Category: vocabulary

vocabulary

How To Win At Scrabble

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Sure, I’m giving away a secret but future victories will be even sweeter knowing that my opponent could have been on the same level as I am in terms of obscure word knowledge. Courtesey of Wired Mag’s “How To” issue, here are recommended “words to know” from John Williams Jr., executive director of the National Scrabble Association:
azo, jo, ka, ki, qaid, qat, qi, xi, xu, za, zin and zoa.
Also on the list for when you have too few or too many vowels:
hm, hmm and ourie.
When I pull a “zin” on someone, when he or she is complaining that it isn’t a word, I’m simply going to say “next time read my blog.”
Via Wired.

vocabulary

Daily Candy’s Lexicon X

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Now that I’m on the Daily Candy email list again (I don’t know why, I delete without reading 9 out of 10 emails because they are about boutiques that only the trendiest girls will like), I received these words and definitions in my inbox this morning courtesy of Daily Candy. Like the last time, I thought I’d share:

Violent night, troll-y night
n. The aftermath of the holiday party where a certain elf swills too much vodka.

Mistleho
n. Someone who hangs around under the mistletoe, waiting to get kissed. (“Eve was being such a mistleho at the company party that no one else could get any play from the cute tech guys.”)

Eggsnog
n. A makeout session that takes place under the influence of eggnog.

Hallmarketing
n. The outrageous marketing push that begins two months before each holiday (Halloween decorations in July, Christmas decorations in October).

Round yon virgin
n. Severely overweight child relative who hogs all the dessert. (“I never even got to try Aunt Martha’s cranberry squares – the round yon virgins charged the dessert table.”)

Santa fraud
n. Poorly costumed Santa Claus impersonator. (“Avoid department stores at all costs. They’re overrun with Santa frauds this year.”)

Dreidel robber
n. Someone who cheats young children at dreidel.

Yulezilla
n. Someone who goes way too overboard with the Christmas decorations (usually Mom).

Mrs. Claws
n. Work buddy’s wife whose steely gaze keeps her husband’s female colleagues on the other side of the office-party dance floor.

vocabulary

Daily Candy’s Lexicon IX

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I received these words and definitions in my inbox this morning courtesy of Daily Candy. I thought I’d share:

beighborhood
n. Area populated by good-looking people. (“Let’s go downtown. Fifth Street has turned into a total beighborhood.”)

DIZO
n. Acronym. Describes (busy, working, all-too-typical) couple: Dual Income, Zero Orgasm.

Earnest Hemorrhage
n. A man who is oppressively forthcoming with every thought and feeling. Antonym: Ernest Hemingway, linguistically stingy author.

foxymoron
n. One who is incredibly dumb but incredibly cute, who simultaneously attracts and repels. (“I’m so ashamed. I hooked up with that foxymoron last night.”)

GHaG
n. Acronym. Girl-Hating Girl. The one whose only friends are guys.

hobeau
n. A less-than-hygienic boyfriend. (“Better open the window. Here come Gloria and her hobeau.”)

nontourage
n. A group of undesirable sycophants. (“The party was fun until Justin showed up with his nontourage.”)

pharmasecrecy
n. The secret bond one has with her pharmacist. (“Only Mr. Myers knows the truth about my little Klonopin/Paxil/laxative habit.”)

showflake
n. Person who chronically misses every appointment (e.g., haircuts, doctor visits, dinners). (“Is Louisa going to show, or is she pulling a showflake again?”)

SoDeeWah
n. Socialite/designer/whatever. The model/actress/ whatever of the ’00s. You know the type.

staremaster
n. Gym dandies who constantly check themselves out in the mirror. (“If that staremaster touches his pecs one more time …”)

vocabulary

Words of the Day

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I found these words on an index card while cleaning this past weekend. I finally looked them up and I’ve posted both the words and their meanings:

Perspicacity: Acuteness of perception, discernment, or understanding.

Occidentals: Natives or inhabitants of an Occidental country; a westerner.

Syllogism: A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion; for example, All humans are mortal, the major premise, I am a human, the minor premise, therefore, I am mortal, the conclusion.; reasoning from the general to the specific

Engender: To bring into existence; give rise to: “Every cloud engenders not a storm” (Shakespeare); to procreate; propagate.

vocabulary

Word of the Day

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Schadenfreude: Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.

Example: When I [Lloyd Grove of the NY Daily News] suggested to Franken that I didn’t believe him [regarding that he had “no comment” about O’Reilly’s recent legal woes] and that he must be having his own little schadenfreude festival he conceded: “Well, if this is true, there’ll be enough schadenfreude to fuel … uh, no comment, no comment!”

vocabulary

Words of the Day courtesy of the NY Times Circuits Section

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ADMIRONISHMENT: “No one does weird quite as well as Japanese game designers and animators, who come up with concepts so bizarre that one feels a mix of admiration and astonishment, best expressed as admironishment.” – Charles Herold, author of the Game Theory article “Touches of Weird, Done Best in Japan”

SPOOFPROOF: “Nothing is spoofproof,” said Timothy L. Murray, the chief operating officer of Cross Match Technologies, which has supplied scanners used at 115 airports and 15 seaports. “So there’s a market niche that cares an awful lot about whether the thing on the reader is alive.” – Ian Austin, author of the What’s Next article “Is It Really You? A Scanner Delves Beneath Fingerprints”

vocabulary

Wordplay

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Each year the Washington Post’s Style Invitational asks readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing only one letter and supply a new definition. Here are the 2002 winners:

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

Giraffiti: Vandalism painted very, very high.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit).

Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.

Glibido: All talk and no action.

Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. And, the overall winner of the Washington Post’s Style Invitational:

Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an asshole

vocabulary

Language

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An image transmits a tremendous amount of data to the individual. Language parses that data out into a coherent stream. Language is the program that crunches and churns away generating reports in the middle of the night. Language creates art with a viewpoint; it is an act of sub-creation by its mere existence.