Difference between revisions of "Lexical Adventures"

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*'''Tenesmus''': Tenesmus is a feeling of incomplete defecation. It is experienced as an inability or difficulty to empty the bowel at defecation. It is frequently painful and may be accompanied by involuntary straining and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Vesical tenesmus is a similar condition, referring to difficult or failed attempts to urinate despite the bladder feeling full.
 
*'''Tenesmus''': Tenesmus is a feeling of incomplete defecation. It is experienced as an inability or difficulty to empty the bowel at defecation. It is frequently painful and may be accompanied by involuntary straining and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Vesical tenesmus is a similar condition, referring to difficult or failed attempts to urinate despite the bladder feeling full.
 
*'''Tchotchke''': ("chawch-key") originally from a Slavic word for "toys" (Polish cacka, tsatsca; Russian цацки, tsatsci)—adapted to Yiddish טשאַטשקע tshatshke, tshàtshq·qh|tshawtshq·qh, "trinket", are small toys, gewgaws, knickknacks, baubles, trinkets, or kitsch. The term has a connotation of worthlessness or disposability, as well as tackiness, and was long used in the Jewish-American community and in the regional speech of New York City.
 
*'''Tchotchke''': ("chawch-key") originally from a Slavic word for "toys" (Polish cacka, tsatsca; Russian цацки, tsatsci)—adapted to Yiddish טשאַטשקע tshatshke, tshàtshq·qh|tshawtshq·qh, "trinket", are small toys, gewgaws, knickknacks, baubles, trinkets, or kitsch. The term has a connotation of worthlessness or disposability, as well as tackiness, and was long used in the Jewish-American community and in the regional speech of New York City.
 +
*'''kvetch''': yiddish for complaining

Revision as of 08:56, 17 April 2009

  • Wicky Wicky - (Slang) hip-hop music especially with turntablism. wicky is that DJ scratch that only involves moving the vinyl back and forth without using a fader or transformer. Usually the first scratch that is learned by a novice.
  • "Metasyntactic" - The phrase metasyntactic variable is a neologism that is used in some programmer communities to describe a placeholder name or an alias term commonly used to denote the subject matter under discussion or an arbitrary member of a class of things under discussion. The term originates from computer programming and other technical contexts, and is commonly used in examples by hackers and programmers. The use of a metasyntactic variable is helpful in freeing a programmer from creating a logically named variable, although the invented term may also become sufficiently popular and enter the language as a neologism. The word foo is the principal example.
  • Postcode Lottery - The postcode lottery is shorthand for seemingly random countrywide variations in the provision and quality of public services - the huge gap between the best and the rest. Where you live defines the standard of services you can expect. So if you live in the "wrong" area, and, in extreme cases, on the "wrong" side of a road, you may get a poorer service than your neighbour or you may not get the service at all and have to pay for it privately. The postcode lottery is a big issue in the NHS, where the gap between the rhetoric of a comprehensive and universal "national" service and the reality is increasingly stretched.
  • Opprobrium - scornful reproach or contempt, eg: term of opprobrium, opprobrium from society
  • Escutcheon - an architectural item of door furniture that surrounds a keyhole or lock cylinder. in bathroom plumbing, the term is used for any back-plate, ornamental or otherwise (usually round) used to cover a gap between a penetrating pipe or control valve, and the finished wall surface from which it protrudes.
  • Rebate - when the word rebate is used in conjunction with things like woodworking or locks it refers to the things which fit into the recess/form the recess. like the extra metal bits they give you for a lock which you screw over the lock which fits into the recess of your door, making it flat. also known as Rabbet in north america.
  • Untriaged: (Definition, Computing) An Untriaged bug is a bug that a has not been investigated or and approved. It comes from the word Triage. Triage is a process of prioritizing patients based on the severity of their condition so as to treat as many as possible when resources are insufficient for all to be treated immediately. This term comes from the French verb trier, meaning to sort, sift or select.
  • Comestible: (Definition) Something that can be eaten as food: meat, cheese, and other comestibles.
  • Poison Centre: Paracetamol is the most common drugs which people in the UK overdose on (often in conjunction with alcohol). This makes up over 40% of poisoning cases in the UK.
  • Scrumtrilescent: a word that conveys the existence of something that cannot be expressed; the indescribable. it was made up by Will Ferrell's character on SNL to describe utter perfection that, ironically, is too perfect to describe.
  • Colophon: in publishing, in most cases it is a description of the text typography, often entitled A note about the type / A brief description usually located at the end of a book, describing production notes relevant to the edition / A printer's mark or logotype. The term "colophon" derives from the Late Latin colophon, from the Greek κολοφων (meaning "summit", "top", or "finishing"); when ancient scribes recorded information on clay tablets and would add this colophon of catch phrases or random facts about the scribe or numbers so that the tablets could be identified as being in the same set. not to be confused with Colophon, an ancient city in Asia Minor, though.
  • Idiolect: An idiolect is a variety of a language unique to an individual. It is manifested by patterns of word selection, vocabulary and word lexicon, grammar, or words, phrases, idioms, or pronunciations that are unique to that individual. Used by forensic experts to determine if someone really said/wrote something. [shld read more about june and jennifer gibbons]
  • cf.: cf. is an abbreviation for the Latin-derived (but also modern English) word confer, meaning "compare" or "consult". It is mainly used in common and statute law contexts as well as in academic writing
  • Bunting: Strips of cloth or material usually in the colors of the national flag, used especially as drapery or streamers for festive decoration
  • BOGOF: "Buy one, get one free" is a common form of sales promotion. While rarely presented to customers in acronym form, this marketing technique is universally known in the marketing industry by the acronym BOGOF.
  • Peloton: The peloton (from French, literally meaning little ball or platoon and also related to the English word pellet), field, bunch or pack is the large main group in a road bicycle race. Riders in a group save energy by riding close (drafting or slipstreaming) near (particularly behind) other riders. The reduction in drag is dramatic; in the middle of a well-developed group it can be as much as 40%
  • Which vs That: "which" can refer to a thing, "that" also refers to a thing but its for when its a specific one, eg: a cat which eats my food must die VS the cat that ate my food has died. but obsessive correction (sarcastically called a which hunt) is best avoided.
  • Hot Button (US Politics): "word or issue that ignites anger, fear, enthusiasm, or other passionate response. The phrase is often hyphenated and used adjectivally in 'hot-button issue.' Such an issue, frequently involving values or morals, serves to lift an audience out of its seats. Hot button, perhaps related to 'panic button,' began as a marketing term. Walter Kiechel 3d wrote in a September 1978 issue of Fortune: 'The marketers are searching for what they call 'consumer hot buttons' - needs to be satisfied, desires to be slaked - and the means to push those buttons.'.Since 1981 hot button has been used in political jargon.For earlier versions of 'hot buttons,' see GUT ISSUE, SWITCHER, AND STIR UP THE ANIMALS. FOR A LATER VERSION, SEE WEDGE ISSUES. " From "Safire's New Political Dictionary" by William Safire (Random House, New York, 1993).
  • Third Rail (US Politics): the 'third rail' issues are issues so politically charged that touching them could cause instant electrocution and political suicide. It was said for a long while that the issue of Social Security was one of these....no solution, and whatever you suggested would lose votes from large blocks of voters.
  • Pro-rata: Propotional according to the rate
  • Rube Goldberg machine: A Rube Goldberg machine is a deliberately overengineered apparatus that performs a very simple task in a very indirect and convoluted fashion. Goldberg's drawings, for example, almost always included a live animal which was expected to perform part of the sequence of tasks. (1930s); see wiki for similar expressions in other countries. The japanese have a word for it too - Chindōgu
  • Graticule: A design or draught which has been divided into squares, in order to reproduce it in other dimensions. In cartography, a network of lines representing the Earth's parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude. In imagery interpretation, see reticle.
  • Reticle: Crosshairs [1]
  • Hoosier: Hoosier (americanised slang) is a low-life redneck, somebody you can recognize because they have a car on concrete blocks in their front yard and are likely to have just shot their wife who may also be their sister. Serial killer Carl Panzram's last words were reportedly, "Hurry it up, you Hoosier bastard! I could hang 10 men while you're fooling around!"
  • Myokymia: eyelid myokymia (twitching) is usually due to magnesium deficiency (magnesium is muscle relaxant)
  • Tenesmus: Tenesmus is a feeling of incomplete defecation. It is experienced as an inability or difficulty to empty the bowel at defecation. It is frequently painful and may be accompanied by involuntary straining and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Vesical tenesmus is a similar condition, referring to difficult or failed attempts to urinate despite the bladder feeling full.
  • Tchotchke: ("chawch-key") originally from a Slavic word for "toys" (Polish cacka, tsatsca; Russian цацки, tsatsci)—adapted to Yiddish טשאַטשקע tshatshke, tshàtshq·qh|tshawtshq·qh, "trinket", are small toys, gewgaws, knickknacks, baubles, trinkets, or kitsch. The term has a connotation of worthlessness or disposability, as well as tackiness, and was long used in the Jewish-American community and in the regional speech of New York City.
  • kvetch: yiddish for complaining