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Post by xenavirgin on Feb 26, 2006 20:52:44 GMT -6
Hhmmm X-Virgin...let me sphinx here a second. I'd say Sphinx, but I think that is of Greek origin. I'll start with the 'd's' and try "dry" and "desert". I am sooo not surprised that our Mistress P got one of them. Indeed "Desert" comes from the ancient Egyptian word 'dsrt' (no vowels in ancient Egyptian) which means Red Land and was used to denote the deserts east and west of the Nile Valley. Well done Mistress P. So there is another word that is also from the ancient Egyptian language, related to deserts in fact. Oh, and you were correct about the Greek origin of the word Sphinx as well. As a matter of fact Egyptology owes a lot to Greek words, like um 'Egypt' for instance, and Pharaoh, and pyramid and Obelisk and Hieroglyphs and.......... yep an awful lot. XV
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Post by Phalon on Feb 27, 2006 9:13:34 GMT -6
One down, one to go... The other you said is a descriptive word, no? An adjective? I like adjectives; they make my wordiness all the more wordy.
I'll say "hot". Without vowels: ht. Or maybe replace the "o" with a "z" - hzt. That looks somewhat Egyptian to me.
The words "chemical", "alcohol" and "algebra", also come to us from Egypt according to Hubs' co-worker who is from Egypt. I keep thinking India, because of the curried foods he brings to work, which Hubs then brings home, and with curry, I think India.
The Sphinx was the nasty sister of the Chimera in Greek mythology; that's how I knew the word had Greek origins - I wrote about it in the Mything P thread long ago. Good to see my brain is not as sieve-like as I thought.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 2, 2006 0:26:46 GMT -6
X-Virgin? Don't keep us in suspense. What is the second word?
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Post by LMV's Old Account on Mar 2, 2006 1:48:41 GMT -6
all i have to say is huh?
*cherry* *%*LMV*%*
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Post by Gabbin on Mar 2, 2006 22:54:24 GMT -6
XV, what are you asking. I am not sure. ised words? Like Italicised and ostracised. Are we trying for suffixes. Am I anywhere near the ballpark?
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Post by LMV's Old Account on Mar 2, 2006 23:31:05 GMT -6
and once again i say HUH? but this time adding a defined WTF?
*cherry* *%*LMV*%*
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Post by Siren on Mar 8, 2006 21:34:54 GMT -6
affect effect
I can never remember the difference, or which one I should be using. Any tips, gang?
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 9, 2006 18:23:21 GMT -6
affect/effect: To affect is to have an influence on or bring about a modification in: "Her illness affected her disposition." To effect is to cause or bring about: "The new law effected a reduction in bankruptcy declarations." As a noun, effect means "result or outcome": "an unexpected effect of the medicine," "Whatever affects a wife has an effect on her husband." As a noun (a rare use), affect is largely a psychological term for "emotion."
The Appropriate Word by J.N. Hook
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Post by Phalon on Mar 9, 2006 21:55:29 GMT -6
Very nice explanation there, Oh Fairly Bored Mother. Nice to see you pop in and wave that wand; it's been a while since I've seen you flitting about here.
I remember it this way...sort of...
You can affect someone with affection, but the effect that affection has on the affected may vary depending on the long term effects of your affection. Or is that infection? I think I've confused even myself. I have that effect on people.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 9, 2006 22:29:18 GMT -6
Yeah... I pop in and then off to Zoe. This forum has been even slower of late than usual.
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Post by Gabbin on Mar 9, 2006 22:53:51 GMT -6
Meet me at the oasis. I am going to throw oasis out there. I may desert after this.
I am with you LMV on the WTF. It has affected me. I shall just go get me affects and defect.
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Post by Siren on Mar 9, 2006 22:58:18 GMT -6
You and Maria Muldaur at the oasis, G. Send your camel to bed.
Thanks for the clarification, Mia. You're as handy as a pocket on a shirt, as my dad would say.
And you, Gams. Thanks for that little memory tip. "affect them with affection" - I think I can remember that.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 9, 2006 23:44:45 GMT -6
You're welcome, Siren...
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Post by Siren on Mar 19, 2006 23:04:23 GMT -6
"debauchery"
What a good word. Even if you didn't know what it meant, you'd get the idea, just from the sound of the word, and the way it's said. A rich, colorful word.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 21, 2006 10:45:54 GMT -6
Debauchery is a colorful word, Siren, and much too pretty sounding to mean what it does. It sounds to me as if it should be frills and antique lace. One should have a debauchery drawer filled to the brim with lacey debaucheries instead of the debacherous trying to seduce one out of them.
I ran across a word the other day that reminds me of Gabbin: schussboomer. A schussboomer is a skier who schusses. I've never heard it before, but immediately had an image of Gabs in my head, going at a high rate of speed, (a speed completely different than that Gabbin-speed in which she drives, competing with the turtles for a spot in the fast lane), down the mountain.
There are different breeds of schussboomers, I imagine. The Schuss Boomer Esthighasons with well muscled legs like those of quarterbacks. The Schuss Boomerangs; those who can not do anything without cell-phones growing from their ears. And the Baby Boomers, who ski at high rates of speed down the bunny hills, too timid to venture further.
The Schuss Boom-boxes? Those who never made it on their own, but rather came off the mountain in a box.
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Post by Gabbin on Mar 21, 2006 22:08:15 GMT -6
Debauchery is a good word. I enjoy that one and use it frequently because....well....it fits my lifestyle what with all of those orgys and all. I like to say...ehem, "This is a debauchery". I hope I am using it correctly.
Oh, I also like any word that seems to have originated in the Alps. Shuss, I am trying to say something here. I also like Sitzmark. I like to ski down shutz and ladders. My punning also makes some folks want to shutz me in the head but, I am too fast (On skis. In a car I am way too easy a mark) on skis for you to hit me.
Apres Ski (another fine word) you will find me drinking shutz of various fine liquors till my eyes get bloodshutz and I shutz (slur) my words and you cannot understand me.
Course you may not understand me sober, either.
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Post by Siren on Mar 27, 2006 21:28:27 GMT -6
Sitzmark - what my backside would leave in the snow if I tried to ski
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Post by Phalon on Mar 28, 2006 8:40:43 GMT -6
"That makes me leerious." I actually said that to a friend yesterday; she looked at me oddly. Ever have one of those words or phrases that are a long-running joke between you and another, but occasionally crop up in conversation outside of the had-to-be-there person you share the joke with?
"Leerious" comes to us courtesy of Billie, a rather odd woman with very few teeth who answered our ad for an in-home daycare provider. LX was soon to be born, and we interviewed scores of people, while searching for someone to take care of her when I returned back to work after maternity leave.
Everything made Billie leerious. She was leerious of the drive down the winding, hilly road to get to our house, and leerious of the amount of miles it would put on her old beat-up car. She didn't like dogs; they made her leerious. "What about your cat; I'm leerious of cats being around babies." She had cared for children before, but never a newborn and was leerious about that. She was leerious about the pond in our backyard.
"Leerious" was her favorite word, and in the 15 minutes it took for us to get her out of the house, she must have used it at least fifty times. Her leeriousness made us leerious that she'd be able to give the proper care to our soon-to-be born child. Hubs said after she left, "I would not want her to watch my dog. Caring for our child is out of the question." "Yes, I agree. I am cringing with leeriousity at the thought."
We only saw Billie once more after that - she stopped by after LX was born, although she already knew we had chosen someone else. She'd read in the small local paper about the birth and just wanted to give congratulations. Just dropping in unannounced, of course, made her leerious, but she'd lost the phone number, and her forgetfulness about where she'd placed it made her leerious about her sanity. We'd been leerious about that from the first minute we met her. Unfortunately, Hubs and I never lost the ability to weave "leerious" into our conversation during the past ten years.
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Post by LMV's Old Account on Mar 30, 2006 18:28:12 GMT -6
leerious hehe i have a friend that says that alot
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Post by Siren on Apr 1, 2006 23:38:59 GMT -6
leerious - that's a new one on me, Gams.
Here's another great word: debacle. Sounds like what it means, somehow.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 1, 2006 23:44:41 GMT -6
Siren - I'm sure it's a new one on you, cuz leerious is not a word. Fun to say, though.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 6, 2006 21:36:31 GMT -6
Last fall, my boss left my friend and I alone with a sales rep. She should not have done that. We ordered all kinds of stuff; it was like Christmas shopping with another's money.
A lot of the merchandise came in this week. One piece was a Tete-a-Tete - one of those s-curvy seats. It's a beautiful bench, all scrolled iron and ornate. Of course, we had to try it out.
Tete-a-tete - a super-secret intimate discussion between two people, and it makes sense for the bench to be called this. But I didn't actually know the translation of tete-a-tete, so I asked my friend.
He leans in close, for a tete-a-tete conversation on the tete-a-tete, and says in a hushed voice, "it means tit-to-tit". Na-uh. I look at him with suspicion to see if he is joking. Nope, he was serious.
I think head-to-head, I say. First, sitting tit-to-tit on a bench like this is nearly impossible, (we did not try this out); second what's tit-to-tit got to do with a private conversation, and third why would a cultivar of cute, little daffodils be called tit-to-tit?
He stands by tit-to-tit; I by head-to-head. We have a tiny wager riding on this, and I can't find a literal translation...though I think I'm much closer in my translation than he.
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Post by Mini Mia on Apr 8, 2006 17:22:58 GMT -6
Ha! You win the bet!!
tete-a-tete
tête-à-tête
adv. & adj.
Without the intrusion of a third person; in intimate privacy: talk tête-à-tête; a tête-à-tête supper.
n.
A private conversation between two persons. A sofa for two, especially an S-shaped one allowing the occupants to face each other.
[French : tête, head + à, to + tête, head.]
tete-a-tete
adj
involving two persons; intimately private; "a tete-a-tete supper"; "a head-to-head conversation" [syn: head-to-head] n 1: a private conversation between two people 2: small sofa that seats two people [syn: love seat, vis-a-vis]
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Post by Mini Mia on Apr 8, 2006 20:21:09 GMT -6
[url=www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-35%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=define%3Atete-a-tete&btnG=Search]Definitions of tete-a-tete on the Web
[/url] [/font][/font][/center] - a private conversation between two people
- love seat: small sofa that seats two people
- involving two persons; intimately private; "a tete-a-tete supper"; "a head-to-head conversation"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
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Post by Mini Mia on Apr 8, 2006 20:27:56 GMT -6
GoogleUS:
[url=www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-35%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=What+is+the+meaning+of+Tete-a-tete]What is the meaning of Tete-a-tete
[/url] [url=www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-35%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=What+is+the+meaning+of+%22Tete+a+tete%22]What is the meaning of "Tete a tete"[/url] [/font][/font] [/center]
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Post by Phalon on Apr 9, 2006 10:54:22 GMT -6
HA! Thanks Mia.
At least my friend and I both agreed vis-a-vis meant eye to eye.
Although we have fun disagreeing.
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Post by Mini Mia on Apr 9, 2006 21:29:56 GMT -6
You're very welcome... How much of the bet do I get?
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Post by Siren on Apr 10, 2006 18:09:00 GMT -6
I read this word in a movie review:
execrable
Since the rest of the review was bad, I knew that execrable couldn't be good. But I knew there must be a reason for the author to choose that particular word. So I looked it up. Here's the definition: 1. Deserving of execration; hateful. 2. Extremely inferior; very bad: an execrable meal.
Here's the definition of execration:
1. The act of cursing. 2. A curse. 3. Something that is cursed or loathed.
Um, yeah...that was a pretty negative review!
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Post by Phalon on Apr 10, 2006 22:41:51 GMT -6
So that's what that means. Almost the same as that other 'ex' word. Good to know the difference. Here, all along I thought my cooking was being described as tasting like sh!t. Now I feel better.
Mia - would love to split the wager with you, but it was one in which whoever was wrong would have to wait on old Ms. Can't-make-up-my-mind-and-need-you-to-show-me-every-plant-in-the-nursery-after-which-taking-up-an-hour-of-your-time-and-disagreeing-with-everything-you-say-I-will-go-back-to-the-first-thing-you-recommended Obnoxious Snob the next time she comes in. We just call her B!tch for short.
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Post by Mini Mia on Apr 11, 2006 17:07:14 GMT -6
Oooh! I'm a winner by just not being in the same state.
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