November 2009
34 posts
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words wholly related -or- words wholly unrelated
junior etymologists from across the information super highway have very kindly sent me their own list of words that may or may not be related to other words. here are the best of them.
my ex-lover’s ex-lover, matt langer writes to tell us that shebang (a nerdy mark for for unix nerds) and interrobang (a nerdy mark for grammar nerds) are wholly related through banging—where bang is slang for...
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cult & occult
the former is from cultus (worship). the latter is from occulere (to conceal). both are from latin and have dark, religious connotations.
for those curious, the name of the roguish american football squadron from indianapolis (as well as lando calrissian’s malt beverage of choice) comes from an old english word of the same spelling, pronunciation, and meaning and is...
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corrigenda
“An article… Saturday incorrectly stated the number of positions possible for the Rubik’s Cube. It is 43,252,003,274,489,856,000.”
the new york times november 2, 1982
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life ain't easy for a boy named...
from time to time, my old pal—who is a resident in an undisclosable hospital in the great state of california—sends word of his latest escapades and i excerpt them here in lieu of actually writing anecdotes of my own.
Yesterday, I assisted in the delivery of a baby boy to a super hippie couple who probably haven’t seen the business end of a bic razor since they hit puberty.
I’m used...
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audio books out of context #2
this is the second...
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this morning: i lost two novels
from the journal of edmond de goncourt (1850?)
I have had happily confirmed the confidences of Gavarni on the economical manner in which Balzac dispensed his sperm. Lovey-dovey and amorous play, up to ejaculation, would be all right, but only up to ejaculation. Sperm to him meant emission of purest cerebral substance, and therefore a filtering, a loss through the member, of a potential act of...
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the penultimate edition
you know how when you are grinding down forks and your house becomes dirty with all that dust? well, there is a word for that.
also: you know how when you (or your nurse) are rolling around in bed having a grand old time and then you (or your nurse) realise that you accidentally squished some baby (it happens to the best of us)? well, there is a word for that as well.
[part the fourth:...
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phase & faze
again, both words are pronounced the same and have overlapping meanings* (ie. “to stun”). the former is associated with stunning through the star trek weapon capable of producing laser beams of various phase. it draws this sense from the latin word phasis which describes the different aspects of the moon. the latter means “to disturb”. it comes from...
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overheard at the upper crust (a pizza franchise)
“…i’d rather have sex with a whac-a-mole machine.”
is this a nascent genre?
bonus: though a fellah said it, the phrase could work just as well for the dames.
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more f-words from yesteryear
[part the third: FLAP-DRAGON to FLURT]
this week’s edition contains a mésalliance of both handy definitions (“a side of bacon”, “to laugh sarcastically”), balderdash™-style descriptions (“the person who puts the feather on an arrow”, “having a mouth like a flounder”), and suessian whimsy (flee flowns, flibberjibber, and flothery). enjoy:
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digging himself deeper
orson’s girlfriend: how do i look? my friend orson: super sexy. og: but i’m going on an interview. mfo: i mean, you look super professional. og: well which is it? mfo: uh, what i mean is…you look like a professional sexworker.
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babble & babel
the former means “to talk idly, irrationally, excessively, or foolishly” and has been in the english language since the fourteenth century. the latter is the hebrew word for babylon—a mythical town (and tower) in the old testament where a confusion of language is said to have taken place. both words are pronounced the same and have overlapping definitions though no...
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3 unconventional antipredator adaptations
sea cucumbers shoot out (eviscerate) their stomach organs organs like gooey nerf balls.
horned lizards build up sinus pressure until jets of blood gush out of their eyes.
the carpenter ant can explode itself, spraying poison in all directions—kamikaze style.
adapted for the blogging medium from wikipædia (a site like facebook.com but dealing with the branches of knowledge instead of farmville...
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almond & amygdala
one is actually the latin source of the other (though i am not saying which is which).