Word of the day :)

[petra_r]

As English is my third language I am still stumbling across words that fascinate me.

Today our Janean used one in a post and I LOVED it (once I looked it up, lol, admittedly)

vicissitude

vɪˈsɪsɪtjuːd,vʌɪˈsɪsɪtjuːd/

noun

plural noun: vicissitudes

1. 1.

   a change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant.

   "her husband's sharp vicissitudes of fortune"

   synonyms:

   change, alteration, alternation, transformation, metamorphosis, transmutation, mutation, modification, transition, development, shift, switch, turn; More reversal, reverse, downturn; inconstancy, instability, uncertainty, unpredictability, chanciness, fickleness, variability, changeability, fluctuation, vacillation; ups and downs "he maintains his sunny disposition despite life's vicissitudes"

2. 2.

   literary

   alternation between opposite or contrasting things.

   "the vicissitude of the seasons"

I adore language(s) and words, so shall we have a thread about wonderful words? Could be fun?

[mwiggenhorn]

I  do love pamplemousse.  What a lovely word!

[versailles]

---

@Mary W wrote:

I  do love pamplemousse.  What a lovely word!

---

I only love the word. Not the actual thing. Yuck!

[versailles]

Totally off-topic but Pamplemousse reminds me of a city that I visited in Spain: Pamplona. Only in French, it's called Pampelune. It just sounds adorable. You could translate it in English as Pampeluna. 

I wonder if they have Pamplemousses.

[jmlaidlaw]

"I wonder if they have Pamplemousses."

No, René. They have only Pamplemice.

[renata101]

---

@Rene K wrote:

Totally off-topic but Pamplemousse reminds me of a city that I visited in Spain: Pamplona. Only in French, it's called Pampelune. It just sounds adorable. You could translate it in English as Pampeluna. 

I wonder if they have Pamplemousses.

---

I wonder if it was the inspiration for the Tom Waits song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKQaSZXEK2s 

[mthornton-cpc]

---

@Rene K wrote:

---

@Mary W wrote:

I  do love pamplemousse.  What a lovely word!

---

I only love the word. Not the actual thing. Yuck!

---

*GASP* I just made a batch of orangettes et écorce de pamplemousse confite and have been munching on them with delight. And using them as cocktail garnish. Both very worthy applications, in my view. 

[moutcom]

Mar 26, 2018  by Melissa T

@Rene K wrote:

@Mary W wrote:

I  do love pamplemousse.  What a lovely word!

I only love the word. Not the actual thing. Yuck!

*GASP* I just made a batch of orangettes et écorce de pamplemousse confite and have been munching on them with delight. And using them as cocktail garnish. Both very worthy applications, in my view. 

Then you both should try this one:

Put a grapefruit in the blender, please don't peel !!
Then a little bit sugar on it and enjoy.
For diabetics without sugar, and tastes even better!
Bon Appetit 🙂

[moutcom]

@Rene K wrote:

@Mary W wrote:

I  do love pamplemousse.  What a lovely word!

I only love the word. Not the actual thing. Yuck!

*GASP* I just made a batch of orangettes et écorce de pamplemousse confite and have been munching on them with delight. And using them as cocktail garnish. Both very worthy applications, in my view. 

Then you both should try this one:

Put a grapefruit in the blender, please don't peel !!
Then a little bit sugar on it and enjoy.
For diabetics without sugar, and tastes even better!
Bon Appetit 🙂

[renata101]

English is such a wonderful repository of words from all over the place.  I like a lot of the Yiddish loan words that have crept into English.  It seems to me that the way they sound somehow emphasizes their meaning. Maybe it's like a funny kind of onomatopea? 

schmooze 

schlep

mensch

Chutzpah

klutz

Kvetch

schmaltz 

[jcullinan]

---

@Renata S wrote:

English is such a wonderful repository of words from all over the place.  I like a lot of the Yiddish loan words that have crept into English.  It seems to me that the way they sound somehow emphasizes their meaning. Maybe it's like a funny kind of onomatopea? 

schmooze 

schlep

mensch

Chutzpah

klutz

Kvetch

schmaltz 

---

I dunno, "mensch" is supposed to be positive but sounds the opposite to me. But I love it when someone calls me "Bubbelah." That one sounds like a warm hug. 

[renata101]

---

@Jess C wrote:

---

@Renata S wrote:

English is such a wonderful repository of words from all over the place.  I like a lot of the Yiddish loan words that have crept into English.  It seems to me that the way they sound somehow emphasizes their meaning. Maybe it's like a funny kind of onomatopea? 

schmooze 

schlep

mensch

Chutzpah

klutz

Kvetch

schmaltz 

---

I dunno, "mensch" is supposed to be positive but sounds the opposite to me. But I love it when someone calls me "Bubbelah." That one sounds like a warm hug. 

---

Yes, I think you might be right about mensch, Bubbelah. But someone once called me a mensch and I lived through it. It's the thought that counts. 

Since I'm generally off on a tangent this morning anyways, I think onomatopoeia (previously mentioned), is quite a lovely word in its own right, in addition to being a fascinating concept. Most people don't realize that the weird sounds we attribute to various phenomena aren't universal. Everyone just naturally assumes pigs speak the same language everywhere. 

And I like the definition of onomatopeia, which means "word-making" (something I can only secretly adimit to supporting since this is often considered a subversive attitude for an editor). 

Some samples onomatopeia from the article below:

• Finnlish – käkättää (evil laugh)
• Korean – CHIK CHIK POK POK (the sound of a train)
• French – RON PSHI (snoring)
• Japanese – PACHI PACHI (the sounds of a crackling fire)
• German – MAMPF MAMPF (munching)

http://mentalfloss.com/article/51996/12-onomatopoeias-around-world

[moutcom]

@Renata

Mampf is cool, we use a verb in German slang: Mampfen

Here is a another word that came to my mind, reminding me to good old days of my english course in school:

Mer·chan·di·sing

mɜːɐ̯ʦn̩deíziŋ/

[wendy_writes]

Gobemouche

 PRONUNCIATION:

(GOB-moosh)

MEANING:

noun: A gullible or credulous person.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French gobe-mouche (flycatcher, sucker), from gober (to suck or swallow) + mouche (fly). Earliest documented use: 1818.

USAGE:

“My son asked me about buying 80 shares of Nike in his individual retirement account. I didn’t care for a company that made shoes for basketball players, telling him only a gobemouche would pay $100 for a pair of smelly sneakers.”
Malcolm Berko; Just Buy It; Creators Syndicate; Oct 4, 2017.

[mwiggenhorn]

Back to pamplemousse.  Cut in half, sprinkle with sugar and kirsch.  Broil until it starts to brown.  Divine.

[versailles]

---

@Wendy C wrote:

Gobemouche

---

 I'm gonna to revive that one in French!

[wendy_writes]

Leptodermous - sometimes used to describe a certain ilk of freelancer and/or buyer

PRONUNCIATION: (lep-tuh-DUHR-muhs)

MEANING: adjective: Having a thin skin.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek lepto- (thin) + -dermous (skin). Earliest documented use: 1888. The opposite is pachydermous.

USAGE: “The brand new state representative from Artesia County got stuck with that trap -- House Bill 100 -- today. He’s got to throw a party for his colleagues, by an old tradition.”

Cole Not Leptodermous; ‘Pals’ Hope He’s Solvent; The Albuquerque Tribune (New Mexico); Jan 28, 1955.

[wendy_writes]

And another from Wordsmith.org.  

 Marivaudage

 PRONUNCIATION: mar-uh-VO-dazh

MEANING: noun
1. Affected writing style. > of particular interest to 'writter's
2. Banter, especially of flirtatious nature.

ETYMOLOGY: After the French novelist Pierre de Marivaux (1688-1763), known for the verbal preciousness of his romantic comedies. Earliest documented use: 1765.

USAGE: “The chatter between bemused husbands and the director’s numerous wives is brash marivaudage.”  Joan Dupont; Tout Ça...Pour Ça! The Movie Guide; International Herald Tribune (Paris, France); Jul 9, 1993.

[ravi_iitian]

[reinierb]

---

@Ravindra B wrote:

---

 I suffered from this condition right up till the moment I developed an allergy to alcohol. 

[renata101]

One thing that constantly amazes me about English is that you can express yourself with such great precision. There's a word for just about everything. Webster's Word of the Day for June 14 brings me a special kind of joy: defenestration (1 :  throwing of a person or thing out of a window). 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/defenestration-2018-06-14

There's even a verb form, so you can defenestrate something today if you'd like to celebrate. 

[luce-neidert]

That's why I just love the English language. 

[luce-neidert]

Look at that! On June 9th, it was the turn of another favourite of mine:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/shenanigan-2018-06-09

shenanigan

[versailles]

---

@Renata S wrote:

One thing that constantly amazes me about English is that you can express yourself with such great precision. There's a word for just about everything. Webster's Word of the Day for June 14 brings me a special kind of joy: defenestration (1 :  throwing of a person or thing out of a window). 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/defenestration-2018-06-14

There's even a verb form, so you can defenestrate something today if you'd like to celebrate. 

---

That's from French.

Like 30% of your vocabulary.

[renata101]

@Rene K wrote:

@Renata S wrote:

One thing that constantly amazes me about English is that you can express yourself with such great precision. There's a word for just about everything. Webster's Word of the Day for June 14 brings me a special kind of joy: defenestration (1 :  throwing of a person or thing out of a window). 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/defenestration-2018-06-14

There's even a verb form, so you can defenestrate something today if you'd like to celebrate. 

That's from French.

Like 30% of your vocabulary.

René,

Are you part of the cultural envoy that's come to get it back? Dude, and Vulgar Latin speaker, get your facts straight! This is from the real deal: pre-Vulgar Latin. 

According to Webster:



According to Oxford:



Retract that statement or I'll hurl all of my city's outdated dictionaries across the Atlantic at your office! 

[jmlaidlaw]

A good argument could be made for the word "defenestration" coming from either (both) Latin/French. The original is Latin. However, the closer "loan language" to English is French. For a significant period of British history, the upper classes spoke and wrote in French. To this day, the motto of the British monarch remains the French phrase "Dieu et mon droit."

Thus, "defenestration" came to English from Latin (originally), via the Romance language most often infused into English (French).

Yours very truly... A high-school teacher of both Latin and French.

[renata101]

---

@Janean L wrote:

A good argument could be made for the word "defenestration" coming from either (both) Latin/French. The original is Latin. However, the closer "loan language" to English is French. For a significant period of British history, the upper classes spoke and wrote in French. To this day, the motto of the British monarch remains the French phrase "Dieu et mon droit."

Thus, "defenestration" came to English from Latin (originally), via the Romance language most often infused into English (French).

Yours very truly... A high-school teacher of both Latin and French.

---

Okay, I can buy that as an argument. (But what are we going to do with all those dictionaries if we can't hurl them at a French person?) 

I guess my question is, if this is the route that it took, wouldn't the dictionary indicate this in the etymology? 

[reinierb]

---

@Janean L wrote:

A good argument could be made for the word "defenestration" coming from either (both) Latin/French. The original is Latin. However, the closer "loan language" to English is French. For a significant period of British history, the upper classes spoke and wrote in French. To this day, the motto of the British monarch remains the French phrase "Dieu et mon droit."

Thus, "defenestration" came to English from Latin (originally), via the Romance language most often infused into English (French).

Yours very truly... A high-school teacher of both Latin and French.

---

 There is a way to settle this once and for all. Don't defenestrate- just throw stuff out the window, or if you live above the ground floor, just throw stuff down through the window. 

[versailles]

French: Defenestrer.

De = Un

Fenêtre (fenestre) = Window.

Defensetrer = To unwindow.

I'm gonna to unwindow you, I swear I will!

[jmlaidlaw]

(Accidental double-post.)

[renata101]

---

@Janean L wrote:

(Accidental double-post.)

---

I just marked mine as "inappropriate content" and explained the whole thing to the mods. 

[luce-neidert]

Still about defenestration. The Webster definition says it's used with the meaning of throwing someone or something out of the window. 

Well, what struck me right away is that in French, I had always heard the word to describe the action of someone who jumped out of the window, for example to commit suicide. So I thought it was the same word as in English, but with a different meaning.

Just checked on Larousse dictionary: défenestrer = jeter quelqu'un par une fenêtre. 

So it has the same meaning as in English.

Now, about the origins: in the word "fenêtre", the accent on the "ê" indicates it comes from the old French word "fenestre" (to be compared to latin fenestra or italian finestra). I would have written "denenêstrer" because I have a logical mind, but the French language is not the most logical of languages.

[renata101]

---

@Luce N wrote:

....but the French language is not the most logical of languages.

---

 Thank you, Luce. You don't know how many years I waited in vain for one of my high school French teachers to say that. It would have been such a relief just to hear someone say it 🙂

English is not a particularly logical language either, especially in terms of spelling. I was once in a class with some Japanese students who were studying numbers from one to twenty for a quiz. When I looked at it from the point of view of someone learning the language, I couldn't believe the variety of strange spellings there were, just in that short sample of words we use everyday. Japanese is very logical by comparison. 

[colettelewis]

There are some words in French that are perfectly understandable in English, but that simply do not have a precise equivalent.

Near where I live, there is small community/village that played a big part in the resistance during WWII and suffered accordingly. There is a little road called "Chemin des fusillés"  which literally translated is the road of the machine-gunned - or "gunned down" - impossible to translate neatly into English. The nearest I can get is "Execution road", but that doesn't really cover the meaning.  

[datasciencewonk]

There are some words in French that are perfectly understandable in English, but that simply do not have a precise equivalent.

That's one of the main reasons that I enjoy learning French -- it can derail the whole "English precision" thing. 😉

[renata101]

---

@Nichola L wrote:

There are some words in French that are perfectly understandable in English, but that simply do not have a precise equivalent.

Near where I live, there is small community/village that played a big part in the resistance during WWII and suffered accordingly. There is a little road called "Chemin des fusillés"  which literally translated is the road of the machine-gunned - or "gunned down" - impossible to translate neatly into English. The nearest I can get is "Execution road", but that doesn't really cover the meaning.  

---

Nichola,

I think those grey areas where no conceputally equivalent words exist are sometimes really interesting territory.  I have to admit, I didn't always like to correct people's English in Japan because they would come up with some really interesting expressions as a result of attempting direct translations. 

[versailles]

---

@Renata S wrote:

---

they would come up with some really interesting expressions as a result of attempting direct translations. 

---

Your very own Québec is also very interesting when it comes to direct translation of English expressions into French. They have translated some North American English expression word by word, which to a French person sound very funny.

They tend to do this for movie titles. Or at least they used to back then when I was visiting QC. While in France the film industry doesn't care about English titles for American movies, in QC they translate everything word by word. Which sounds so funny 🙂

[renata101]

---

@Rene K wrote:

---

@Renata S wrote:

---

they would come up with some really interesting expressions as a result of attempting direct translations. 

---

Your very own Québec is also very interesting when it comes to direct translation of English expressions into French. They have translated some North American English expression word by word, which to a French person sound very funny.

They tend to do this for movie titles. Or at least they used to back then when I was visiting QC. While in France the film industry doesn't care about English titles for American movies, in QC they translate everything word by word. Which sounds so funny 🙂

---

Yep. But I seem to remember that the title of the movie Lost in Translation was literally lost in translation. I think it might have been translated as Lost in Tokyo. It wasn't quite the same.

[luce-neidert]

---

@Renata S wrote:

---

@Luce N wrote:

....but the French language is not the most logical of languages.

---

 Thank you, Luce. You don't know how many years I waited in vain for one of my high school French teachers to say that. It would have been such a relief just to hear someone say it 🙂

English is not a particularly logical language either, especially in terms of spelling. I was once in a class with some Japanese students who were studying numbers from one to twenty for a quiz. When I looked at it from the point of view of someone learning the language, I couldn't believe the variety of strange spellings there were, just in that short sample of words we use everyday. Japanese is very logical by comparison. 

---

Renata, I'm glad I've brought some of the relief you were denied by cruel teachers.

I did note that English had a strange attraction for weird spelling, and I sort of enjoy the challenge. However, what bugs me the most in English spelling is words that are not spelt the same in British English and American English. This is too much for my poor brain - I just give up.

[renata101]

---

@Luce N wrote:

---

@Renata S wrote:

---

@Luce N wrote:

....but the French language is not the most logical of languages.

---

 Thank you, Luce. You don't know how many years I waited in vain for one of my high school French teachers to say that. It would have been such a relief just to hear someone say it 🙂

English is not a particularly logical language either, especially in terms of spelling. I was once in a class with some Japanese students who were studying numbers from one to twenty for a quiz. When I looked at it from the point of view of someone learning the language, I couldn't believe the variety of strange spellings there were, just in that short sample of words we use everyday. Japanese is very logical by comparison. 

---

Renata, I'm glad I've brought some of the relief you were denied by cruel teachers.

I did note that English had a strange attraction for weird spelling, and I sort of enjoy the challenge. However, what bugs me the most in English spelling is words that are not spelt the same in British English and American English. This is too much for my poor brain - I just give up.

---

I hear you, Luce. That's part of what I get paid to do -- translate UK to US or even Canadian.  

If it's any relief to you, English is kind of like an omnibus or a pastiche sort of assemblage (I'm getting these as synonyms for pastiche:  mixture, blend, medley, mélange, miscellany, mixed bag, potpourri, mix, compound, composite, collection, assortment, conglomeration, jumble, ragbag, hodgepodge).

And yeah, you say "spelt" and across the pond, I say "spelled".

[luce-neidert]

---

@Renata S wrote:

---

And yeah, you say "spelt", and across the pond, I say "spelled".

---

 What would the poor English teachers teach French pupils if they did not have the terrible irregular verbs to threaten them with? They are perfect as tests and punishment. How dare North Americans try to spoil the fun.

[richard_wein]

---

@Luce N wrote:

---

@Renata S wrote:

---

And yeah, you say "spelt", and across the pond, I say "spelled".

To me, spelt is a kind of wheat.

---

 What would the poor English teachers teach French pupils if they did not have the terrible irregular verbs to threaten them with? They are perfect as tests and punishment. How dare North Americans try to spoil the fun.

---

That reminds me of a year at school when our Latin teacher made us learn a list of irregular verbs every week. Of course I forgot them as soon as the test was over. I only remember "tango, tangere, tegi, tactum", and I wouldn't be surprised if that's not even correct.
 

At the end of that year, almost everyone in the class wanted to give up Latin. I was one. But the headmaster browbeat most of us into changing our minds, so I endured another two years of it.