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  1. - Top - End - #121
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    The original term is "Abseilen". "Ab" is short for "Abwärts", meaning "Downwards", "Seil" is the common term for "climbing rope", the ending "en" describes an action, turning it into "using a climbing rope".
    Itīs a good example how we use compound words to condense whole sentences/concepts.

  2. - Top - End - #122
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    PirateCaptain

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    I just learned proskynesis (the act of bowing as a sign of respect, especially in the Persian culture) from this post:

    Quote Originally Posted by Vinyadan View Post
    The question is how much of a goddess she considers herself... we haven't seen her receiving open worship or proskynesis.

  3. - Top - End - #123
    Orc in the Playground
     
    SwashbucklerGuy

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Apoplectic - To overcome with anger

  4. - Top - End - #124
    Troll in the Playground
     
    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Quote Originally Posted by MCollarsen View Post
    Apoplectic - To overcome with anger
    I hope you just made a typo. as that definition is actually badly wrong:

    Apoplectic - overcome with anger

    "To overcome with anger" would mean you/they are overcoming something else which is a very different thing.
    Apoplexy (i.e. when someone is apoplectic) is when someone is overcome with anger.
    Last edited by Khedrac; 2020-09-03 at 02:53 AM.

  5. - Top - End - #125
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Vinyadan's Avatar

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    "Couth". I had never heard it; only "uncouth".
    Quote Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
    I thought Tom Bombadil dreadful — but worse still was the announcer's preliminary remarks that Goldberry was his daughter (!), and that Willowman was an ally of Mordor (!!).

  6. - Top - End - #126
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    PirateCaptain

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    Quote Originally Posted by Vinyadan View Post
    "Couth". I had never heard it; only "uncouth".
    It's one of those words that has died out, leaving only an obviously-derivative word behind. Like how pamphlets are everywhere, but nobody ever talks about full-size pamphs anymore.

  7. - Top - End - #127
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Quote Originally Posted by SZbNAhL View Post
    It's one of those words that has died out, leaving only an obviously-derivative word behind.
    Itīs actually quite interesting.

    Couth/Uncouth in english, Keusch/Unkeusch in german. It gets more interesting when looking at Kulturni/Njet Kulturni in russian,

    In a sense, itīs actually a word that got assimilated by religion and stayed there. Cough/Keusch describes christian as well as moslem values, while the counterparts, Uncouth/Unkeusch/Njet Kulturni describe universal society-based values.

  8. - Top - End - #128
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    PirateCaptain

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Braggadocio - boastful or arrogant behaviour, or one who performs such behaviour. Also used specifically to describe hyperbolic boasting among rappers.

  9. - Top - End - #129
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Poltroon: An utter coward.

    Got brought up by my husband the other day in reference to a particular world leader, and I was like "A What?" and he had to explain it. He loves using big archaic words and I love him for it.
    ~Amor Vincit Omnia~
    I have a Youtube Channel
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    Avatar by HappyTurtle.

  10. - Top - End - #130
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Scarlet Knight's Avatar

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    mordant - having or showing a sharp or critical quality; biting as in "a mordant wit".

    I read it and thought it meant something similar to morbid sense of humor.


    BTW: Poltroon & Braggadocio are great Ren Faire words! If we ever get to go again....
    Last edited by Scarlet Knight; 2020-09-08 at 09:57 AM.
    "We are the people our parents warned us about!" - J.Buffett

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  11. - Top - End - #131
    Titan in the Playground
     
    tyckspoon's Avatar

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Quote Originally Posted by Scarlet Knight View Post
    mordant - having or showing a sharp or critical quality; biting as in "a mordant wit".
    It's also the term for the chemicals or additions used to fix dyes so they don't fade out or rub off too easily. Possibly related, as many of the traditional mordants would be very acrid or astringent chemicals that usually have a smell/taste described as 'sharp.'

  12. - Top - End - #132
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Vinyadan's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by tyckspoon View Post
    It's also the term for the chemicals or additions used to fix dyes so they don't fade out or rub off too easily. Possibly related, as many of the traditional mordants would be very acrid or astringent chemicals that usually have a smell/taste described as 'sharp.'
    I think that both come from mordre = to bite, mordant literally meaning "biting". Mordant also used to mean acids used for refining metal, so it would have left some bite in there. Maybe mordant in the modern chemical sense is an extension of this meaning. Another explanation I found is that it's because it holds the dye, like an animal holding on to something by biting it, but I find it less likely. Mordant wit = biting wit seems to make sense, however (with a sense similar to "stinging").
    Quote Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
    I thought Tom Bombadil dreadful — but worse still was the announcer's preliminary remarks that Goldberry was his daughter (!), and that Willowman was an ally of Mordor (!!).

  13. - Top - End - #133
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    MonkGuy

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    As a Stephen Donaldson fan, here's an obligatory reference (from the archive)

  14. - Top - End - #134
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    Scarlet Knight's Avatar

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    oeuvre : A work of art; The complete body of an artist's work.

    "Readers familiar with the poet's oeuvre recognize her unusual impulses."
    "We are the people our parents warned us about!" - J.Buffett

    Avatar by Tannhaeuser

  15. - Top - End - #135
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    DrowGirl

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    This one's a mouthful I learned in Latin class:
    Anagnorisis: the key realization in a play, usually a tragedy, that leads to the plot's resolution, such as someone's true identity being revealed moments before the climax.
    And because I used to play Freerice a ton of times and accumulated a list of my favorite cool-sounding words, here's a few more of them for the road:
    Enantiodromia: the tendency for things to transform into their opposites. Usually used in psychology.
    Entelechy: the realization of potential, such as when Elan learned the Dashing Swordsman class and put his Charisma stat to combat use.
    Epeolatry: the worship of words. Sounds like something Vaarsuvius should get into.
    And one of my favorites, ophidian. It means snake-like. I liked it so much I named one of my characters after it, though I added an "r" to make it less obvious.

  16. - Top - End - #136
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Imbalance's Avatar

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Raziere View Post
    I learned one watching an elder scrolls lore video:

    sinistral: a fancy word for being left-handed.
    Coincidentally, I remember it from the subtitle of an older video game: Lufia II. Having looked it up back then, I still wonder if the game was trying to say that all southpaws are evil gods...

    Today I learned that a colloquialism for sunshower, the phenomenon of rain on a sunny day (cue CCR), is "the devil beating his wife." I didn't even know he was married.

    I was also recently browbeaten for misusing "ephemeral," a word I know well, in reference to the main blood vessel in the upper part of one's leg. I've been trying to reconcile in the weeks since how I got by so long without any memory of having ever seen "femoral" in print, along with feeling a sense that I may need to rewatch a number of medical dramas and certain crime shows with this new understanding.

  17. - Top - End - #137
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    Zombie

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    "anodyne" - not likely to provoke dissent or offense; inoffensive, often deliberately so.

  18. - Top - End - #138
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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Quote Originally Posted by WinterKnight404 View Post
    "anodyne" - not likely to provoke dissent or offense; inoffensive, often deliberately so.
    Also a medicine or cure, as I learned from playing Dragon's Dogma years ago (the basic healing spell being Anodyne).

  19. - Top - End - #139
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    Eldan's Avatar

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    Hypocorism, an affectionate nickname.
    Resident Vancian Apologist

  20. - Top - End - #140
    Titan in the Playground
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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Quote Originally Posted by Rynjin View Post
    Also a medicine or cure, as I learned from playing Dragon's Dogma years ago (the basic healing spell being Anodyne).
    Specifically it relates to pain killers or pain relief. Not just any medicine or cure.

  21. - Top - End - #141
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    Scarlet Knight's Avatar

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Accrete - to grow together; adhere

    "Temptations and decisions that accrete into experience."
    "We are the people our parents warned us about!" - J.Buffett

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  22. - Top - End - #142
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    ForzaFiori's Avatar

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    obloquy - strong public criticism or verbal abuse.
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    Go Tigers!

  23. - Top - End - #143
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    PirateCaptain

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Ptochocracy - rule by the poor (opposite of the more common plutocracy).


    Quote Originally Posted by Scarlet Knight View Post
    Accrete - to grow together; adhere

    "Temptations and decisions that accrete into experience."
    Hence the "accretion disc" of accreting matter around young stars.

  24. - Top - End - #144
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    Eldan's Avatar

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    Geitonogamy, when a flower pollinates a different flower of the same plant.
    Resident Vancian Apologist

  25. - Top - End - #145
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Scarlet Knight's Avatar

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Lacuna - a blank space or a missing part : gap; deficiency.

    "That absence is not a lacuna in the story."
    "We are the people our parents warned us about!" - J.Buffett

    Avatar by Tannhaeuser

  26. - Top - End - #146
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    Yora's Avatar

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    Discombobulate.
    We are not standing on the shoulders of giants, but on very tall tower of other dwarves.

    Spriggan's Den Heroic Fantasy Roleplaying

  27. - Top - End - #147
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Rockphed's Avatar

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Quote Originally Posted by Yora View Post
    Discombobulate.
    I don't know when I learned "discombobulate". I feel like I have always known it. Either one of my older siblings liked it or it was in a book I read as a child or on a TV show. Now I must examine my childhood to find out.
    Quote Originally Posted by Wardog View Post
    Rockphed said it well.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sam Starfall
    When your pants are full of crickets, you don't need mnemonics.
    Dragontar by Serpentine.

    Now offering unsolicited advice.

  28. - Top - End - #148
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Scarlet Knight's Avatar

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    Ineffable - incapable of being expressed in words : indescribable

    "The best fiction is ineffable; the reader cannot precisely explain what they have experienced."
    "We are the people our parents warned us about!" - J.Buffett

    Avatar by Tannhaeuser

  29. - Top - End - #149
    Halfling in the Playground
     
    MonkGuy

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?


    dais - a low platform
    loth - loath
    wisp - a small bunch
    gluon - a type of particle
    vasopressin - an attachment hormone

  30. - Top - End - #150
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    GreataxeFighterGirl

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    Default Re: What new words have you learned recently?

    travail - trial, tribulation

    mire - swamp

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