# Just a word



## Olly Buckle (Apr 20, 2016)

Just give us a good word and say what it means.

Pernicious
Derives from Latin words for ‘harmful’ and ‘death’

Harmful in a gradual and subtle way that may not be easily seen, either physically as in ‘a pernicious disease’, or morally, as in ‘the pernicious effects of pornography’.


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## Ultraroel (Apr 21, 2016)

Following. As a non-native, such words usually aren't in my regular vocabulaire.


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## Book Cook (Apr 21, 2016)

Floccinaucinihilipilification  -  something worthless.


It's a word encountered in most English-speaking households. It is uttered so often that if a family has a parrot, the parrot will learn it in a couple of days.*







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*I'm joking.


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## Olly Buckle (Apr 21, 2016)

antediluvian

Very old,  prehistoric. It gets used humorously, as in 'Antediluvian professors', but literally it means 'Before the flood', so preceding modern man.


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## bazz cargo (Apr 21, 2016)

Obsequious. Subservient, fawning.


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## bdcharles (Apr 21, 2016)

Book Cook said:


> Floccinaucinihilipilification  -  something worthless.
> 
> 
> It's a word encountered in most English-speaking households. It is uttered so often that if a family has a parrot, the parrot will learn it in a couple of days.*
> ...



It could happen. Don't be floccinaucinihilipilificatin' the birdlife. Or English-speaking households, come to that.

My word. Words actually. Iridescent persiflage: the sort of glittering talk that, on pulling apart the sheets of waffle, reveals either the cruellest putdowns or nothing.


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## Book Cook (Apr 22, 2016)

bdcharles said:


> It could happen. Don't be floccinaucinihilipilificatin' the birdlife. Or English-speaking households, come to that.
> 
> My word. Words actually. Iridescent persiflage: the sort of glittering talk that, on pulling apart the sheets of waffle, reveals either the cruellest putdowns or nothing.



So iridescent persiflage = political rhetoric


Insouciant (for some reason, I find the spelling of this word the most difficult to memorise) - a person who is of the disposition not to worry about things.


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## Olly Buckle (Apr 22, 2016)

> So iridescent persiflage = political rhetoric


I think the meaning is wider than that, so political rhetoric might well be iridescent persiflage, but not necessarily the other way round; like a table is furniture, but furniture not necessarily a table.

Iridescent is really visual, meaning of changing colours, like some beetles, or an oil slick on water. Persiflage is something like 'light banter'.


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## Book Cook (Apr 22, 2016)

Olly Buckle said:


> I think the meaning is wider than that, so political rhetoric might well be iridescent persiflage, but not necessarily the other way round; like a table is furniture, but furniture not necessarily a table.
> 
> Iridescent is really visual, meaning of changing colours, like some beetles, or an oil slick on water. Persiflage is something like 'light banter'.



That makes sense, but I was trying to be jovial, jocund, jocular, or maybe mercurial. 


Moratorium - a cessation of a process, or any prolonged time of inactivity. There is another definition where it says that it's a period of legally delayed payment of a debt. When I first saw this word, I was convinced that it meant mortuary or sepulcher or at least some kind of tomb. Maybe because it's similar to mortuary or mortis which means death in Latin.


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## bdcharles (Apr 22, 2016)

Book Cook said:


> Insouciant (for some reason, I find the spelling of this word the most difficult to memorise) - a person who is of the disposition not to worry about things.



I want this word to be respelled "insouicant". The sort of word that doesn't give a damn. The sort of words that goes "bah!", et "bah!"


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## bdcharles (Apr 22, 2016)

Olly Buckle said:


> Iridescent is really visual, meaning of changing colours, like some beetles, or an oil slick on water. Persiflage is something like 'light banter'.



The most fundamental utterance of IP is the raised eyebrow or the dismissive glare.


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## Olly Buckle (Apr 23, 2016)

Triumvirate

A political system dominated by three men, trium, three, vir, man. That is the same root as 'virile' and 'virility'. Originally encompassing bravery and dedication to the greater good his 'viritas' was a Roman's most important possession. 
In theory the three are equal, the reality is that two tend to dominate the other one and then fall out when they have got rid of him.


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## Olly Buckle (Apr 24, 2016)

Time we had some cats in this thread, popularise it a bit,

The Naming Of Cats by T. S. Eliot
The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.


As a little boy that poem was the first time I remember meeting words I did not know,


Effanineffable? Well Elliot made it up. It could be the expression of the inexpressible, or a play on ‘The effing ineffable’, which was my choice as a small boy. Never mind, you still have two words for the price of one.

Ineffable, something that can not be put into words.
Effable, something you can describe in words.


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## Bloggsworth (Apr 24, 2016)

Poodlefaker - A man who habitually chooses the company of women.


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## Bloggsworth (Apr 24, 2016)

Sprauncy - Flashily or overdressed for the occasion. Usually used in conjunction with the above, as in _Sprauncy poodlefaker_. The phrase "Confirmed bachelor" is may be seen in the same sentence or paragraph...


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## Olly Buckle (Apr 30, 2016)

Crepuscular

Preferring the dawn and dusk, rather than nocturnal or diurnal.


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## Book Cook (Apr 30, 2016)

Autoschediasm - an improvisation.


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## Bloggsworth (Apr 30, 2016)

Pellucid - Transparently clear or easily understood. A nice poetic word, but don't over-use it.


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## Jigawatt (May 1, 2016)

Magnanimous - showing or suggesting lofty and courageous spirit, forgiving insult or injury, disdaining pettiness or meanness.


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## Olly Buckle (May 6, 2016)

Justice.

It gets very mis-used, people have personal definitions. The dictionaries on the whole talk about the quality of being just, which is a bit circular. I once heard a law lord define it as "The best possible outcome for all parties, the victim, the perpetrator and the society." Seems pretty good.


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## Jigawatt (May 6, 2016)

Trumpism - a word in the making - definition to be finalized sometime after November 2016; currently denotes the hijacking of a political party, wishy-washy behavior and irrational campaign promises.


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## Ariel (May 6, 2016)

Alluvial: from the Latin word _alluere_ meaning to wash against.  Alluvial means loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments which have been eroded, reshaped by water in some form, and redeposited in a non-marine setting.


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## Olly Buckle (May 7, 2016)

Jigawatt said:


> Trumpism - a word in the making - definition to be finalized sometime after November 2016; currently denotes the hijacking of a political party, wishy-washy behavior and irrational campaign promises.


In a similar vein there is a recently coined word "farage", which means the dirty liquid which accumulates in the bottom of bins; that which was once called 'bin water'. It is taking off and should make the dictionary next year. Coincidentally it is  also the name of  the right wing leader of the UK independence party.


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## Olly Buckle (May 17, 2016)

Adroit; means, quick, clever skilful and nimble. I like the sound of it; I don't know why.


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## Jigawatt (May 19, 2016)

dumaflache - whatchamacallit, thingamabob, thingy, dingus, doodad, dohickey

I used this word today at work.


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## Olly Buckle (May 24, 2016)

contumacious

Stubbornly or wilfully disobedient to authority; a useful word.


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## Olly Buckle (May 25, 2016)

uxorious; deeply in love with one's wife, to the point of being foolishly besotted and over influenced by her.


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## Olly Buckle (Jun 22, 2016)

sesquipedalian

Thank you Annie; using very long words.


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## Olly Buckle (Jul 22, 2016)

Three lovely sounding words that are not worth using normally;

Furfuraceous, 
small pieces like bran; covered in tiny, bran like, scales.

Venditate,
to put something on show as though you were selling it.

Ignivomous,
Vomiting fire.

And one that sounds every-day, but has a particular use;

Prime,
First light, the period between darkness and dawn.


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## shivanib (Jul 22, 2016)

I was just putting up my avatar and signature and so I think a good word to put down would be...Avata*r*

It, of course, in our society, refers to the image you can use to represent yourself usually in social networks/groups. But did you know that it is derived from Sanskrit अवतार _avatāra_ which means "descent". More specifically, it is the word used to refer to the various incarnations of Vishnu, one of the main Gods in the Hindu triumvirate. These incarnations or 'Vishnu's avatars' make up a LOT of Hindu mythology. For instance Rama from The Ramayana and the famous God Krishna was also an avatar. If you're interested, definitely Google it. Great for the mythology buffs out there!


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## Olly Buckle (Aug 9, 2016)

inflorescence

It is the whole of a flower head, sometimes a single flower, sometimes many together, and including all the parts of the flower, they really do come in a huge range of varieties.


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## Olly Buckle (Sep 15, 2016)

poliorcetics. Just came across this in Oman's history of Medieval warfare, nothing to do with the disease, it means the art of siege warfare.


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