Words
Today, I want to talk about words, because I love words, especially in puzzles. I dare say that my brother, Joe, and I are among the top puzzlers in the U.S. today. My puzzling nom-de-plume is Ahab and his is Ishmael.
Here are some words that I have encountered within the last couple of days:
In my German Study
HUNGERSNOT ... what a great word.. no matter what it sounds like to English readers, its meaning is...........................FAMINE.
While solving a British Cryptic Puzzle set by a British Newspaper
These are probably words that the Brits use regularly. I doubt that most Americans are acquainted with them all (I know I'm not).
interlocutrice .. this is the female version of interlocutor. You may have heard vaudeville folks use it when doing schtick: Mr. Interlocutor! All it means is someone engaging in a dialogue or conversation.
amorist ... this is a name for someone who is deeply in love or who wishes they were and writes about it.
Grimaldi ... this is a word that Brits like to use for a clown. In the 1800's there was a famous man named Grimaldi who "created" our modern version of that age-old comic figure of Harlequin.
teratogen ... any agent that disturbs the development of an embryo or fetus (scary!)
decimalization ... in stock trading: using decimals instead of fractions on quotes
treble .. 1. 3 times as much; 2. high-pitched; 3. a choir boy whose voice has not yet changed
 |
spirochaete ... spirally twisted bacterium that sometimes causes syphilis (also scary!)
single cream ... this is cream that contains at least 18% butterfat and is called light cream in the U.S. but single cream in the U.K.
While doing the Word Power Puzzle in the Readers Digest for March 2017
aubade ... morning song (I confess, I had never heard of that word... I thought it meant a gold pendant.)
Also in the same Readers Digest.... Some Word Types Definitions
aptronym .. a name that is perfectly suited to its owner. (apt and name) They give this wonderful example: A lawyer whose name is Sue Yoo.
mondegreen ... a famous lyric that may be misheard. Example: From the Elton John song "Tiny Dancer": "Hold me closer, tiny dancer." becomes: "Hold me closer, Tony Danza."
neologism ... a word made up from necessity. Example: Color you turn when finding half of a worm in your bitten apple: Caterpallor.
paraprosdoklan ... sentence or phrase that ends in an unexpected way.... like most jokes
portmanteau ... a clever/humorous blending of two other words .. RD examples: cellfish; afterclap.
(you can make up your own definitions for these two examples)
spoonerism ... humorous reversal of sounds in two words.. RD example: "Don't put all you begs in one ask it." (I have hundreds of these in my files... be prepared. I once belonged to a group I think was called "Desert Island Mensans", created for Mensans without a nearby chapter to join. In that group, we passed around lots of what we called 'Feghoots'.. they were actually spoonerisms.)
Tom Swifty ... the RD example says it best: "I think the lobotomy went well," Tom said absentmindedly."
Now... let me say this again. I love the Readers Digest because it works similarly to my brain... a little bit of a lot of information on a lot of subjects .. keeping me surprised by every turn of a page. When I was stuck in a radio operations van on top of an icy mountain in Germany for long hours every day and night, the Readers Digest kept me from going crazy when I had finished my work and was stuck with the outlook of many lonely hours with nothing to do..
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
No comments:
Post a Comment