I just coined (ha ha) the phrase "Make it hail" to refer to "making in rain", as in a strip club, but using dollar coins. Though this is not appropriate for this blog, I wanted to record it somewhere on the internet for posterity and to contribute to the development of the English language.

EDIT: Counting drafts, this is my 5000th post. Also, someone else came up with the phrase but referring to small change. Alas.

Labels: feminism, humor, trends, words

A rude, uncultured or rowdy girl or woman.

James Joyce has a rather larger active vocabulary than mine, it seems! I don't think women should generally be called hoydenish, but I suppose it's a fine word to have in rotation.

Labels: words

Maybe I've been spending too much time in math classes working with exponents and logs, but exponential seems to have taken on a meaning beyond the definition I know that ties in with repeated multiplication, or the definition I sometimes permit of something very big or fast.

The racist representation of Arabs is so exponential, even for American television (and this is clearly the manifest effect of the Israeli Jewish identity of the show) that one does not know where to begin.

I'm guessing it means something like over the top, or maybe absurd. Hyperbolic perhaps? Whatever they're trying to say, I really don't think exponential fits well there, unless they're arguing that Homeland stereotypes Arabs by portraying them as excellent mathematicians, as opposed to the Jews who are shown as poor mathematicians.

AJ, as linked to by TMN.

Labels: nonplussed and friends, words

While reading a piece about what democracy and republican forms of government are all about, I came across this curious expression:

However, I no longer believe that Ely pulled this rather unimpressive rabbit out of his hat because he had stuffed the forlorn rodent in there to begin with.

Which leads me to believe that the author either doesn't know that rabbits are lagomorphs, not rodents, or that I don't understand what's going on with this expression. Even if he has it wrong though, it's a pretty good magic trick, turning a rat into a rabbit.

Labels: humor, words

If you want to understand when to use "thou" and when to use "you".

Thee and thou used to be the singular forms. Thou was the nominative form, and thee was the accusative form. Thy and thine were the genetive forms, and their use followed the same rules as a and an.

Thanks again to English.SE. And please don't "y'all", because next think you know "y'all" will become used for both singluar and plural and we'll be even more screwed. Also an interesting note - "ye" is the accusative of "you". Who knew? I feel like I should have learned this at some point in my eighteen years of education.

Labels: words

(heraldry, of animals) set back to back

Thank you Wiktionary. I believe CatDog can be described this way.

Labels: words

If someone asks you if you've stopped beating your wife, you can do what I do and start crying bitterly about how you have been and will be single forever. Or, alternatively, and more suavely, you can answer "Mu". Japan really is a wonderful place.

According to various Discordians and Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually “mu”, a Japanese word alleged to mean “Your question cannot be answered because it depends on incorrect assumptions”.

Labels: humor, words

Meaning

growing in rubbish, poor land or waste.

Thanks to CalApp for this one.

Labels: words

Today I declare war on dubious uses of words. The most common issue I see is with the word "nonplussed", which in fact means bewildered but which people use to mean, I guess, "not plussed", except that plussed is not a word, alas.

Exhibit A:

They're super messy. Sauce ends up on your hands, your face, and very often your friend's couch. As a host, you want to order wings but you know your friends have the dexterity and cleanliness of a kindergartner. This typically doesn't go over well with your already nonplussed Significant Other.

I declare this war for two reasons.

Firstly, I think it is important for words to have meanings, so that we can have discussions.

Secondly, every time I try to parse a sentence with "nonplussed" in it, it takes me about a minute to try to figure out what in the world the author means. For example, here I was wondering why the spouse was bewildered.

On a side note, Wikipedia says that the word refute is now of disputed usage. I have never heard it mean anything other than to "deny with reasoned argument", but apparently now it just means to disagree with someone? What nonsense. We already have a word that means that - "disagree".

Now we must ask if this war is a just war. Well, there are a bunch of traditional criteria for jus ad bellum.

Just cause - Certainly met. We can't have language disintegrating on us.

Proper authority - degree from a prestigious institution, know a few English majors. Close enough.

Right intention - For sure.

Reasonable prospect of success - debatable, but I think if we publicly shame people who do stuff like this, treat them like cigarette smokers (no incorrect usages of nonplussed allowed within 25 feet of this building!) we can win.

Proportionality - In my opinion, quite proportional.

Last resort - I've tried gentle correction, but it just doesn't work! I'm at wit's end here.

So I extend this invitation to all those who love freedom and being able to understand what other people are saying. Remember you're either with me or against me.

Labels: nonplussed and friends, philosophy, words

First, let’s be clear about what celibacy is: It’s the property of not being married. Anyone who is not married is, by definition, celibate. People often confuse this with two other concepts—continence (which in a sexual context means not having sex) and chastity (which means behaving in an appropriate manner sexually, based on your state of life). If a person is celibate (unmarried) and they wish to be chaste (act in a moral manner, sexually) then they will be continent (not have sex), because sex outside of marriage is immoral. By contrast, if you are not celibate (i.e., you are married) then you can be chaste (act in a sexually moral manner) even though you presumably are not continent (i.e., are having sex).

So useful and precise. In one line - if you don't have a ring on your finger, you're celibate, even if you're shagging the city of Chicago and half of the barn animals on a regular basis.

Labels: morality, words

Also called postlapsarian and sublapsarian, from the Latin lapsus meaning fall.

of the assertion that God's decrees of election and reprobation logically succeeded the decree of the fall

I came across it in Dawn Eden's thesis, although it was in a quote by David Schindler.

Labels: random, words

providing preparatory or introductory teaching

This will be on your SAT.

Labels: fun, words