Wednesday word: quondam

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

quondam: [kwon-duh m] or [kwon-dam]

adjective: Former, onetime, of an earlier time.

"She spotted her quondam lover among the party guests."

Origin: Latin, First known use, 1539.

Thursday word: paradiddle

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

(Scheduling this ahead of time, because I'll be AFK all holiday weekend.)


paradiddle (PAR-uh-did-l) - n., in drumming, a steady 4-beat pattern of right-left-right-right and/or left-right-left-left.


Usually done slower than a roll. This, including variations, is a basic drum rudiment -- patterns you need to be able to bang out steadily as a core skill. The diddle part is the repeated right-right or left-left (origin unknown), and the para- seems to be humorously indicating the doubling -- or that's the standard theory.

Finally warmed up, he got the flam paradiddle-diddles going and began an accelerando.

---L.