Wednesday, July 21, 2010

RATE-A-WORD!

occlude: /uh-klood/

1. to shut in, out, or off.
2.
physical chemistry - (of certain metals and other solids) to incorporate (gases and other foreign substances), as by absorption or adsorption.
3.
dentistry - to shut or close, with the cusps of the opposing teeth of the upper and lower jaws fitting together.

last week's result:


according to a weighted average of your votes,
spoor is a:

3

(2.875 to be precise)

....which sucks because y'all gave gizmo the same rating as spoor. spoor. really? i don't even think spoor deserves to be considered a word. plus, we already have a word for spoor. it's called 'track'. track isn't exciting but it isn't spoor. spoor feels like something someone does to you, not something you do an animal...i.e. "OMG, he took me back to his place, we started making out, i'm totally into it, then all the sudden he starts to spoor me! do i look like someone who'd wanna spoor? freaking pervert!"

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

impedimenta: /im-ped-uh-men-tuh/

baggage or other things that retard one's progress


how to use in casual conversation:

"i have too much
impedimenta to be in a relationship, baby"

not to be confused with:

magenta

how it makes me feel:

impeded. it's a good word. it's a latin derivative. latin is good. i like latin. yet for some reason i just kinda wanna nod my head and go "yup". and be done with it. but that wouldn't be fair to you. i figure you come here to read something. right? so how about this....

a story:

the why isn't important but my friend and I ended up walking home from a party a couple weeks ago. i was pretty hungry so we stopped for a burritos on "the ave".


my friend had to wait for the 44, so as we were walking down the ave to his stop he decided to take his burritos out and try to eat it. just as he took it out of the bag, the obviously intoxicated, heavy-set, young asian man randomly sitting on the stairs jumps up and just grabs at my friend's burrito.

at this point I was still buzzed and confused as shit. the only thing I could think to do was very sternly say "nooooooo!", in exactly the way you would reprimand a child or domestic animal.



apparently that was enough.

the only thing fatty could do was say "noooooo!" back, following it up with "ill stab you!". but seeing as how he said that as he was awkwardly positioning his jolly frame back down onto the stairs we found him on, I didn't take it to be a credible threat and we kept walking.

the moral of the story? don't mess with my friend's burrito or i will scold you!

Friday, July 16, 2010

WORD OF THE WEEK!

subtilize: /suht-l-ahyz/

–verb (used with object)
1. to elevate in character; sublimate.
2. to make (the mind, senses, etc.) keen or discerning; sharpen.
3. to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.
4. to make thin, rare, or more fluid or volatile; refine.
–verb (used without object)
5. to make subtle distinctions or to argue subtly.


vestigial: /ve-stij-ee-uh/

of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a vestige

spoor: /spohr/

–noun
1. a track or trail, esp. that of a wild animal pursued as game.
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
2. to track by or follow a spoor.


brannigan: /bran-i-guhn/

1. a carouse.
2. a squabble; brawl.


undercast: /uhn-der-kast/

1. mining - a crossing of two passages, as airways, dug at the same level so that one descends to pass beneath the other without any opening into it.
2.
meteorology - an overcast layer of clouds viewed from above


last week's word winner:

squelch

i know, i thought it was a weird result too. i'm gonna chalk this exercise in poor taste up to the fact that none of you had a proper appreciation for gremlins during y'alls childhoods.

gizmo!!!!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

brannigan: /bran-i-guhn/

–noun
1. a carouse.
2. a squabble.
3. this guy...


how to use in causal conversation:

"there is something about your face that makes me want to start a
brannigan"

not to be confused with:

mulligan

how it makes me feel:

anything that allows me to make a futurama reference is A-OK by me.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

RATE-A-WORD!

spoor: /spohr/


–noun
1. a track or trail, esp. that of a wild animal pursued as game.
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
2. to track by or follow a spoor.


last week's result:

according to a weighted average of your votes gizmo is a:

3

(2.538461538 to be precise)

argh. gizmo! i love gizmo! i'll admit, it's a lousy word. even as hogwash sounding words go, it's pretty weak. that is, it isn't a 'bumfuzzled' or anything like that - but gizmo! how can you think gizmo is a 3?! he's so cute!!!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

vestigial: /ve-stij-ee-uhl/

1. of, relating to, or constituting a vestige.
2.
biology occurring or persisting as a rudimentary or degenerate structure.
3. your appendix


how to use in casual conversation:

"much like the coccyx, your existence has become a
vestigial structure on the body that is humanity"

not to be confused with
:

virginal










how it makes me feel:


darwinian!


that's it.

Friday, July 9, 2010

WORD OF THE WEEK!

squelch: /skwelch/

–verb (used with object)
1. to strike or press with crushing force
2. to put down, suppress, or silence, as with a crushing retort or argument.
–verb (used without object)
3. to make a splashing sound.
4. to tread heavily in water, mud, wet shoes, etc., with such a sound.
–noun
5. a squelched or crushed mass of anything.
6. a splashing sound.
7. an act of squelching or suppressing, as by a crushing retort or argument.
8. Also called squelch circuit, noise suppressor. Electronics . a circuit in a receiver, as a radio receiver, that automatically reduces or eliminates noise when the receiver is tuned to a frequency at which virtually no carrier wave occurs.

bijou: /bee-zhoo/

1. a jewel.
2. something small, delicate, and exquisitely wrought.

gizmo /giz-moh/

1.A mechanical device or part whose name is forgotten or unknown

sibylline: /sib-uh-lean/

1. of, resembling, or characteristic of a sibyl; prophetic
2. mysterious

tantivy
: /tan-tiv-ee/

–adverb
1. at full gallop
–adjective
2. swift
–noun
3. a gallop
–interjection
4. (used as a hunting cry when the chase is at full speed.)

happy voting, chowderheads!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

sibylline: /sib-uh-lean/

1. of, resembling, or characteristic of a sibyl; prophetic
2. mysterious
3. this guy....




how to use in casual conversation:

"it turns out that all that whining you did last month about it 'not feeling like summer' was incredibly
sibylline."

not to be confused with:

alabastrine




how it makes me feel:

it kinda makes me feel like i'm looking at a whale in a g-string and when i say whale i mean the water mammal not as in a mean-way-of-telling-someone-something-they-already-probably-know. that is, i don't really know what anyone expects me to do with it. it's like a set of fireplace tools when you don't own a fireplace. it's like a million spoons when all you need is a knife. no, wait, that's ironic. don't you think? actually that isn't all that ironic. that's what happens when you bring a steak to an ice cream social, you fucking twit! (no, that wasn't a typo) and btw, most of that album is uncle joey's fault.




long story short: i'd rather just use the word 'prophetic'.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

RATE-A-WORD!

gizmo: /GIZ-moh/








1. a mechanical device or part whose name is forgotten or unknown


yay for the return of rate-a-word! happy voting! (click that if you're using reader or whatever)







Tuesday, July 6, 2010

bijou: /bee-zhoo/

1. a jewel.
2. something small, delicate, and exquisitely wrought.
3. this chick......
how to use in casual conversation:

"this bar is......i dunno, it feels kind of,
bijou. much like my heart"

not to be confused with:

bayou














how it makes me feel:

to be honest, it just feels good to be back. so good in fact that i will ignore the fact that this is a fairly pedestrian word not to mention being of french origin. though i suppose that i should be grateful just to have an opportunity to use a photo of james "gollum" carville.

note:

as previously mentioned i am back from my sabbatical and ready to rock and roll on that WOTD tip. there are going to be some changes and a new feature (to limit the days where i actually have to compose a post) so stick around/come back/tell your friends but not your mom. even though things are changing, rest assured that the poor grammar and large number of typos will remain.