Words posted this month
I thought this would be an appropriate word as another year flies by and we enter the Christmas season … again … and again. Is this the ‘recurrence’ that Nietzsche meant when he said ‘this life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more … ‘
30 November 2012
chronophobia
[kron-oh-foh-bee-uh]
noun
– irrational fear of time and time moving forward
– fear of the duration or immensity of time.
Example sentences:
‘Prisoners often develop chronophobia as the realisation of the duration of their sentence sets in’.
‘For Nietzsche, any recoil at the prospect of recurrence (reliving life) suggests a kind of chronophobia, an aversion to time and becoming. And he claims that existential, psychological aversion is the basis for an intellectual chronophobia at the heart of the Western philosophical tradition – which, however, generally expressed its aversion to time on the more impersonal level of the search for the truth and foundations of knowledge’.
(Extracted from ‘Nietzsche’s Life Sentence: Coming to Terms with Eternal Recurrence’, by Lawrence J. Hatab)
29 November 2012
motza / motser
[mot-zuh, mot-ser]
noun, Australian Slang.
– a large amount of money, especially a sum won in gambling.
Example:
‘It wasn’t until he started selling the mangoes to tourists, instead of giving them away to friends and neighbours, that he realised he could make a motza from the tree in his backyard’.
Panda’s non-word of the day
28 November 2012
learnings
[noun]
‘Learnings’ is not a word. However, it has found its way into corporate usage even though it is completely incorrect. If you feel the need to use the word, then desist immediately and use something that is a word, such as ‘findings’, or get creative and reword the sentence so that you can avoid such a grammatical faux pas.
27 November 2012
furphy
[fur-fee]
noun
plural furphies. Australian slang.
– a false report; rumor.
– also a portable water container.
Origin
1910–15; after Furphy carts which were water and rubbish carts manufactured by the Furphy family of Shepparton, Victoria, and used during World War I. During the War, the men gathered around the carts and yarned, often gossiping or spreading rumours, so the name ‘furphy’ became synonymous with tall tales or falsities.
Example:
‘There was panic in the streets of Melbourne when the Sydney Morning Herald published the headline, “AFL Grand Final to be played at the SCG”, however, it was just a furphy, capitalising on the Swans making it to the grand final’.
26 November 2012
potvaliancy
[POT-val-yuhn-see]
noun
– Brave only as a result of being drunk.
Example sentences:
Obed looked over his shoulder, peering at me with his little short—sighted pig’s eyes, into which, in my potvaliancy, I immediately chucked half a tumbler of very strong grog, and under cover of it attempted to bolt through the scuttle.
— Michael Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log
His bursts of potvaliancy (the male side of the maiden Panic within his bosom) are awful to his friends.
— George Meredith, Beauchamp’s Career, Volume 1
Potvaliancy combines the original sense of pot as ‘drinking cup’ with valiancy, which derives from the verb valere, ‘to be strong’.
25 November 2012
popliteal
[pop-lit-ee-uhl, pop-li-tee-]
adjective Anatomy .
– of or pertaining to the ham, or part of the leg back of the knee.
Example sentence
‘The footballer ruptured the popliteal tendon behind his right knee’.
24 November 2012
altruism
[al-troo-iz-uhm]
noun
1. the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others ( opposed to egoism).
2. Animal Behavior . behavior by an animal that may be to its disadvantage but that benefits others of its kind, as a warning cry that reveals the location of the caller to a predator.
‘altruist
— n
altru’istic
— adj
altru’istically
— adv
Example sentence:
Perhaps the key debate centers on whether giving is driven by altruism or self-centred motives.
23 November 2012
presumptive
[pri-zuhmp-tiv]
adjective
1. affording ground for presumption: presumptive evidence.
2. based on presumption: a presumptive title.
3. regarded as such by presumption; based on inference.
4. Embryology . pertaining to the part of an embryo that, in the course of normal development, will predictably become a particular structure or region.
Example sentence:
We are not so presumptive as to prescribe what needs to be done.
22 November 2012
presumptuous
[pri-zuhmp-choo-uhs]
adjective
1. full of, characterized by, or showing presumption or readiness to presume too much in conduct or thought.
2. unwarrantedly or impertinently bold; forward.
3. Obsolete . presumptive.
Synonyms
1, 2. impertinent, audacious; fresh; arrogant, bold.
Antonyms
– modest, unassuming.
Not to be confused with ‘presumptive’ (too presume within reason).
Example sentence:
‘It may be presumptuous to assume that you know more about the process then your manager, but it may also be true’.
21 November 2012
zambianoliangioticaloigisticologphobia
[zam-bee-an-oh-lee-an-gee-oh-tee-cal-oi-jist-ick-oh-log-fob-bee-uh]
(noun)
– fear of short people, specifically adults who are less than 150cm tall.
20 November 2012
gnomophobia
[nohm-oh-foh-bee-uh] (homonym of yesterday’s word of the day: nomophobia)
noun
– irrational fear of garden gnomes.
Example:
‘We stole a garden gnome and set it on the front step of the neighbour’s house and then knocked on the door. It was hilarious hearing him scream when he opened the door and saw the gnome. Even funnier was watching him go foetal as the gnome stood there taunting his gnomophobia’.
19 November 2012
nomophobia
[noh-moh-foh-bee-uh]
noun
– fear of being out of mobile phone contact.
Origin: abbreviation of ‘no–mobile-phone phobia‘.
Example:
‘People with nomophobia rarely turn off their phones and become anxious if they lose their phone, battery dies or there is no reception’.
Today’s WOTD – 18 November 2012
Gaia (Gaea or Ge)
pronounced: [ˈɡeɪə]
— noun
the goddess of the earth, who bore Uranus and by him Oceanus, Cronus, and the Titans.
[from Greek gaia earth]
“Earth as a goddess,” from Gk. Gaia, personification of gaia “earth,” a collateral form of ge (Dorian ga) “earth,” of unknown origin. The Roman equivalent goddess of the earth was Tellus (see tellurian), sometimes used in Eng. poetically or rhetorically for “Earth personified”
Example sentence:
Since the industrial revolution the increase in pollution, reduction in rainforest and destruction of the natural habitat of many species is leading to the obliteration of Gaia and her occupants.
17 November 2012
hamartia
[hah-mahr-TEE-uh]
noun:
Tragic flaw.
What is Oedipus’ hamartia that leads to his self-fulfilling self-reversal? — Laszlo Versényi, Man’s Measure
We called it by many different things, such as hubris or hamartia, but given the way you butcher Latin, let’s stick with English. — Stephanie Draven, The Fever and the Fury
Hamartia stems from the Greek word hamartánein which meant “to err.” However, it entered English in the late 1800s.
16 November 2012
redoubt
[ri-dout]
noun – Fortification 1. an isolated work forming a complete enclosure of any form, used to defend a prominent point.
2. an independent earthwork built within a permanent fortification to reinforce it.
noun Mount
3. an active volcano in S Alaska, on the Alaska Peninsula: highest peak in the Aleutian Range. 10,197 feet (3108 meters).
Origin: 1600–10; < French redoute < Italian ridotto < Late Latin reductus a refuge, noun use of past participle of Latin redūcere to lead back; see reduce
Example:
Taking heavy casualties the brigade, with most of the 19th attached to it took the great redoubt.
15 November 2012
redoubtable
[ri-DOU-tuh-buhl]
adjective:
– Arousing fear or awe; evoking respect or honor.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Old French redoutable, from redouter (to dread), from re- (again) + douter (to doubt, fear). Ultimately from the Indo-European root dwo- (two) that also gave us dual, double, dubious, doubt, diploma, twin, between, and didymous. Earliest documented use: 1421.
USAGE:
“Even the redoubtable German economy now seems to be buckling.”
Powering Down; The Economist (London, UK); Jul 7, 2012.
Today’s Word of the Day is to acknowledge the total solar eclipse in Cairns and Port Douglas.
Today’s WOTD – 14 November 2012
umbraphile
[uhm-brah-fahyl]
noun
– one who love eclipses, often travelling to see them.
‘In mid-November 2012, umbraphiles from across the country, travelled to North Queensland to view that area’s first total solar eclipse in 1302 years’.
13 November 2012
rapporteur
[rap-awr-tur; Fr. ra-pawr-tœr]
noun
plural: rapporteurs [-turz; Fr. -tœr]
– a person responsible for compiling reports and presenting them, as to a governing body.
Example Sentences
‘Each break-out group had a rapporteur take notes and summarize the group discussion’.
‘One option being touted is a regional rapporteur who would monitor anti-crime strategies’.
12 November 2012
parvenu
[pahr-vuh-noo, -nyoo, pahr-vuh-noo, -nyoo]
noun
1. a person who has recently or suddenly acquired wealth, importance, position, or the like, but has not yet developed the conventionally appropriate manners, dress, surroundings, etc.
adjective
2. being or resembling a parvenu.
3. characteristic of a parvenu.
‘Many a parvenu despot has dealt swiftly and harshly with those who have opposed their forcible ascension to power’.
11 November 2012
armistice
[ahr-muh-stis]
noun
1. a temporary suspension of hostilities by agreement of the warring parties;
2. truce: World War I ended with the armistice of 1918.
Example Sentences
To be technical, they don’t even have an official peace treaty, they only have an armistice.
With this modern conflict there will probably be no signed peace treaties, or armistice.
10 November 2012
nerd
[nurd]
noun (Slang)
1. a stupid, irritating, ineffectual, or unattractive person.
2. an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit: a computer nerd.
Example Sentences
It doesn’t even have anything to do with whether you’re a bookworm or a nerd or a geek.
They are the refuge and the delight of every geek, nerd, lab and library rat.
Origin:
The word was first used by Dr Seuss in his 1950 book ‘If I Ran the Zoo’.
9 November 2012
adhibit
[ad-hib-it]
verb (used with object)
1. to take or let in; admit.
2. to use or apply.
3. to attach.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin adhibere (to bring to), from ad- (to) + habere (to have, hold). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghabh- (to give or to receive), which is also the source of give, gift, able, habit, prohibit, due, duty, and habile. Earliest documented use: 1528.
USAGE:
‘Morgiana asked the druggist for more medicine and essences such as are adhibited to the sick when at death’s door.’
Translator: Richard Burton; Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves
8 November 2012
Mitty
(MIT-ee)
noun:
1. a fictional character given to grand and elaborate fantasies; daydreamer
2. ( as modifier ): a Walter Mitty character ; a Mitty act
[from a short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1939), by James Thurber ]
ETYMOLOGY:
After the title character in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a short story (1939) by James Thurber, later made into a movie (1947) of the same name.
NOTES:
James Thurber’s story appeared in the March 18, 1939 issue of the New Yorker. In the story, Walter Mitty is a meek husband, rather uxorious, who fantasizes of great exploits to escape the humdrum of daily life. One minute he is dreaming of being a heroic pilot (“Throw on the power lights! Rev her up to 8500!”), next minute he becomes a daring naval commander. In his next thought he transforms into a master surgeon, and even a cool killer.
USAGE:
“It was not a Mitty dream. It was no fantasy at all.”
Richard Bach; A Gift of Wings; Dell; 1974.
7 November 2012
recusant
[rek-yuh-zuhnt, ri-kyoo-zuhnt]
adjective
1. refusing to submit, comply, etc.
2. obstinate in refusal.
3. English History . refusing to attend services of the Church of England.
For example:
‘Following the death of his father, Guy Fawkes’s mother married a recusant Catholic’.
noun
4. a person who is recusant.
5. English History . a person, especially a Roman Catholic, who refused to attend the services of the Church of England.
For example:
‘Following the proclamation of the Recusancy Act by Queen Elizabeth I, recusants could be fined or imprisoned and their property confiscated’.
Origin:
1545–55; < Latin recūsant- (stem of recūsāns ), present participle of recusāre to demur, object, equivalent to re- re- + -cūsāre, verbal derivative of causa cause; see -ant
Related forms
unrecusant, adjective
Today’s WOTD – 6 November 2012
equivocal [ih-kwiv-uh-kuhl]
adjective 1. allowing the possibility of several different meanings, as a word or phrase, especially with intent to deceive or misguide; susceptible of double interpretation; deliberately ambiguous: an equivocal answer.
2. of doubtful nature or character; questionable; dubious; suspicious: aliens of equivocal loyalty.
3. of uncertain significance; not determined: an equivocal attitude.
Antonyms:
unequivocal, unambiguous, clear, absolute, unqualified, definite, positive.
5 November 2012
bunbury
(BUN-buh-ree)
noun
– An imaginary person whose name is used as an excuse to some purpose, especially to visit a place. – verb intr.: To use the name of a fictitious person as an excuse.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Oscar Wilde’s play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, where the character Algernon invents an imaginary person named Bunbury as an alibi to escape from relatives. He explains to his friend, ‘I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose. Bunbury is perfectly invaluable. If it wasn’t for Bunbury’s extraordinary bad health, for instance, I wouldn’t be able to dine with you at Willis’s to-night.’ Earliest documented use: 1899.
USAGE:
‘There are birds who bunbury. One of them is the blackbird.’
– Jesko Partecke; The Birds Who Bunbury; Deutsche Welle (Germany); May 22, 2007.
4 November 2012
Pollyanna
(pol-ee-AN-uh)
noun
– A naively cheerful and optimistic person.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Pollyanna Whittier, heroine of novels by Eleanor Porter (1868-1920). Pollyanna is an indefatigable optimist and teaches everyone to play the “glad game”: find something to be glad about, no matter what tragedy befalls. Earliest documented use: 1917.
USAGE:
“So the doctrine of positive thinking does not require you to close your eyes and ears to the world. It does not require you to become a Pollyanna, calling everything wonderful, no matter how horrid it is.”
A Thought About Negative Thinking; Deccan Chronicle (India); Sep 16, 2012.
3 November 2012
zeugma
[zoog-muh]
noun, Grammar, Rhetoric
– the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it is appropriate to only one of them or is appropriate to each but in a different way, as in to ‘wage war and peace’ or ‘On his fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold’.
2 November 2012
Brobdingnagian
[brob-ding-nag-ee-uhn]
adjective
1. of huge size; gigantic; tremendous. For example: ‘He governed a brobdingnagian territory’.
noun
2. an inhabitant of Brobdingnag.
3. a being of tremendous size; giant.
1 November 2012
extempore
[ik-stem-puh-ree]
adverb
1. on the spur of the moment; without premeditation or preparation; offhand: For example: Questions were asked extempore from the floor.
2. without notes: For example: to speak extempore.
3. (of musical performance) by improvisation.
