Word of the Day. Post it Here

Fraggle Rocker, you are clearly a smart chappy.
can you tell me why Americans felt the need to drop the second i in Aluminium?

Surely as an element, you know pure form etc. it deserved to left alone

 

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Aluminum I can live with,
Sulfur is harder to accept
but thank goodness they avoided the horror that would have been Fosferus.

 

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Thanks fot that FR.

But please don't go getting me confused with a Briton.
I'm in the Antipodes.

 

Phosphorus
First identified in 1674 by German alchemist Hennig Brand (born c. 1630),
who prepared it from urine. The element has three allotropic forms:
a black powder; a white-yellow, waxy solid that ignites spontaneously in air
to form the poisonous gas phosphorus pentoxide;
and a red-brown powder that neither ignites spontaneously nor is poisonous.
from http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Fosforus


What a remarkable substance to make out of wee.
If you boil your night spoils (A country Gardener's,or allotment holder's euphemism for urine)
down in the absence of air, it will leave a residue of Phosphorus.
Much better than dull old Gold.

If a place stinks you could say
"This smells like Hennig Brand's laboratory"
His neighours can't have been too happy.

Etymology
Phos is Greek for Light
Phoros is bringing
So, the word means Light Bringer.

The Romans gave the name to the morning star, which was the herald of dawn.


Addendum
If you, for whatever nefarious purpose, wish to make the stuff yourself
you could follow Hennigs method:

He boiled the resulting liquid down to a paste, which he heated to a high temperature, so that the vapors could be drawn into water and condensed into... gold. Brand didn't get gold, but he did obtain a waxy white substance that glowed in the dark. This was phosphorus, one of the first elements to be isolated other than those which exist free in nature. Evaporating urine produced ammonium sodium hydrogenphosphate (microcosmic salt), which yielded sodium phosphite upon heating. When heated with carbon (charcoal) this decomposed into white phosphorus and sodium pyrophosphate:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/everydaychemistry/a/matches.htm


"Microcosmic Salt."
I like the sound of that.

 

Apartheid
One of the very few words that have been borrowed by the English language from Afrikaans. It was a system of racial segregation which began in 1948, and finally ended with the elections in 1994. The system required different racial groups to live seperately.

Etymology
Afrikaans for separateness

Addendum
Some phrases in Afrikaans which are very easy to learn.
They are spelt the same in English, and they mean the same thing,
although the pronunciation is different.

My pen was in my hand. ([məi pɛn vas ən məi hɑnt])
My hand is in warm water. ([məi hɑnt əs ən varəm vɑˑtər])

And one which might make you smile
Baie dankie! Thank you very much!
(Sounds like Buy a donkey)



See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaans

 

Hmmm! Chris Cremin... the penny finally dropped for me, Kenny Everett's animated alter-ego! Very clever, do say hello to Carla for me won't you Chris.

Yeah, I liked the Phosporus blurb.
I'm feeling really bright tonight.. like a stream of bat's piss in the night, a gleaming shaft of gold when all else around is dark.

 

Thanks Spud. Your quote is from Monty Python. One of the few sketches that is still funny today.

Monty Python's Flying Circus -
"Oscar Wilde"
[ from Monty Python's Flying Circus, third season, first shown 18.01.1973 ]

The Players:
Terry Jones - The Prince Of Wales;
Graham Chapman - Oscar Wilde;
John Cleese - James McNeill Whistler;
Michael Palin - George Bernard Shaw;

The Scene:
London, 1892;
16 Tite Street, Chelsea: The residence of Mr Oscar Wilde.
Hansom cabs gallop past outside. In the drawing room, a crowd of suitably dressed folk are engaged in typically brilliant conversation, laughing affectedly and drinking champagne.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Ah, my congratulations, Wilde. Your play is a great success. The whole of London's talking about you.
OSCAR WILDE:
Your highness, there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

(There follows fifteen seconds of restrained and sycophantic laughter)
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Oh, very witty, Wilde ..... very, very witty.
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
There is only one thing in the world worse than being witty, and that is not being witty.

(Fifteeen more seconds of the same)
OSCAR WILDE:
I wish I had said that Whistler.
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
Ah, you will, Oscar, you will.

(more laughter)
OSCAR WILDE:
Your Highness, do you know James McNeill Whistler?
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Yes, we've played squash together.
OSCAR WILDE:
There is only one thing worse than playing squash together, and that is playing it by yourself.

(silence)
OSCAR WILDE:
I wish I hadn't said that.
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
But you did, Oscar, you did.

(a little laughter)
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Well, you must forgive me, Wilde, but I must get back up the Palace.
OSCAR WILDE:
Your Majesty, you're like a big jam doughnut with cream on the top.
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
I beg your pardon?
OSCAR WILDE:
Um ..... It was one of Whistler's.
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
I didn't say that.
OSCAR WILDE:
You did, James, you did.
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Well, Mr. Whistler?
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
I- I meant, Your Majesty, that, uh, like a doughnut your arrival gives us pleasure and your departure merely makes us hungry for more.

(laughter and congratulations)
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
Yes, thank you. Right, Your Majesty is like a stream of bat's piss.

(gasps)
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
What?
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
It was one of Wilde's.
OSCAR WILDE:
It sodding was not! It was Shaw!
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Well, Mr. Shaw?
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
I, um, I, ah, I merely meant, Your Majesty, that, ah, you shine out like a shaft of gold when all around is dark.
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Oh, ho-ho, very good.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
Right. Your Majesty is like a dose of clap.

(gasps)
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
What?!?
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
Before you arrive is pleasure, but after is a pain in the dong.
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
I beg your pardon?
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
It was one of Wilde's.
OSCAR WILDE:
Wha-
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Well, Mr. Wilde?
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
Come on, Ozzy.
OSCAR WILDE:
Uh ..... uh, wha-, wha- .....
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
Come on, Ozzy, now, tell us all about it.
OSCAR WILDE:
Wha-, what I meant, Your Majesty, uh-h-h .....

(general heckling from the crowd)
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
Let's have a bit of the old wit then!
OSCAR WILDE:
What, what-
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
I'm waiting.
OSCAR WILDE:
What I-, what I meant was .....
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
Come on, Ozzy, .....
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
Give us a bit of the wit, Oz.
OSCAR WILDE:
Um, w-w-what I meant, Your Majesty, w-was ..... oh ..... (blows a raspberry)

(The Prince shakes Wilde's hand. Laughter all round.)
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Oh! Excellent! Excellent, Wilde! Very witty, Wilde.
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER:
Nice one, Oz!
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Can you come and do that up the Palace some time? Extremely funny, ha-ha-ha .....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Boondock
A place which is even worse than the awful place where you are already.

Etymology.
From the Phillipine word for Mountain regions.
When US troops were based in the Phillipines, they could reassure themselves
that at least they were not in the boondocks.
Or perhaps they were, and in that case
they must have offended someone.

Addendum
There is a Dubliner word for the boondocks.
If someone is from outside Dublin, from a rural area
they will call him a Culchy.

This comes from the name of the town of Kiltemach in Co Mayo.
Pronounce it Culchy-mock.
It has for some unfathomable reason, been picked on
as the epitome of backwardness.
The mere mention of it will have the "Jackeens",
which is the rural pejorative word for a Dubliner,
rolling about laughing.

I have been to Kiltemach, and it is no different from countless similar backwaters. It is a bit primitive though.
They don't even sell "Culchy" T-shirts there.

But, for balance, read the following.
This chap loves the place.
http://billythebeard.wordpress.com/
(do read this. it's funny)

 

Thanks Captain Kremmin.
I now love the Boonies, makes me feel so much better knowing there's a bigger arsehole of the universe to live in than my own putrid backyard!

p.s I bet you're glad Boony's left the international cricket scene aren't you?

Just a hunch!

 

Not too bothered about Boony, but was glad to see the back of Warney, which is a sad thing to say about the finest cricketer of my lifetime, (so far), but his departure from international cricket is a blessed relief.

 

You weren't around to see "Smokin' Joe" then?
Chappelli was the psychological master by far although seems to get scant recognition for this.

We're getting a little off topic so,

Here's my word of the day: Laconic

It's nothing new, I just like it.
It basically means succinct or of few words.

Aussies tend to use it in association with dry humour for some reason.

Now back to the cricket, Stuart MacGill in any other era would have been a legend but with Warney around he barely had a chance, unlike Warney he is intelligent, witty, even a bit sophisticated.

 

Anorak

The Inuit gave us the word for igloo, which is our word for an inuit house.
Which is not giving us much really is it?

They also gave us the word anorak, which to eskimos and Americans means a
nice warm winter coat, but in the uk if a person is called an anorak it means he is an obsessive, borderline autistic, mildly pitiable individual.

He is not a loner though, for one characteristic of the train-spotter
(another word for an anorak) is his conviviality.
The anorak will spend hours in windy stations or school hall stamp fairs,
discussing the interest to which he devotes most of his waking hours,
with fellow anoraks,
similarly dressed in warm, unfashionable coats with many pockets.

I say he, for it is almost invariably a male, who may be anything from 8 to 80 years old.
Occasionally a female will become part of the fold, but in her bulky coat and bobble hat she is barely distinguishable from the rest.


Etymology
Inuit for coat.
And possibly their name for an eskimo who keeps lists of polar bear sightings.

You can read more about anoraks here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-19185,00.html

 

bricked

To render your computer useless, as useless as a brick.

Usually the result of tampering with the insides and doing irreversible damage. Bricking your hardware leaves you with a new paperweight. Can be the end effect of a faulty flash or firmware update, a modification (mod) gone bad or being struck by lighting, to name a few.

He managed to get his new iMac bricked while trying to boot WinXP on it.

I tried to change graphics cards while my computer was running but I only managed to get my machine bricked.

 

O.K, you are a stickler and I have been gently ribbing you so, to keep you happy, laconic comes from the Greek region Lakonicos where the Spartans hung out and they were not known for their long winded use of language.

Wow! not too many Spartans around these parts although i have noticed the odd Spoutusofficus.

 

The Spartan soldier we know best, equipped with spear, shield, armour and helmet,
and usually portrayed sideview, was called a Hoplite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartan_hoplite

The men on horseback were call Hippeis
(Not Hippies, take care with the spelling.)
This was considered a lower class of soldier
as horses were cheaper than good armour.

The mohawk style attachment to the helmet is still considered tough looking.
The Mohican haircut was adopted by Punk Rockers, and they were so tough that they used to encourage you to spit at them!

Here's a more modern version, if you are a biker who wants to look stupid.
http://www.streetbikerider.com/h-ac...ories-helmet-accessories-universal-mohawk.htm

Which is about as tough as these chaps are:
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...um=1&hl=en&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-36,GGLJ:en&sa=N

Did you know that poultry farmers grab their birds in the dark?
Otherwise they are too quick and take much longer to catch.

 

Actually, Spud, the region is called Laconia and the people who live there Laconians. Sparta is the administrative capital of the Laconia prefecture.

They used to say "to laconizein esti philosophein" which means to speak like a laconian is to philosophize.