1word1day | Entries tagged with wordsmith: nerdfury

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Karoshi

Japanese

Death from being overworked.

Lawn Mullet

No etymology - humourous.

A neatly manicured front yard and an unmowed mess in the back.

The Wheaton

No etymology - internet slang

The delightfully geeky Wil Wheaton was one of the first celebs to attract a massive number of followers. When half a million people subscribed to his Tweets, that number was dubbed a Wheaton by John Kovalic. Today, Wil Wheaton actually has about 3.8 Wheatons.

Oldfangled

English nonce-word.
From Fangled, meaning a prop, a new thing, a taking up, a foolish innovation, a novelty, plus old.

Old fashioned.

Zeg

Georgian

The day after tomorrow. Why don’t we have a word for the day after tomorrow?

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Paper-belly
Hobo lingo
A person unable to drink liquor straight, or one who grimaces after drinking.

Petrichor
Greek
The clean, pleasant smell that accompanies rain falling on dry ground. It’s from the Greek petra (stone) and ichor (the blood of Greek gods and goddesses). The term was coined by two Australian researchers in 1964.

milliHelen
No etymology - nonce-word - humour
The quantity of beauty required to launch just one ship.

Dysania
Rare - unable to locate etymology.
Having difficulty getting out of bed in the morning.

nerdfury.livejournal.com

L’appel du vide

French

“The call of the void” is this French expression’s literal translation, but more significantly it’s used to describe the instinctive urge to jump from high places.

Ya’aburnee

Arabic

Both morbid and beautiful at once, this incantatory word means “You bury me,” a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person because of how difficult it would be to live without them.

Duende

Spanish

Originally used to describe a mythical, spritelike entity that possesses humans and creates the feeling of awe of one’s surroundings in nature, its meaning has transitioned into referring to “the mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.”

Saudade

Portuguese

This word “refers to the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost.” Fado music, a type of mournful singing, relates to saudade.

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Happy new year, guys! For those that have passed the midnight hour and are well into the new day, I hope your celebrations were awesome, and your hangovers minimal! For those yet to hit the chime, be safe and have fun! Also, make sure you have ingredients for coffee (or tea!), some bacon and egg sammiches and Tomorrow You will be your friend forever!

For something different, I'd like to post the original lyrics to Auld Lang Syne. They mean a lot to me, since we sang the song regularly when I was in the Scouts, and my Troop Leader always insisted on the original* version, rather than the English version. Through my own research, I also found out that Robert Burns is related to my own family, albeit very distantly - still, it's a great piece of heritage to have!

So, reflect back on the past year and remember your friendships. I hope everyone has a fantastic 2012, and all you wish for comes to pass.

*And yes, I realise that James Watson wrote it in 1711, but honestly - who remembers that guy?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

and auld lang syne?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my jo,

for auld lang syne,

we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!

and surely I’ll be mine!

And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We twa hae run about the braes,

and pu’d the gowans fine;

But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,

sin auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We twa hae paidl’d i' the burn,

frae morning sun till dine;

But seas between us braid hae roar’d

sin auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!

and gie's a hand o’ thine!

And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Whether you're celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day, Ashura, Posadas Navidenas, Yule, Litha, the Death of the Prophet Zarathushtra, Watch Night, Holy Innocents, Solstice, Festivus, Giftmas, Noworkmas or Bah-Humbugmas, I would like to wish each and every one of you and your families happy holidays!

Dépaysement

French

The feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country.

Tingo

Pascuense (Easter Island)

The act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.

Hyggelig

Danish

Its “literal” translation into English gives connotations of a warm, friendly, cozy demeanor, but it’s unlikely that these words truly capture the essence of a hyggelig; it’s likely something that must be experienced to be known. I think of good friends, cold beer, and a warm fire.

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Slightly late, my apologies. As you should all expect, here's some words without English equivalents!

Toska
Russian
Vladmir Nabokov describes it best: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”

Jayus
Indonesian
A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh

Litost
Czech
The closest definition is a state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.

Kyoikumama

Japanese
A mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement.

So in sad news, our own

imifumei has sent me a message to advise that she has taken a job overseas, and will no longer be able to post. Sad to see you go, but it was great having you! You'll always be welcome back if you want. :D

Now, you might have noticed a bit of a lack of posting of late. I can hardly speak, since I've had some issues catching up, but there seems to be only three regular posters now. I admity I've been remiss myself, and might not have seen if anyone's posted about needing to take a break or quit, so I'm not sure where all the posters stand. Do we have any new volunteers to help pick up the slack?

Let me know!

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Slightly late, sorry! Totally unintentional. Extra word for you, too.

Koi No Yokan
(Japanese)
The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall into love.
(and no, I don't think 'love at first sight' is the same. I asked a Japanese guy at work what he thought of the phrase, and he said it's deeper, insofar that it's more when you've met someone, had enough tome to get a sense of them, and then felt you might fall in love, as opposed to just seeing someone and falling in love. Can anyone corroborate or correct this?)

Mamihlapinatapai
(Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego)
This word captures that special look shared between two people, when both are wishing that the other would do something that they both want, but neither want to do.

Fremdschämen (German); Myötähäpeä (Finnish)
The kindler, gentler cousins of Schadenfreude, both these words mean something akin to “vicarious embarrassment.”

Cafune
(Brazilian Portuguese)
Tenderly running your fingers through your lover’s hair.

Greng-jai
(Thai)
That feeling you get when you don’t want someone to do something for you because it would be a pain for them.

Kaelling
(Danish)
You know that woman who stands on her doorstep (or in line at the supermarket, or at the park, or in a restaurant) cursing at her children? The Danes know her, too.

nerdfury.livejournal.com

So today is my Monday morning, and I've been trying to post since yesterday morning, but Batman: Arkham City has been distracting! It's not my fault the Joker is causing trouble again, and I need to stop him. :(

More Words With No English Equivalent!

(until some smart-ass tells me otherwise)

Zeg
(Georgian)
“The day after tomorrow.” Seriously, why don’t we have a word for that in English?

Pålegg
(Norwegian)
Anything you might consider putting into a sandwich. A very generic term.

Lagom
(Swedish)
This word is hard to define, but means something like, “Not too much, and not too little, but juuuuust right.”

Tartle
(Scots)
The nearly onomatopoeic word for that panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce someone whose name you can’t quite remember. That's why I like Facebook on my phone - I can totally look them up and see who they are first!

nerdfury.livejournal.com

More Words Without An English Equivalent.
(utntil some smartass corrects me)

Shemomedjamo
(Georgian)
A word to describe when you're full, but the meal is so tasty that you can't stop eating it. This word translates as “I accidentally ate the whole thing.”

Pelinti
(Buli, Ghana)
You know when you take a bite of something, but it's too hot, so you kind roll it around your mouth and make noises of discontent until it's cool enough to keep vhewing and swallow? The Ghanaians have a word for that. More specifically, it means “to move hot food around in your mouth.”

Layogenic
(Tagalog)
Remember in Clueless when Cher describes someone as “a full-on Monet…from far away, it’s OK, but up close it’s a big old mess”? That’s exactly what this word means.

Rhwe
(Tsonga, South Africa)
THere's a word to describe the end result of too many tequila shots. This one means “to sleep on the floor without a mat, while drunk and naked.”

nerdfury.livejournal.com

More Words With No English Equivalent!

11. Faamiti (Samoan)
To make a squeaking sound by sucking air past the lips in order to gain the attention of a dog or child.

12. Glas wen (Welsh)
A smile that is insincere or mocking. Literally, a blue smile.

13. Bakku-shan (Japanese)
The experience of seeing a woman who appears pretty from behind but not from the front.

14. Boketto (Japanese)
The act of gazing vacantly into the distance.

15. Kummerspeck (German)
Excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.

I dunno about you, but bacon suddenly sounds like the best thing for grief. That, and booze.

nerdfury.livejournal.com

It's still Sunday somewhere, right? Possibly, I dunno, Betelgeuse?

More Words With No English Equivalent (Until Someone Inevitably Comments To Provide One):

Cotisuelto (Caribbean Spanish)
One who wears the shirt tail outside of his trousers, often in a negative light for a poor fashion trend.

Pana Po’o (Hawaiian)
To scratch your head in order to help you remember something you’ve forgotten.

Gumusservi (Turkish)
Moonlight shining on water.

Vybafnout (Czech)
To jump out and say boo in order to scare someone.

Mencolek (Indonesian)
To play a trick whereby you tap someone lightly on the opposite shoulder from behind to fool them.

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Evening, folks.

Once again, apologies for not posting for so long. My electricity got incorrectly cut off by the good folks at Origin Energy (pro-tip, fellow Aussies, they like to do that), and my PC died as a result. The rest of the time, well, let's just say I plain forgot.

Poor excuse, but I should nut up and admit something to you all: I have shit memory. No, really - I forget things really easily. Like, I'll step off of the bus outside of the store with a mind to buy milk, and in the time it takes me to cross the road, I've forgotten. Or I'll walk to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and forget what I was doing on the way. So let's just say that remembering to post a word every Sunday isn't as easy as all that. I put it down to too much television and Dungeons and Dragons.

But! I've got reminders set up between my Gmail, my iPhone and my Xoom tablet, so hopefully I can turn it around.

To make up for it, here's five awesome words, all of which have no English equivalent.

Mustaque Dirs Ur

(Albanian)

The Albanians apparently have twenty-seven different words to describe varieties of mustaches. This one is the downy, newly sprouted mustache of an adolescent.

Viande a pneus

(French)

Reckless cyclists in France have a nickname that translates as meat for tires.

Giomlaireachd

(Scottish Gaelic)

The habit of dropping in at meal times.

Osurgan

(Turkish)

Someone who farts excessively.

Ngabanmarneyawaoyhwarrgahganjginjeng

(Aboriginal Mayali)

This tribal tongue of Papua New Guinea often builds up complex compound words to express a simple concept. This spell-check nightmare translates as - I cooked the wrong meat for them again.

I don't have any etymologies or pronunciation for these, but if anyone does, feel free to let me know and I'll update. I do have a competition! The person that writes the best sentence incorporating all these words will win a two month paid subscription/extension, bonus userpics, or two months extra storage from me!

Post your entries in the comments below. Entries can be any length, but should be witty, poignant or humourous - and most of all should make sense. I'll give one week before announcing the winner, who can choose their prize on notification.

Good writing!

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Hello! Lacking holding and such because I'm doing this from my XOOM, which is a bitches to edit on.

Letabund (lae-ta-bund)
adj.

Definition:
Full of joy.

From Latin lætabund-us, from lætari 'to be joyful'

Real world usage
1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 505 Of quhois come this nobill king Edmound, As bird on breir wes blyth and letabund.

Usage
It seems incongruous to me in a word ending in -bund should have such a pleasant meaning. When I think of -bund words, I think that was such as moribund (at the end of life), cummerbund (at the end of fashion), and Balkansprachbund (a grouping of linguistics similarities among the Balkan languages). It's nice to see that letabund escaped it's unfortunate childhood and grew up to be a happy and well adjusted word.

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Oh man, so I totally posted this on Sunday, but didn't realise I accidentally posted it to my own LJ instead of here. When a friend commented on it, I thought she'd joined the comm and asked her if she wanted to be a poster, but then she was all 'wtf, what community?' at me? Lulz, I fail at things.

Hi folks! I've been offline for a couple of weeks (seriously, does the whole of the UNIVERSE just not want me to post!?) and it turns out that updating with an iPhone or a Xoom is REALLY hard. Anyway!

Hot Cockles [hot cock-uls]
noun

Definition
A rustic game in which one player lay face downwards, or knelt down with his eyes covered, and being struck on the back by the others in turn, guessed who struck him.

Etymology
Origin unknown. Does anyone have any further info or resources? The OED has no clue.

Real World Usage
1580 Sidney Arcadia ii. (1629) 224: How shepheards spend their dayes, At blow point, hot cockles, or else at keeles.

Usage
While we never played this, we played many games like Hot Cockles in my youth. Most of them were just as barbaric - you can play them too!

'Slap Fish'
You and your opponent stand facing reach other, your hands together, fingers out, like you were praying, but with yours and your opponent's hands pointed towards each other, tips of your middle finger touching. The aim is to slap each other's hands, while avoiding being slapped and avoiding being tricked into flinching. You'd each make small movements with your hands and arms, just enough to try and convince your opponent that you were about to go for a slap. If you slap your opponent, you get a point. If you convince your opponent and they flinch, you get a free slap as hard as you can, plus a point.

Variants include:
Knuckles - same as above, but you form a fist and the aim is to hit your opponent’s knuckles as hard as possible with your own.
Slaps – same above, but the winner gets to slap two fingers as hard as possible on the other’s under wrist.

‘Fire Chicken’
You and your opponents stand around a fire in as little clothing as possible, then drop a sealed tin of baked beans or tube of toothpaste in the middle. Winner is the last man standing without getting gobs of exploded, searing toothpaste or beans searing their legs.

‘Mercy’
You and your opponents punch each other as hard as possible in the arm, harder and harder, until someone shouts ‘mercy’ and gives up.

Variants include:
Camel Bite – same as above, but you slap each other’s thighs with two fingers.

The 'Check Out My Junk' Game - any number of players try and convince each other to look below the waist. Movements, gestures, outright telling them to 'check this out!' If you fall for it, you get punched.

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Hello again, folks! Once again, my apologies for not being around for a while. I explained a bit why in my last post, but I've got everything (hopefully *stares pointedly at LJ*).

Today's word is one of my favourites, because being mean is so much more fun when you use words that the plebeians don't understand. :D

Mataeotechny [mah-tee-oh-tek-nee]
noun

Definition
An unprofitable or useless science or skill.

Etymology
From a Greek term combining 'vain' + techny, 'art'

Historical Usage
1576 Newton Lemnie's Complex. To Rdr.,: Such a peevish practice, and unnecessary Matæotechny

Usage
We have a lot of young people at work, many of them born this side of 1990. These are the kinds of people that have never heard of Danger Mouse, Tin Tin or Asterix and Obelix, and give you a blank stare when you bring up Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens or ask them to name one Beatles song that isn't from White Album.

These people have a collection of most braggable Mataeotechnia, such as being able to drink copiously before vomiting, being able to find the best DJs (a loose term - better to call them 'Laptop With Winamp and Crossfade Jockeys') in town and being able to score the cheapest drugs.

And yet they call my ability to name the first 20 elements useless!

(apologies to late-era Generation Y'ers and Gen Z's - it's not your fault you aren't awesome Gen X'ers. ;)

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Hi guys,

First of all, apologies for missing the last few weeks. I've had a rather nasty chest infection, which has kept me down for a while. Normally, I'd have asked someone to fill in for me, but it completely slipped my mind. Unfortunately, I'm still a bit ill, but at least I can concentrate enough to bring you a word!

Impluvious [im-ploo-vee-oos]
adjective

Definition
Wet with rain.

Etymology
From im + pluvious: Of, pertaining to, or characterized by rain; full of or bearing rain or moisture; rainy. From French pluvieux, or Latin pluviosus rainy.

Real World Use
c1420 Pallad. on Husb. vi. 66: In places ouer colde And pluuyous, olyues is to done To kitte, and mosse awey be rased wolde

Usage
I'm pleased to find that after a long dry spell of Summer, our weather is finally turning impluvious, which means wearing jeans is no longer a gamble, and my sheets take longer to dry. Small sacrifices, I suppose!

Apologies again for the lack of presence!

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Hi folks!

It appears I've got a little lax again in posting and observations; my apologies! Little excuse, but Things have become a little out of hand at work, so much so that what little time I have before and after work is now spent writing cover letters and checking job sites.

Also, an app on my iPhone (EpicWin - it's a great little to-do program that turns your Things To Do into an RPG!) inadvertently deleted my Google Calendar reminders to post. It's been fixed now, fortunately. Check the app out!

To make up for it, three words:

Misclad [mis-klad]
adj

Definition
Inappropriately dressed; wearing wrong clothes.

Etymology
Mis- + clad, covered in clothes.

Real Usage
1494 Fabyan Chron. iii. liv. 35: [He] chaunged his armure and dydde vpon hym the Armoure of a Brytayne, and by that meane as a Bryton mysclad [etc.]

Resipiscence [res-i-pi-scence]
noun

Definition
Repentance for misconduct; recognition of errors committed; return to a better mind or opinion.

Etymology
From French ésipiscence, or Latin resipiscentia, 'to recover one's senses, come to oneself again,'

Real Usage
1570 T. Norton tr. Nowel's Catech. (1853) 177: Sinnershave need of repentance, which some like better to call resipiscence or amendment

Forplaint [for-plaint]
adj

Definition
Tired of complaining.

Real Usage
1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. lxxiii: For lak of myght and mynd, For-wepit and for-pleynit pitously.

Usage
My workplace has become increasingly worse and worse a place to work, and just as myself and my colleague are forplaint of the poor treatment of staff, some of us have finally snapped. With recent additions to policy that now make our working lives so much more difficult, including watching as our colleagues get issued formal warnings for being misclad - even on weekends - for as little as wearing jeans and a nice polo shirt - we are finally resipiscent of our decision to work for this, frankly, bullshit organisation.

The hardest part? Last time I put out my resumé, I was getting paid $18 per hour and ecstatic at that. Now I find I have to search for jobs at $45,000+ per year!

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Hello! I trust everyone's holidays are progressing smoothly and with a minimum of angst!

Today, we have several words!

Yesterneve [yes-tern-eve]
noun

Definition

Yesterday evening.

Etymology

From Old English eyrstan (yesterday) + aefen (even).

Other old and obsolete (though hopefully no longer!) words to describe time include:

Hesternal; of or relating to yesterday

Nudiustertian; of or relating to the day before yesterday

Overmorrow; of or relating to the day after tomorrow

Postriduan; of or relating to the following day

Yestermorn; yesterday morning.

As of today, my hesternal activities included drinking lots of tea and playing Goldeneye on the Wii on yestermorn, which did wonders to cure me of my hangover, brought on by my nudiustertian excesses. Yesterneve, I had a Boxing Day party at a friend's extremely large house, which I am paying for today! My postriduan activities will likely be washing clothes and relaxing as much as possible, as on the overmorrow, I return to work after six days off.

Fortunately, it's only for one day and then I have another two off!

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Hi everyone. Apologies once again for missing the last couple of weeks, and for being pretty quiet in terms of updates and comments. For the last couple of weeks, I've been suffering from excruciating back pain, issues accessing LJ, issues accessing the internet, a cold and various other inconveniences.

I still have a cold, and I'm late, but I feel well enough to actually write up a word!

Cellarhood [sel'ar-hood]
noun; nonceword

Definition
The state of being a cellar.

Etymology
Cellar (store-house or store-room for provisions; a granary or pantry) + -hood (condition, quality, rank).

Real World Usage
1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 361:
Jow it [Evans's supper-room] emerged from a state of brawling night cellarhood, to the dignity of a harmonic meeting.

Usage
Along with tabelity (the condition of being a table) and paneity (the state of being bread). cellarhood is a wonderful example of how the English language is used to describe things that aught not need description.

Introductions
I'd like to introduce our newest poster to you,

ersatz_read, who has agreed to post some wordy poetry for us all! Make her feel welcome, and make sure you comment on her posts!

As always, if anyone is interested in a substitute role, themed posting or has any queries, questions or feedback, please don't hesitate to contact me via private message or (preferably) via email at 1word1day@nerd-fury.net!

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Mornin' folks! Apologies for missing last week, and also for the lack of presence in the community over the last few weeks. Anything going on I should know about? Email me.

Beadledom [bee-duhl-dom]
noun

Definition

The embodiment of the characteristics of beadles as a class; stupid officiousness and ‘red-tapeism.’

From Beadle: This word has about a dozen varying defiitions, but tends to all regard a town herald/town crier; one who merits out mandates or news.

Etymology

From various Teutonic, Middle English, Roman, French and Germanic words over the centuries - way too many to work out. Here's what the OED has to say:

[Originally OE. bydel (= MDu. *bödel, Du. beul, OHG. butil, MHG. bütel, Ger. büttel):—OTeut. *budilo-z, derivative of biud-an, in OE. béodan, OHG. biotan to offer, present, deliver, announce, command. Some form of the Teutonic was adopted in Romanic: cf. It. bidello, Pr., Sp., OF. bedel, F. bédeau, med.L. bidellus, bedellus; and in ME. the Fr. form bedel gradually superseded the native bydel. The ordinary modern spelling is beadle, but the archaic forms beadel, bedel, bedell, are in use in specific senses.]

If you can work that out, you are awesome.

Historical Usage
1860 Temple Bar I. 80: The defeat of beadledom and vestrydom.

1861 Blackw. Mag. 732: [Words] which serve to express the relationship supposed to exist between the higher and lower grades of English society. Flunkeyism, plush, beadledom, lordolatry.

Usage
At work, there is a collection of individuals that aren't really any better than us lower-class of employee, but who have recently been promoted to ranks such as 'Change Champion' or 'Customer Follow-Up Lead.' In fact, they're actually pretty poor at their normal job, let alone their new ones, but they each have a sense of self-importance that only comes with being newly introduced to beadledom.

As always, we're still looking for potential themed posters and substitute posters! Interested? Email me!

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Misclad, Resipiscence, Forplaint

Yesterneve

Cellarhood

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