Also has
been used to describe the
destruction of a country for a geostrategic purpose. "The
sacrifice of Afghanistan took place to be able to damage the
Soviet Union/Russia".
Rehypothecation: The
practice by lenders and bankers of using a borrowers collateral
as a guarantee to a third or multiple parties for access to further
funds or assets. Quite often the original borrower is unaware that his
asset is being put to such use.
Oozant:
The material resulting from an oozing process.
Poshsplaining:-
Condescending explaining corried out by one of the self-regarding
to one they perceive to be a member of the hoi polloi, or 'common'
people.
Chthonic:- From the underworld.
Ecru:- A greyish-yellow
colour. This word is 'a must' for crossword and Scrabble fans.
Nonquester:- Someone
who fails to seek for truth outside of an existing belief system.
Feculent:-
Foul, dirty, mud or sediment. Same origin as fecal
Faena:- A chore or a task -
originally Spanish
Pulveriberation:-
Achieving the liberation of a
city by pulverising it as applied to East Aleppo, Mosul and
Fallujah.
Snollygoster:- A
shrewd, ambitious person who appears genuine but is in fact devoid of
principles. Often, if not mostly applied to politicians.
Plutonomy:- The
small percentage of the population that
is gathering increasing wealth.
Precariat:- The
working people of the world who lead
increasingly precarious lives. Combining the words precarious and
proletariat
Qualia:- That
experienced by a person, usually a sensation or a mental state. An
example would be, a subjective experience such an individual's
appreciation of the redness of a sunset. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia/
Sitzpinkler:- A
gentleman who sits to pee. A German word deserving better currency - Ed
Thrawn:- Scots
word meaning twisted or woven into. Can also mean stubborn.
Mardy:- Spoiled
as applied to a child. Also can mean irritable, bad tempered.
Astroturfing:- In
its simple form the word Astroturf is the trade name of an artificial
grass material. In its political and marketing sense the term relates
to paid-for movements or campaigns which present an impression that the
success is spontaneous, or suggests a 'grassroots movement.
Novation:- Changing
the legal status or obligations applying to a situation, including
adding an obligation or replacing an affected individual with another.
Pollyannaism:-
Behaviour characterised by excessive trust and belief in the integrity
and goodness of human nature or of partners. Increasingly use as a term
of derision.
Memeplex:-
A group of memes that synergistically aid survival.
Mojibake:-
The meaningless jumble of words you get when a machine translation has
been used to convert from a foreign language.
Sedulous:
- Describing a person or activity, careful,
painstaking,diligent, rigorous, scrupulous, thorough, meticulous.
Yogh:-
A sound and a letter no longer in use in the English language. It
persists in the correct pronunciation of several Scots words and, for
example in the names Menzies and Dalziel. Pronounced more like Ming-iss
and Dee-ell. I came across this lovely little verse http://www.rampantscotland.com/features/limericks.htm.
A lively young
damsel named Menzies
Inquired: "Do you know what this thenzies?"
Her aunt, with a gasp,
Replied: "It's a wasp,
And you're holding the end where the stenzies."
Mondegreen:-
A misheard phrase - The following example is actually the very phrase
that gave rise to the term. Origin Sylvia Wright American author.
Ye Highlands and
ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl O' Moray,
And Lady Mondegreen. (and laid him on the green)
Prosopagnosia:-
The condition of being unable to recognise faces. The part of the brain
that is responsible for performing this function is the fusiform gyrus.
Stroke, cancer or injury can destroy this function.
Okness:-
Safe, fine, acceptable. Okness - or Okayness is a word used by a
friend Peter
Plotz:-
To faint, an Americanism from the Yiddish. We like words that end in Z?
Don't know why, just duz OK?
Selectorate:-
In many countries those, usually a smallish group in society able to
influence events via voting and other means.
Amglish:-
Informal English as spoken, like, in the US of A
YOLO:-
You Only Live Once
Synchrony:-
being synchronous or happening at the same time. The linguistic context
relates to the study of a language at the present time i.e. divorced
from its development or 'Diachrony
Diachrony:-
in Linguistics the study in evolution or change in a language.
Solipsism:-
the idea that only the self can be proven to exist.
Solecism:-
A lapse in manners, poor or incorrect use of a word or expression
Eft:-
Newt. If you play Scrabble then useful. Quite often used in crosswords.
Ave:-
An interesting word; a salutation, it is very unusual in that it can
mean two things which are opposites. Welcome or farewell.
Snopes:-
the verb to snopes; to check veracity. www.snopes.com
is a
very useful website that has collected, as they described it; urban
legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and examples of misinformation
Ululu:-
Old Persian; name of a month. The old Zoroastrian calendar had 360 days
so an additional 30 day month was added every 19 years. It was adopted
from the Babylonian calendar in the reign of Darius III
Forgettery:-
What some people have instead of a Memory.
Subliminable:-
A Bushism; the poor dyslexic American president obviously meant Subliminal.
Scareware:-
Fake antivirus software, for example. Can also describe websites
designed to persuade the visitor of non-existent threats.
Cointelpro:-
Acronym for Counter Intelligence Propaganda.
Used to describe government security attempts to demonise or discredit
activists and dissidents. Originally an FBI project to discredit the
likes of Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein and others involved in Civil
Rights Movements. A small part of the FBI
activity was focussed on White
Supremacist organisations.
Pyroflatulence:-
Igniting farts, usually the domain of pre-mature males. The flammable
gas is mainly hydrogen. Very few humans have the gut flora to produce
methane. Note that quite
severe burns can result from these activities - Ed
The
Big Lie:-
A technique used to demonise an individual, a cause, religion or a
people. An untruth is presented in a convincing way, persistently and
consistently so that it becomes universally believed.
Noosphere:-
The domain of thought; just as the Biosphere is the domain of life.
Hermeneutic:-
The study of interpretation e.g. the study of meaning in the bible.
Ponerology:- The study of evil. Ponerogenic
e.g. of a society where psychopaths have power.
Blagging:-
Journalists reporting on the NewsCorp bugging scandal have used the
word to describe the acquisition of information using impersonation and
other 'social engineering' techniques.
Irridenta:-
Part of a country that is not of that country's culture and language
but of another's.
Earworm:-
A tune that keeps running round one's head.
Orthopraxy:-
Right conduct, right behaviour (from the Greek ορθοπραξ?α).
The term applies to an individual's behaviour and obligatory religious
ritual. compare with Orthodoxy.
Deasil:
- Clockwise, from the Scots Gaelic - see also Widdershins.
Widdershins:
- A word of Germanic origin meaning anticlockwise or, less usually to
go against the flow or normal direction. See also Deasil.
Photoshop:
- Included here because it is increasing being used as a verb - to
'Photoshop', using the program to improve a model's looks or even
create disinformation by adding or removing someone or something from a
picture. More recently it reduced to "shopped", referring to an image
that altered using the software.
Bushism:
-The hapless ex-president of the United States generated some new words
the best known is probably the one he used when he asked his critics
not to "Misunderestimate" him.
Palinism:
- To Refudiate.
American presidents and presidential hopefuls are a rich source of
amusing material.
Agnotology:-
Deliberate
encouragement of ignorance, the word came into use to describe the the
campaign of disinformation and misinformation produced by the tobacco
industry to discredit the link between smoking and cancer. As well as
big business and industry Agnotology is used by media barons, the state
and the
investment banking business.
Agnoiology:-
The study of the
philosophical and
metaphysical dimensions of ignorance and knowability see
James
Ferrier see
also later
work of
Fitch et al
Agnetiology:
- The art of obfuscation
Mubarack:-
To
hang on
to
power for
longer than necessary - after the deposed Egyptian dictator.
Gnomon:
The
triangular blade in a sundial.
Iranophobia:
The
irrational fear of the country Iran. The media and politicians in
several
countries have been demonizing Iran and its leaders for some time, this
to engender fear in their populations.
Cicerone:
-
Old name for a guide
Teleology:
A
belief
that
there is
purpose or design in nature. From Greek telos -
purpose, end or goal - e.g. Christianity and Islam are Teleological
beliefs
Thalweg:
The
principle that where countries have river or gulf separating the them,
that these borders are defined by line drawn along the deepest part of
the channel.
Palimpsest:
A reused parchment where the wax writing has been removed and new
applied. Often the previous text was not removed completely and was
still readable. The scriptio inferior
was the name given to the underwriting.
Mendonced:
To subject to a good
kicking. As in 'we gave that slimy bastard a good Mendoncing', also a
slimebag or low life.
Spirix:
A curved line that has both the characteristics of a spiral and a helix
e.g. the curve to be found on the outer surface of an igloo
Isograv: A line on a map joining points of equal
gravitational strength.
Sousveillance: Monitoring from underneath - watching the
watchers.
What is the difference between an acrostic
and an antonym?
Lucullan:
- Opulent and magnificent. After Licinius Lucullus, a general in the
Roman Army. An invitation to his villa meant a very special banquet,
special even by Roman standards. Some would say that had Lucullus not
halted the progress of Mithradates we would all be speaking Persian.
Everyone
has heard of
DYSLEXIA, however
what are DYSPRAXIA
and DYSCALCULIA? - -
Dyspraxia:
- Poor hand /eye and brain/body
coordination
characterise
Dyspraxia.
People who are afflicted with the problem tend to flop about.
Dyscalculia:
is a poor grasp of numbers and mathematical ideas.
Plantigrade
means walking on the soles of the feet.
Realpolitik;
Politics not based on ideology but the situation as it is. Sorely
needed in this day and age.
Some
more:-
Acajou, Agdoades, Analect, Apothegm, Archon, Bedizened, Catoptric,
Chelae, Chtonian, Distallevi, Draisennes, Emendation, Eponym,
Exigent, Factitious, Gemmatra, Gymnosophist, Heteropraxy, Hypalleges,
Hysteron Proteron, Keter, Kirpan, Labile, Lubricious,
Malditties, Midrassic, Minatory, Numinous, Ogive, Ogdoad,
Obliquies Olemiurge, Proglottid, Paladin, Plerome, Sanivacity, Sefirah,
Sefirot, Stoicheia, Sorites, Suasion, Refulgence,Telinic,
Temurah,
Tilwa'a, Timilays, Zeugmas.
How
much
is a Smidgeon? how long is a Jiffy?
Letter B words
relevant
to Boris's
British Government -
Bungling,
Bumble, Bumbling,
Botching
Botch, (Badly Botched) Blundering, Berk