Excellent words you rarely get a chance to use

[patricklondon]

New to me, but I can see where I might use it


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[kerouac2]

I don't think I have ever said dawdle out loud. On rare occasion I manage to write it.

[casimira]

Enervated: exhausted, sapped, drained of energy or vitality

[kerouac2]

Yes, that is an excellent word, which happens to be super common in French and is used lots of times every day. How about in Spanish or other languages?

[casimira]

mooncalf: a stupid person

[patricklondon]

Plangent

But even common words can have their devotees:




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"too literate to be spam"

[bixaorellana]

Plangent is good!

A word I would use frequently if I thought I could get it out without stuttering or spitting would be perspicacious.

Another excellent word that I'd probably have more success saying is perspicuous. It's good, but not as good as perspicacious.

[whatagain]

In Englush it sound a bit like this vartoon character Picatchou (phonetically).

Perspicace is not uncommon in French, albeit my daughter uses when i state the obvious...

[bixaorellana]

When I say words like that in English I sound like the cartoon character Daffy Duck.

I looked up how to pronounce perspicace and can see how it would work nicely in sarcasm.

[Kimby]

sham·bo·lic
/ˌSHamˈbälik/

adjectiveINFORMAL•BRITISH

chaotic, disorganized, or mismanaged.
"the department's shambolic accounting"

I first heard this word on PBS NewsHour more than a year ago when David Brooks used it to describe the Trump Administration.

Just heard it again a few days ago, also on the news, perhaps about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

[Kimby]

A word I like is “mendacious”.

men·da·cious
/menˈdāSHəs/

adjective

not telling the truth; lying.
"mendacious propaganda"

[kerouac2]

curmudgeon

from the Latin frūmentārius passing through Dutch: "corn merchant," before gaining its current meaning

[kerouac2]

Learned a new word today. Don't know if I'll ever get a chance to use it.

"Several pieces of fossilized poop, which scientists call coprolites, were unearthed from a refuse heap at a settlement"

Full disclosure HERE

[bixaorellana]

I've known coprolite for a long time because I knew a hippie jeweler who gave me a rundown on mineral stones used in jewelry. He said that when coprolite was being ground on the wheel it gave off a smell of poo-poo.

[onlyMark]

I didn't know that specic word but the first part, copro, I think has its root in Greek and I have come across other words with that beginning.

[kerouac2]

And the internet server for my building is called COPRO NET. (that's because of co-propriété)

[casimira]

I learned a new word yesterday. It is probably very familiar to the British folks on here.

Fascinator- NOUN

A woman's light decorative headpiece consisting of feathers, flowers, beads etc. attached to a comb or hair clip.
Formal headpiece; style of millinery worn as an alternative to a hat

(Very common at formal affairs in the UK such as the Ascot Horse racing event)

[bixaorellana]

Well! I am deeply disappointed in you, Casimira, as I thought you had a lock on all those old fashion terms. You told me once that T's mother clued you in to the terminology and clothing history of some of your yard sale finds.

And yes, I did know the term, thanks to my own mother.

[kerouac2]

Watching various channels (CNN, BBC, Sky) talking about U.S. election results, I have heard the word "wrest" used more times than in the entire last year. Now I am wondering if they are feeding off each other since they all watch each other, too. "Oh, that's a good word. I think I'll use it in my report."

[patricklondon]

Nov 9, 2022 6:51:57 GMT kerouac2 said:

Watching various channels (CNN, BBC, Sky) talking abuut U.S. election results, I have heard the word "wrest" used more times than in the entire last year.

Interesting. It rather rests on the assumption that whoever held the seat before was somehow entitled to keep it. It's a bit like the habit they had, decades ago and over here at least, of referring to any other party standing than the Tories or Labour as "intervention", as though elections were a private fight.

[bixaorellana]

I wrest from you the idea that using "wrest" in that context rests on the assumption that the incumbent up for re-election was entitled to keep the seat. Rather, the campaigning and maneuvering and money spending and mud-slinging all show that these elections are indeed tugs of war. Thus, whether the campaign was against an incumbent or in an area known to be of the other party, the win would indeed be wrested. I rest my case.

But Kerouac has a good point about tv channels seizing upon a word en masse. You can bet that the public, in discussing the election today, is furiously using the same buzz words and "talking points".

[kerouac2]

Maybe you two should wrestle to see which one is right.

[mickthecactus]

But they might be awrested.

[patricklondon]

I think I need to lie down for a good wrest


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"too literate to be spam"

[mickthecactus]

Rapacious. I like that.

[bixaorellana]

Nov 9, 2022 18:03:32 GMT patricklondon said:

I think I need to lie down for a good wrest

Okay. We'll discuss the wrest of it later.

[kerouac2]

I went to the Chinese supermarket to buy a few necessities (nuoc mam, a long purple aubergine, okra...), and there was an awful old beggar woman sitting on the pavement in front, the kind who washes at most once a month but who seems satisfied with her life. I gently declined her suggestion that I give her some money but smiled and wished her an excellent afternoon. But when I came out of the store with my bag, I had a sudden (and very rare) urge to give her something after all. I handed her a 0.50€ coin and she chortled with delight. That was the exact word that came to mind, yet I don't think I have ever heard it said out loud, only appearing in books from time to time. The French equivalent word is just as rare: glousser. It must be an act and sound that has become rare in the last 50 years.

[bixaorellana]

It is indeed excellent, but you need to record yourself chortling so we have a better grasp of the word.

[Rita]

Interrobang ‽

[mickthecactus]

Fecundity- just used about a Latvian pre Christian festival.