The Joy of Learning New Words

[Richard S.]

Not that I have learnt it recently, however, I think it deserves a mention and is quite pertinent today (or even all-ways!)

Kakistocracy (/ˌkækɪˈstɒkrəsi/ KAK-ist-OK-rə-see) is government by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous people.

[Michel Leclerc]

Posted by Strat (here)
Great thread! It seems the language is being bastardized for lack of a better term, I'll try not to go off on an off topic tangent! I haven't learned any new words lately but what I've found interesting is learning the meaning behind common names. I didn't know that 'Tyler' more or less means a doorkeeper or doorman or something like that. I learned that from Hiram Key book of all places. Pretty neat.

I'd like to learn the origin of the word 'chunk' as in toss something away.

Para apprendiendo o estudiendo, no estudio palabras de Ingles, mas o meno solo Español.

Ah, Strat! El idioma castellano — el idioma en lo que escribiremos esto sitio si no hubiera sido esa tormenta en la Mancha...

[edina]

I just learned a new word, "steelman", or rather, a different meaning and context than I have heard before.
Mike just used it in a post and I had to look it up to understand what he meant.

short version of definition of what I've been able to find

Inversion of strawman

Making another person's argument stronger before you refute it

based on the principle of charity

I'm still looking it up, to get a better feel for the nuances of the word.

Words are fun...

[Open Minded Dude]

I really did not know the word 'parasocial' until I watched this entertaining video from Tank The Tech.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FIKKRCghNTM

Swifties really must be the worst kind of people.

[Jaak]

There is one funky word in Estonian language
Jäääär
Jää - ice
äär - edge
So it means edge of ice.
It´s probably the only word on this planet that has 4 letters of same kind in a row.

[Satori]

Pulchritudinous

It sounds like a loathsome disease but it is not.

It is a word used to describe a person, typically and properly used in reference to a woman, of great, breathtaking and even heartbreaking beauty. Similar in some ways to debonair, which is used in reference to a man.

[rgray222]

Great thread, Mike. Words shape our thoughts.

Here is an epic word

defenestration - throwing someone or something out of a window. (noun)

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

palimpsest

pal·imp·sest (păl′ĭmp-sĕst′)
n.
1. A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely scraped off or erased and often legible.
2. An object or area that has extensive evidence of or layers showing activity or use.

E.g., a stripped billboard showing a palimpsest of torn layers.

[Michel Leclerc]

Posted by Jaak (here)
There is one funky word in Estonian language
Jäääär
Jää - ice
äär - edge
So it means edge of ice.
It´s probably the only word on this planet that has 4 letters of same kind in a row.

Well Jaak, I immediately thought of a word in Dutch: meeëetster, the feminine of a meeëter. If you have made a meal for three and then suddenly a neighbour arrives and will share a bite he will be a "with-eater" (meeëter), and she a "with-eatress" (meeëetster).

But the four double dots in Estonian beat that – in beauty!

[Johnnycomelately]

Good thread, Mike.

Although I regret the seeming lack of equipoise between how this thread has been received and how my own still-born thread Word of the Day was received, I concede that your OP is not clumsy like mine was (Feb 12, 2023).


equipoise /ē′kwə-poiz″, ĕk′wə-/
noun

Equality in distribution, as of weight, relationship, or emotional forces; equilibrium.

A counterpoise; a counterbalance.

Equality of weight or force; hence, equilibrium; a state in which the two ends or sides of a thing are balanced, and hence equal; state of being equally balanced; -- said of moral, political, or social interests or forces.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition


My example is a subset of the above definition, properly called clinical equipoise. My omission of this distinction is one example of my aforementioned clumsiness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_equipoise

Clinical equipoise, also known as the principle of equipoise, provides the ethical basis for medical research that involves assigning patients to different treatment arms of a clinical trial. The term was proposed by Benjamin Freedman in 1987 in response to "controversy in the clinical community" to define an ethical situation of “genuine uncertainty within the expert medical community… about the preferred treatment.”[1] This applies also for off-label treatments performed before or during their required clinical trials.[2][3]

Post #1/1 (so far), Word of the Day. Vid length is 51:26. Six smart medical doctors talking about ethical considerations in how regulatory decisions were made in the handling of the COVID thing. Basically, comparing observational evidence with proper randomized clinical trials, as reasons for top-down regs (the mandates).

Posted by Johnnycomelately (here)
“Word” is the most powerful word, in Heaven-speak. This thread is about what the title phrase generally means: many words affect us, both ones that get ‘passed around’, and instantial ones that end up defining our path whether we know it or not.

Welcome to Wordland (singular), a place to celebrate or gripe about ‘viral’ or otherwise remarkable/shareable words.

I am regularly impressed by finding two things new to me in this world: critters, and words. And they’re neck and neck, which is cool. I actually love critters more, but feel responsibility to human (V.) too.

Here’s what got this ball rolling. WOTD is equipoise. High level battle against medical elite-fail.

Sensible Medicine SuperBowl Edition - Walensky's Equipoise Lie | Paxlovid

Vinay Prasad MD MPH
149K subscribers

973 views Feb 12, 2023
“Vinay Prasad, MD MPH; Physician & Professor
Hematologist/ Oncologist
Professor of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Medicine
Author of 450+ Peer Reviewed papers, 2 Books, 2 Podcasts, 100+ op-eds.
If you want to contact me, do it here: http://www.vinayakkprasad.com/contact”

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=8SGXg_bCxDM

[Kryztian]

I have been studying Spanish lately. There are many words that look just like their English equivalent and have the same or similar meeting. However, there are a few words called "false friends" because you think you know what they mean, but in fact, the meaning is quite different. There are two words in particular that could get one in a lot of trouble.

embarazada - it is an adjective, and you would think it meant "embarrassed", but in fact it means "pregnant". The correct word for "embarrassed" is "avergonzado".

preservativo - a noun, which English speakers might mistake "preservative", but Spanish speakers use this word to mean "condom". If you want to keep your food longer, than you need to add a "conservante".

I am sure the confusion around these words has led to many humorous situations. So, if you don't want to be embarazada make sure you utilize a preservativo.

[Open Minded Dude]

Posted by Kryztian (here)
I have been studying Spanish lately. There are many words that look just like their English equivalent and have the same or similar meeting. However, there are a few words called "false friends" because you think you know what they mean, but in fact, the meaning is quite different. There are two words in particular that could get one in a lot of trouble.

embarazada - it is an adjective, and you would think it meant "embarrassed", but in fact it means "pregnant". The correct word for "embarrassed" is "avergonzado".

preservativo - a noun, which English speakers might mistake "preservative", but Spanish speakers use this word to mean "condom". If you want to keep your food longer, than you need to add a "conservante".

I am sure the confusion around these words has led to many humorous situations. So, if you don't want to be embarazada make sure you utilize a preservativo.

In German we also have 'Präservativ' but most often 'Kondom' is used for condom. 'Preservative' for us is Konservierungsmittel (means of conservation / preservation).

Yes the topic of "False Friends" is a funny and intersting one between many languages. English and German also has quite a few.

Just take this simple one that reverses the words:

Who (engl.) = Wer (ger.), but then: Where (engl.) = Wo (ger.)

This one is a common false friend:

'actually' (engl.) meaning 'in fact' = 'aktuell' (ger). meaning: 'currently, at the moment'

Another one that led to a real 'shock' for my father years ago. I received a package from abroad and sometimes they write 'gift' on it so that the customs officials will not bother to open it and let it go through. But when my father saw (he did not know English) it he was a bit anxious because ...

Gift (engl.) = poison (german)

There's so many more examples that are funny.

[Kryztian]

Posted by Open Minded Dude (here)
'actually' (engl.) meaning 'in fact' = 'aktuell' (ger). meaning: 'currently, at the moment'

Same problem with Spanish where "actual" also means "current". German and Spanish would be in agreement.

Another one that led to a real 'shock' for my father years ago. I received a package from abroad and sometimes they write 'gift' on it so that the customs officials will not bother to open it and let it go through. But when my father saw (he did not know English) it he was a bit anxious because ...

Gift (engl.) = poison (german)

Ha! Your poor Dad. However, the consequences could be deadly if an English speaker saw a bottle marked "Gift" and thought it was a present, perhaps something to drink.

I have a few German-English mishaps of my own. I worked briefly in a German corporation and was introduced to "Der Chef" (the boss). For a moment I assumed he worked in the kitchen. He then when into the one private office off our room and I remembered that "Chef" meant boss. A few weeks later I was talking to a colleague about the whole "false friends" phenomena and mentioned my temporary confusion about "Chef". Germans just prided themselves that almost all of them spoke English much, much better than any American so of course the story got around about my temporary mental faux pas. A week later the boss walked in with a chef's hat he borrowed from the company cafeteria and announced "Ich bin der Chef. Was möchten Sie zum Essen?" (I am the boss (chef). What do y'all want for lunch). Everyone in the office laughed hysterically (unbeknownst to me they heard about my "Chef" confusion story) except for me. He then proceeded to take us all out to lunch.

My father studied German in high school and forgot 99% of the little he knew, but still claimed he knew the language. My grandfather on my mother's said thought he spoke some English because when he told his WWII stories to English speakers he would preface it with "In der vohr" which meant "During the war" and then told the rest of the story in German. The two got along well and would take walks together and have conversations, but they would always get to a point where they couldn't quite understand what the other one was talking about. They would come home and tell my mother what each of them had said and she would laugh heartily because they were talking about totally different subjects. In one instance, it revolved around the word "Rat". My grandfather was talking about "Rat" and a "Ratgeber." My father correctly knew that "geber" was a "giver", and thought my grandfather was talking about someone giving away rodents. However, "Rat" is the German word for "advice" and a "Ratgeber" was giving advice or was a counselor. Eventually, they stopped having those conversations except when someone was there to translate. Too bad neither of them lived to the time when you could speak into you cell phone and it would translate.

[Ewan]

Defenestrate ~Throw through or out of the window


Defenestrated
Defenestrates
Defenestrating
Defenestration
Defenestrations

[Tintin]

pellucid: meaning translucently clear; easily understood; comprehensible

[Tintin]

There's also this, from a while back now

(Copying from here)

Floccinaucinihilipilification


According to Wikipedia the following:

"the action or habit of estimating something as worthless."

(pron. a little like the following: flocky-nocky-nigh-hilly-pilly-fication)

[Mike]

sh!tgoblin

I don't think you'll find it in the dictionary, but I just discovered this word today. Someone used it to describe Greta Thunberg, and I thought it was just perfect.

It's a slang word, so it's got some flexibility, but I assume it means an odious and obnoxious person.

[Sue (Ayt)]

Saw the word "ineluctable" this morning in a book I am reading. It was used in context to explain the ways of the spiritual realm, and karma in particular.
I had to look it up.
ineluctable - "unable to be resisted or avoided; inescapable."

As an aside, I always liked words. As a little kid, I clearly remember thinking that the word "embarrassed" made perfect sense. I mean, if you were em- bare assed in public, it totally describes the exact emotion you would have! Always wondered if others made this connection too, when they were kids? It shocked me a little and made me laugh when respectable grown-ups said they were embarrassed and I pictured them that way. haha

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Posted by Mike (here)
sh!tgoblin

If we're doing slang, I'd like to add two (British) variants of the above. We Brits are world experts in creative slurs and profanity.

May I present the:

Cockwomble
and the
Wankpuffin

[Bill Ryan]

When my father swore (RIP: 1902—1986; he was an Irish-Canadian), every time he would yell:

Curuckabonyetta!!

That's phonetic. He never wrote it down. I have no idea what it means, or where it came from. I wish I'd asked him!