eloquent... exotic... esoteric... (please provide definitions)

[Vargev]

hmmm now, let me see here.

Fallacy - noun, an idea that a lot of people think is true but which is false:

Surreptitiously - adverb, done secretly, without anyone seeing or knowing.

Conflagration - noun, a large and violent event, such as a war, involving a lot of people. Or a large disruptive fire.

Remuneration - to pay someone for work or services (sorry had to throw that one in.)

[Granfalloon]

Originally Posted by Boneman

Hey Gran, I got all those except temerarious.....

My Thesaurus lists it as "adventurous". incidentally,


Thesaurus: A lesser known dinosaur who was not aggressive, but rather tended to try to talk it's way out of potentially dangerous situations using flowery language.

[Teresa Edgerton]

But a thesaurus doesn't define words. As you say, it lists them -- or rather it lists words that are, more or less (and oftentimes less) synonymous. It shows, if I may say so, a certain temerity to consult a thesaurus as though it were a dictionary.

[shadowbox]

Thesaurus is my favorite dinosaur!!!


perspicacious -having keen mental perception and understanding; discerning: to exhibit perspicacious judgment.

I like it because I have a lisp.

[Granfalloon]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

But a thesaurus doesn't define words. As you say, it lists them -- or rather it lists words that are, more or less (and oftentimes less) synonymous. It shows, if I may say so, a certain temerity to consult a thesaurus as though it were a dictionary.

"It shows, if I may say so, a certain temerity ..."

Temerity : audacity: fearless daring

Yes, and I'm quite satisfied with being temerarious in this case, although I feel we may be getting somewhat superfluous (Being beyond what is required or sufficient) about the whole matter.

[Interference]

Exculpate. I may have read it here, but it's stuck in my head, anyway. Definition: to clear from a charge of guilt, vindicate.

[The Judge]

I love all of these words - including the two that were wholly new to me: temerarious (my dictionary says reckless, rash) and gleecraft (dictionary silent but I think I get it). There is such erudition (learning) and logophilia (love of words) in this place.

Some more I haven't been able to get into my writing (yet):

jounce - which I think must be made up from jolt and bounce, as in 'the carriage jounced madly down the hill'.

effulgence - radiance, shining brightness 'the effulgence of the full moon'.

incunabula - early printed books 'Lord Peter collected incunabula'. I sometimes wish I wrote fantasy just for the thrill of being able to use this word legitimately with some ancient wizard lovingly tending his even more ancient books. It's a completely innocent word but it has such a feeling of evil about it somehow - perhaps because of a subconscious connection with incubus (a demon who has sex with sleeping women - though we have a different word for such beings nowadays...).

And one I have used to good effect is shickered (drunk) which may well be commonplace to those of you from the US or Antipodes, since I understand it is an American word as well as being used in Australia/NZ, but which I only found by chance a couple of years ago.

HareBrain: I've never come across 'oodle' in the singular to mean a few/little - I wonder if it's a corruption of the original and/or a dialect word. But on a similar idea there is 'mickle' which in fact means a great amount, except in the phrase 'many a mickle makes a muckle' when it means small. And slightly off thread, it always amuses me that slim and fat are opposites, yet 'slim chance' and 'fat chance' mean the same thing!

Thanks for amending the title of the thread Teresa, I do think it helps.

And Ursa, it was effable - not f-able (though in the words of Sid James in one of the Carry Ons, I suppose it is spelt with 'two ffs').

J

[Ursa major]

Rules for Puns no.17: "Never let spelling stop you making a pun, even if its use may be injudicious**."










** - lacking judgment: lacking in judgment or discretion

[HareBrain]

Originally Posted by The Judge

HareBrain: I've never come across 'oodle' in the singular to mean a few/little - I wonder if it's a corruption of the original and/or a dialect word. But on a similar idea there is 'mickle' which in fact means a great amount, except in the phrase 'many a mickle makes a muckle' when it means small. And slightly off thread, it always amuses me that slim and fat are opposites, yet 'slim chance' and 'fat chance' mean the same thing!

"Fat chance" is always sarcastic though, surely? Much like the modern "I could care less" used instead of "I couldn't care less", meant to mean the same even though they are opposites because (I can only assume) "I could care less" arose as sarcasm, even though most who now use it have forgotten that fact and seeme baffled when you point out that what they are saying actually means the opposite to what they intend. *Deep breath*

Now some oodle-related strangeness. Having said it is used as a singular fairly commonly in the phrase "not an oodle of common sense", I googled it again and found not the five or six occurrences from a couple of months back, but only one!

Even stranger, googling "an oodle" gets 2,450 hits, but googling "not an oodle" - more specific, and therefore a sub-set of the first - gets three times as many! Try it! There's something weird about that word, I'm tellin' ya!

[Interference]

I thought it was "not a noodle".

[HareBrain]

Originally Posted by Interference

I thought it was "not a noodle".

Ooh, that sent chills down my spine at the thought that I'd been obsessing about the wrong word for the last twenty-five years. But credible though it sounds, googling "not a noodle of" returns no pages.

[Teresa Edgerton]

diatribe an abusive verbal attack, a tirade or harangue

harangue a long, vehement or angry speech

tirade a prolonged outburst of violent criticism

vitriolic venomous, acidic, caustic, scathing

[The Judge]

Dare we ask, Teresa, what led to those four particular words being chosen tonight? And are we able to offer any succour (assistance, support) or solace (comfort, consolation)?

J

[Granfalloon]

Google : 10 to the power of one hundred. (1 with 100 zeros after it; supposedly more atoms that exist in the known universe.

Antidisestablishmentarianism: Definition: originally, opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England, now opposition to the belief that there should no longer be an official church in a country
Example: When people are asked for the longest word they know, they often say antidisestablishmentarianism.

Phyllophagan "a fr roup of marsupials including the phalangists. (b) One of a tribe of beetles which feed upon the leaves of plants, as the chafers

[Interference]

Made-up words I like:

Pulsive: Something that evokes a strong reaction of indifference.
Subreal: Badly drawn surrealist art.
Pollyfolly: Silly on all levels.
Renumeration: A re-count