Word of the day

[J.R.]

Morning, all!

Here's today's word:

caubeen

• noun - an Irish beret, typically dark green in colour.

— origin early 19th cent. : Irish, literally ‘old hat’, from cáibín ‘little cape’, diminutive of cába ‘cape’.

No relation to a hasbeen, then ???

[Jude]

nor runner bean either

[Richard Ruck]

Back again:


siddhi

• noun (pl. siddhis) Hinduism

1. [mass noun] complete understanding; enlightenment.
2. a paranormal power possessed by a siddha.

— origin Sanskrit

[Jude]

Back again:


siddhi

• noun (pl. siddhis) Hinduism

1. [mass noun] complete understanding; enlightenment.
2. a paranormal power possessed by a siddha.

— origin Sanskrit

Are the 2 not synominous?

[Richard Ruck]

Back again:


siddhi

• noun (pl. siddhis) Hinduism

1. [mass noun] complete understanding; enlightenment.
2. a paranormal power possessed by a siddha.

— origin Sanskrit

Are the 2 not synominous?

Not really.

The first is a state of being, the second is a usable attribute.

[Richard Ruck]

Here's an udder one:

garget

• noun [mass noun] - inflammation of a cow's or ewe's udder.

— origin early 18th cent. : perhaps a special use of Old French gargate ‘throat’; related to gargoyle. The term was used earlier to denote inflammation of the throat in cattle.

[J.R.]

........... and I thought it was what a posh woman in Fortnum & Masons asked for when looking for a special implement in the kitchen department !

[Richard Ruck]

For those of you looking to take up a new hobby:

barbola

• noun [mass noun] - the craft of making small models of fruit or flowers from a plastic paste.

— origin 1920s : an arbitrary formation from barbotine.

[Richard Ruck]

Sorry, seem to have lapsed a bit this week.

Back today, though!

stichomythia

• noun [mass noun] - dialogue in which two characters speak alternate lines of verse, used as a stylistic device in ancient Greek drama.

— origin mid 19th cent. : modern Latin, from Greek stikhomuthia, from stikhos ‘row, line of verse’ + muthos ‘speech, talk’.

[Euterpe13]

How on earth do you work that one into a conversation ???

[Richard Ruck]

How on earth do you work that one into a conversation ???

Speak in rhyming couplets with a willing partner?

Actually, my wife and her best friend employ a special conversational technique, which sees them both talking at each other at the same time.

I wonder if there's a word for that....

[cj]

Actually, my wife and her best friend employ a special conversational technique, which sees them both talking at each other at the same time.

You can get twice as much said in half the normal time. Sounds good to me!!

[englishangel]

Sorry, seem to have lapsed a bit this week.

Back today, though!

stichomythia

• noun [mass noun] - dialogue in which two characters speak alternate lines of verse, used as a stylistic device in ancient Greek drama.

— origin mid 19th cent. : modern Latin, from Greek stikhomuthia, from stikhos ‘row, line of verse’ + muthos ‘speech, talk’.

I had two work colleagues in my previous job who talked to each other like this, though in English not Ancient Greek. I wonder if they know that there is a word for it.

[Richard Ruck]

Friday at last!

One for the weekend:

skolly

• noun (pl. skollies) S. African informal a petty criminal of mixed ethnic origin; a hooligan.

— origin Afrikaans, probably from Dutch schoelje ‘rogue’

[Richard Ruck]

I really should be out doing something rather than sitting at the computer, but the weather's just too dismal, so....

factitive

• adjective - Linguistics (of a verb) having a sense of causing a result and taking a complement as well as an object, as in he appointed me captain.

— origin mid 19th cent. : from modern Latin factitivus, formed irregularly from Latin factitare, frequentative of facere ‘do, make’.