BS: Word of the Day

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: open mike
Date: 22 Nov 04 - 03:54 PM

"nil carb..." this sounds quite Atkinsian!

"ululation" I believe this is the sound made
often by women who are cheering on belly dancers..
it sounds as if they are pronouncing Lotta Lotta Lotta....
in high tones with the tongue going up and down in their
mouths and often a hand is held in from of their mouth during this.

but my REAL word for the day is transmogrification
i was thinking of the word the other day then i heard
Garrison Kiellor read a poem that included that word.
The poem had to do with a hamster or guinea pig that had died...\
no....it was a gerbil. I have this image that transMOGrify
means some sort of metamorphosis which involves british kitties...but it probably means something else. NAMELY:

transmogrify \trans-MOG-ruh-fy\, transitive verb:
To change into a different shape or to transform, often with bizarre or humorous effect.

    A washing machine transmogrified into a guitar.
    --Adrian Searle, "Come, friendly pigeons," The Guardian, March 16, 2000
    For the impulsive sin of turning to look back at the funereal pyre of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot's wife is transmogrified into a pillar of salt as she flees the inferno.
    --Elizabeth Wurtzel, Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women

    Roast chicken is still roast chicken whether you label it haute cuisine, bourgeois cuisine or country cooking; even calling it "poulet roti" will not transmogrify this simple bird.
    --Jacques Pepin, "The Chicken Dinner, Both Humble and Noble," New York Times, January 4, 1989


Transmogrify is perhaps a humorous blend of transmigrate (for the form) and transmute (for the sense).

****************************
(trns-mgr-f, trnz-)
tr.v. trans·mog·ri·fied, trans·mog·ri·fy·ing, trans·mog·ri·fies

    To change into a different shape or form, especially one that is fantastic or bizarre. See Synonyms at convert.

[Origin unknown.]trans·mogri·fi·cation (-f-kshn) n.

transmogrify

\Trans*mog"ri*fy\, v. t. [A humorous coinage.] To change into a different shape; to transform. [Colloq.] --Fielding.

v : change completely the nature or appearance of; "In Kafka's story, a person metamorphoses into a bug"; "The treatment and diet transfigured her into a beautiful young woman"; "Jesus was transfigured after his resurrection" [syn: metamorphose, transfigure]
************************

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 08:02 PM

Century!

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 07:52 PM

Damn you Nred, yoe stole my word for today...

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 07:51 PM

"importating" something, I suppose, more elaborate than simple 'importing'

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST,skipy
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 06:16 PM

Altuism

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Nerd
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 01:13 PM

At a loss...

yes, "ululation" is the word you mean. It is used by anthropologists to describe cries of both mourning and elation in various cultures. See duellingbouzouki's post above.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: CarolC
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 11:52 PM

Preending

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 05:22 PM

Pre-Columbian Rocks....

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 05:16 PM

"do you talk in your sleep?"....nope, I stayed up all one night to see.

(but I do have little episodes of Tourette-like sputterings as I drift off TO sleep sometimes...I think it is to distract my brain from the vicissitudes of the day...*grin*)

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Chris Green
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 02:06 PM

"Ululate" - to howl or shriek (from the Latin "ululare"). I think you're right. Incidentally, before everyone starts thinking I'm dead clever I found out about it here!

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST,Frug
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 02:05 PM

Obmutescence.................marvellous word

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST,At a Loss for Words
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 02:01 PM

Sorry for detouring your splendid thread on words but you're a very knowledgeable group and one of you may be able to solve my mystery.

Ululation reminded me of something I've always puzzled about. There's a word that describes the gargley-sounding, back-of-the-throat wail made by some Middle Eastern women during bereavement or celebratory ceremonies. Could ululation be the word I'm trying to remember?

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 01:56 PM

Oh, WOW!!! Goosebumps! Shivers - "...awlovuh mah bah-dih".
Mother LOVED language -- different ones, written, spoken, games with, well-used, pointed, elaborate, using it to teach/heal/uplift. (She only hated its use as obfuscation.) My dad also had a highly developed appreciation for language. This is like a religious experience.
Dear Fooles, what is "pereant omnes ignavi seque stuperant"? Something about hiding ignorance maybe?
I do know "nil carb..." Oft-used support phrase in mother's circle of friends.    Tw

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Chris Green
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 01:47 PM

Phlogiston. There's information about it here (don't worry, it's not rude!)

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Chris Green
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 01:43 PM

There's a guy on another thread looking for a name for a Christian rock band. 'The Lugubrious Vicissitudes' sounds ideal! :)

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 01:17 PM

Bill D, do you talk in your sleep?!

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 01:11 PM

sometimes, when I let my brain just drift...often when trying to go to sleep, I get sudden combinations of words for no discernable reason...

just now it was 'lugubrious vicissitudes ', and before that was 'rambunctuous nomenclature'

sometimes there are 3 word combos, like "disingenuous antipodal ramifications"
I have no idea why this happens...perhaps I was meant to be in politics.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST,skipy
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 11:56 AM

obtrude.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: CarolC
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 10:25 PM

Colpumbrious

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 09:50 PM

Reinsourceification.

It's the act of bringing jobs previously outsourced back within the company.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Ebbie
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 06:27 PM

Like Georgiansilver, I also love visual words. In Alaska, many rivers are pewter-colored and they look thick and impenetrable because of 'rock milk', glacier boulders ground to powder and borne away.

My first summer in southeast Alaska I worked at a wilderness lodge. Defining the front is the Taku River which slides, not 'glides' by. Looks thick as pudding.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST,cookieless celtaddict
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 06:08 PM

BillD, our family used "faunching" all the time when I was a kid. It is related to grousing, only rougher and without the whining, and is fairly likely to involve stomping around or slamming doors. More active (and more noisy) than pouting.
It can also indicate a pushy eagerness.
"What is he faunching about?"
"He's faunching to get going and the car isn't loaded up yet."
In college I was informed by a friend that there was no such word; I looked it up and the dictionary identified it as "archaic Scottish" though it was in active use in Kansas and Oklahoma (in our family anyway) in the 50s, up to the present.
Another word I love is "formicate" which means to swarm like ants.
LiztheSqueak, I love "dollop" as an insult. Our family was not permitted any foul language or namecalling. But you can call your brother a "crouton" or a "diphthong" and what can the grownups say? And someone who has been called a "murmuring diphthong" KNOWS he has been insulted!

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 05:04 PM

My, isn't that nasty. Nasty, by the way, is a fabulous word. So simple, yet so complex. Straightforward, or sly, or salacious. You could write a book about nasty.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 09:30 AM

It up.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 07:13 AM

Suck.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Sttaw Legend
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 06:58 AM

Thrust

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 06:49 AM

Wallop.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 06:26 AM

I do tend to like words that sound like what they mean....Whack..for instance or bump. ...squash is another..say them with expression and they come to life with the sound of the action.
Best wishes.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 04:44 AM

New day, new word. VICISSITUDE, meaning irregular change or alteration, especially of fortune or condition, manifested in human affairs.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 11:54 AM

Lovely word for today. As I walked down the river bank today I saw the river "meandering" betwixt the meadows. I think my brain was meandering somewhere too.
Best wishes.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 11:52 AM

nil carborundum illigetimi.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 09:38 AM

pereant omnes ignavi seque stuperant

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: robomatic
Date: 11 Sep 04 - 08:32 PM

Bill D:

"Eschew Obfuscation" may go back far, but I recall it as a bumper sticker put out by a classical radio station in Waltham, Mass. in the early 70's. You could drop in on Beethoven's Birthday for cake.

They also had:

"E=mc2 +/- 1 dB"
"Handel With Care"
"Oberon Was A Fairy"
"Bach Is Beautiful"

and my favorite:

"Soothe A Savage Breast Today"

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: robomatic
Date: 11 Sep 04 - 08:29 PM

tachistothanatophobia

s'posed to be 'fear of head-on collisions' from an old favorite of mine: "An Osborne Festival Of Phobias" Osborne was a unique illustrator of the 70's.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 11 Sep 04 - 05:01 AM

Celebrate - that's my word for today! My birthday treats started last night and I'm determined to keep them coming until at least Tuesday!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 11 Sep 04 - 04:58 AM

"Fortitude" comes over strongly as a word for today.
Best wishes.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Amos
Date: 10 Sep 04 - 08:32 PM

BE2:

Notice that the decline is inversely proportional to the age of the civilization, Roman having preceded the others. What does this say about these two curves?


A

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: BaldEagle2
Date: 10 Sep 04 - 03:31 PM

Uxorious

Latin: Pertaining to one's wife.

French:   Fond of one's wife

English:   Over-fond of one's wife

American-English: Dominated by one's wife

(Honest.   I am not making this up.)

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Sep 04 - 05:34 PM

if you need a new word, and no one is posting, look here

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Sep 04 - 05:31 PM

peregrinate

VERB:        1. To travel about or journey on foot: backpack, hike, march1, traipse, tramp, trek. See MOVE. 2. To make or go on a journey: journey, pass, travel, trek, trip. Idioms: hit the road. See MOVE. 3. To move about at random, especially over a wide area: drift, gad, gallivant, meander, ramble, range, roam, rove, stray, traipse, wander. See MOVE.

Subject: parpissitation
From: wysiwyg
Date: 09 Sep 04 - 03:32 PM

Hardi had a hard day but he's laughing now. Has brought a new word into being, to cover various aspects of volunteer organizations. I have to admit it struck a chord with me.

Hardi: "Volunteer organizations are not participatory, they are PARPISSITORY."

Susan: "Thank you so much for your parpissitation!"

Hardi: "There were plenty of parpissitants in todays' event!"

Susan: "Reckon I'll parpissitate, too!"

Hardi: "Oh, DEAR Mrs. Rumbustle, I KNOW we can count on YOU to parpissitate!"

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 09 Sep 04 - 11:38 AM

In my younger days, Splott Man, I used to promenude in the forest, and when I heard someone coming I would promenide.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Splott Man
Date: 09 Sep 04 - 10:21 AM

Mooch, perambulate

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST,GROK
Date: 09 Sep 04 - 10:06 AM

PHILATELIST

I won't tell you what this always sounded like to me--on second thought, did you ever read about people who wear long coats and hang around gymnasiums?

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 12:30 PM

Not a big fan of Bill O'Reilly, myself.

Remember in Clockwork Orange, where the offender was rehabilitated by being made to watch films while strapped into a device that made him unable to turn his head or close his eyes? That's what it would take for me to watch ol' Bill.

But speaking of rehabilitated makes me think of of the song Alice's Restaurant.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Pexx97
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 11:40 AM

Abstemious is another word which has the vowels in alphabetical order. For other interesting words try www.askoxford.com and go to FAQ. There are some absolutely brilliant and weird ones there.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 10:59 AM

I will go into space ONLY with a bicycle...it is HYPERspace that I refuse to enter unless 6 other people are doing all the pedaling.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: GUEST,Larry K
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 08:50 AM

Bloviate is a word used by Bill Oreilly every day on his tv show for at least the last 6 months.   When he finishes the viewer e-mails he ends with "If you wish to Opine, e-mail me at [e-mail] and no bloviating, that is the job of the host" or something very similar to that.

My word of the day- pedantic.   You are being pedantic when you use the word pedantic.

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 08:32 AM

Promenade even...... like lemonade but made with proms.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Word of the Day
From: Splott Man
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 07:50 AM

SueB

Ambling doesn't work in longways sets, the band have to do an extra B

And do you promenaid or promenard?