What new words have you learned recently?

[Fyraltari]

There's an interesting challenge. Assuming we could take substitutions, peas can be made into flour, and you could theoretically replace the cheese with some other mammal's curdled milk - say, deer or beaver. I suppose some local berry (such as raspberry, if that one is local) could provide for a passable sauce - they do work well with cheese. As to toppings, any local animal can be turned into sausages, although without paprika, it won't taste like pepperoni at all. Then again, same could be said of everything else. And the cheese in particular would not be easy or cheap to get hold of. So, thinking about it, I'd recommend going for an anchovy topping, since that'll pretty much reduce all other flavours to irrelevance.

Grey Wolf

What's your cut-off point for "native to Italy"? Because the early Romans raised cows.

The universe thought Pauli should be excluded on general principle.

Hah! Nice.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

What's your cut-off point for "native to Italy"? Because the early Romans raised cows.

I took the spirit of the joke-turned-challenge to be using exclusively ingredients aboriginal to the Italian peninsula pre-human expansion. So no cows, since they, like wheat, were brought over from Asia minor during the pre-history. I did hit a bit of a snag in that wikipedia doesn't narrow down the origin of most plants and animals further than "southern Europe" so I can't be sure if, say, peas are native to Italy or just, I don't know, Greece or something.

That said, looking into Bos primigenius (the non-domesticated version of the cow), it seems it was found in Europe, even if domestication happened in Mesopotamia. So if it wasn't for the small inconvenience that the last member of that species went extinct in a zoo in Poland in 1627, you could use their milk for cheese. Or grandfather the cow into the challenge through it.

Grey Wolf

[Peelee]

The universe thought Pauli should be excluded on general principle.

I am envious I didn't think of this one myself.

[Scarlet Knight]

This was a word that keeps popping up in a lecture course : apotheosis - elevation to divine status.

"Julius Caesar was the first historical Roman to be officially deified, granted the title Divus Iulius. The appearance of a comet during games in his honour was taken as confirmation of his apotheosis."

[Scarlet Knight]

Oooo, now I want to make a pastry called the "Sastrugi"! Imagine a sfogliatella but with white icing over the ridges?

[Skyrender]

Oooo, now I want to make a pastry called the "Sastrugi"! Imagine a sfogliatella but with white icing over the ridges?

Damn. Now I want to try one of those, too! Or I guess you could just settle for one covered in a lot of powdered sugar, to represent the snow...

[Rogar Demonblud]

Why not powdered sugar and icing? If you're going for the sugar rush and crash, might as well do it at Ludicrous Speed.

[SZbNAhL]

Bildungsroman (n) - a coming-of-age story

[Scarlet Knight]

Damn. Now I want to try one of those, too! Or I guess you could just settle for one covered in a lot of powdered sugar, to represent the snow...

Got the Italian Bakery before they closed; got half a dozen sfogliatelli for dessert....with extra powdered sugar!

[Peelee]

And old Emmy video of Jon Stewart taught me the word "pablum" just now.

[understatement]

Shooting off a couple of words before February ends.

sprezzatura (n): studied carelessness, especially as a characteristic quality or art style or literature

myrmidon (n): a hired ruffian or unscrupulous subordinate

vade mecum (n): a handbook or guide that is kept constantly at hand for consultation

vernissage (n): a private viewing of paintings before a public exhibition

I can't believe this thread is eight months old. Here's hoping to more.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Myrmidon comes from the Ancient Greek for ant, and was the name of the warriors who served Akhilleus.

[Skyrender]

Army ants, probably.

[Scarlet Knight]

Oenophile : a person who enjoys wines, usually as a connoisseur.

"Claire is a both oenophile and a nymph; she's rather open a bottle, then her legs than anything else."

[Vinyadan]

I have a word that I don't understand: in a book set in Scotland, a kid tries to spend child support on "actual messages" and food and provisions, but his mum, who is an alcoholic, returns the messages she can to use the money for drinks. What are these messages?

[Khedrac]

I have a word that I don't understand: in a book set in Scotland, a kid tries to spend child support on "actual messages" and food and provisions, but his mum, who is an alcoholic, returns the messages she can to use the money for drinks. What are these messages?

Is the book in it's original language or translated, further that date is it set?

My best guess is that someone mistranslated (postage) stamps because it used to be fairly easy to exchange unused stamps for their cash value (I think it is still something the post office is legally obliged to do, but I don't know).

Second guess is that there used to be a prepaid message money transfer called a "postal order" and they too could be cashed unsent.

[Vinyadan]

Thanks foe the proposals, the book is from this or last year, the scene is set in the Eighties, and it's written in English by a Glaswegian.

[Khedrac]

Thanks foe the proposals, the book is from this or last year, the scene is set in the Eighties, and it's written in English by a Glaswegian.

In which case as someone from way down south (I lived in Somerset for most of the 80s) I have no idea!

[Imbalance]

horologist

I had known horology dealt with the study and measure of time and had only ever assumed in context that one who performed such science would be called a horologist. Today I learned that the term also applies to someone who makes or repairs instruments that measure time, as in a watchmaker or clockmaker.

[understatement]

March Ides.

sangfroid (n): composure or coolness, sometimes excessive, as shown in danger or under trying circumstances

propinquity (n): the state of being close to something or someone; proximity; close kinship

animadvert (v): pass criticism or censure on; speak out against

viennoiserie (n): baked goods of yeast-leavened dough with added ingredients to make it similar to pastries

[arimareiji]

Be'f. Saw it yesterday in the freezer section for vegetarian protein.

I was going to put it in the joke section because that's the first time I've lolled that hard in public in a while, but I figured that since it's actually true (and a proper noun), it probably fits better here. XD

_{(I admire those who eat vegetable protein for ethics, to reduce their carbon footprint, and other reasons - my laughter was because someone got paid a lot of money to come up with that name.)}

[SZbNAhL]

Rather than listing every word I learned from Brett Domio's Get Bumpsy, I'm just going to provide a link. Hope that's okay.

[smuchmuch]

Asthenia
Anormal tiredness and weakness.

[Scarlet Knight]

concatenation - a series of interconnected events

" It was simply a concatenation of violence, revelry, and happenstance during a blizzard."

[Biggus]

I have a word that I don't understand: in a book set in Scotland, a kid tries to spend child support on "actual messages" and food and provisions, but his mum, who is an alcoholic, returns the messages she can to use the money for drinks. What are these messages?

According to this online Scottish dictionary, it means shopping/groceries.

[Badgercloak]

Cahootnership: A form of the word cahoots which denotes a partnership.

"We entered into a cahootnership with B Company to pool our flour to make bread at the mill." - Leander Stillweel; The Story of a Common Soldier of the Civil War, 1861-1865.

[Razade]

scapegrace

Not, as you might think, the opposite of scapegoat. It is in fact another word for rascal.

[Scarlet Knight]

elided : Elision is the omission of sounds, syllables or words in speech.

"Italian vowels are never elided; you pronounce them all."

[veti]

Perseveration: repeating a word, gesture or phrase over and over, even after the reason (stimulus) for producing it in the first place is gone.

[Peelee]

Perseveration: repeating a word, gesture or phrase over and over, even after the reason (stimulus) for producing it in the first place is gone.

That puts you on the fast path for semantic satiation.