution Gave us Free Wi...