Saturday & Sunday Word: Hellecious & Handedness

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

hel·la·cious [hɛˈleɪʃəs]:
origin: [1930's] American; hell + acious like audacious, bodacious, atrocious.



adjective:
A force to be reckoned with; overwhelming; beyond amazing; the dirty version of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious -- can be used as a compliment or an insult. Now, how many other words can you say that about? yes, that's a challenge ;)

____

hand·ed·ness [ˈhændɪdnɪs]:
origin: [1920's] British; hell + acious like audacious, bodacious, atrocious.

noun:
If you favor one of your hands over the other...congratulations, you've mastered the art of handedness!

If you can lay one of your hands on top of the other, and the thumbs are on opposite sides, then you've mastered the other art of handedness = a mirror image that does not match when laid one on top of the other. For more on this concept see the recently defined: Chirality & Enantiomer.

And lastly, it can be the potential spin of a particle (via helicity) in subatomic physics. I have a feeling that one won't come in handy as much as the other two definitions though ~

Monday word: luetic

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

luetic  (lo͞o ĕt′ ĭk)
adj.: Relating to syphilis, caused by it, or suffering from it.
noun: A person who has syphilis.

Etymology:  Latin, lues, plague.

Lues was an old name for syphilis.

The name 'syphilis' was invented by Doctor Girolamo Fracastoro, in the early 1500s.  Why he chose the name is unknown.

As far as I can tell, the name 'syphilis' predates 'lues' by about 100 years.