Slake

To slake is to satisfy or quench ("to slake one's thirst), to moderate ("to slake one's anger"), to refresh by moistening, or to combine lime wit h moist air. It is more common in older English, but still in modern usage.

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Poltroonery

Double-post today to make up for a missing day:

Poltroonery is cowardice.

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Scroobious

Scroobious is a word from the nonsense poetry of Edward Lear. It is applied to people to imply disapproval of their conduct; however, it is not a real word.

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Vita

A vita is a short account of a person's life. More than one vita would be vitae. A vita can also be a curriculum vitae (which is singular in this case), which is basically a resume (or, if you prefer, resumé, or if you just want to be snooty, résumé)

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Mukluk

A mukluk is a soft boot made of reindeer skin or sealskin and worn by Eskimos.

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Hoi polloi

The hoi polloi are the common people.

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ສະບໃຢດີ (sabaai dee)

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:

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)

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.

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101st Anniversary Index (10/21/06)

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)

If you can read this, you don't need glasses. You know, unless you're wearing them right now. Or unless you increased the font size or you're using a magnifier program or a text-only browser without font sizes. Cheater.

technorati tags:words, vocabulary, Words to Your Mother, index, anniversary, 100, 101

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