Friday, December 28, 2007

Divigate

To ramble; digress.

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Boilerplate

Boilerplate is any text that is or can be reused in new contexts or applications without being changed much from the original. The term dates back to the early 1900s, referring to the thick, tough steel sheets used to build steam boilers. From the 1890s onwards, printing plates of text for widespread reproduction such as advertisements or syndicated columns were cast or stamped in steel (instead of the much softer and less durable lead alloys used otherwise) ready for the printing press and distributed to newspapers around the United States. They came to be known as 'boilerplates'.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Jodhpurs

Jodhpurs are tight-fitting trousers that reach to the ankle, where they end in a snug cuff, and are worn primarily for horseback riding. The term can also refer to a type of short riding boot, also called a paddock boot or a jodhpur boot.

Jackdaw

The Jackdaw, sometimes known as the Eurasian Jackdaw or European Jackdaw, is one of the smallest species in the genus of crows and ravens.

e.g. Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

prurient

having indecent desires; lascivious; curious about lewd subjects

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Mawkish

1. Excessively and objectionably sentimental.
2. Sickening or insipid in taste.

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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Fulminate

  • criticize severely; "He fulminated against the Republicans' plan to cut Medicare"; "She railed against the bad social policies"
  • come on suddenly and intensely; "the disease fulminated"
  • cause to explode violently and with loud noise
  • a salt or ester of fulminic acid

source

Friday, December 14, 2007

Contretemps

An unforeseen event that disrupts the normal course of things; an inopportune occurrence.

source

Matriculation

Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matrix. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings. The most common meaning, however, refers to the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by acquiring the meeting prerequisites.

Wikipedia has an incredible article about this.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Friday, December 7, 2007

Paraprosdokian

A paraprosdokian (from Greek "para-", meaning "faulty" and "prosdokia", meaning "expectation") is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax.

e.g. The car stopped on a dime, which unfortunately was in a pedestrian's pocket.

source on wikipedia

lordosis

  Lordosis is historically defined as an abnormal inward curvature of the lumbar spine.