Wordish Wednesdays - Wednesday word of the day

[giordana93]

Can't take full credit on this one, as it popped up last week as a word of the day, but it is so fitting for this time of year and it sounds like something one would make up: frigorific


Coming down that descent was friggin' frigorific!

btw rode in shorts and short sleeves today, high was in the 70's. Payback for suffering through south Louisiana summer.


frigorific
\ frig-uh-RIF-ik \ , adjective;
1. causing or producing cold.


Quotes:
When the fog reached the spot where the observer stood, it was found to be devoid of smell, but its influence was decidedly frigorific .
-- R. Angus Smith, "A Curious Fog," Popular Science Monthly , August, 1875
It may, indeed, happen that knowledge and virtue remain too long congealed by this frigorific power, as the principles of vegetation are sometimes obstructed by lingering frosts.
-- Samuel Johnson, The Rambler , September 24, 1751
Origin:
Frigorific is derived from the Latin word frīgus meaning "cold" with the last element -fic coming from the verb facere , "make, do." It entered English in the mid-1600s.

[Wordbiker]

egalitarian


/iˌɡaləˈterēən/


adjective

adjective: egalitarian



1.


of, relating to, or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.
"a fairer, more egalitarian society"



noun

noun: egalitarian; plural noun: egalitarians



1.


a person who advocates or supports egalitarian principles.


Surprisingly, egalitarian does not mean someone who only eats eagles.

[Mark Kelly]

Can't take full credit on this one, as it popped up last week as a word of the day, but it is so fitting for this time of year and it sounds like something one would make up: frigorific

Technically a frigorific mixture is one that stabilises at a constant temperature lower than ambient. The most obvious is ice and water but an important one is ice, water and and equal weight of ammonium chloride which is what Herr Doctor Fahrenheit used to establish the zero of his scle.

[Jonathan]

I'm surprised at the level that cycling forums can become vituperative because cyclists in person are anything but.

[davids]

I'm surprised at the level that cycling forums can become vituperative because cyclists in person are anything but.

Churlishness waxes during the winter months. It's axiomatic.

[seanile]

i'm going to forget to do this if i don't post it now...i bolded the words i thought were unique. very interesting to see them put in a nice song like this.

He wears commitment like a coat of arms,
A fragile weight for him to bare
It's in the structure of her nascent charm
That hangs between them everywhere

(chorus)
You slip,
Put another rubber bullet in my back again
You slip, you slip
(x2)

Fate dances on a pliable line that keeps love apart
From all that enmity could bear
He feels the ache of her effulgent heart
And so resolves to disappear
And so I carry on
To Bayonne, Bayonne, Bayonne
Where my anatomy can sooner find alacrity
To set me apart from it all
For feeling far too much, too young

(chorus)

So always be suspicious when they put their arms around you
And they tell you they're delighted to see you
(x4)

(chorus)

[Too Tall]

Thanks Sean. I goots nuttin' today.

[giordana93]

Nice one Sean. You've inspired me. This one is actually from my field and with no attempt to put into sentence, just stolen bits from almighty wiki:

Simulacrum

A simulacrum (plural: simulacra from Latin: simulacrum, which means "likeness, similarity"), is a representation or imitation of a person or thing.[1] The word was first recorded in the English language in the late 16th century, used to describe a representation, such as a statue or a painting, especially of a god. By the late 19th century, it had gathered a secondary association of inferiority: an image without the substance or qualities of the original.[2] Philosopher Fredric Jameson offers photorealism as an example of artistic simulacrum, where a painting is sometimes created by copying a photograph that is itself a copy of the real.[3] Other art forms that play with simulacra include trompe-l'œil,[4] pop art, Italian neorealism, and French New Wave.[3]

..[....]

Philosophy

The simulacrum has long been of interest to philosophers. In his Sophist, Plato speaks of two kinds of image making. The first is a faithful reproduction, attempted to copy precisely the original. The second is intentionally distorted in order to make the copy appear correct to viewers. He gives the example of Greek statuary, which was crafted larger on the top than on the bottom so that viewers on the ground would see it correctly. If they could view it in scale, they would realize it was malformed. This example from the visual arts serves as a metaphor for the philosophical arts and the tendency of some philosophers to distort truth so that it appears accurate unless viewed from the proper angle.[5] Nietzsche addresses the concept of simulacrum (but does not use the term) in the Twilight of the Idols, suggesting that most philosophers, by ignoring the reliable input of their senses and resorting to the constructs of language and reason, arrive at a distorted copy of reality.[6]

Postmodernist French social theorist Jean Baudrillard argues that a simulacrum is not a copy of the real, but becomes truth in its own right: the hyperreal. Where Plato saw two types of reproduction—faithful and intentionally distorted (simulacrum)—Baudrillard sees four: (1) basic reflection of reality; (2) perversion of reality; (3) pretence of reality (where there is no model); and (4) simulacrum, which "bears no relation to any reality whatsoever".[7] In Baudrillard's concept, like Nietzsche's, simulacra are perceived as negative, but another modern philosopher who addressed the topic, Gilles Deleuze, takes a different view, seeing simulacra as the avenue by which an accepted ideal or "privileged position" could be "challenged and overturned".[8] Deleuze defines simulacra as "those systems in which different relates to different by means of difference itself. What is essential is that we find in these systems no prior identity, no internal resemblance".[9]

[colker]

Tautology..
I love this word and still don't grasp it[s exact meaning since it's used in so many ways.

[BBB]

What about discombobulate or discombobulation? As in, "There was considerable discombobulation when certain forum members, known to be tireless and vocal advocates of tubulars, were caught secretly, or so they thought, coveting clinchers."

Covet is also a good word.

As is obfuscation.

How about, "There was considerable discombobulation when certain forum members, known to be tireless and vocal advocates of tubulars, were caught secretly, or so they thought, coveting clinchers. Whilst caught red handed, the tireless and vocal advocates commenced a sustained campaign of obfuscation, tying up forum bandwidth in the process, and thoroughly confusing anyone who actually thought - stupidly - that said forum members were coveting anything but the finest French tub."

[BBB]

Wordish Wednesday whizzed by on account of petrifying psephology.

Psephology - now there's a word you don't want to hear for another four years (or 3 if you are an Australian).

[BBB]

Perhaps to be a little more neutral it should have been "Wordish Wednesday whizzed by on account of psephological prognostications".

Prognosticate is a good word too!

[BBB]

Double post!

[BBB]

The word of this Wednesday is miscreant.

noun

1 A person who has done something wrong or unlawful:

‘the police are straining every nerve to bring the miscreants to justice’

More example sentences

‘The United States advocated war crimes tribunals against foreign miscreants abroad while opposing an international criminal court that might hold our own officials accountable.’

‘This is how the great criminals and miscreants of the world get started.’

‘I keep a vigilant watch but did not see any crimes being committed or miscreants around the premises.’

‘Urban miscreants love to steal public works equipment.’

‘The tracing of terrorists, murderers, swindlers, child-molesters and the whole motley bunch of miscreants who flit back and forth across international borders had a higher priority.’

‘The miscreant was traced and brought round for a stern talking to.’

‘Unfortunately, that means it could attract the wrong sort of attention from ne'er-do-wells and miscreants.’

‘Its streets attracted the villains and miscreants who would otherwise be widely dispersed.’

‘She had never seen so many assassins and miscreants gathered together under the same banner in order to annihilate someone.’

Etc...

archaic A heretic.

adjective

1 (of a person) behaving badly or unlawfully:

‘her miscreant husband’

Synonyms

unethical, bad, morally wrong, wrongful, wicked, evil, unprincipled, unscrupulous, dishonourable, dishonest, unconscionable, iniquitous, disreputable, fraudulent, corrupt, depraved, vile, villainous, nefarious, base, unfair, underhand, devious

Origin

Middle English (as an adjective in the sense ‘disbelieving’): from Old French mescreant, present participle of mescreire disbelieve, from mes- mis- + creire believe (from Latin credere).

[davids]

Kakistocracy

"Looks like what we've got ourselves here is a gol durn kakistocracy."

[Too Tall]

Just the other day I engaged my dangerously quixotic enthusiasm riding down the Lincoln Memorial stairs which was perhaps criminal as well.

quix·ot·ic
kwikˈsädik/
adjective
adjective: quixotic

exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and impractical.
"a vast and perhaps quixotic project"
synonyms: idealistic, romantic, visionary, utopian, extravagant, starry-eyed, unrealistic, unworldly; More
impractical, impracticable, unworkable, impossible
"many dismissed his missionary work as imprudent and quixotic"

Origin
late 18th century: from Don Quixote + -ic.

[caleb]

Not so much a word as a phrase.

Today the NYT published an exchange between George Yancy and Noam Chomsky in which Yancy uses the phrase, "Frightening to the born."

That's not exactly a phrase that rolls off the tongue spontaneously, and I suspect it's a literary reference I'm missing. Yet, Google isn't turning anything up.

Can anyone identify the source of the phrase, "Frightening to the born"?

[alexstar]

Not so much a word as a phrase.

Today the NYT published an exchange between George Yancy and Noam Chomsky in which Yancy uses the phrase, "Frightening to the born."

That's not exactly a phrase that rolls off the tongue spontaneously, and I suspect it's a literary reference I'm missing. Yet, Google isn't turning anything up.

Can anyone identify the source of the phrase, "Frightening to the born"?

Transcription error? Contextually, "Frightening to the bone" would make sense. I wonder if there is an audio recording of this interview available.

[Too Tall]

Transcription error? Contextually, "Frightening to the bone" would make sense. I wonder if there is an audio recording of this interview available.

To me it means frightening to anyone who lives and breaths in this world (alive).

Nice use of language in a very fluid manner if you will it ;)

[BBB]

Tendentious...

ten¦den|tious.

[tɛnˈdɛnʃəs]

ADJECTIVE

expressing or intending to promote a particular cause or point of view, especially a controversial one:

"a tendentious reading of history"

synonyms: contentious · disputed · contended · at issue · moot · disputable · debatable · arguable · vexed · open to discussion/question · under discussion ·

tendentious · emotive · sensitive · delicate · difficult · awkward · problematic · controvertible

antonyms: uncontroversial · anodyne

ORIGIN

early 20th cent.: suggested by German tendenziös.