Archive for August, 2010
Posted by kazvorpal on August 12, 2010
Sockdolager
A decisive blow or (by metaphor) remark, or something similarly powerful
Possibly a tent revival word, but reached popularity as a boxing term.
Examples:
Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sockdologising old man-trap
— Tom Taylor, Our American Cousin (the laugh line Boothe used as cover, to shoot Lincoln)
Every second or two there’d come a glare that lit up the white-caps for a half a mile around, and you’d see the islands, looking dusty through the rain, and the trees thrashing around in the wind; then comes a H-WHACK!-bum! bum! bumble-umble-um-bum=bum-bum-bum- and the thunder would go rumbling and grumbling away, and quit – and then RIP comes another flash and another sockdolager.
—Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
That’s a sockdolager of a skill set, ain’t it? Back then, the buldge on everybody.
— Brian D’Amato, Courts of the Sun (2009)
Jim restrained himself.
“Look, carrot-face, get the murerk, else I’ll fetch you a sockdolager what’ll lay you out till Christmas,” he said.
— Phillip Pullman, The Shadow of the North (1986)
Etymology:
Invented in the 19th century, “sock”, as to hit, plus perhaps a variation on “doxology”, which of course is a Christian term for praising God.
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Posted in history, humor | Tagged: big words, boxing, dictionary, fighting, high vocabulary, hyperbole, lexicon, lexovore, obscure words, sockdolager, vocab, vocabulary, word of the day, words, wotd | 1 Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on August 11, 2010
Obsequious
Fawning, submissively eager to please and agree
Examples:
Those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home.
— Washington Irving, Rip van Winkle
She what was honour knew,
And with obsequious majesty approv’d
My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower
I led her blushing like the morn; all heaven
And happy constellations on that hour
— John Milton, Paradise Lost
Prison taught him the false smile, the rubbed hand of hypocrisy, the fawning, greased obsequious leer.
— Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
But it is hard to know them from friends, they are so obsequious, and full of protestations; for as a wolf resembles a dog, so doth a flatterer a friend.
— Sir Walter Raleigh, writing about flatterers, in The Voyage of the Destiny.
Etymology:
Latin: Ob = after and sequi = follow. Think “follower”, with sequi as “sequence”
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Posted in history, rhetoric | Tagged: a clockwork orange, anthony burgess, big words, fawning, flatterers, high vocabulary, lackey, lexicon, milton, obsequious, paradise lost, rip van winkle, sesquipedalia verba, sesquipedalian, sir walter raleigh, submissive, vocabulary, voyage of the destiny, washington irving, word of the day, wotd | 1 Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on August 9, 2010
Apodictic
Absolutely certain, having been shown
In case it’s not obvious, we like to use real quotes that have working examples, but don’t necessarily endorse their contents…
Examples:
We know this apodictic rock beneath our feet. That dogmatic sun above our heads. The world of dreams, the agony of love and the foresight of death. That is all we know. And all we need to know? Challenge that statement.
— Edward Abbey, The Monkey Wrench Gang
But all these ideas, regardless of how convincing they may be for the individual, are submitted to the critical examination of this individual and hence to a fluctuating affirmation or negation until emotional divination or knowledge assumes the binding force of apodictic faith.
— Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf
Etymology:
Greek, apo = “away”, dieknynai = “to show”
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Posted in Knowledge | Tagged: edward abbey, fact, facts, greek, high vocabulary, hitler, human knowledge, information, Knowledge, lexicon, mein kampf, science, truth, vocabulary, word of the day, wotd | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on August 6, 2010
Dolorous
Deeply sorrowful, or causing great sadness
Dolor is its own legitimate word, for sadness or pain, even physical pain
Examples:
With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat, in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread—
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch
— Thomas Hood, Song of the Shirt
He is not violent, nor tormented by immeasurable and dolorous conceptions; his painting is healthy, exempt from morbid questionings and from painful complications; he paints incessantly, without turmoil of the brain and without passion during his whole life.
— Hippolyte Taine, writing about Renaissance artist, Titian
From time to time Sancho gave forth profound sighs and dolorous groans; and on Don Quixote asking him the cause of is sore anguish, he answered that from the end of his backbone to the nape of his neck he was aching, so that it drove him out of his senses.
— Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote de la Mancha
Etymology:
Dolor is Latin for “pain, painful”
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Posted in humor, poetry | Tagged: dolorous, don quixote, english, high vocabulary, hippolyte taine, language, lexicon, miquel de cervantes saavedra, new words, thomas hood, titian, vocabulary, word of the day, words, wotd | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on August 5, 2010
Polymath
One with many skills or fields of knowledge; a renaissance man
Examples:
A Catholic sense of sin and a social sense of disaster, a fascination with the polymathic and polyglot artist and the strange and often gross and unbidden sources of art. Nor had Burgess taught languages or studied Joyce for nothing…
— Malcolm Bradbury, The Modern British Novel (1993)
You could give Aristotle a tutorial. And you could thrill him to the core of his being. Aristotle was an encyclopedic polymath, an all time intellect. Yet not only can you know more than him about the world.
— Richard Dawkins, The Richard Dimbleby Lecture (1996)
Etymology:
A classical greek word, its parts are poly, many, and mathes, learned. The word “mathematics” does come from the same root word, as understanding numbers was once a sign of being educated.
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Posted in history, Knowledge | Tagged: ancient greek, anthony burgess, aristotle, dawkins, greek, high vocabulary, joyce, lexicon, malcolm bradbury, mathematics, polymath, renaissance men, richard dawkins, vocabulary, wotd | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on August 5, 2010
Penumbra
A vague, poorly defined area or idea
This usage comes from the euphemistic use of the word, which originally referred to actual, shadowed areas. Made infamous by judicial activists on the Supreme Court.
Examples:
Greetings traveller. Who am I? Perhap’ you have met me twixt sleep and wank, in the penumbra of uncertainty you call “unconsciousness”.
— Garth Marenghi, Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place
William James used to preach the “will to believe.” For my part, I should wish to preach the “will to doubt.” None of our beliefs are quite true; all at least have a penumbra of vagueness and error.
— Bertrand Russel, Skeptical Essay
Stalking and martyrdom are acts that are seen, to their executors, to fall under the penumbra of “love”.
— Kaz Vorpal
Etymology:
Paena is Latin for “almost”, umbra for “shadow”…an umbrella is a “little shade”
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Posted in Knowledge, rhetoric | Tagged: bertrand russel, dictionary, encyclopedia, garth marenghi, high vocabulary, penumbra, roe v wade, skeptical essay, supreme court, umbrella, vocabulary, william james, word of the day, wotd | Leave a Comment »