Well, not much happened to me today, and people seem to like the words, so we’ll do another iteration of Words I Like!
11. flag crusher-one who is oblivious to or unwittingly turns down others’ romantic advances or gestures; noun
This is pretty much a loan translation from Japanese, or at least I think it is. I got it from Hetalia, where America is a flag crusher. I like this word because it fills a gap in English. I mean, there’s not really any efficient way to get across this meaning. I’ll try to popularize “flag crusher,” but you guys need to help. Use it! Get your friends to use it! Or else!
12. mollycoddle-a male used to being coddled; noun
This is just one of those old words that sound so much like what they are. I prefer the older English words to more Latin ones because the more Germanic words tend to be stronger and more emphatic.
13. pica-the tendency or craving to eat substances other than normal foodstuffs, especially non-nutritive substances; noun
I didn’t know this had its own word until I came across it one day. It just never occurred to me that people might have a word for it. I mean, I guess I should have known, but isn’t that cool? Mostly it’s used in a pregnany context, but any instance of this behavior counts.
14. post-lapsarian-occurring after the Fall of Adam and Eve; adjective
How necessary is this word? I mean, even if you believe in a literally true Bible, you still have this word that applies to everything except like, two weeks of history, and that’s it. And I mean, ya, it was an important two weeks, but it’s not like the stuff that happened before the Fall gets confused with what happens after. “Noah’s Flood? Gee, was that in the Garden of Eden or after? I can’t remember… Was the world around yet when Noah’s Flood happened? This is tricky, geez…” I think science needs a word that means “Everything except for the first two weeks of the Universe.” And I will use it constantly. Maybe I should just start using this word. “How was your post-lapsarian day?”
15. proprioception-the perception of the position and movement of the body and its parts; noun
Another “We have a word for that?” words. This is really coolest when it stops working, and you lose track of your limbs. Don’t you agree? Ever been in bed and suddenly realized you don’t know where your arm is, and you have to move it around so you can track it again? I have. It’s cool.
16. samizdat-the clandestine or illegal copying and distribution of literature; noun
At first I thought this was a pun. I came across it in Terry Pratchett, who’s big on puns, and the copying of a story was described as samizdat, and I was like, “Ha ha, Mr Pratchett! Samizdat, Same as dat, how funny!” And then later I came across it in a serious paper and I was like, “Shit, that’s a real word? Huh…”
17. shibari-the art of erotic bondage; noun
To no one’s surprise, this is from Japan. Thank you, Japan. I’m glad that there was so much confusion between the art of non-erotic bondage and the art of erotic bondage and the theory of erotic bondage and who knows what else that, damnit, we needed a word just for the art of erotic bondage to prevent suich confusion in the future.
18. steatopygous-having fat or large buttocks; adjective
Ya, that’s right, bootylicious has an older and more well-respected big brother of a synonym. If you want to describe someone as a fatass or bootylicious, but still want to be classy and official, steatopygous is your friend.
19. susurrus-a soft murmuring, rustling or whispering sound; noun
What a perfect word! Susurrus! Is there any doubt what it means once heard? Just whisper it, it’s perfect…
20. throne of Otanes-a constant reminder of one’s duty, especially a grisly or ominous one; noun
This one comes from Herodotus’s The Histories. It’s a cool story. Otanes’s dad was a judge who was corrupt, so the Persian emperor had him killed, skinned, and then covered the judge’s chair with the guy’s flesh. Then he made Otanes the new judge. (Or maybe Otanes is the dad, I honestly forget and I’m not going to look this up now. Sorry.) So ya, I’m pretty sure the new judge was the most honest judge ever. I feel like, when someone gets fired, leaving behind their flayed, tanned skin on the chair of their replacement is really, really good incentive for the new guy not to mess up. I bet if we skinned corrupt CEOs and used their flesh as leather for the chairs of the new CEOs of the companies, we would have a lot less corruption in business. I’m just saying. Obama? Congress? If you guys are reading this, come on. Pass a new law. We’d get a pretty good reputation for clean business dealings quickly…or we’d get a lot of new leather chairs. Either way, we win.
-Matthew
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So, another day of pretty much nothing has been achieved, so I’m going to do something new. As is probably already obvious, I’m really into words. Reading as much as I do, I come across a lot of cool ones. Therefore, I’m going to share some words with you that I really like. Give the definition, talk a little bit about them, all that.
1: anorak-a boring, studious, or socially inept young person, especially one who pursues an unfashionable and solitary interest with obsessive dedication; noun
This one is cool because it comes from the article of clothing. Apparently in England people who wear anoraks are geeks. I did not know this previously. I’m guessing if England hadn’t supplied this word, we’d have to use Otacon or something. Sorry Otacon, but you know it’s true.
2: convenience polyandry-a strategy whereby females mate with persistently harassing males in order to end their harassment; noun
I like this one, as I’ll like a lot of the words to come, because of its damn specificity. Not to mention how useful it is for us college students. “Ya, she only hooked up with him last night out of convenience polyandry.” I know people who use this strategy, at least for kissing, if not for mating.
3: enantiodromia-the process by which something becomes its opposite, and the subsequent interaction of the two; noun
Of course this word was gonna show up. I love enantiodromia. It describes such a complex process in a single word. Days when I get to use enantiodromia in an essay in context are days that rock my socks.
4: euhemerism-the theory that mythology is derived from history; noun
This one is just a cool idea. Basically, it’s the thought that it’d be really weird for people to just up and go, “Ya know what? The gods were like this and married to that person and whatever.” Instead, it posits that ancient great people slowly became myths and gods. So a long time ago, there was a badass named Odin, and he had one eye and he was wise and probably a bit of a dick cuz come on, mythological Odin totally is one, and after he died he was so great people worshipped his memory until everyone forgot he had ever lived. Awesome theory, I like it. The problem is that it’s pretty unprovable.
5: fillip-a trifle; a moment; a stimulus; a movement made by bending the last joint of a finger against the thumb and suddenly releasing it; a tap given by this means; noun
-to give a tap by this means; verb
This is one of those “there’s a word for that?” words. Who knew? We just called it flicking people, but apparently it’s filliping people.
6: gallimaufry-a hodgepodge, jumble, or confused medley; noun
This one’s here for aesthetic purposes. Gallimaufry. Say it. Gallimaufry. Isn’t it cool? Gallimaufry. I love words like that!
7: hapax legomenon-a word or form of which only one instance is recorded in a literature or an author’s corpus; noun
This one is just awesome! So there are some words or ideas or phrases that occur only once, with very little context. I mean, how often do you give good context to words? Yesterday I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender. All that tells you is that it’s something watchable. Could be a movie, or a TV show, or a music video or whatever. It tells you very little. Hapax legomona are these words. We have no idea what they are, only that they exist. Thank Dinosaur Comics for this one, cuz I learned it there.
The example they gave was “gopher wood,” from the Bible. Apparently it’s what Noah builds the ark out of. We have no idea what gopher wood is, so it sucks to be a Biblical literalist. Suck it, Biblical literalists who intend to build a perfect replica of Noah’s ark! Good luck with that task, ya jerks! My favorite example is a famous merchant that Herodotus mentions in his Histories. This merchant is apparently the guy who made the greatest profit ever on a single journey, but no one else mentions him, ever, and he’s so well known to Herodotus that he saw no need to explain anything about him, where he went, or what he traded. It’s so awesomely infuriating!
8: Herostrat-an individual in constant pursuit of fame; noun
This one comes from the Greek Herostratus. He wanted to be famous, but wasn’t really awesome at anything. So he decided he would destroy something famous. He burnt down the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Greeks got so mad that some city-states made it illegal to speak his name aloud, in order to deny him the fame he so ardently desired. However, his name got into extant history anyway, so he got his wish. Herostratus is still famous. Good plan, huh?
9: irrumate-to insert one’s erect penis into another’s mouth; verb
Another word that we really shouldn’t need, but we have anyway for some reason. Thank the Latins. Apparently they just really needed a word for it. Maybe it’s because being passive sexually was a bad thing, so you couldn’t be fellated, no, passive verbs are for pansies and Athenians, you needed an ACTIVE verb, you had to irrumate that girl!
10: sleeping dictionary-a foreign woman with whom a man has a sexual relationship and from whom he learns her language; noun
The last one for today, this is one of my favorite words. I like the thought that this was happening so frequently that people got sick of describing girls as, “That girl I’m banging who’s teaching me Chinese between bangings,” and had to create a new word. To be fair, I guess it’d get annoying to describe someone in such a way more than a few times, but really. How often did it come up? Well, thousands of times I guess, but still… The only problem is you can’t really use this word around people. “Oh hey Hilary, meet my sleeping dictionary, Maria. She’s teaching me Italian.” Nevertheless, I like it. It has a very colonial, exotic, Oriental feel to it, ya?
-Matthew
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