Word of the day

[Richard Ruck]

Missed a few days....

So, here's a new one :

halation

• noun [mass noun] - the spreading of light beyond its proper boundaries to form a fog round the edges of a bright image in a photograph or on a television screen.

— origin mid 19th cent.: formed irregularly from halo + -ation.

Why's that then Richard, have you been ill?

No, just a bit preoccupied with other stuff for the last few days.

[Richard Ruck]

Today's word comes from that strange universe in which blokes wear tights and girls shimmy around on tip-toe, punters pay hundreds of pounds to get dressed up, sit behind a pillar and drink warm champagne, and in which ancient Eastern European women who wear more paint than the Forth Road Bridge and more dead animals than can be seen in the Natural History Museum are revered as legends.....

soubresaut

• noun (pl. pronounced same) Ballet - a straight-legged jump from both feet with the toes pointed and feet together, one behind the other.
— origin French.

[Katharine]

Today's word comes from that strange universe in which blokes wear tights and girls shimmy around on tip-toe, punters pay hundreds of pounds to get dressed up, sit behind a pillar and drink warm champagne, and in which ancient Eastern European women who wear more paint than the Forth Road Bridge and more dead animals than can be seen in the Natural History Museum are revered as legends.....

soubresaut

• noun (pl. pronounced same) Ballet - a straight-legged jump from both feet with the toes pointed and feet together, one behind the other.
— origin French.

I take it that you do not appreciate the subtle beautiful art of ballet, Richard?

[Richard Ruck]

I take it that you do not appreciate the subtle beautiful art of ballet, Richard?

Oh dear, was I that obvious?

Along with opera, I do find it all a tad over the top. I'm not denigrating the tremendous skill, dedication, artistry etc. of the performers in either discipline, it's just that it's not my sort of thing.

Given that a lot of my business involves classical music (which, on the whole, I love), I sometimes have to be quite diplomatic about my 'blind spots'.

[Katharine]

I'm not sure I appreciate these arts myself - being just about tone deaf. I have enjoyed a few evenings at classical ballet as a spectacle but certainly would never think of paying over the top prices for it. Opera does not do much for me either - even though I live in the village where Bryn Terfel first sang in a local eisteddfod and went to primary school!

[englishangel]

philistines

[Richard Ruck]

Just out of curiosity, was synchronised leaping about in tutus part of the Hertford experience?

[Katharine]

Just out of curiosity, was synchronised leaping about in tutus part of the Hertford experience?

NO!!! We used to do country dancing in the gym on wet afternoons when games were cancelled. Miss King and a few select girls played the fiddle for that (I'm sure it should be fiddle there not violin!)

One of my friends was the daughter of a Danish Prima Ballerina and had done a lot of ballet herself. She used to wash her hair by bending over the basin backwards, so that she did not get soap in her eyes!

[AKAP]

Try a live performance of La Boheme (Puccini) the emotion will hit you four square in the face. If it doesen't it's a poor performance (or EA is right).

[Richard Ruck]

A strange word today:

proxemics

• plural noun [treated as sing.] - the branch of knowledge that deals with the amount of space that people feel it necessary to set between themselves and others.

— origin 1960s: from proximity, on the pattern of words such as phonemics.

Why do I get the feeling that this is an American invention?

[ben ashton]

i was talking about that one in a marketing presentation last week

[englishangel]

A strange word today:

proxemics

• plural noun [treated as sing.] - the branch of knowledge that deals with the amount of space that people feel it necessary to set between themselves and others.

— origin 1960s: from proximity, on the pattern of words such as phonemics.

Why do I get the feeling that this is an American invention?

cf. HSBC adverts

[Richard Ruck]

One for any republicans out there:

Messidor

• noun - the tenth month of the French Republican calendar (1793–1805), originally running from 19 June to 18 July.

— origin French, from Latin messis ‘harvest’ + Greek doron ‘gift’.

To save looking them up, here's the complete list:

Autumn months:Vendémiaire (from the Latin 'vindemia', grape harvest) (22 September to 21 October). This was followed by the months of Brumaire (from the French 'brume', fog) and Frimaire (from the French 'frimas', hoarfrost).

Winter months : Nivôse (from the Latin 'nivosus', snowy), Pluviôse (from the Latin 'pluviosus', rainy), and Ventôse (from the Latin 'ventosus', windy)

Spring months: Germinal (from the Latin 'germen, germinis' a bud), Floréal (from the Latin 'floreus', flowery) and Prairial (from the French 'prairie', meadow).

Summer months:Messidor (from the Latin 'messis', corn harvest and the Greek 'doron', gift), Thermidor (from the Greek 'thermon' heat and the Greek 'doron' gift) et Fructidor (from the Latin 'fructus', fruit and the Greek 'doron', gift).

[Great Plum]

Those French revolutionaries were on something weren't they?

[cj]

They sound rather lush and sexy.