Recently Google has been generating quasi-meaningful-sounding word verification - so far today I've had besserso (as in, "Ja, es ist besser so.") and vocurdst:
I vocurd
Thou vocurdst
He vocurdeth
We vocurden
You vocurden
They vocurden
(to vocurd: archaic English verb meaning to vocalise through emulsified substances associated with whey.)
And the latest gem is pologami - that's either "the art of folding small round mints with a hole in" or a love-in at a polo match...
Showing posts with label vocabulary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vocabulary. Show all posts
Friday, November 07, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
fandom
The other day I mentioned to a writer at a "do" that I had enjoyed his book. "Aha!" he cried. "A fan." Now, call me an intellectual snob, but I don't really see myself as a "fan" of anything. A connoisseuse maybe, someone who appreciates, but not a fan. Fans are people with an obsession; people who go to conventions and talk about absurdly unimportant details of TV and movies while studiously avoiding talking about the real history, science or philosophy on which they are based. So no, I am not a fan. At least not in that sense.
I do, however, deeply appreciate many writers, artists, and musicians for their work, and I think there needs to be a word to describe that. Unfortunately many of the words which one might have used are actually pejorative terms like amateur (literally a lover) and dilettante (originally not pejorative). To describe oneself as a connoisseur seems unduly to claim extensive knowledge about it. So we need a word that means someone who appreciates something.
I do, however, deeply appreciate many writers, artists, and musicians for their work, and I think there needs to be a word to describe that. Unfortunately many of the words which one might have used are actually pejorative terms like amateur (literally a lover) and dilettante (originally not pejorative). To describe oneself as a connoisseur seems unduly to claim extensive knowledge about it. So we need a word that means someone who appreciates something.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
word power
This is fun! Check out your word power and give free rice to the world's hungry via the United Nations. I got four words wrong (one of their definitions was incorrect) out of 104 words, so I donated 1000 grains of rice to the project. Mind you, some of the words are really hard and I had to guess using etymology. My "vocabulary level" went up to 50 (the top level) at one point, but occasionally dropped down to 47. Apparently it is rare to go above 48. Woohoo!
The only problem with it is, that there is no stopping point, it just goes on for ever - potentially addictive.
The only problem with it is, that there is no stopping point, it just goes on for ever - potentially addictive.
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