A new word I learned today.

2

Comments

  • I'd never come across Proctors until the other day when I got to the point in my re-reading of David Copperfield, where he is apprenticed/ indentured (is that the term?) as a Proctor, to his future father in law Mr Spenlow.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    My word for today is refoulement: the act of forcibly returning a refugee to the country from which they have fled.
  • An acquaintance of mine who was a solicitor, attorney and proctor, as described by @Gee D, proudly displayed his proctor's licence, issued over the seal of the Archbishop of Canterbury, immediately adjacent to the entrance to his office.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    MaryLouise wrote: »
    Prorogation. Prorogation in the Westminster system of government is the action of proroguing, or interrupting, a parliament, or the discontinuance of meetings for a given period of time, without a dissolution of parliament.

    Notoriously done by Johnson so he could evade something or other. I forget what, there was a lot of it at the time.
  • Proctor and invigilator are used interchangeably on our campus with the latter probably being more common.
  • I'd rather visit a proctorologist than a proctologist!

    The Italian for the latter's procedures is, 'innuendo'.

    (Or should that be in 'bad jokes'? )
  • My word for today is 'prosopopeia'
    I came across a similar word in an Italian book which I was reading and 'prosopopeia' was its English translation.
    It is a rhetorical device where past events are spoken about as being in the present or else
    where an inanimate object or idea is treated as though they had life and feeling.
    One dictionary gave as an example a personification of Wisdom in one of the books of the Bible.
  • Bollocky.
    No, it is not a rude word. It is or was Midlands dialect for left- handed.
  • One for the lawyers: uttering.
    The crime of passing a forged document with intent to defraud.
  • Puzzler wrote: »
    Bollocky.
    No, it is not a rude word. It is or was Midlands dialect for left- handed.

    It does? When I look it up, I find the etymology of the word comes from an Old English word bealuc meaning testicle. The current meaning would be something like balls naked. Considered rude.

    My word. Liminal. Good crossword entry. Means being in an in between space.

  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    edited November 2023
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    Bollocky.
    No, it is not a rude word. It is or was Midlands dialect for left- handed.

    It does? When I look it up, I find the etymology of the word comes from an Old English word bealuc meaning testicle. The current meaning would be something like balls naked. Considered rude.

    My word. Liminal. Good crossword entry. Means being in an in between space.

    I wish to withdraw the first part of my comment. I do not dispute the Midlands definition. I did so because, I probably should have been left-handed but was forced to do everything right-handed when I grew up.

    In any case it does help me understand the English expression "bollocks" better. I always thought it was the equivalent of our BS on this side of the pond. But now, I have to wonder if our BS is a bastardized version of your, well, you know.
  • Someone shooting craps while they invigilate are engaged in proctor and gambling.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    <groan>
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Groan That belongs on the Bad jokes thread Mousethief (except it's too good).
  • Puzzler wrote: »
    Bollocky.
    No, it is not a rude word. It is or was Midlands dialect for left- handed.

    My source for this was a lecture on James Prior, novelist, who included many dialect words in his writings, particularly conveying the speech patterns of his characters.
    He also made a substantial contribution to Jospeh Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary 1898-1905.
  • Gramps49 wrote: »
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    Bollocky.
    No, it is not a rude word. It is or was Midlands dialect for left- handed.

    It does? When I look it up, I find the etymology of the word comes from an Old English word bealuc meaning testicle. The current meaning would be something like balls naked. Considered rude.

    My word. Liminal. Good crossword entry. Means being in an in between space.

    I wish to withdraw the first part of my comment. I do not dispute the Midlands definition. I did so because, I probably should have been left-handed but was forced to do everything right-handed when I grew up.

    In any case it does help me understand the English expression "bollocks" better. I always thought it was the equivalent of our BS on this side of the pond. But now, I have to wonder if our BS is a bastardized version of your, well, you know.

    We have both bollocks and bullshit. The latter can also be used as a verb.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    Technically if you bollocks something up, are you not also using it as a verb ?
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    edited November 2023
    Technically if you bollocks something up, are you not also using it as a verb ?

    True, but only in the compound "to bollocks up".

    Having said that, a No Longer Working thing or a Badly Messed Up thing can be considered to be "bollocksed". Indeed, the term was used by my brother in law and I of our fitness levels when we did some backpacking a few years ago, as in "I didn't realise just how bollocksed I was!"

    British and Irish English have, I think, justified reputations for being incredibly inventive in the swearing department. Compound swears as well - I particularly like Wankpuffin and Cockwomble. Not to mention our ability to turn anything into an insult by putting "complete and utter" in front of it.

    As in "That Nigel Farage - he's a complete and utter cross head screwdriver, isn't he?"
  • Most of the Irish TV stuff we watch has large amounts of swearing, mainly of the f variety. Actually, most TV does, except the news.
  • Long ago my (American) wife used to use 'bollixed' to mean terminally fouled up, and it was in common use where she lived back then. When we lived in Scotland, I suggested to her that it might be better not to use it in polite company, and why. She had no idea - it was just a useful word in contemporary American usage. Her mother thought nothing if it, too.
  • Long ago my (American) wife used to use 'bollixed' to mean terminally fouled up, and it was in common use where she lived back then. When we lived in Scotland, I suggested to her that it might be better not to use it in polite company, and why. She had no idea - it was just a useful word in contemporary American usage. Her mother thought nothing if it, too.

    As in FUBAR?

    It's true, "bollixed' was a fairly common word in American usage in the first part of the 2000s, but it's use is dying down now.

    See graph.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited November 2023
    KarlLB wrote: »
    ... to turn anything into an insult by putting "complete and utter" in front of it.

    As in "That Nigel Farage - he's a complete and utter cross head screwdriver, isn't he?"

    I see what you mean, but no he isn't - a cross-head screwdriver is useful. :naughty:
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    I think we should get a bit more creative.

    Stop Faraging around and get on with it.
    You've made a complete Farage of that.
    What the Farage are you doing?

    (I used to use Brexit for this purpose but that could do with being updated)
  • Similarly, someone here recently spoke of 'bullfarage'. I've found it quite useful.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Gramps49 wrote: »

    As in FUBAR?

    It's true, "bollixed' was a fairly common word in American usage in the first part of the 2000s, but it's use is dying down now.

    See graph.

    What does the A in FUBAR stand for please? All we can think of is Any.
  • F@cked Up Beyond All Repair.
  • Celtic KnotweedCeltic Knotweed Shipmate
    edited November 2023
    Sorry, posted in wrong thread.
  • I encountered two new words within a few pages of the same chapter.

    lemma - the headword on a dictionary page

    machicolated - castle battlements pierced with apertures through which boiling oil can be poured upon attackers below
  • If a dictionary had two headwords would that be a dilemma?
  • I remember lemma as part of a theorem, and used in maths.
  • The R in FUBAR is sometimes rendered as "recognition".
  • In mathematics, a lemma is typically a step along the way to proving a theorem. In many cases, the lemma is the more remarkable and useful result. For instance, in calculus, we have the Mean Value Theorem, usually proven by reducing it to an instance of Rolle's Theorem. Rolle's Theorem is thus used as a lemma. Deciding what is called a lemma and what is called a theorem is sometimes arbitrary.
  • I thought lemmas were small wee mammals that migrated in the Artic.

    A new word today: Thaumaturge.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    edited November 2023
    RockyRoger wrote: »
    I thought lemmas were small wee mammals that migrated in the Artic.

    A new word today: Thaumaturge.

    The Wizards at Unseen University measure magical fields in Thaums. A Thaum is the amount of magic required to produce one white pigeon or three billiard balls.
  • Wesley JWesley J Circus Host
    [...] machicolated - castle battlements pierced with apertures through which boiling oil can be poured upon attackers below

    Could also be macchiato coffee with a bit more 'latte' (milk) than usual. Or maybe not. :)
  • Wesley JWesley J Circus Host
    BroJames wrote: »
    My word for today is refoulement: the act of forcibly returning a refugee to the country from which they have fled.

    This is actually a word of French origin, in common usage in that language, and has the exact same meaning, except of course that the pronunciation is different. Interesting.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    I suspect the ‘English’ pronunciation is close to the French with an ‘oo’ vowel sound. I’m sure it’s a direct borrowing.
  • Today I learned that when you write someone's name, rather than a vaguely anonymized "please don't sue me" category description, that's called a "translation".

    :naughty:
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Another via the Grauniad crossword: anserine, adj, meaning "of or like a goose".

    I hope I never lose my ability to enjoy crosswords; it's so instructive!
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    I remember lemma as part of a theorem, and used in maths.

    A previous State Premier here was Morris Iemma - any relation? And thanks to those answering my Fubar question.
  • Parison, a chunk of molten glass, not yet formed.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    Pandiculation is a good word. It's about that involuntary stretching you do when you wake up.
  • TurquoiseTasticTurquoiseTastic Kerygmania Host
    A new one on me was macaronic, being nothing to do with pasta but rather a text in a mixture of languages such as In dulce jubilo.
  • A new one on me was macaronic, being nothing to do with pasta but rather a text in a mixture of languages such as In dulce jubilo.
    Actually, macaronic does come from the same root word as macaroni, as do macaroon and macaron.

  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    edited December 2023
    I just finished the first book of the Jake Boulder series, by Graham Smith. The Body Watcher. He is obviously a British author. but the first book's setting was Salt Lake City. I learned the meaning of several words not normally in American vocabulary. Two examples: kerb for curb, and salon, meaning sedan.

    I enjoyed the book, but it seems to me if one is using an American setting for the story, more effort should have been made to use American expressions. just saying.
  • New to me is "ill", meaning good. I've heard "sick" for decades, so I am probably behind times. I heard a rapper talking about the illest song he's heard. I compiled this so you don't have to.
  • Leorning CnihtLeorning Cniht Shipmate
    edited December 2023
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    I just finished the first book of the Jake Boulder series, by Graham Smith. The Body Watcher. He is obviously a British author. but the first book's setting was Salt Lake City. I learned the meaning of several words not normally in American vocabulary. Two examples: kerb for curb, and salon, meaning sedan.

    That's a "saloon" car. I'd usually expect the spelling of kerb to be auto-Americanized in a US edition of the book, at the same time as they strip out all the extra 'u's.
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    I enjoyed the book, but it seems to me if one is using an American setting for the story, more effort should have been made to use American expressions. just saying.

    Well, that depends, I think. If this is dialogue spoken by American characters, then it should use American idiom. If it's the internal monologue of an American character, it should use American idiom. If it's a mere description of something in America by a British person, it would naturally use British terms.
  • That's a "saloon" car. I'd usually expect the spelling of kerb to be auto-Americanized in a US edition of the book, at the same time as they strip out all the extra 'u's.

    I had 'saloon' when I first typed it, but it did not look right so I changed it.

    Over here. a 'saloon' has the concept of a western bar where hard liquor would be served rooms could be rented for an hour with accompanying ladies, if you know what I mean.



  • TurquoiseTasticTurquoiseTastic Kerygmania Host
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    A new one on me was macaronic, being nothing to do with pasta but rather a text in a mixture of languages such as In dulce jubilo.
    Actually, macaronic does come from the same root word as macaroni, as do macaroon and macaron.

    Oooh interesting! How does that work then?
  • As I understand it, the earlier forms of macaroni in Italian referred to pasta, usually tubular, that could be stuffed. Macaroon and macaron both came into English from Italian through French, and carried the meaning of food stuffed or filled. Macaronic was coined in Italian later (the 1600s), drawing on the idea of macaroni being a mixture of pasta and other foods.


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