Ship of Fools: New word

Thread: New word Board: Heaven / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Ian Climacus (# 944) on :

What new-to-you word have you come across recently?

I was reading an article which described the first parliamentary speeches of the new year as pabulum, meaning bland or insipid. I like it.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ian Climacus:
I was reading an article which described the first parliamentary speeches of the new year as pabulum, meaning bland or insipid. I like it.

Which means "fodder" in Latin. I remember from my youth an infant cereal with the brand name Pabulum.

I am still bothered by "text" and "trend" as verbs to the point where I don't notice new coinages.

I think, however, I've noticed a subtle difference in the meaning of "love" as a verb, e.g. "Buy it, love it for 30 days, and then send it back if it doesn't satisfy." I think they meant to say "use it" or "enjoy it".

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

The baby food is "Pablum™". It was commonly the first (semi)solid food a child ate. Rice Pablum being the usual. There appears to be controversy online as to whether it is actually good for you. The word has been used commonly here to mean something that is very bland, inoffensive with the implication of very much not wanting to offend. The word "pap" is used the same way.

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

'Gummata'. It's one of the more horrid symptoms of untreated syphilis -- do not google for pictures of this, I warn you. I am writing a novel, and there's a constant need for nasty things to happen. New nasty things, that have not happened before, and I'm running out of tricks, so this one is very welcome.

Posted by Felafool (# 270) on :

For Christmas I was given a box of untranslatable words - borrowed from other languages to describe feelings or situations for which there isn't a convenient English word. (e.g.Schadenfreude)

My favourite new one of these is Duende (Spanish) to convey that heightened state of emotion created by a moving piece of artwork.

Posted by Caissa (# 16710) on :

Algid= cold.

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
'Gummata'. It's one of the more horrid symptoms of untreated syphilis -- do not google for pictures of this, I warn you. I am writing a novel, and there's a constant need for nasty things to happen. New nasty things, that have not happened before, and I'm running out of tricks, so this one is very welcome.

Never check on a writers internet history. There will be shocks.

Posted by Stetson (# 9597) on :

quote:
(e.g.Schadenfreude)

One thing that's always bugged me about that is how some people use it to insinuate something dark and sinister about the German national psyche, with implied allusions to Nazism. ("Like, whoa dude, their language has a word for taking joy in the misery of others!").

Whereas, and granted I am neither German nor a German speaker, but I'd imagine that it might just be a case of German having one word for an idea that English would express with two words or a phrase, eg. we would just say "malicious glee".

Also, my understanding is that the everyday meaning has changed. Originally, it meant taking pleasure in someone else's suffering, full stop, but now I usually hear it used to mean cases where you think the person is getting what they deserve, eg. "Democrats are having quite a bit of schaedenfreude over the GOP's latest scandal.

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

The joy with the suffering of others is well-experienced by some of us in boarding school. Where the language was English. I've also seen cats play with mice, ants burned with magnifying glasses, though we might note that the Germans have this, which is translated as "inner asshole" (or bastard). A flipping of the "inner child".

The use of the term in my loose translation of the German is both that some things appeal to the lowest instincts of humanity, where true bastard colours shine through when normal controls are unleashed (as in: trumpy shows his inner asshole daily and this gives permission to others to do likewise), and the alternate meaning of dog (hund) which is in English "to dog it", which means to give much less than a good or full effort (trumpy doesn't bother briefing himself on anything before important meetings, unique among world leaders).

[ 23. January 2018, 17:33: Message edited by: no prophet's flag is set so... ]

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

The latest winner on "Jeopardy" is a young woman whose job title is not, "Forrest Ranger," as I used to know it, but "Fire Lookout."

Brenda used a favorite of mine the other day with, "picayune." It's nice to have a writer among us.

I'm sitting on my hands trying not to look up the gummy thing.

Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on :

I can see a real difference between the roles of a forest ranger and a fire lookout.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

A day or two I came across 'kakistocracy' - rule by the worst, most rubbish people.

It's recorded at least as far back as 1829, and possibly much older.

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

From which I deduce you do not live in the US. We know that one. Also Kleptocracy.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

Kleptocracy, I've been hearing for years.

Are the words 'kaka' and 'kak' used in the US? 'Kak' is usually slightly more metaphorical than 'kaka' but the core meanings are the same.

Posted by Nick Tamen (# 15164) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
Are the words 'kaka' and 'kak' used in the US? 'Kak' is usually slightly more metaphorical than 'kaka' but the core meanings are the same.

I’ve never heard “kak,” which probably sounds a little too close to another word to get much use, but “caca” (with Cs, not Ks) is used here.

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

Patrick O'Brian, the novelist of very realistic naval books had a Spanish ship named Cacafuego (shit fire).

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :

Whereas in NZ kaka are a native parrot that were endangered, but are now recovering [Yipee]

thanks to a breeding programme. If you ever visit the leafy suburbs of the Wellington you may hear, if not see them.

Huia

Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :

What is caca in present day Greek?

I know my Greek MiL used it for dirty or nasty in some sense.

I just think of the opposites euphony and cacophony.

GG

Posted by Trudy Scrumptious (# 5647) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
A day or two I came across 'kakistocracy' - rule by the worst, most rubbish people.

It's recorded at least as far back as 1829, and possibly much older.

I've known the word kakistocracy my whole life, but (not to get too political here in the Heavenly realms) it really is instructive to see it in action.

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

I'm a keen cruciverbalist, and in the course of this pursuit I regularly come across words I've never seen before.

Quite often, I make the word up, based on the cryptic clue and any letters I may already have, and then look in the dictionary to see if I'm right.

Today's offering was periapt, a Shakespearean word meaning an amulet.

The cryptic clue, for any fellow-crossword-lovers who are interested, was:

A tipper distributed the old charm

"periapt" being an anagram of "a tipper"

Posted by Mama Thomas (# 10170) on :

Heard a few news ones lately, of course that means I hear them all over the place now:

ensorcell
embrasure
za

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

I'm not particularly fond of "hack" used as a synonym for "helpful hint," as in (on tonight's news) "These hacks will help you do household chores without using harsh chemicals."

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

I thought "hack" meant a practical action to solve a problem, which is slightly different from "helpful hint". Something like the ways farmers find to fix their gates shut in the absence of a proper device, possibly using baler twine, or fence wire. And related to computer hacking, as being a way of working round something in an unintended way.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

Yes. I agree with Penny S.

Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :

Fans of Schadenfreude may also enjoy the term Backpfeifengesicht, which translates as “ slappable face.” Very useful for watching the news.

My new word was “ bespoke,” or made to order. To me it doesn’t sound legit unless it’s being uttered by some luxuriously bearded hipster.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

quote:
Originally posted by LutheranChik:
... My new word was “ bespoke,” or made to order. To me it doesn’t sound legit unless it’s being uttered by some luxuriously bearded hipster.

That's interesting. Just as 'kakistocracy' was new to me, but others elsewhere speak with surprise, as though they have known it all their lives, so 'bespoke' is a word I feel I've always known, part of normal speech, as in the phrase 'bespoke tailor', i.e. 'made to measure'.

Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :

tasseography,( sp) as best as I can remember seeing the spelling but I note spell check is puzzled. the reading of tea leaves. I can only guess the one doing the reading is a tesseographer? At the next cocktail party when asked I think I will replay that before retirement I was a tesseographer

Posted by Ohher (# 18607) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I thought "hack" meant a practical action to solve a problem, which is slightly different from "helpful hint". Something like the ways farmers find to fix their gates shut in the absence of a proper device, possibly using baler twine, or fence wire. And related to computer hacking, as being a way of working round something in an unintended way.

But there's also "hack" as a hired conveyance, "hack" as a verb meaning to chop or slice clumsily, and there's "hack" as an unoriginal, lazy writer or politician. Not a new word for me, but one which may be on its way to obsolescence.

I have to wonder, though, how anybody ever manages to acquire English as a second or third language.

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :

At MIT fifty years ago, a hack was a prank. Students at engineering schools are quite good at coming up with interesting ideas and carrying them out.

I have been told that hacking, in the computer sense, is derived from the activities of MIT students.

Moo

Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :

quote:
I thought "hack" meant a practical action to solve a problem...something like the ways farmers find to fix their gates shut in the absence of a proper device, possibly using baler twine, or fence wire. And related to computer hacking, as being a way of working round something in an unintended way.

To me, this puts a (supposedly) groovy, IT, out-on-the-edge, insider spin on something which, after all, is just a plain old bodge. Nothing wrong with a bodge IMV, but the bodger has to 'fess up to it (and name its shortcomings) quick before someone else calls them on it, if they want any credit. If anyone I know in engineering started a sentence 'I found this great hack', eyebrows would be considerably raised.

Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :

Hacking in computerdom is to gain unauthorized (or unconventional) access into somebody else's computer or network.

There are three levels of hacking: black hat, grey hat, and white hat.

Black hat hackers are trying to do damage. Steal credit card numbers, delete data, hold access random.

Grey hat hackers see themselves as security vilantes, and hack into systems in order to show the owners that they need to beef up their security. Some grey hats hope to be hired by these companies to work their security. Some are.

White hat hackers are hired by companies to try to hack into their own systems, to test the security.

[ 28. January 2018, 19:52: Message edited by: mousethief ]

Posted by Clarence (# 9491) on :

It’s wonderful to see interest in words, their usage and tantalising histories. Does anyone else follow Robert Macfarlane’s tweets of unusual words? Just delightful.

Posted by MaryLouise (# 18697) on :

Clarence, I follow and retweet Rob Macfarlane's words, a delight. He is on Twitter as @RobGMacfarlane and yesterday he had this, which seems pertinent:

'Word of the day: "wordhord" - literally "word-hoard", a treasure-chest of language belonging to a person or culture; a trove of words; the storehouse of language one uses & understands (Old English). '

Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :

quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
Hacking in computerdom is to gain unauthorized (or unconventional) access into somebody else's computer or network.

There was for quite some time a campaign by hackers (in the "creative off-label use of objects, software etc." sense) to label this criminal behaviour as "cracking", so that "hacker" would carry positive rather than negative connotations. AFAIK, that's still going on, but has never gained public traction - in the mind of the general public, "hackers" are the people who steal your passwords and credit card details.

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