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Post by stepper on Sept 6, 2012 16:14:53 GMT -6
Oh, I thought that was the plural of ogre. You know - "Hey! Look at all the ochre in the field!"
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Post by Siren on Sept 6, 2012 22:00:58 GMT -6
Silly beagle!
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Post by Phalon on Sept 7, 2012 6:31:34 GMT -6
Believe it or not, she has talked friends out of getting tattoos of whatever just to get a tattoo. She's also designed tattoos for friends.
What I marvel at is the number of kids getting tattoos - it seems to be as common as getting ear-piercings - and the number of parents who sign for them.
I loved those big 64 crayon boxes of Crayolas, and the way all those colors were lined up by hues! My favorite in the orange group was "tangerine".
My co-worker and I had a recent discussion about color when reading plant descriptions in a catalog: the flower color is subjective, and if there's not an accurate color choice, they just seem to make up a color. He, (also an artist), wondered on the many colors named for food. There's tangerine, of course, and apricot, watermelon, cherry-red, candy-apple red, raspberry-red, lemon, plum, peach, strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate.
And now in that box of 64 Crayola crayons, there is Macaroni and Cheese. Yum! (Only if it's the homemade kind.)
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Post by stepper on Sept 7, 2012 16:20:05 GMT -6
Believe it or not, she has talked friends out of getting tattoos of whatever just to get a tattoo. She's also designed tattoos for friends. Would she be willing to compromise and get a henna tattoo? That way she'd have one, and would have the advantage of getting another one when the henna wore off or she changed her mind.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 9, 2012 7:37:23 GMT -6
I hadn't thought of a henna tattoo. Maybe I'll suggest it, maybe not. She hasn't mentioned anything about it for a couple weeks - "it's the only thing I really, really want for my birthday". I told her, yes, if she wanted, she could get a tattoo for her birthday....her next birthday, when she turns 18 and I don't have to sign for it.
Not that I have anything against tattoos; it's just that she's too young, and her mind changes too frequently.
* * *
Here's a word that has origins which don't seem to fit with the word's meaning.
You think "burly" and you think big, strong guys, maybe kind of rough - guys you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley unless they were on your side.
"Burly" is thought to have been derived from the word "bower", meaning a lady's chamber; it was an adjective that meant "relating to a lady's room". It evolved into meaning stout and strong, probably in relation to the furniture in a lady's chamber...the burly chest of drawers, or the burly bed.
Or maybe the guy in the bed? She probably met him in a dark alley, and he was, obviously, on her side.
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Post by Siren on Sept 9, 2012 7:51:50 GMT -6
"I loved those big 64 crayon boxes of Crayolas, and the way all those colors were lined up by hues!"
Oh, me too, Gams. A new box of perfect, untouched Crayolas is one of the joys and beauties of this world - a treasure chest of possibilities.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 13, 2012 6:16:46 GMT -6
"A new box of perfect, untouched Crayolas is one of the joys and beauties of this world - a treasure chest of possibilities.
Siren! I love it! It's just so, so very perfect, you should send into Crayola as a suggestion for their next slogan.
Some of Crayola's advertising slogans over the years have been "Everything Imaginable", "The Art of Childhood", "Unmistakably - Crayola", "Crayola - Make Play", and "The Power of Creativity - Crayola - It Starts Here".
"Crayola - A Treasure Chest of Possibilities" - can't you imagine it? I can!
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 13, 2012 14:23:04 GMT -6
Ooh! And a special 'treasure chest' box just for the slogan too.
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Post by Siren on Sept 16, 2012 22:31:09 GMT -6
Wow - thanks, guys! I take those as high compliments, coming from highly-creative people such as you. I came across this unusual word in a post about Sue Grafton's upcoming book. As my old English prof would say, I think they used a dollar word where I a dime word would have done just fine. Maybe they were trying to come up with something new about Kinsey. But when people have to go look up one of the words you used, I think you're reaching. And in this sense, I'm not sure that word was even appropriate. www.suegrafton.com/kinsey-and-me.phpapercus 1 : a brief survey or sketch : outline 2 : an immediate impression; especially : insight 2 Origin of APERÇU French, from aperçu, past participle of apercevoir to perceive, from Old French aperceivre, from a- (from Latin ad-) + perceivre to perceive — more at perceive First Known Use: 1828 www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aper%C3%A7u
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Post by Phalon on Sept 17, 2012 6:34:09 GMT -6
I agree, Siren.
Here's a word that I was sure wasn't a word, but one that I heard three times from three different people last week. The first time I heard it was from LX:
"I would have boughten it if I had the money."
Me: "Boughten?"
Her: "Boughten?"
Me: "Is that a word? Does it even sound like it should be a word?"
We both agreed no, but apparently, it is a word. After I heard two other people use it in the same context - they had "boughten" something - I had to drill.
Boughten is a word. It is a past participle of buy, and means commercially made and purchased as opposed to something homemade, such as a boughten dress, or a boughten loaf of bread.
Given the definition, each of the three people who I heard it from, used it incorrectly.
Either way, the word itself sounds so very wrong to me; "store-bought" sounds better than boughten. "I boughten something" is wrong on every level.
The American Heritage Dictionary gives this explanation:
"Regional Note: American regional dialects allow freer adjectival use of certain past participles of verbs than does Standard English. Time-honored examples are boughten (chiefly Northern U.S.) and bought (chiefly Southern U.S.) to mean "purchased rather than homemade": a boughten dress, bought bread. The Northern form boughten (as in store boughten) features the participial ending -en, added to bought, the participial form, probably by analogy with more common participial adjectives such as frozen. Another development, analogous to homemade, is evident in bought-made, cited in DARE from a Texas informant."
I am from the Northern U.S. and never in my life said "boughten", and I am certain, never will.
"Bought-made" sounds just as wrong to my ears. Stepper?
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Post by stepper on Sept 17, 2012 15:50:35 GMT -6
A quick check showed that boughten originated as an irregular verb dating back to only 1738. Merriam-Webster does not indicate that this word originated in the colonies at a time when most clothing, tools, etc., were made at home as opposed to purchased in a store, but I can see where there would be a word to point out an item was store-bought. "New dress? Your mama buy that from that dress maker lady down at the end of the street?" "No! It was bought!"
Now days you're likely to hear "Did you buy that in the grocery store?" "No, I bought it at the Seven/Eleven."
I confess I was unaware of the proper usage. Boughten makes me cringe; bought-made without knowing the proper definition sounds equally strange and if you consider what it means, it seems redundant.
I notice your American Heritage Dictionary research qualifies this as "American regional dialects" instead of proper English, which to me is a good thing. I'm sufficiently uncomfortable with it to say I'd rather some other word be attributable to the Americas.
I heard the word 'boughten' some time ago and chalked it up to the person looking for a word and, failing to find the right one, said what ever came to mind. I'm with you Phalon - it's not a word I would use. Bought-made feels equally wince worthy.
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Post by Siren on Sept 17, 2012 22:15:12 GMT -6
I think I've heard the expression "bought bread", possibly from my granny. And I remember people asking "Did she make it or buy it?" in reference to clothing. But "boughten" I have never heard.
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Post by scamp on Oct 4, 2012 15:23:51 GMT -6
Oh, yes. That's why her idea is so "well-thought and logical", (eye-roll). First it was three little stars across the inside of her wrist, which was supposed to symbolize herself, me, and BP, (though I had my doubts about that). I'm now out of the picture; after my brother died, she's decided on "Sisters are like music for the heart, and spirit for the soul" or some such thing, and she's decided it is to be tattooed from one shoulder, across her collarbone, and continued on the other collarbone to shoulder. Phalon, have you pointed out to her that the chest is not the only body part that radically changes with age? And does not change for the better? And she'll have another problem should she actually get a real job: it's a bummer to spend your summers with your shirt buttoned way up. I hope she has perfect posture forever -- she'll need with a tat placed across her upper chest. Thank heavens the son never wanted a tat and the grandgirl is only 3. And really thank heaven that I'm no longer raising a child.
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Oct 10, 2012 7:34:26 GMT -6
For the newbie...Here ya go Scamp...Happy Halloween!
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Post by Phalon on Dec 17, 2012 7:13:21 GMT -6
Two recent and unrelated occurrences prompted the same response from Hubs. First, I brought the plants on the front porch inside for the winter, and second, Hubs and I went out Friday night. The plants mysteriously, but predictably started to wilt once they crossed the threshold, and a week later, were dead. Our downtown after tourist season, on a Friday night in December, is also dead. Many people, when choosing a phrase to comment on such things, will declare them as dead as a doornail. Hubs opts for the more anatomically colorful, ‘deader than Kelsey’s nuts!”
“Deader than Kelsey’s nuts” entered his vocabulary about twenty years ago, when we lived in a small borough on the outskirts of Philadelphia, where there was a tavern on every other corner, and a deli on all the corners in-between. A short walk from our apartment - and a block past the Clifton Tavern – was a little deli owned by an old, and somewhat crotchety, Italian gentleman. Braving his ill-temper, we went there often, because he served up the best Philly cheesesteaks around. Hubs, by way of greeting, would always ask, “how’s business?” It didn’t matter if we were the only people there, or if the line at the counter was fifteen deep; the old man’s gruff response was always the same: “Deader than Kelsey’s nuts.”
We've been through this before, but to me there is something wrong with describing something as being “deader”. How is it possible for one dead thing to be more dead than another dead thing? Are there different levels of dead: slightly dead, completely dead, and deader than dead? The houseplant I killed last year is not any deader than the one I killed last month; it’s just been dead longer. No, dead is dead. Period. Except for the whole Zombie Apocalypse idea - but we've been through that before too - the walking dead shall not inherit the earth, because they aren’t real, just as “deader” should not be a real word. I understand the word is used to drive home a point, similar to driving a wooden stake through a vampire’s heart in order to render him deader. But vampires aren’t real either.
And what about Kelsey? Is he real? And what’s so special about his dead nuts? I admit to feeling sorry for Kelsey all these years, having his virility, or lack thereof, up for public ridicule…or if not sympathetic, at least curious. Was he born that way? Maybe he suffered a horrific childhood bicycle accident; I’ve always wondered why boys’ bikes had the bar, and girls’ bikes don’t. Perhaps Kelsey was a cad, and his girlfriend, in Lorena Bobbit-style, sought vengeance. It must be hell to gain fame because the woman in your life took out her revenge by taking out your manhood.
It turns out Kelsey is real, and his nuts are intact. His nuts are famous, in fact, because they were kept so exceptionally intact; they were on everyone’s lips. Now would be the time to remove our minds from the gutter, and travel back to the early days of Detroit’s auto industry. John Kelsey is considered one of the pioneers of that industry. Under the direction and encouragement of Henry Ford, he started his own business in 1913. In Windsor, Ontario, across the river from Detroit, Kelsey Wheel Company manufactured state-of-the-art wooden wheels. When those became outdated, the company switched to producing wire-spoke wheels, and later, steel wheels. The wheels were so well-made, they – and the nuts and bolts that held them together – became the talk of the town. If someone was mean and stingy, they weren’t called a “Scrooge” – they were “tighter than Kelsey’s nuts”. If something was very safe, it was “safer than Kelsey’s nuts.” In the 1930s, Kelsey’s nuts made their “deader” debut, and by the 50’s, the saying was widely popular. John Kelsey’s wheel manufacturing business still exists, operating under the name Kelsey-Hayes Canada Ltd. Although…with today’s economy the way it is, business I understand...
...is deader than Kelsey’s nuts.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 17, 2012 16:34:37 GMT -6
I was thinking 'nuts,' as in: walnuts, almonds, pecans, peanuts, etc. Was so sure where this story was going and hadn't a clue.
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Post by stepper on Dec 17, 2012 16:39:12 GMT -6
My condolences to the plants, although I'm surprised they didn't find reprieve in the Phalon Shed of Life and Plant Emporium.
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Post by stepper on Dec 17, 2012 16:41:49 GMT -6
I was thinking 'nuts,' as in: walnuts, almonds, pecans, peanuts, etc. Was so sure where this story was going and hadn't a clue.
The first thing I thought of was Willy Wonka - "Don't touch that squirrel's nuts!'
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Post by Phalon on Dec 26, 2012 6:03:04 GMT -6
Really? Nuts of the edible kind never, in all these years, entered my mind. I can blame Hubs, I guess; his comparison phrases always seem to involve anatomy. There's "colder than a witch's t*t in a brass bra"; but more often it's "colder than a well-digger's @ss in the Klond*ke", which until maybe a year or two ago, I never understood. With his Southern accent, for twenty-some years, I thought he was saying "colder than a whale-digger's @ss" and wondered what the hell is a whale-digger.
In all those years though, it never occurred to me to ask, because English is insanity. I recently received the following in an e-mail that proves it:
"1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce. 3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. 4) We must polish the Polish furniture. 5) He could lead if he would get the lead out. 6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. 10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 13) They were too close to the door to close it. 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present. 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. 18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. P.S. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick' ?"
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 26, 2012 17:36:09 GMT -6
That's a lot to digest. About the well-diggers @ss. When I was a kid, we had a cistern. After it was dug, and before it was filled with water, my sister and I got to go down in there. And it is indeed cold down there. Nice place to have a house in the summer. Not sure about in the winter. Although it might make for good insulation once the house is heated.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 27, 2012 5:06:33 GMT -6
You'd do well to live in a well in summer. But to live in a whale would make you wail.
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Post by Phalon on Feb 8, 2013 7:34:59 GMT -6
A friend of mine brought up something the other night that I thought was interesting. She lives alone, has for years, and enjoys it; I think most people enjoy having some alone time (like after school being cancelled for nearly two weeks, and being stuck inside with not only your kids, but seemingly everyone else's kids, for example).
She said the word "alone" was originally written "all one", possibly derived from the idea that to be by yourself was to be one with yourself - a kind of spiritual thing. A neat idea.
This is what the on-line etymology dictionary says:
Alone: adj; adv. c.1300 contraction of all ane, from Old English all ana "unaccompanied, all by oneself," from all "all, wholly" (see all) + an "one" (see one). Similar compounds are found in German (allein) and Dutch (alleen).
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Post by Siren on Mar 3, 2013 21:43:17 GMT -6
Oooooo, that is neat, Gams! I've never heard of that before. puerile (adj) 1. juvenile 2. childish, silly French or Latin; French puéril, from Latin puerilis, from puer boy, child; akin to Sanskrit putra son, child and perhaps to Greek pais boy, child First Known Use: 1652 www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puerile
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Post by Phalon on Mar 19, 2013 6:33:47 GMT -6
"Puerile" is one of those words I've never said or written but have read often, and got the gist of its meaning by the context in which it was used.
Here's a chance to use it now. The following is puerile:
Driving back from my brother's Sunday - a trip I've made a hundred times - I noticed a succession of exit signs I've never paid attention to before, and my thoughts wandered.
First was the exit for Shaftsburg. Maybe at one time a mining town? A town of swindlers? Or....what other meaning can "shaft" have?
Next up was Laingsburg. Throw out the misplaced "g", and a wandering mind comes up with - lie; past tense - laid; past participle - lain. Kind of makes sense in a puerile sort of way.
The kicker though was the third exit sign: "Bath". I guess Ineedacigaretteintheafterglowville was too long to fit on the sign.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 29, 2013 5:56:03 GMT -6
Paraprosdokian: A rhetorical term for an unexpected shift in meaning at the end of a sentence, stanza, series, or short passage, often humorous.
A friend gave me a list of paraprosdokians; some of them I thought were quite amusing.
1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.
2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.
3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.
5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.
6. War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
9. I didn't say it was your fault; I said I was blaming you.
10. In filling out an application, where it says, 'In case of emergency, notify:' I put 'DOCTOR'.
11. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
12. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
13. I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.
14. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
15. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
16. You're never too old to learn something stupid.
17. I'm supposed to respect my elders, but its getting harder and harder for me to find one now.
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Post by Siren on Apr 13, 2013 7:49:42 GMT -6
That is a fantastic word, Gams! Makes me feel smart, just saying it, AND knowing what it means. And those sayings are great, too. A lot of truth in them! ~~~~~~~~~ Here's one that doesn't hint at what it means. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tacit?show=0&t=1365860293tac·it adjective \ˈta-sət\ Definition of TACIT 1 : expressed or carried on without words or speech <the blush was a tacit answer — Bram Stoker> 2 : implied or indicated (as by an act or by silence) but not actually expressed <tacit consent> <tacit admission of guilt> — tac·it·ly adverb — tac·it·ness noun See tacit defined for English-language learners » See tacit defined for kids » Examples of TACIT She felt that she had her parents' tacit approval to borrow the car. There was a tacit agreement that he would pay off the loan. While they got a frosty public response, officials say the private message was a tacit green light. —Mark Thompson, Time, 16 Nov. 1998 [+]more Origin of TACIT Middle French or Latin; Middle French tacite, from Latin tacitus silent, from past participle of tacēre to be silent; akin to Old High German dagēn to be silent First Known Use: 1576
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Post by Phalon on Apr 14, 2013 6:24:18 GMT -6
Good word, Siren, but....
I'm thinkin' she probably felt wrong.
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Post by Siren on Apr 15, 2013 7:19:57 GMT -6
LOL!!
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Post by Siren on May 29, 2013 19:27:21 GMT -6
Here's an unusual word with interesting origins:
va·ga·ry noun \ˈvā-gə-rē; və-ˈger-ē, vā-; also ˈva-gə-rē\ plural va·ga·ries Definition of VAGARY : an erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestation, action, or notion
Examples of VAGARY
<the vagaries of a rather eccentric, elderly lady>
Origin of VAGARY probably from Latin vagari to wander, from vagus wandering First Known Use: 1579
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Post by scamp on Jun 15, 2013 6:04:05 GMT -6
diegetic, which simply means a narrative or history
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