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by Stargzer
Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:56 pm
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: Sassy
Replies: 4
Views: 7203

Re: Sassy

As I understand it, sass is a back-formation from sassy, not the other way around. You are correct according to the Online Etymology Dictionary : sass (n.) "impudence," 1835, back-formation from sassy . The verb is first recorded 1856, from the noun. Related: Sassed; sassing. Sass (n.) as...
by Stargzer
Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:32 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: New Words in the ODO
Replies: 3
Views: 9384

Re: New Words in the ODO

It took this long for GIF to get into a dictionary?

As for Cray (Crazy; I had to follow the link to look it up), my first thought was one of the first supercomputers, the Cray series of computers. They looked like Victorian settees.
by Stargzer
Wed Jul 16, 2014 1:17 pm
Forum: Site News
Topic: Books that Should be Written
Replies: 14
Views: 46283

Re: Books that Should be Written

This has been going on a very long time. I remember from grade school, back in the 60s, some stickers with book names:

The Yellow River by I. P. Daley
Brown Spots On The Wall: A Chinese Mystery by Hu Flug Poo
by Stargzer
Wed Jul 16, 2014 12:55 pm
Forum: Good Word Suggestions
Topic: Pyknic
Replies: 1
Views: 6145

Pyknic

Not an outdoor meal, but perhaps the result of too many outdoor meals. Few of us would say, "Let's have a pyknic!" pyk· nic (pĭk ' nĭk) ADJECTIVE: Having a short stocky physique. ETYMOLOGY: From Greek puknos, compact OTHER FORMS: pyk'nic (Noun) SOURCE: the NEARLY USELESS FACTOID section of...
by Stargzer
Wed Jan 08, 2014 12:11 am
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: New Oxymoron
Replies: 2
Views: 7860

Re: New Oxymoron

...So is anyone hit by the atomic bombs or the drones any less dead for all this humanitarianism? Indeed, humanitarian warfare is a tragic oxymoron. Someone once said, "War is Hell!" No, for any particular person, dead is dead, no matter if it's from small arms fire, Zyklon-B, being burie...
by Stargzer
Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:13 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: molasses in January
Replies: 8
Views: 15652

Re: molasses in January

Speaking of "kick the bucket," have any of you ever seen the movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World?" At the beginning, Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) runs over a cliff and is thrown from his car. Four cars of people go over to help him. As he dies, one of his legs straightens out...
by Stargzer
Tue Jan 07, 2014 10:56 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Tagline graveyard
Replies: 3
Views: 9358

Re: Tagline graveyard

Long ago I updated that first tag line: "The secret to a long marriage is to remember that divorce is too expensive and murder is too risky: you can't afford the first, and you can't afford to get caught for the second." I used to work with a guy who went through probably four of five marr...
by Stargzer
Tue Jan 07, 2014 10:22 pm
Forum: Site News
Topic: Odd Links on Internet Explorer
Replies: 9
Views: 28826

Re: Odd Links on Internet Explorer

Gailr said: "Friends don't let friends use Internet Explorer."

[sob]
And here all these years I thought Gailr was my friend. :- (
[/sob]
by Stargzer
Fri Dec 27, 2013 7:18 pm
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: Effable
Replies: 18
Views: 29218

Re: EFFABLE

This word stretches from the sublime to the silly. Shrinklits: Seventy of the World's Towering Classics Cut Down to Size includes a summary of Lolita. It includes the line, "She was ineffable and yet, as effable as she could get." With the rise of the euphemism "effing," I wonde...
by Stargzer
Fri Dec 27, 2013 7:06 pm
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: Gobbledygook
Replies: 2
Views: 6144

Re: Gobbledygook

Strange, but I just ran across a page on Mental Floss called " 12 Horrible Gobbledygook Words We Reluctantly Accepted. " Serendipity? It made me wonder if #10, " demote ," the opposite of " promote ," should be " conmote ." (EGAD! The Old Buzzard still remembe...
by Stargzer
Wed Aug 01, 2012 3:47 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Pun Times
Replies: 287
Views: 684569

If you recognize this after the first few lines, skip down to the bottom for an alternate punch-line. Three people arrive at the Pearly Gates simultaneously. St. Peter informs them, "Due to the high number of recent natural disasters and armed conflicts, our facilities have been stretched beyon...
by Stargzer
Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:48 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Actor Andy Griffith
Replies: 4
Views: 9820

I think Andy Griffith was a much better actor than his stereotype country bumpkin roles such as Will Stockdale or Andy Taylor. His character in A Face in the Crowd was Mr. Hyde to Sheriff Taylor's Dr. Jekyll. If you've neve seen it, look for it. He plays a character you'd never suspect could exist i...
by Stargzer
Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:19 pm
Forum: WELCOME HOME!
Topic: More of a thief than a giver
Replies: 23
Views: 69348

Since this thread is going down the toilet, I think I will put my two cents in. ...He later made millions with Dr. Simmons' Patent Regulator. This wonderful medicine was made from alcohol, sugar and phenolphthalein. It did the job but not gently. ... Phenolphthalein is an acid-base indicator, clear...
by Stargzer
Mon Sep 05, 2011 11:41 am
Forum: WELCOME HOME!
Topic: E or A?
Replies: 10
Views: 37773

Practice vs. Practise

I'd say it depends on which variant of English you speak:
prac·tise

VERB:
&
NOUN:

Chiefly British

Variant of practice.


OTHER FORMS:
practis·er(Noun)
by Stargzer
Sun Jul 17, 2011 11:42 pm
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: GIT
Replies: 5
Views: 8777

I think an "old git" is similar to an "old codger" or an "old fart." Speaking of wine: Be Bold! Go for the Old! Old Git and Old Tart Sold in the US as Old Fart and Old Fart's Wife. Not bad wines; bought them for the labels originally. And no, I did not pose for the labe...

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