Posts Tagged ‘logolepsy’
Posted by kazvorpal on January 13, 2011
Nabob
Wealthy, powerful or influential individual, usually of exaggerated self-importance
Examples:
In the United States today, we have more than our share of nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H club — the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.
— William Safire, written for a Spiro Agnew speech (1970)
We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig. Cow after cow. Village after village. Army after army. And they call me an assassin. What do you call it when the assassins accuse the assassin? They lie. They lie, and we have to be merciful, for those who lie. Those nabobs. I hate them. I do hate them.
— Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, Apocalypse Now (1979)
How can republican institutions, free schools, free churches, free social intercourse exist in a mingled community of nabobs and serfs; of the owners of twenty thousand acre manors with lordly palaces, and the occupants of narrow huts inhabited by “low white trash?”
— Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, to a meeting of the Pennsylvania delegation in Congress (1865)
Etymology:
- Used in India and Pakistan, originally for governors imposed by the Mongol empire, this is related to the Arabic honorific, na’ib
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Posted in Culture, history, humor | Tagged: agnew, apocalypse now, conservatism, english, high vocabulary, india, influence, islam, language, lexicon, lexigenous, logolepsy, mongol, mongol empire, nabob, naib, nattering nabobs of negativism, pakistan, power, safire, self-importance, spiro agnew, thaddeus stevens, vocabulary, vocabulary expansion, vocabulary words, walter e kurtz, war movies, wealth, white trash, william safire, word of the day, words, words of the day, wotd | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on January 11, 2011
Cynosure
Something bright that attracts the eyes, (therefore) something that serves as a beacon, guide
Examples:
Yes, we have throned Him in our minds and hearts — the cynosure of our wandering thoughts — the monarch of our warmest affections, hopes, desires.
— Richard Fuller, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)
The age demanded a hero, Lawrence qualified, and the 20th century then got what it deserved: a loner, an ascetic, a man who might have been happier as a medieval monk than as the public cynosure he became
— Paul Gray, in The Hero Our Century Deserved, about T.E. Lawrence (1989)
Meadows trim, with daisies pied,
Shallow brooks, and rivers wide;
Towers and balements it sees
Bosomed high in tufted trees,
Where perhaps some beauty lies,
The cynosure of neighboring eyes.
— John Milton, L’Allegro (1631)
Etymology:
- Greek: Cyno means “dog”, oura is “tail”. referring to the tail of the Little Dipper, which contains Polaris, the star used to navigate in the northern hemisphere
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Posted in poetry | Tagged: allegro, christianity, cynosure, dog, english, etymology, god, high vocabulary, john milton, Knowledge, lallegro, language, lexicon, light, little dipper, logolepsy, milton, navigation, new words, north star, paul gray, poetry, polaris, religion, richard fuller, statue of liberty, t e lawrence, vocabulary, vocabulary expansion, word of the day, words, words of the day, wotd | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on January 4, 2011
Barry Goldwater, delivering a hortatory speech
Hortatory
adj. Giving exhortation or advice; encouraging; exhortatory; inciting; as, a hortatory speech.
Companion to the word “minatory”, which means to threaten instead of simply urging
Examples:
Considering the avowed purpose of his work, which is rather hortatory than historical, we are fortunate indeed to be given so much first-hand information by this embittered preacher.
— Nowell Myres, in Roman Britain and the English Settlements (1937) p. 329
The hortatory narrative was a peculiar species of literature which was frequently cultivated during our period. Stories of a purely fictitious character were composed which the author no doubt intended to be regarded as founded on fact, though at the same time the object in view was not so much to impart historical information, as to use these stories as a vehicle for conveying oral and religious lessons and exhortations.
— Emil Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the time of Jesus Christ
As I begin this hortatory address to you, ye men of Greece, I pray God that I may know what I ought to say to you, and that you, shaking off your habitual love of disputing, and being delivered from the error of your fathers, may now choose what is profitable
— Justin Martyr, Justin’s Hortatory Address to the Greeks
Etymology:
15th century, neoclassical Latin, Hortati means “to exhort”, an intensified version of Horiri, “to urge”. Same origin as “exhortation”.
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Posted in history, rhetoric | Tagged: barry goldwater, britain, christianity, emil schurer, english, etymology, high vocabulary, hortatory, justin martyr, lexicon, lexigenous, logolepsy, minatory, nowell myres, religion, rome, speeches, vocabulary, vocabulary expansion, word of the day, words, words of the day, wotd | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on July 29, 2010
Malamanteau
A neologism for a portmanteau created by incorrectly combining a malapropism with a neologism.
It is itself a portmanteau of “malapropism” and “portmanteau”
Examples:
Malamanteau is a cromulent word
— Randall Munroe, (∞)
Etymology:
Mala is Greek for “bad”, manteau is French for “cloak” (same origin as the word mantle)
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Posted in humor, poetry | Tagged: high vocabulary, highvocab, humor, irony, large vocabulary, lexicon, lexigenous, lexivore, lexovore, logolepsy, malamanteau, malapropism, neologism, parody, portmanteau, randall munroe, satire, vocabulary, word of the day, wotd, xkcd | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on July 28, 2010
Logolepsy
n. A severe fascination or obsession with words
Pretty straighforward
Examples:
Thanks to the magic of teleconferencing, often the format for a given show is call-in, and the phones and airwaves crackle with logolepsy.
— Richard Lederer, A Man of My Words (2003)
A case of logolepsy is easily distinguished from the perfectly sane mood which demands and imperiosly seizes the pregnant sign, and makes it the exponent of a hidden power.
— Maurice Thompson, My winter garden: a nature-lover under southern skies (1900)
Etymology:
Logos is Greek for “word”, -lepsy is Greek, “to seize”
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Posted in Grammar / Syntax, Knowledge | Tagged: english, etymology, high vocabulary, information, Knowledge, language, lexicon, logolepsy, logolept, logoleptic, maurice thompson, richard lederer, verbiage, vocab, vocabulary, word of the day, words, wotd | Leave a Comment »
High-Vocabulary Word of the Day 