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Double-post today to make up for a missing day:
Poltroonery is cowardice.
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Today, we again venture into southeast Asian linguistics with a consideration of ສະບໃຢດີ (pronounced "sabaai dee" or "sa-baaj-dii"), which is Lao (or, if you prefer, Laotian) for "Hello".
Lao is closely related to Thai. Laotian generally uses the Thai alphabet for writing, and I believe that the phrase discussed here is the same in both languages, as well as in Isan. Like the related Khmer alphabet, this is an abugida (or syllabic alphabet) rather than a true alphabet.
As with Vietnamese, Lao is a highly tonal language. I can't claim to be an expert on Laotian tones, but I believe the following to be the correct interpretation of this phrase:
In practice, you may still be understood without the proper tones for such a common phrase (especially given the contexts you would be most likely to use it in), but it is definitely better to try to achieve the proper tone when speaking.ສະ = sa (with a low rising tone)
ບໃ = bay (with a low tone)
ຢ = y (with a low rising tone)
ດີ = dee (with a low tone)
technorati tags:words, vocabulary, ສະບໃຢດີ, sabaai dee, sa-baaj-dii, hello, Lao, Laotian, Thai, Isan, abugida, syllabic alphabet, tone, tonal language, Vietnamese, Khmer, Cambodian
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And to think I missed my own anniversary...
The main feature of the blog that wasn't supposed to last more than a week or two has now reached its 101st anniversary. The 101 words that I've included below (not counting Foster's or words that shared a definition under another word's heading) represent what you may or may not have learned so far. Honestly, I don't remember what many of them mean myself. Here's your chance for a refresher. Note that seventeen of the words below fail Flock's spell-check (not counting words marked as non-English or the phrase "Rashomon effect", which includes a proper noun). Enjoy.
abrade
abugida
achtung (German)
ἀγάπη (agape) (Koine Greek)
amiga (Spanish)
apothecary
apotheosis
avast
axed
baleen
bodhisattva
brae (Scottish)
bwana (Swahili)
beaucoup
caduceus
certitude
chào (Vietnamese)
chiropodist
churlish
colporteur
contemn
danke schön (German)
de riguer (French)
decimation
devolve
digraph
discomfit
dobar dan (добар дан) (Serbo-Croatian)
懂嗎 (懂吗/dong ma) (Mandarin Chinese)
draconian
ebay (Pig Latin)
ekorn (Norwegian)
embarazada (Spanish)
enclictic
ennui (French)
estuary
facinorous
fata morgana
flustrated
fulsome
גנבֿ (ganef) (Yiddish)
grotto
hakuna matata (Swahili)
harangue
hematologist
hypercorrection
icthys
impeachment
impress
inter arma enim silent leges (Latin)
inveterate
!*(f ^^/~ (iœ yye) (Oou)
jejune
jiffy
ជំរាបសួរ (joom reeup sooa) (Cambodian/Khmer)
junk
khara (Sanskrit)
klaatu barada nikto (fictional language)
lacuna
languorous
louche
maximal
meretricious
miter
momento mori (Latin)
n'est-ce pas (French)
noblesse oblige (French)
nuqneH (Klingon)
octave (poetry)
panacea
pangram
perestroika
phantasmagoria
philology
picayune
postlude
prig
propinquity
quail
qu'est-ce que c'est? (French)
quine
Rashomon effect
schadenfreude
schizoid
screed
סלה (selah) (Hebrew)
somnambulist
sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble (French)
souma yergon (Wolof [?])
spick and span
sushi
syllepsis
tchotchke (Yiddish)
teratonym (not a real word)
uff da (Norwegian)
uhuru (Swahili)
verisimilitude
virtu
whom
yare
zimbra (not a real word)
technorati tags:words, vocabulary, Words to Your Mother, index, anniversary, 100, 101
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technorati tags:words, vocabulary, propinquity
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A couplet is a poem
That consists of two lines
A quatrain is a poem
That consists of four lines
A sestet is a poem
That consists of six lines
An octave has eight in iambic pentameter
So this doesn't count as one (even if it were a poem)
technorati tags:words, vocabulary, poetry, couplet, quatrain, sestet, octave
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Ennui (pronounced "on-we") is boredom. Extreme, extreme boredom.
Yup.
That's about it.
Did I mention that it's related to the word "annoy"?
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Hypercorrection is something that is familiar to you and I , even if you haven't heard of it before. A hypercorrection is a phrase that is formed by taking existing grammatical rules and misapplying them in an attempt to be more correct but resulting in an improper statement.
Some examples of hypercorrection:
Pluralizing "virus" as "virii". (The proper pluralization is viruses.)
Forcibly removing prepositions from the ends of clauses.
Using "you and I" as an object since it sounds more "proper". ("He gave it to you and I.")
Hyperforeignism: Misapplying pronunciation rules for other languages to words that do not follow these rules. (Lots of good examples of this at Wikipedia.)
technorati tags:words, vocabulary, hypercorrection, hyperforeignism
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No, I'm not talking about this blog.
Check out the Worthless Word for the Day site for plenty of obscure and purportedly useless words. Good stuff.
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Boy, if I kept going down the list of medical specialties, that could probably support this blog for a month or two by itself... I'll try not to fall back on it too often.
A hematologist (or haemotologist) is a doctor that studies blood disorders, as well as blood-forming organs and blood in general.
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Someone who is schizoid is characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, extreme shyness, reclusiveness, discomfort with others, and an inability to form close relationships.
Now I'm going back to my cave until tomorrow.
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Danke schön is German for "thank you for... all the" --
Come to think of it, just "thank you" (or "thanks a lot") pretty much covers it. Danke schön is only one of numerous ways of saying "thank you" in German. Danke on its own can mean "thank you" as well, but can also mean "no, thanks" in response to an offer. It is effectively required by German custom to respond to this with "bitte schön" (or just "bitte" if you are responding to "danke" on its own): otherwise you may be viewed as refusing the thanks of the person in question.
Incidentally, the second word is pronounced more like "schone" or "scheun" than "shane". Follow the first link in this post for a pronunciation.
technorati tags:words, vocabulary, danke schön, danke, German, thank you
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A syllepsis is a type of a zeugma, a sentence or phrase in which the same word is used with two different meanings, but (usually) only appears once in the sentence.
The best way to explain what syllepses are is really by example. (All examples stolen from Wikipedia unless mentioned otherwise.)
He took my advice and my wallet (The Free Dictionary)
On his fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold. (Dictionary.com)
If we don't hang together, we shall hang separately (Benjamin Franklin)
Oh, flowers are as common here, Miss Fairfax, as people are in London. (The Importance of Being Earnest)Are you getting fit or having one? (M*A*S*H)
You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit. (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
He leaned heavily on the lectern and stale jokes.
He said, as he hastened to put out the cat, the wine, his cigar and the lamps... ("Madeira M'Dear")
You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff. (Groucho Marx)
She stirred my soul and my risotto.
You can find a few more here.
Interestingly, a sentence is also a zeugma or syllepsis if part of the sentence is applied improperly to the wrong half of the sentence. For example:
To wage war and peace (Dictionary.com)
A zeugma, more broadly, can be any phrase joined by a common noun or verb.
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technorati tags:words, vocabulary, digraph, trigraph, Vietnamese, Oou
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"!*(f ^^/~" (pronounced /ioœ yye/) is Oou for "I love languages". Or "I love a langugage". Or "You love a language". Or "I avoid languages". Or "My turnip language". Or "I flatten languages". Or "I love genocide". Or many other equally correct translations depending on context and state of mind.
Oou is a conlang (constructed language), an artlang (a conlang designed for aesthetic pleasure), and a jokelang (a conlang created as a joke). It is properly written only in monospace fonts.
The full (very short) dictionary and description of Oou can be found at the link below. Be warned: There is some strong language on this page, both inside and outside of the dictionary.
Update (10/21/06): Made a slight correction to the word itself (the question mark at the end was intentionally part of the title, but is not part of the word).
technorati tags:words, vocabulary, !*(f, ^^/~, Oou, conlang, artlang, jokelang
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An enclitic is a clitic that always binds to another word.
Okay, that probably wasn't very helpful.
A clitic is something that basically acts like a word but is always followed or preceded by another word: it never appears on its own. An enclitic actualy attaches itself to therelated word. Examples:
I'm
You're
She's
They'll
They've
The boldface sections are enclitics.
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I don't know any other Norwegian words, but you have to love this word right here:
Ekorn is Norwegian for squirrel.
Yep. That's right. And it is a coincidence. Ekorn basically means "oak kitten".
I'm just going to let you sit on that one for a while.
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Even though it's not improper or vulgar, I'm not sure how often you want to use this word around Mom... Nonetheless, here it is:
A prig is someone who displays or demands pointlessly precise conformity, fussiness about trivialities, or exaggerated propriety, especially in a self-righteous or irritating manner. Not to be confused with a similar sounding word that means "an obnoxious or contemptible person", but is considered vulgar.
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To discomfit someone is to make them lose their composure; to make them uneasy or embarrassed. You might notice an odd similarity to someone experiencing discomfort: This is not a coincidence. It is considered likely that the current meaning of the word resulted from people mixing it up with "discomfort". The original meaning (which is still correct, if rare) has to do with thwarting the plans of one's opponents. The meaning "to frustrate" falls somewhere in between the other meanings.
Interestingly, both comfit and discomfit come from the Latin word "conficere" (to prepare), but otherwise the words have little to do with each other: Comfit is a food consisting of spices or dried fruits or nuts coated with sugar.
technorati tags:words, vocabulary, discomfit, comfit
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Making up for a missed day with a quick double-post:
A fata morgana is a mirage. Fata morgana can also refer to many other things, but perhaps most notably (and most related to our primary definition), it is also an alternate name for Morgan le Fay, the shape-shifter of Arthurian legend.
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Something that is meretricious is brummagem, meaning that it is gaudy or attracts attention in a vulgar manner. It can also mean something having to deal with prostitutes or prostitution.
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