Search found 570 matches
- Wed Apr 24, 2024 3:23 pm
- Forum: WELCOME HOME!
- Topic: Just a query about punctuation.
- Replies: 10
- Views: 48736
Re: Just a query about punctuation.
Here's a sterling example of a sentence that badly needs a comma, although only two items are listed, joined by "and". It came as part of an announcement from a local library concerning the attractions that will be included in the celebration of their 100th anniversary: ... There will also...
- Wed Apr 24, 2024 3:08 pm
- Forum: Etymology
- Topic: Epsilontist
- Replies: 2
- Views: 96
Re: Epsilontist
Thank you, Slava! I'm pretty familiar with the terminology of mathematics (having worked for a mathematical publisher my entire working life), but the meanings of most terms are beyond my understanding. To come across a mathematical term that I'd never seen before was rather unsettling. At least now...
- Wed Apr 24, 2024 1:26 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Cartoon
- Replies: 2
- Views: 100
Re: Cartoon
The other association I have for cartoons is the designs for tapestries. These certainly existed before prints or posters, and maybe paintings as well.
- Tue Apr 23, 2024 6:11 pm
- Forum: Etymology
- Topic: Epsilontist
- Replies: 2
- Views: 96
Epsilontist
"Epsilontist" is a word used by Paul Halmos in his essay "How to write mathematics". It appears in this sentence: Symbolic presentation, in the sense of either the modem logician or the classical epsilontist, is something that machines can write and few but machines can read. The...
- Fri Apr 19, 2024 8:40 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Cadge
- Replies: 1
- Views: 108
Re: Cadge
"Scrounge" is conspicuous by its absence from your list of synonyms.
"Wheedle" might also be listed, although that's a bit of a stretch.
"Wheedle" might also be listed, although that's a bit of a stretch.
- Wed Apr 17, 2024 12:32 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Spanner
- Replies: 3
- Views: 180
Re: Spanner
When I was in college and rode an English bicycle, I carried a set of spanners in case minor adjustments were necessary. But a monkey wrench is what one uses for pipefitting. They're different, or at least that's what I learned as a child.
- Fri Apr 12, 2024 10:20 am
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: galosh
- Replies: 0
- Views: 141
galosh
An overshoe, worn to protect one's shoes and keep one's feet dry from rain, snow and slush; usually used in the plural. When I was in high school, the current term for something later considered "cool" or "neat" was "shoe". And something especially cool was over "s...
- Wed Apr 10, 2024 11:09 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: VELUTINOUS
- Replies: 12
- Views: 13171
Re: VELUTINOUS
This word appeared in my emailbox this morning, but hasn't yet been reiterated among current postings. My immediate reaction was that "velouté" must be related. And certainly that fits in with the various gastronomical observations. Regarding the latter, I was born (just barely) below the ...
- Wed Apr 10, 2024 10:23 am
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: Fidget
- Replies: 1
- Views: 120
Re: Fidget
Maybe the frequency of use depends on where you're located. For at least several years, "fidget toys" have been nearly ubiquitous in the U.S. For examples, see https://www.verywellfamily.com/best-fidget-toys-6744333 (not meant as an advertisement). This does mention ADHD as being relevant ...
- Wed Apr 10, 2024 10:16 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Etagere
- Replies: 4
- Views: 239
Re: Etagere
"Stage" would be a good word to explicate. It can be a verb with at least two senses (stage a play, stage packages for delivery), and as a noun, it can also mean a stage in the progression of a disease. Maybe more.
- Thu Apr 04, 2024 3:17 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Bardolatry
- Replies: 3
- Views: 6102
Re: Bardolatry
One might extend the applicability of the term to "worship" of Brigitte Bardot. The summer after my freshman year in college, I was cashier for a small art theater, where the current flick was "And God Created Woman". But I wasn't old enough to be allowed in to watch it. (Instead...
- Tue Apr 02, 2024 10:47 am
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: concord
- Replies: 3
- Views: 4521
Re: concord
This has been around for an awfully long time without graduating. Isn't it about time?
- Tue Apr 02, 2024 10:44 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Verge
- Replies: 5
- Views: 356
Re: Verge
What about "converge"? Two (or more) verges (edges) coming together?
- Sun Mar 31, 2024 9:48 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Bulge
- Replies: 2
- Views: 5848
Re: Bulge
Wondering whether "bulgur", the delicious Middle Eastern wheat foodstuff, is related. Probably not.
(Pilaf, made with half rice, half bulgur, and a smattering of crumbled vermicelli, is even more delicious than any one of those ingredients alone. Especially when cooked over a campfire.)
(Pilaf, made with half rice, half bulgur, and a smattering of crumbled vermicelli, is even more delicious than any one of those ingredients alone. Especially when cooked over a campfire.)
- Sun Mar 31, 2024 8:58 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Symptom
- Replies: 2
- Views: 5121
Re: Symptom
I've always thought it quite appropriate that the Greek "potamos" was so nicely replicated in the name of the Patowmack River that runs past Washington, DC. I've even considered whether hippopotami (plural thanks to Flanders & Swann) would find that river a pleasant place to inhabit; p...