Bodhisattva

Technical problems delayed my posting last night, so I'll shoot for a double-whammy tonight.

A bodhisattva is defined by The Free Dictionary as "an enlightened being who, out of compassion, forgoes nirvana in order to save others". The concept of the bodhisattva comes from the Buddhist religion. In fact, Siddhārtha Gautama himself was considered a bodhisattva before he became a buddha (or Buddha, as the case may be). Essentially, the bodhisattva delays his own enlightenment for the benefit of others, practicing self-sacrifice by training others.

technorati tags:words, vocabulary, bodhisattva, Buddhism, Buddha

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Spick and span

The phrase "spick and span" -- meaning immaculately clean or brand new -- can't be taken at face value. To begin with, the modern definition of spick seems that it has little to do with the word (especially since this idiom generally is not considered offensive), and the definition for span seems equally unrelated. As it turns out, "spick" is an archaic variation of "spike". "Span" is an abbreviation of "span-new", which means "entirely new". The connection? "Spick and span" originally meant something to the effect of "as new as a newly made nail". So there you go.

technorati tags:words, vocabulary, spick and span

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Poll: From whence the words came

(Whence, incidentally, has nothing to do with "when", but instead means "from where" or "from what origin".)

Thought I'd conduct a little poll, more out of curiosity than anything else.

In the "Words to Your Mother" feature that has essentially taken over "Everyone Is Jumping Off the Brooklyn Bridge", I generally have not stuck to English words, or even for that matter words that are remotely likely to be introduced into English. So, just out of curiosity, what do you like to see in your word of the day feature? Do you prefer English-only, or primarily non-English words, or some mixture thereof?

Just to be clear, this isn't an offer to change the content of this blog. I keep this up more because I enjoy the research than anything, and I'll probably continue to stick with what I find interesting at the moment. If I ever change that, I don't expect the blog to continue for long. Besides, I personally think that the mixture sets this apart from other word-of-the-day sites. However, I would like to know what people think, if only for curiosity's sake. I suppose that if I'm wavering as to what word to pick, public opinion might sway me slightly one way or t'other.

Perhaps more importantly, I'm curious to see how many regular readers there are in general, so feel free to post a response on this post that says "I have no opinion" or even "Why should I bother posting if you don't plan on changing anything?". General feedback is welcome as well.

Well, that's all for tonight.

technorati tags:words, vocabulary, Words to Your Mother, word of the day, non-English, poll

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Churlish

Resisting the urge to say that churlish is befitting a churl, even if it is. Can't do that gag twice in a week.

Churlish means having a bad disposition or being difficult to work with. It can also mean rude and boorish. Generally not a good thing, although it could theoretically stop people from bothering you about things. Probably not the best route to go.

I may be getting stuck in a rut: This is my third English-language word in a row. I have some intriguing non-English stuff lined up for later, though, so stay tuned.

technorati tags:words, vocabulary, churlish

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Somnambulist

A somnambulist is someone who engages in somnambulism.

technorati tags:words, vocabulary, somnambulist, somnambulism, sleepwalking

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Avast

Yep. It's my belated "Talk Like a Pirate Day" entry. (The actual day was September 19th.)

"Avast" means to "stop and give attention". Wiktionary defines this meaning (or, more specifically, "listen, pay attention") as "a parody of pirate slang", giving the main definition as "hold fast".

Interestingly enough, it would appear that "avast" may also be Italian for stop or "enough". Unfortunately, I'm having trouble confirming this outside of Wiktionary. Perhaps it's imported from the English word, and thus not listed in most cross-language dictionaries.

technorati tags:words, vocabulary, avast, pirates, Talk Like a Pirate Day, Italian

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Jiffy

It may cook fast, but it doesn't cook that fast.

In an attempt to live up to my title, I'm using a word that—in addition to being mom-friendly—is a word you may have actually used to your mother in the past. For example, "I'll be there in a jiffy", which, as it turns out, was probably not true at any time that you said it.

A jiffy is, in its loosest definition, a moment of time. However, there's no fun in that.

For computing, a jiffy is a fairly short period of time, typically amounting to 0.0100 seconds, or the duration of the system timer interrupt.

In electronics, a jiffy is 0.0167-0.0200 seconds, or the time that it takes to alternate power cycles in AC current. (Yes, AC current is redundant. So sue me. Or injure me and send me to the ER room¹. Or take away my NIC card² so I can't post any more: I'll just buy another once I have a chance to stop by the ATM machine³. But I digress.)

Not content to have a lengthy jiffy, computers fought back: A jiffy in the Linux 2.6.13+ kernel is 0.0040 seconds. In Linux 2.6.0–2.6.12 it is even shorter: 0.0010 seconds.

Unfortunately, the physicists had to show off again: Although the definition can vary, one of the more common definitions is the amount of time it takes light to travel one centimeter in a vacuum. That's 0.000000000333564 seconds.

Of course, the quantum physicists had to top that, and go for the amount of time it takes for light to travel across a fermi. We're down to 0.00000000000000000000001 seconds here.

So, again, it was unlikely that you were actually there in a jiffy. In fact, depending on your definition, you probably took a few billion of them.

Footnotes:

¹ Okay, I actually really hate this one.

² This gets on my nerves too.

³ I don't really care about this too much for some reason.

technorati tags:words, vocabulary, jiffy

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Bwana

My name's not racist.
No, seriously.

Wow. Third post about Swahili in a month. (#1 - #2) You'd almost think that it was one of the languages that I've actually spent time studying. Maybe I should at some point, but I haven't yet. But enough about me.

Bwana is Swahili for "Mr." or "sir" (or, if you want to get Biblical, Lord). The female equivalent is Bibi. Despite occasional rumors otherwise, it is not a word for "master", and in native Swahili doesn't have any of the racist connotations sometimes attributed to it.

Incidentally, B'wana Beast is also the name of a hero from DC Comics who never exactly achieved Superman status. Unfortunately for B'wana, changing his name didn't help much. Of course, such things rarely do.

technorati tags:words, vocabulary, bwana, b'wana, Swahili

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