Friday, October 30, 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Friday, October 23, 2009

Japhetic


Japhetic is a term that refers to the supposed descendants of Japheth, one of the three sons of Noah in the Bible. It corresponds to Semitic (descendants of Shem) and Hamitic (descendants of Ham). Variations of the term include Japhetite and Japhethitic.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Monday, October 19, 2009

aeneid


The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem written by Virgil in the late 1st century BC (29–19 BC) that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is written in dactylic hexameter. The first six of the poem's twelve books tell the story of Aeneas' wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem's second half tells of the Trojans' ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed.

Cotswold

Cotswold: A style of traditional Morris dancing originating from the Cotswolds area of England.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Ch'orti'

Ch'orti'
  1. A branch of the Maya people native to southeastern Guatemala and western Honduras.
  2. The Mayan language spoken by these people

Friday, October 16, 2009

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Botticelli


Botticelli is a guessing game which requires the players to have a good knowledge of biographical details of famous people. The game has several variants, but the common theme is that one person or team thinks of a famous person, reveals their initial letter, and then answers yes/no questions to allow other players to guess the identity.

The game takes its name from the famous person having to be at least as famous as Sandro Botticelli, who is also the answer to the archetypal question, "Did you paint a picture of Venus rising?", referring to his painting The Birth of Venus.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

quone

quone: Medical term. When a patient gets difficult you have to quone them.

brickbat

Brickbat
  1. A piece of brick used as a weapon, especially if thrown, or placed in something like a sock and used as a club.
  2. A criticism or uncomplimentary remark hurled at artwork or other recipient.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Polemics


Polemics (pronounced /pəˈlɛmɪks/, /poʊ-/) is the practice of disputing or controverting religious, philosophical, political, or scientific matters. As such, a polemic text on a topic is often written specifically to dispute or refute a position or theory that is widely viewed to be beyond reproach.

The antonym of a polemic source is an apologia.

Polemic journalism was common in continental Europe when libel laws weren't stringent. The Research Support Libraries Programme "Pamphlet and polemic: pamphlets as a guide to the controversies of the 17th-19th centuries", co-managed by the University of St. Andrews, the University of Aberdeen, and University of Wales Lampeter, collected and placed thousands of pamphlets on-line as a study of polemic rhetoric of that era. There are other meanings of the word as well. Polemic is also a branch of theology, pertaining to the history or conduct of ecclesiastical controversy.

The word is derived from the Greek word polemikos (πολεμικως), which means "warlike", "hostile". Plato uses a character named Polemarchus in his dialogue Republic as a vehicle to drive forward an ethical debate

Sunday, October 11, 2009

dragée


A dragée (pronounced [dræˈʒeɪ] dra-ZHAY, from Greek tragêmata "sweets, treats") is a form of confectionery that can be used for decorative or symbolic purposes in addition to consumption.

A classic, popular version of dragée are whole almonds coated with a sugar shell in various colors. Called mulabbas in Arabic, confetti in Italian and Jordan almonds or sugared almonds in English, these confections have a long history, and are traditionally associated with weddings and special celebrations. Throwing or handing out these candies at such occasions (hence the name for the multi-colored paper confetti which usually now replaces them) dates back centuries, and is meant to ensure prosperity, fertility, happiness, and good luck.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Nonpareils


Nonpareils are a decorative confection of tiny sugar balls, traditionally an opaque white but now available in myriad colors. They are better known as hundreds and thousands or sprinkles in many Western countries. Their origin is uncertain, but they may have evolved out of the pharmaceutical use of sugar, as they were a miniature version of comfits . The French name has been interpreted to mean they were "without equal" for intricate decoration of cakes, desserts, and other sweets, and the elaborate pièces montées constructed as table ornaments.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Metazoan

Metazoan: Any animal that undergoes development from an embryo stage with three tissue layers, namely the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. The term applies to all animals except the sponges.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

tárogató


The tárogató (plural tárogatók, töröksíp, Turkish pipe or, anglicized, tárogatós; Romanian: taragot) refers to two different Hungarian woodwind instruments: the ancient tárogató and the modern (or modified) tárogató. The modern tárogató was intended to be a recreation of the original tárogató, but the two instruments are thought to have little in common.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Friday, October 2, 2009

dislocation

In syntax, dislocation is a sentence structure in which a constituent which could otherwise be either an argument or an adjunct of the clause occurs outside the clause boundaries either to its left or to its right as in English They went to the store, Mary and Peter.

The dislocated element is often separated by a pause (comma in writing) from the rest of the sentence. Its place within the clause is often occupied by a pronoun (e.g. they).

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Apposition

Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side, with one element serving to define or modify the other. When this device is used, the two elements are said to be in apposition. For example in the phrase "my friend Alice" the name "Alice" is in apposition to "my friend".

lordosis

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