November 10, 2010Word of the Day
PRECENTOR \prih-SEN-ter\DEFINITION
noun

: a leader of the singing of a choir or congregation
EXAMPLES He was deeply devoted to our congregation, and served as precentor at the church for the last 20 years of his life.

"Congregations were led in song by a precentor, who would choose a tune to fit a psalm, then sing each phrase for the congregation to repeat after him." -- From Barrymore Laurence Scherer's 2007 book A History of American Classical Music
DID YOU KNOW? The history of "precentor" leads to the Latin verb "praecinere," meaning "to lead in singing," which was formed by adding the "prae-" prefix to the verb "canere" ("to sing"). "Canere" is also an ancestor of the English word "chant," as well as the source of the Latin noun "cantor," which was also borrowed into English and is used both as a synonym of "precentor" and for an individual in a synagogue who sings or chants the liturgical music and leads the congregation in prayer.

i.e. V.P. Biden is the precentor for the B.O. fan club. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />

THANK YOU TOM! I had typed something like that up but then got rid of it. Glad someone is still our watchdawg!

November 12, 2010Word of the Day
GOLDEN PARACHUTE \GOHL-dun-PAIR-uh-shoot\DEFINITION
noun

: a generous severance agreement for a corporate executive in the event of a sudden dismissal (as because of a merger)
EXAMPLES When he was hired, John had insisted that his contract include a golden parachute to ensure that he could still live comfortably if his position was ever eliminated.

"So even the hired manager of a small community hospital system is entitled to a million dollar plus golden parachute when resigning in disgrace. This is another great example of the current perversity of the incentives given to hired health care managers." -- From an article in Health Care Renewal, September 10, 2010
DID YOU KNOW? In 1981 an employee of a major company undergoing a corporate merger referred cynically to the huge severance packages given ejected executives as "golden parachutes." It isn't clear whether the employee actually coined the term, but it is well documented that both "golden" and "parachute" were already part of corporate parlance by that time. Since the 1960s, the business world had been using "golden handshake" for a compensatory package accompanying a termination or forced retirement. The image of the parachute, evoking a comfortable and painless landing, may have been inspired by the popular book about career change by Richard Bolles, titled What Color Is Your Parachute?


SOME of OUR gumment EMPLOYEES aren't concerned with a Golden parachute, they got a built in GOLDEN GOOSE that follows them for the rest of their lives!

November 13, 2010 Word of the Day
RETRODICT \ret-ruh-DIKT\DEFINITION
verb

: to utilize present information or ideas to infer or explain (a past event or state of affairs)
EXAMPLES The technology enables scientists to retrodict past solar events and activities.

"Paleontologists attempting to retrodict body mass from fossilized dental remains must be aware of the effect that sample composition may have on their results." -- From an article in Science Letter, May 25, 2010
DID YOU KNOW? We predict that you will guess the correct origins of "retrodict," and chances are we will not contradict you. English speakers had started using "predict" by at least the early 17th century; it's a word formed by combining "prae-" (meaning "before") and "dicere" (meaning "to say"). Since the rough translation of "predict" is "to say before," it's no surprise that when people in the 1950s wanted a word for "predicting" the past, they created it by combining the prefix for "backward" ("retro-") with the "-dict" of "predict." Other "dicere" descendants in English include "contradict," "benediction," "dictate," "diction," and "dictionary."

November 14, 2010Word of the Day
PROPITIATE \proh-PISH-ee-ayt\DEFINITION
verb

: to gain or regain the favor or goodwill of : appease, conciliate
EXAMPLES The fans of the hard-luck baseball team wondered openly how to propitiate the gods of fate after yet another heartbreaking defeat.

"Surely neither the Bush nor the Obama administrations intended consciously to act in the interests of bankers rather than those of the public. But under the logic of the bailout, the markets were in charge, and the overarching aim of the government was to propitiate them to avoid disaster." -- From an article by Noah Feldman in New York Times Magazine, June 27, 2010.

DID YOU KNOW? Like its synonym "appease," "propitiate" means "to ease the anger or disturbance of," but there are subtle differences between the two terms as well. "Appease" usually implies quieting insistent demands by making concessions, whereas "propitiate" tends to suggest averting the anger or malevolence of a superior being. In fact, "propitiate" often occurs -- as in our first example sentence -- in contexts involving deities, spirits, or other preternatural forces. You might "appease" your hunger, but to speak more colorfully, you could "propitiate the gods of hunger."

I just wish that the Gummit would try and propitiate us for a change instead of themselves, Starting with Body Odor himself! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

November 17, 2010 Word of the Day
BANAUSIC\buh-NAW-sik\DEFINITION
adjective

: relating to or concerned with earning a living -- used pejoratively; also : utilitarian, practical
EXAMPLES The heiress dismissively declared that she would never have to worry about such banausic concerns as holding down a job.

"At the far end was a wooden board on which were hung saws, chisels, knives and other banausic instruments of the trade." -- From Sebastian Faulk's 2005 novel Human Traces
DID YOU KNOW? The ancient Greeks held intellectual pursuits in the highest esteem, and they considered ideal a leisurely life of contemplation. A large population of slaves enabled many Greek citizens to adopt that preferred lifestyle. Those who had others to do the heavy lifting for them tended to regard professional labor with contempt. Their prejudice against the need to toil to earn a living is reflected in the Greek adjective "banausikos" (the root of “banausic”), which not only means “of an artisan” (from the word for artisan, "banausos") but “nonintellectual” as well.

BODY ODOR should NOT be so banausic about finding out how to make a living following with 2012 elections!

November 18, 2010Word of the Day
EDENTUATE \ih-VEN-chuh-wayt\DEFINITION
verb

: to come out finally : result, come about
EXAMPLES No one could have prepared for the chaos that eventuated when the truth finally came to light.

"The incident … occurred at a time of growing concern about the role of Internet chat rooms and other forums in giving a platform to disturbed young people with resentments that eventuate in attacks on schools and other targets." -- From an article by John F. Burns in The New York Times, March 21, 2009
DID YOU KNOW? "Eventuate" started life as an Americanism in the late 18th century, and was stigmatized in the 19th century. A British commentator called it "another horrible word, which is fast getting into our language through the provincial press." Other British grammarians, and even some Americans, agreed that it was horrible. A few modern critics still consider "eventuate" to be pompous and unnecessary, but it is less controversial these days. In any case, "eventuate" has a perfectly respectable history. It is derived from the Latin noun "eventus" ("event"), which in turn traces to the verb "evenire," meaning "to happen


Only the Conservatives could Eventuate what would happen AFTER Body Odor won the election.

November 19, 2010 Word of the Day
VANILLA \vuh-NILL-uh\DEFINITION
adjective

1: flavored with the extract of the vanilla bean
2: lacking distinction : plain, ordinary, conventional
EXAMPLES Feeling a need to add some pizzazz to the vanilla décor in her office, Maria splurged on some colorful new lithographs.

“I’m not going to sanitize what I do … I still want to be me, and be me, and be sassy, without being vanilla -- and also without being malicious and hurtful and nasty.” -- Perez Hilton, quoted by the New York Times’ Media Decoder blog, October 13, 2010
DID YOU KNOW? For lexicographers, "vanilla" has more flavor than "chocolate," because it adds a tasty synonym for "plain" to the English menu. The noun "vanilla" was first served up in 1662, but it took almost 200 years for its adjective use to become established for things, like ice and sugar, flavored with vanilla. By the 1970s vanilla was perceived as being the plain flavor of the ice-cream world, and people began using the word itself to describe anything plain, ordinary, or conventional.

One thing is for sure, there's nothing plain or ordinary about "Change and Hope"!

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbdn.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbdn.gif" alt="" />

November 20, 2010Word of the Day
ALTERITY \awl-TAIR-uh-tee\DEFINITION
noun

: otherness; specifically : the quality or state of being radically alien to the conscious self or a particular cultural orientation
EXAMPLES The novel focuses on the alterity experienced by adolescents, exploring how they both value and fear it.

"This is the song which continues the theme of the relation between the identity and the alterity; it is not about a relationship with the self -- it is about the relationship with the world." -- From a article by Iulia Alexandra Nedea in the webzine PopMatters, November 4, 2010
DID YOU KNOW? You’re probably familiar with the verb "alter," meaning "to make or become different," and you may not be surprised to learn that it is a relative of "alterity." Both words descend from the Latin word "alter," meaning "other (of two)." That Latin "alter," in turn, comes from a prehistoric Indo-European word that is also an ancestor of our "alien." "Alterity" has been used in English as a fancy word for "otherness" ("the state of being other") since at least 1642. It remains less common than "otherness" and tends to turn up most often in the context of literary theory or cultural studies.

I have no example for this as I am totally confused, a common state of affairs for me!

November 21, 2010Word of the Day
WAREWOLF \WAIR-woolf\DEFINITION
noun

: a person transformed into a wolf or capable of assuming a wolf's form
EXAMPLES She is particularly interested in folklore about vampires and werewolves. "American paranormal fans will soon have a new werewolf, vampire and ghost in their lives as SyFy preps for the U.S. installment of Being Human, as seen on BBC America." - From an article by MacKenzie Wilson posted November 4, 2010 at www.bbcamerica.com.
DID YOU KNOW? Though some doubts about the word’s etymology still remain, "werewolf" probably comes from a prehistoric West Germanic compound whose constituent parts gave Old English "wer" ("man") and "wulf" ("wolf"). The word is related to Middle Dutch "weerwulf" and Old High German "werwolf." Another word for "werewolf" is "lycanthrope," which traces back through Latin to a Greek combination of "lyk-" (from "lykos," meaning "wolf") and "anthropos" (meaning "man"). English also sometimes makes use of the French-derived word "loup-garou," from Old French "leu" ("wolf") and "garoul" or "garulf" (a word of Germanic origin meaning "werewolf").

Quick Quiz: Fill in the missing letters to create a general term for a mythical figure that can assume different forms: "s _ _ _ _ - s _ _ _ _ _ _." The answer is ...


It may not exactly be "A werewolf in London" but the "WOLVES in Washington D.C. are constantly devouring the source of their Livelihood!