Southstander's Word of the Day

[Southstander]

I'll try to post a new word a day to help expand our vocabluary

Quotidian (kwoh-TID-ee-un) adjective – occurring every day; belonging to each day; everyday; commonplace, ordinary

As an employee, Mac is gifted at solving the difficult problems that arise from time to time, but he is often careless about the quotidian responsibilities of his job.

In Shakespeare's play As You Like It, the character Rosalind observes that Orlando, who has been running about in the woods carving her name on trees and hanging love poems on branches, "seems to have the quotidian of love upon him." Shakespeare's use doesn't make it clear that "quotidian" derives from a Latin word that means "every day." But as odd as it may seem, Shakespeare's use of "quotidian" is just a short semantic step away from the "daily" adjective sense. Some fevers occur intermittently -- sometimes daily. The phrase "quotidian fever" and the noun "quotidian" have long been used for such recurring maladies. Poor Orlando is simply afflicted with such a "fever" of love.

[Southstander]

Yaw (YAW) verb – to deviate erratically from a course; to move from side to side; to turn by angular motion about the vertical axis; alternate

The gigantic wave caused our boat to yaw sharply to port, but thanks to some clever steering by the old man, we were able to get safely back on course.

In the heyday of large sailing ships, numerous nautical words appeared on the horizon, many of which have origins that have never been traced. "Yaw" is one such word. It began showing up in print in the 16th century, first as a noun (meaning "movement off course" or "side to side movement") and then as a verb. For more than 350 years it remained a sailing word, with occasional side trips to the figurative sense "to alternate." Then dawned the era of airplane flight in the early 20th century, and "yawing" was no longer confined to the sea. Nowadays, people who love boats still use "yaw" much as did the sailing-men of old, but pilots and rocket scientists also refer to the "yawing" of their crafts.

[Jaws]

These are cool. Should help expand my vocab

[LordPenguin]

try pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

[*Atwater*]

try pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (also spelled -koniosis) is an alleged lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust found in volcanoes. It was originally coined to serve as the longest English word. The more general and widely used term for this condition is pneumoconiosis.

[LordPenguin]

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (also spelled -koniosis) is an alleged lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust found in volcanoes. It was originally coined to serve as the longest English word. The more general and widely used term for this condition is pneumoconiosis.

damn you are one of the few people who know that.

[probowlBAILEY]

This is a good thread South

[Southstander]

Legerdemain (lej-er-duh-MAYN) noun – sleight of hand; a display of skill and adroitness

It was an impressive feat of legerdemain for Nicholas to take a dollar bill and instantly turn it into twenty nickels.

In Middle French, folks who were clever enough to fool others with fast-fingered illusions were described as "leger de main," literally "light of hand." English speakers condensed that phrase into a noun when they borrowed it in the 15th century and began using it as an alternative to the older "sleight of hand." (That term for dexterity or skill in using one's hands makes use of "sleight," an old word from Middle English that derives from an Old Norse word meaning "sly.") In more modern times, a feat of legerdemain can even be accomplished without using your hands, as in, for example "an impressive bit of financial legerdemain."

[NameUsedBefore]

Quotidian (kwoh-TID-ee-un) adjective – occurring every day; belonging to each day; everyday; commonplace, ordinary

I found this juxtaposition quite humorous

[T140]

Kafkaesque- (one of my favorite words!)-

1. characterized by surreal distortion and a sense of impending danger;
2.**Something that eludes understanding the more one pursues it**
3. Of or relating to French writer Franz Kafka or his writings




**I like to use the word in this way, as it's so confusing**

[Southstander]

Parsimonious (par-suh-MON-nee-us) adjective – exhibiting or marked by parsimony; frugal to the point of stinginess; sparing, restrained

The parsimonious lady refused to buy Girl Scout cookies because she thought they are overpriced.

English isn't stingy when it comes to synonyms of "parsimonious." "Stingy," "close," "penurious," and "miserly" are a few terms that, like "parsimonious," suggest an unwillingness to share with others. "Stingy" implies a marked lack of generosity, whereas "close" suggests keeping a tight grip on one's money and possessions. "Penurious" implies frugality that gives an appearance of actual poverty, and "miserly" suggests avariciousness and a morbid pleasure in hoarding. "Parsimonious" usually suggests an extreme frugality that borders on stinginess.

[NameUsedBefore]

Bump for the further enhancement of people's writing :thumb:

[champbronc2]

This is the longest word:

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= Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Dahlemense Strain.
This word has appeared in the American Chemical Society's Chemical Abstracts and is thus considered by some to be the longest real word.

[Southstander]

The morning JT called in and said that her truck would not start was not factual; she actually had a blinding katzenjammer.

Have you ever heard a cat wailing and felt that you could relate? Apparently some hungover German speakers once did. "Katzenjammer" comes from the German "Katze" (meaning "cat") and "Jammer" (meaning "distress"). English speakers borrowed the word for their hangovers (and other distressful inner states) in the 19th century and eventually applied it to outer commotion as well. The word isn't as popular in English today as it was around the mid-20th century, but it's well-known to many because of the "Katzenjammer Kids," a long-running comic strip featuring the incorrigibly mischievous twins Hans and Fritz.

[Southstander]

Concinnity (kun-SIH-nuh-tee) noun – harmony or elegance of design especially of literary style in adaptation of parts to a whole or each other

Julie maintains that no modern play can rival the concinnity of the classical Greek tragedies.

The Romans apparently found perfect harmony in a well-mixed drink. The cocktail in question was a beverage they called "cinnus," and so agreeably concordant did they find it that its name apparently inspired the formation of "concinnare," a verb meaning "to place fitly together." "Concinnare" gave rise to "concinnus," meaning "skillfully put together," which in turn fermented into "concinnitas." English speakers added the word to our mix in the 1500s as "concinnity."