September 28, 2006 - Aesthete

Aesthete \ES-theet\, noun:
One having or affecting great sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature.

Beijing, with its stolid, square buildings and wide, straight roads, feels like the plan of a first-year engineering student, while Shanghai's decorative architecture and snaking, narrow roads feel like the plan of an aesthete.
-- "Sky's the Limit in Shanghai", Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1999

But he was also an aesthete with a connoisseur's eye for the wild modernist innovations with letterforms and layout of the 1920s.
-- Rick Poynor, "Herbert Spencer", The Guardian, March 15, 2002

Where the standard Oxford aesthete of the 1920s had been showily dissipated, full of wild talk about decadence and beauty, Auden was preaching a new gospel of icy austerity and self-control.
-- Ian Hamilton, Against Oblivion

Aesthete is from Greek aisthetes, "one who perceives," from aisthanesthai, "to perceive."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for aesthete

Nothing deserves an arty youTube video more than the word Aesthete.



The beauty is in the link.

September 27, 2006 - Fulsome

Fulsome \FUL-sum\, adjective:
1. Offensive to the taste or sensibilities.
2. Insincere or excessively lavish; especially, offensive from excess of praise.

He recorded the event in his journal: "Long evening visit from Mr. Langtree--a fulsome flatterer."
-- Edward L. Widmer, Young America: The Flowering of Democracy in New York City

Concealed disgust under the appearance of fulsome endearment.
-- Oliver Goldsmith, The Citizen of the World

Fulsome is from Middle English fulsom, from full + -som, "-some."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for fulsome


He shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die - and because the man took his candy.



Because you're mine, he walks the link!

September 26, 2006 - Ostensible

Ostensible \ah-STEN-suh-bul\, adjective:
Represented or appearing to be true, but not necessarily so.

The credibility of the energy-trading sector has been severely damaged by disclosures of sham transactions in energy trading, designed to build up ostensible sales and profits and therefore share prices of the trading companies.
-- James Flanigan, "Dynegy CEO Quits as Probe of Sham Trades Intensifies", Los Angeles Times, May 29, 2002

Aspects of environmentalism have long been criticized as using ostensible concerns about nature to serve private purposes such as property values.
-- Gregg Easterbrook, "The case for sprawl", The New Republic, March 15, 1999

After an epidemic of yellow fever in 1798, in which coffins had been sold by itinerant vendors on street corners, Burr established the Manhattan Company, with the ostensible aim of bringing clean water to the city from the Bronx River but in fact designed as a front for the creation of New York's second bank, rivalling Hamilton's Bank of New York.
-- "Soaking the poor", The Economist, March 16, 2000

We might define play as pleasurable activity in which the means is more important than the ostensible end.
-- Karl Meninger, Love Against Hate

Ostensible comes from Medieval Latin ostensibilis, from the Latin verb ostendere, "to show," and is related to ostentatious, "showy."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for ostensible

Beware Dairy Madness!!!



This Link could happen to you too!

September 25, 2006 - Militate

Militate \MIL-ih-tayt\, intransitive verb:
To have force or influence.

In our current era of politics, many factors militate against changes in policies.
-- Reed Hundt, You Say You Want a Revolution

Even though Simpson's youth, limited professional experience, lack of reputation, unmarried status, and modest social origins all militated against success, the twenty-eight-year-old Simpson applied for the post.
-- Donald Caton, What a Blessing She Had Chloroform

By 2003 many of the uncertainties which militate against a "yes" might be resolved.
-- Anatole Kaletsky, "Why Brown is right to put off the euro test", Times (London), June 21, 2001

Militate comes from Latin militatus, past participle of militare, "to serve as a soldier," from miles, milit-, "a soldier."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for militate

YouTube is reading militate as militant. Thank goodness. I'll find something that way.

His American accent needs some work, but it probably sounds real enough to these English folks. His Jesse Jackson-esque Rhymin is top-notch though!



Power to the Link!

September 24, 2006 - Vertiginous

Vertiginous \vur-TIJ-uh-nuhs\, adjective:
1. Affected with vertigo; giddy; dizzy.
2. Causing or tending to cause dizziness.
3. Turning round; whirling; revolving.
4. Inclined to change quickly or frequently; inconstant.

But up close the building is impossibly steep, vertiginous, hostile.
-- Neil Baldwln, Legends of the Plumed Serpent

He did us no good when, without permission, he entered Tibetan air space and flew up over central China, explaining that it was impossible to comply with the authorities' instructions to land because of the vertiginous mountain terrain.
-- Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, Around the World in 20 Days

. . .the bouldery ruins of vertiginous cliffs pounded and lashed by the fury of wind and water.
-- Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker, The Beach

Vertiginous derives from Latin vertigo, "a turning round, a whirling round; giddiness," from vertere, "to turn." Related words include reverse, "to turn back (re-) or around"; subvert, "to undermine" (from sub-, "under" + vertere -- at root "to turn from under, to overturn"); and versus, "against" (from versus, "turned towards," hence "facing, opposed," from the past participle of vertere).

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for vertiginous

This is kinda cool:



Time for a link!

Who says I ain't got no culture or learnin'? Enjoy the The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude:



The Vertiginous Link of Exactitude!

September 23, 2006 - Stanch

Stanch \STONCH; STANCH\, transitive verb:
To stop the flowing of; to check in its course; also, to stop the flowing of blood from; as, "to stanch a wound."

Out of the corner of my eye I can see one of Shiggy's daughters busy at the rear door with a mop and a mountain of napkins, furious activity, but not enough to stanch the flow of water seeping inexorably into the room.
-- T. Coraghessan Boyle, A Friend of the Earth

Otherwise Stalin might have feared that President Harry Truman would stanch any North Korean invasion by threatening to use atomic weapons.
-- John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America

Stanch is from Old French estancher, "to stop a liquid from flowing."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for stanch


Oh, god. I want to stanch the bleeding from my eyes and ears!



DON'T CLICK THIS LINK!!!!!!

September 22, 2006 - Opprobium

Opprobrium \uh-PRO-bree-uhm\, noun:
1. Disgrace; infamy; reproach mingled with contempt.
2. A cause or object of reproach or disgrace.

Typically academic, they disdainfully observed about many university press books--"too dry, too specialized, too self-absorbed for us." In their world, the word "academic" was as much a term of opprobrium as the word "middlebrow" was in mine.
-- Janice A. Radway, A Feeling for Books

Five months after Malaysia incurred global opprobrium by closing off its currency and capital markets, its officials are in no mood to apologize.
-- Mark Landler, "Malaysia Says Its Much-Criticized Financial Strategy Has Worked", New York Times, February 14, 1999

Opprobrium derives from Latin opprobrare, "to reproach," from ob, "in the way of" + probrum, "reproach." The adjective form is opprobrious.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for opprobrium

This is exactly the kind of word designed to derail a comeback. No results in youtube. Nothing on Google Video (when is that going away? Or is it?)

OK, well, the FWFS is Disgrace and the FWSS is (let's say) reproach. Here goes Disgrace:

Oh sweet irony. Don't Hassle the Hoff!



KITT! Activate Super Link!

And Reproach:

I don't know what these chicks are saying, but I sure feel reproached!



BAYAVADUUUUAHALINKABNDFGUAYAAAAAA!!!!!!

September 21, 2006 - Solace

Solace \SOL-is\, noun:
1. Comfort in time of grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety.
2. That which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; a source of relief.

transitive verb:
1. To comfort or cheer in grief or affliction; to console.
2. To allay; to soothe; as, "to solace grief."

Surrounded by unhappiness at home, John Sr. early on found solace and certainty in the realm of science and technology.
-- Sylvia Nasar, A Beautiful Mind

But immediately afterwards he dispels the agony by finding his customary solace in tales of chivalry.
-- Andre Philippus Brink, The Novel: Language and Narrative from Cervantes to Calvino

It provided some solace that three large, highly conservative insurance companies were willing to bet on my life.
-- Michael D. Eisner with Tony Schwartz, Work in Progress

Lillian's Lutheranism, with its harsh creed that suffering was a sign of God's favor, solaced her.
-- Lois W. Banner, Finding Fran

Solace comes from Latin solacium, from solari, "to comfort; to console."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for solace

This is one of my very favorite episodes of South Park. Stan and Wendy break-up and he goes all goth until he learns how grown-ups deal with pain:



You want a link? Right here buddy!

September 20, 2006 - Cataract

cataract \KAT-uh-rakt\, noun:
1. A great fall of water over a precipice; a large waterfall.
2. A downpour; a flood.
3. A clouding or opacity of the lens or capsule of the eye, which obstructs the passage of light.

Niagara is no virgin. Today, its cataract can be stopped with the pull of a lever, and less than half its natural flow pours over the precipice.
-- Thurston Clarke, "Roll Out the Barrel", New York Times, February 16, 1997

Bartram was an ace self-dramatizer and avid explorer of nature, whose journals are full of blood and thunder and such dramatic observations of animals as this one of the American crocodile: "His enormous body swells. His plaited tail brandished high, floats upon the lake. The waters like a cataract descend from his opening jaws. Clouds of smoke issue from his dilated nostrils."
-- Diane Ackerman, "Nature Writers: A Species Unto Themselves", New York Times, May 13, 1990

So ambitious is he to detail the full background of every individual, group, institution or phenomenon that figures in his chronicle . . . that a reader sometimes founders in the cataract of details.
-- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, review of Common Ground, by J. Anthony Lukasm, New York Times, September 12, 1985

A cataract of names spills over the pages: Henry Kissinger, G. Gordon Liddy, Betty Ford, Frank Sinatra, Alice Roosevelt Longworth.
-- Richard F. Shepard, "How '60 Minutes' Ticks", New York Times, December 25, 1985

Cataract is from Latin cataracta, "a waterfall, a portcullis," from Greek kataraktes, katarrhaktes, from katarassein, "to dash down," from kata-, "down" + arassein, "to strike, dash."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for cataract

On the way back. Beware the Return of the Living Cataract:



Use your cloudy eye to see the link!

September 19, 2006 - Improvident

Improvident \im-PROV-uh-duhnt; -dent\, adjective:
Lacking foresight or forethought; not foreseeing or providing for the future; negligent or thoughtless.

Elizabeth's husband . . . had been a reckless, improvident man, who left many debts behind him when he died suddenly of a consumption in September 1704.
-- David Nokes, Jane Austen: A Life

Lily is spoiled, pleasure-loving, and has one of those society mothers who are as improvident as a tornado.
-- Elizabeth Hardwick, Sight-Readings: American Fictions

He called the decision "an exercise in raw judicial power" that was "improvident and extravagant."
-- Linda Greenhouse, "White Announces He'll Step Down From High Court", New York Times, March 20, 1993

Improvident derives from Latin improvidens, improvident-, from im- (for in-), "not" + providens, provident-, present participle of providere, "to see beforehand, to provide for," from pro-, "before, forward" + videre, "to see."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for improvident

Youtube's search interpreter is weird. It obviously found no exact matches for improvident, so it's word-form database and logic told it to strip off the -nt to form improvide (which is must understand as some construction of the word "provide"), but since improvide is not a word, it didn't find anything except two videos where the user misspelled improvise. This is how I get most of the less obvious word-match videos I find.

It's video like this that make me despair of ever learning to play guitar. My fingers just don't move that fast. Rock and Roll is forever. Party on Marty:



Whammy link.

Moving time

I am taking a hiatus until next Wednesday (9/27) from Tube of The Day so that I can finish up my moving. When I come back, I will catch up the 9 days between 9/16 and then. As a special treat to hold you over, enjoy the robot bodybuilder:



Weah Heah to LINK *CLAP* you UP!

September 18, 2006 - Commodious

Commodious \kuh-MOH-dee-us\, adjective:
Comfortably or conveniently spacious; roomy; as, a commodious house.

Then there are the trousers, black check or blue check, with commodious pockets.
-- Richard F. Shepard, "For Caring Chefs, Crowning Glory Is the Headgear", New York Times, August 15, 1990

This brought John to accept Benjamin Franklin's invitation to reside in his commodious quarters in Passy, a suburb at the city's edge.
-- Paul C. Nagel, John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life

Fed by the melting ice packs, the ocean rose again, inundating coastal lowlands and pouring back through the Narrows, creating the commodious Upper Bay that would serve as the harbor of New York.
-- Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898

Commodious derives from the Latin commodus, "conforming to measure, hence convenient or fit for a particular purpose," from com-, "with" + modus, "measure."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for commodious

This is the kind of thing that made me want to do this in the first place. I love finding these little objets d'art. Well done all around.



This my Link of Whatever

September 17, 2006 - Staid

Staid \STAYD\, adjective:
Steady or sedate in character; sober; composed; regular; not wild, volatile, or fanciful.

After the founders have left or died, after the excitement has moved elsewhere along with the best employees, after the company's products and logo and image have grown synonymous with staid and predictable.
-- Michael S. Malone, Infinite Loop

His mother being, in fact, a rather staid English country lady of mild habits and genteel aspirations.
-- Lesley Hazleton, Driving To Detroit

He took no interest in artistic pursuits, and in time became a staid businessman like his father -- a bank manager; in fact, utterly middle class.
-- Patrick McGilligan, Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast

Staid is from obsolete staid, past participle of stay.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for staid

OK, I hate to start posting again with such a lame entry, but there really wasn't anything neat, and I didn't want to post any AMVs and apprently staid is a common misspelling of Staind. This is just weird. At least it is somewhat original. He just kind of sits there. God, I hate performance art, I hope you enjoy the music at least.



Feel the link.

September 16, 2006 - Inhere

Inhere \in-HIR\, intransitive verb:
To be inherent; to belong, as attributes or qualities.

The authority that belongs to someone as former secretary of state does not inhere in the person, but in the relation between the person and his former office.
-- "The grim face of partisanship", Washington Times, July 10, 2001

To other critics, the problems of democracy inhere in the incapacity of democratic institutions.
-- John Mark Hansen, "Individuals, institutions, and public preferences over public finance", American Political Science Review, September 1998

For New Labour has decided that upon these anonymous, nondescript, utterly unqualified public functionaries is to be thrust the full weight of moral and social authority that once inhered in the anointed clergy.
-- Janet Daley, "Will you kindly admit me into your bedroom", Daily Telegraph, October 20, 1998

Inhere is from Latin inhaerere, from in-, "in" + haerere, "to stick, to hang."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for inhere


This was simple, but interesting.



iLink

Geeks with too much time on their hands create wonderful things like this:



Use the Force, Link!

This is an interesting and uncomfortable office movie. I think the boss character is supposed to be Martin Short having a nervous breakdown.



Sellers sell and Linkers link

September 15, 2006 - Riparian

Riparian \rih-PAIR-ee-uhn; ry-PAIR-ee-uhn\, adjective:
Of or pertaining to the bank of a river or stream.

Riparian areas are the green, vegetated areas on each side of streams and rivers. They serve many important functions, including purifying water by removing sediments and other contaminants; reducing the risk of flooding and associated damage; reducing stream channel and streambank erosion; increasing available water and stream flow duration by holding water in stream banks and aquifers; supporting a diversity of plant and wildlife species; maintaining a habitat for healthy fish populations; providing water, forage, and shade for wildlife and livestock; and creating opportunities for recreationists to fish, camp, picnic, and enjoy other activities.
-- Jeremy M. Brodie, "Ribbons of Green", Bureau of Land Management Environmental Education Home Page

Along its serpentine course, the Charles River widens and narrows, and its riparian sounds swell to crescendos in places or relax to the low purr of a river at peace.
-- Craig Lambert, Mind Over Water: Lessons on Life from the Art of Rowing

[The vireo's] comeback may prove that habitat along streams in Southern California is recovering from the effects of pollution caused by decades of urban development. That is a critical indicator of environmental health in a state that has lost 97% of its riparian woodlands, more than any other state.
-- Gary Polakovic, "Songbird's Numbers Crescendo", Los Angeles Times, August 22, 1999

[What about your social circle?] "A steady stream of brilliant American intellectuals visiting me in the riparian solitude of a beautifully reflected sunset."
-- Vladimir Nabokov, "Nabokov on Nabokov and Things", New York Times, May 12, 1968

Riparian is from the Latin, ripari-us + -an, from Latin ripa, the bank of a river.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for riparian

There is actually a match for this word, but only one. A gentleman takes us on a mountain bike ride down and around a trail through the Monte Bello Preserve in Santa Clara Valley in California. It's not much, but it's there.




Look out for that ... link!

September 14, 2006 - Fanfaronade

Fanfaronade \fan-fair-uh-NAYD; -NOD\, noun:
1. Swaggering; empty boasting; blustering manner or behavior; ostentatious display.
2. Fanfare.

George Manahan made his debut this week as music director of New York City Opera, and it is difficult to imagine someone laying claim to a major podium with less of a fanfaronade.
-- Justin Davidson, "A Director's Toil Pays Some Dividends", Newsday, September 21, 1996

But like a demure singer in a long gown who is surrounded by chorus girls in sequined miniskirts, the statue may seem slightly lost amid the fanfaronade.
-- Richard Stengel, "Rockets will glare and bands blare to celebrate the statue", Time, July 7, 1986

Fanfaronade derives from Spanish fanfarronada, from fanfarrón, "braggart," from Arabic farfar, "garrulous."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for fanfaronade


This word was designed to piss a youtube searcher off. Any guesses as to how many matches Fanfaronade gets you? Right. Zero.
First Word, First Sense: Swaggering. Just so you know, it's a little scary inside this search. Be warned.

Ah, this one's perfect ... or I should say pAARRRRRfect



What kind of link does a pirate click? A PEG Link.

First Word, Second Sense: Fanfare

I remember this from my childhood, but I don't recall which shows or movies:



Duh-duh-DUUUUH!!!!!

EDIT: I found this after I hit publish and I'm too big of a dork not to include it:



I win the role(link)playing game!!!

September 13. 2006 - Erudite

Erudite \AIR-yuh-dyt; -uh-dyt\, adjective:
Characterized by extensive reading or knowledge; learned.

In front of imposing edifices like the Topkapi Palace or Hagia Sophia are guides displaying Government-issued licenses. Many of these guides are erudite historians who have quit low-paying jobs as university professors and now offer private tours.
-- "What's Doing in Istanbul", New York Times, February 23, 1997

The works of Baudrillard, Deleuze, Guattari and Virilio are filled with seemingly erudite references to relativity, quantum mechanics, chaos theory, etc.
-- Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, Fashionable Nonsense

Erudite comes from Latin eruditus, from e-, "out of, from" + rudis, "rough, untaught," which is also the source of English rude. Hence one who is erudite has been brought out of a rough, untaught, rude state.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for erudite

Is this child abuse or simply funny?



Link it like it's hot!

September 12, 2006 - Tetchy

Tetchy \TECH-ee\, adjective:
Peevish; testy; irritable.

Waugh's tetchy and combative personality made him a difficult companion at arms.
-- Penelope Lively, "A Maverick Historian", The Atlantic, February 2001

Wright was in Tokyo, busy with the Imperial Hotel, firing off telegrams blaming his son, Lloyd, and Schindler for nagging cost overruns that Barnsdall, always tetchy about parting with money, was balking at.
-- Greg Goldin, "Light Houses", Los Angeles Magazine, February 2001

His every word was pure gold then, and even the chairman, who is not known to hide his light under a bushel, got a little tetchy being asked to opine on every economic subject known to man.
-- Jamie Dettmer, "Greenspan Doesn't Always Get It Right", Insight on the News, February 26, 2001

As prams trundle and toddlers bawl, bargain-hunters try to shove, grab and kick their way to consumerist nirvana, while their spouses, weighed down by bulging bags, get seriously tetchy.
-- Kim Gilmour, "Hello, good buy", Internet Magazine, November 2001

Tetchy probably comes from Middle English tecche, "a bad habit," from Old French tache, teche, "a spot, stain, blemish, habit, vice."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for tetchy

I wish I spoke Tagalog; the only hits for tetchy are for the finale of a Filipino "teleserye" (TV Series) called "Basta't Kasama Kita." It transcends language though. Also, YouTube has upgraded their player. I picked one with a decent visual story that wasn't too long, but I can only link to it because embedding was "disabled by request." Enjoy.

dutong!

September 11, 2006 - Pejorative

First, I know I have had to make a lot of double posts lately because I've skipped a day. So far, I've only missed single days. Unfortunately, on very short notice, my family must move by the end of the month, my father (MisterBixby Sr.) is in the hospital for tests, I've been trying to keep up with my obligations at the Super Fan Blog and I have been slammed at work (plus I'm a little under the weather). All told, not a good last coupla weeks.

Pejorative \pih-JOR-uh-tiv\, adjective:
1. Tending to make or become worse.
2. Tending to disparage or belittle.

noun:
1. A belittling or disparaging word or expression.

Citing the construction industry, car dealers, and politicians as the purveyors of "sprawl" (a pejorative term that does not even allow for the possibility of benefits associated with low-density development), Kunstler fails to consider the role of market forces.
-- Julia Hansen, "letter to the editor", The Atlantic, December 1996

While he said that he is not a "fanboy," mildly pejorative slang for an aggressively obsessive "Star Wars" fan, he did mention that the John Williams "Star Wars" theme was played at his wedding reception two years ago.
-- Michel Marriott, "On a Galaxy of Sites, 'Star Wars' Fever Rises", New York Times, May 6, 1999

Welfare state is now, even for the Labour party whose grand historic achievement it was, obscurely shameful. A pejorative for our times.
-- John Sutherland, "How the potent language of civic life was undermined", The Guardian, March 20, 2001

Pejorative is derived from the past participle of Late Latin pejorare, "to make worse, to become worse," from Latin pejor, "worse."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for pejorative

On top of all that, only two hits on today's word. One is a depressing, arty and weird student-film-looking rant on Third World Debt. I couldn't watch more than 15 seconds of it. That just isn't how we roll here at Tube of the Day.

People doing dumb things, on the other hand - that is more our style.



Here, catch!

That's it for today.

September 10, 2006 - Suasion

Suasion \SWAY-zhun\, noun:The act of persuading; persuasion.
As in the 1960s, violence converged with dynamism in American life, but unlike that subsequent period of protest, the militancy of the 1930s was restrained by the long arm of an American political tradition that favored reform by moral suasion.-- Nona Balakian, The World of William Saroyan
He visualized a world wherein power is exercised peacefully by moral suasion and political acumen, a world of idealism in many ways.-- George Perkovich, India's Nuclear Bomb
Some of the earliest protests of the incipient civil rights movement demanded the removal of baseball's color line. Beyond this cultural suasion, legal efforts to mandate integration were under way almost two years before Jackie Robinson donned a Brooklyn Dodger uniform.-- Dean Chadwin, Those Damn Yankees
Even more reassuring--more wishful and escapist, from our secularist-modern perspective--is the idea that the universe is moral and hence responsive to moral suasion.-- Yi-Fu Tuan, Escapism
Suasion comes from Latin suasio, from suadere, "to present in a pleasing manner," hence, "to advise." It is related to suave, "gracious or agreeable in manner."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for suasion

Only three hits today, from someone whose username is Suasion.

He is apparently bored a great deal this day. He uses some fun mirror/camera effects for his guitar video.



Clink link in case of boredom as F**K.

September 9, 2006 - Vade Mecum

Vade Mecum \vay-dee-MEE-kuhm; vah-dee-MAY-\, noun:
1. A book for ready reference; a manual; a handbook.
2. A useful thing that one regularly carries about.

The reader who wants honestly to understand it, and not merely read into it his own ideas, needs some kind of vade mecum to provide the necessary background and explain unfamiliar words and allusions and strange turns of thought.
-- Robert C. Dentan, "Including Uz and Buz", New York Times, November 17, 1968

Roget's Thesaurus, which had come into being as a linguistic example of the Platonic ideal, became instead a vade mecum for the crossword cheat.
-- Simon Winchester, "Word Imperfect", The Atlantic, May 2001

Vade mecum is from Latin, literally meaning "go with me."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for vade mecum

So, no hits on Youtube. How about Google Video? Nada.

Crap.

OK. Nothing on youtube for "A book for ready reference." I searched for Reference Book instead - it seemed a fair substitute. I have to admit this project is causing more judgement calls than I expected. Got some hits there.

Oh. Thank non-existent God for this!



Dewey Decimal says the link can be found in section 107.987654400

Oh my. Oh my, yes! Thank you! Enjoy!



One link to rule them all,
One link to find them.
One link to bring them all,
and in the darkness bind them.

My work here is done.

Friday September 8, 2006 - Small Beer

Wait a minute! What did that say? Small Beer? That's really the WORD of the Day? OK. Must be Friday or something. I fear you tube at this point. This may not be safe for work.

Small Beer \small beer\, noun:
1. Weak beer.
2. Insignificant matters; something of little importance.

adjective:
1. Unimportant; trivial.

We dined early upon stale bread and old mutton with small beer.
-- Ferdinand Mount, Jem (and Sam)

I was not born for this kind of small beer, says Joan the wife of the colonial governor, who imagines leading armies or "droves of inflamed poets."
-- Nancy Willard, "The Nameless Women of the World", New York Times, December 18, 1988

Call me a geek, but for biologists, marvels like the parasitic flatworm are on tap every day, making the reveries of Hollywood seem like small beer.
-- Jerry A. Coyne, "The Truth Is Way Out There", New York Times, October 10, 1999

Small beer is beer of only slight alcoholic strength; the other senses are derivative.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for small beer

Alright. I'm clicking "search" ... and ... ok, mostly a few beer ads and drunk people being stupid so far.

Here's a nice parody pair. The Aussies make some great beer ads.

Original:


It's a BIG LINK

Parody:


It'a small link


What else... hmm? Ooooh I want one of these!!!



Link it right down the middle.

These guys claim to have been half in the bag when they filmed it, but it's still really good. I've done some stage fighting training and this is very good, excellent if you add in the fact that they are amateurs.



No one can be told what the link is


I posted a lot for today's because I didn't finish this yesterday and I saw how bad "tomorrow's" word is.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

I alluded to this late last week, but now I can announce it. I have been chosen as a Bear's SuperFan Blogger at the Bears SuperFan Blog!

I am on the hook for at least one post a week - not a problem, I think - and I am one of 11 bloggers to be chosen.

Please disregard the dorkiness of my first post (I'm the one in the tie), since they wanted us to post our application submission as our first post and I wasn't writing a blog post at the time. I should have the second post up by the time anyone reads this.

September 7, 2006 - Pervicacious

Pervicacious \puhr-vih-KAY-shuhs\, adjective:
Refusing to change one's ideas, behavior, etc.; stubborn; obstinate.

In fact, I'm a word nerd. I get a kick out of tossing a few odd ones intomy column, just to see if the pervicacious editors will weed them out.
-- Michael Hawley, "Things That Matter: Waiting for Linguistic Viagra", Technology Review, June, 2001

One of the most pervicacious young creatures that ever was heard of.
-- Samuel Richardson, Clarissa

The language of the bureaucrats and administrators must needs be recognized as an outgrowth of legal parlance. There is no other way to explain itspervading, pervicacious and pernicious meanderings.
-- New York Law Journal, May 27, 1909

Pervicacious is from Latin pervicax, pervicac-, "stubborn, headstrong," from root pervic- of pervincere, "to carry ones point, maintain ones opinion," from per-, "through, thoroughly" + vincere, "to conquer, prevail against" + the suffix -ious, "characterized by, full of."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for pervicacious

No Matches. I am going to use "stubborn" because the phrase is too long.

Yay for Stubborn Clay



I WON'T GIVE YOU THIS LINK!

I want it NOW! Seen it before, but that doesn't make it unfunny!



YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GIVE IT TO YOU

September 6, 2006 - Verisimilitude

Verisimilitude \ver-uh-suh-MIL-uh-tood; -tyood\, noun:
1. The appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true.
2. Something that has the appearance of being true or real.

In an attempt to create verisimilitude, in addition to the usual vulgarities, the dialogue is full of street slang.
-- Wilborn Hampton, "Sugar Down Billie Hoak': An Unexpected Spot to Find a Father", New York Times, August 1, 1997

For those plays, Ms. Smith interviewed hundreds of people of different races and ages, somehow managing to internalize their expressions, anger and quirks enough to be able to portray them with astonishing verisimilitude.
-- Sarah Boxer, "An Experiment in Artistic Democracy", New York Times, August 7, 2000

The old man's massive forehead, penetrating eyes and enormous beard lent verisimilitude to this unappealing portrait.
-- "Charm itself", Economist, October 16, 1999

Verisimilitude comes from Latin verisimilitudo, from verisimilis, from verus, "true" + similis, "like, resembling, similar." The adjective form is verisimilar.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for verisimilitude

Apparently these students are testing the verisimilitude of their imaginations... poor Quentin.



Truly this is the link.

September 5, 2006 - Arcane

Arcane \ar-KAYN\, adjective:
Understood or known by only a few.

Under Indonesia's arcane system of land tenure, disputes between local residents, and between locals and developers, are commonplace.
-- "Not Fair.", TheEconomist, July 26, 1997

While addressing a problem in the arcane field of mathematical logic, he imagined a machine that could mimic human reasoning.
-- Paul Gray, "Alan Turing", Time Pacific, March 29, 1999

Practitioners of this arcane art combine highly abstract mathematical deduction with some of the basic behavioral assumptions of micro-economics to produce theories of the behavior of voters, of representative assemblies, of bureaucracies, and even of courts.
-- Jerry L. Mashaw, Greed, Chaos, and Governance

Arcane comes from Latin arcanus, "shut, closed, secret," from arca, "chest, box."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for arcane

Lots to choose from today! More bands... sigh. What else? Hmm...

I have a preternatural weakness for breakdancing and Michael Jackson dancing. Also, I love glow-in-the-dark. If only I could combine them...



Break the link!

Not that i agree with graffiti or anything, but it can be pretty cool to see it done.



Tagged

September 4, 2006 - Surcease

Surcease \SUR-sees; sur-SEES\, noun:
Cessation; stop; end.

One of his clearest remembrances from childhood was the feeling that swept over him when, on a Saturday morning, the sun had sequestered itself behind a cascade of clouds and rain, thick, relentless walls of rain, came pounding down with no promise of surcease, black greasy rain that eradicated all hopes of an outdoor day.
-- Stanley Bing, Lloyd: What Happened

When flights are delayed and the airport concourse looks like the subway at rush hour, children crawling among luggage and lines winding to pay phones, anxious travelers yearn for surcease.
-- Betsy Wade, "Airline Clubs: Worth the Cost?", New York Times, August 24, 1997

Listening to academics going on about desire is a profound anti-aphrodisiac treasure for those of us seeking surcease from worldly temptations.
-- Ron Rosenbaum, "Sex Week at Yale", The Atlantic, January/February 2003

Surcease comes from Old French sursis, past participle of surseoir, "to refrain," from Latin supersedere, "to sit above, to sit out," from super, "above" + sedere, "to sit."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for surcease

Only one hit on the word today and I think the filmmaker thought it was a verb. It's a trailer for a film that I can find no other reference to elsewhere on the net. It's an odd film too. Looks like some kind of morality play about bullying or something. Sort of homo-erotic too. Supposed to have come out last month. Enjoy



I always place the link at the surcease of the post.

September 3, 2006 - Insouciant

Insouciant \in-SOO-see-uhnt\, adjective:
Marked by lighthearted unconcern or indifference; carefree; nonchalant.

The insouciant gingerbread man skips through the pages with glee, until he meets his . . . demise at the end.
-- Judith Constantinides, "The Gingerbread Man", School Library Journal, April 2002

They don't seem to care whether they become stars or not, and their irony . . . has a scoffing, insouciant feel.
-- Thomas Frank, "Pop music in the shadow of irony", Harper's Magazine, March 1998

The British right is not so rich in ideas and projects that it can afford to be insouciant about a new one.
-- John Lloyd, "The Anglosphere Project", New Statesman, March 13, 2000

Insouciant is from the French, from in-, "not" + souciant, "caring," present participle of soucier, "to trouble," from Latin sollicitare, "to disturb," from sollicitus, "anxious." The noun form is insouciance.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for insouciant

This seems appropriate.



I suppose I could give the link, but it's no big deal, nothing no one else would do. I'm totally nonchalant about it.

This one is interesting. It was made as a gift from one good friend to another on the recipient's wedding day. I just like the combination of the music and the art. The end sequence was surprising, but somehow doesn't feel inappropriate given the fact that this is a private communication between two people.



Linktastic

Septermber 2, 2006 - Confute

confute \kuhn-FYOOT\, transitive verb:
To overwhelm by argument; to refute conclusively; to prove or show to be false.

Having settled in Rome in 1486, he proposed 900 theses and challenged any scholar to confute them, agreeing to pay his expenses.
-- David S. Katz and Richard H. Popkin, Messianic Revolution

Instinct, intuition, or insight is what first leads to the beliefs which subsequent reason confirms or confutes.
-- Bertrand Russell

As he says, a professor of geography does not feel obliged regularly to confute those who believe that the earth is flat.
-- Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "Bearing False Witness", New York Times, May 13, 2001

Its organizer is the Rev. Geoffrey Wilson, who wants to confute the Darwinist heretics by proving that the island is the location of the Garden of Eden.
-- Adam Hochschild, "The Floating Swap Meet", New York Times, May 28, 2000

Confute is from Latin confutare, "to check the boiling of a liquid; to put down; to silence."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for confute

This is a tough word. There are only four hits in the search and they are all misspellings of confuse or confusion.

One is an amatuerish video from a foreign band and the other three are AMV's. I picked my favorite AMV of the three there. I don't generally like AMV's, but I wasn't given too much choice.



Staring at the Link

Incidentally, until I did this search I didn't know that Disturbed had covered "Land of Confusion" by Genesis. It's really good. It's too bad that the two AMV's that used the song didn't do a better job.

September 1, 2006 - Acquiesce

Day late, sorry. Twice the work today then ;)

Acquiesce \ak-wee-ES\, intransitive verb:
To accept or consent passively or without objection -- usually used with 'in' or 'to'.

At the same time, sellers might acquiesce to mafia involvement in their business as a way of ensuring payment for goods: if the buyer defaults, the mafioso will collect.
-- Louis S. Warren, The Hunter's Game

The British were not prepared to acquiesce to the return of the Chinese to Tibet, and determined to counter the reassertion of Chinese influence.
-- Tsering Shakya, The Dragon in the Land of Snows

France would probably express regret that a military strike had become necessary, but would acquiesce in it.
-- Craig R. Whitney, "France Pushes for Last-Ditch Diplomatic Solution.", New York Times, February 20, 1998

Acquiesce comes from Latin acquiescere, "to give oneself to rest, hence to find one's rest or peace (in something)," from ad, "to" + quiescere, "to rest, to be or keep quiet."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for acquiesce

Sigh. This one is both a band and a song (mostly a song by Oasis, but there are one or two bands in there too).

Most of the choices seem to be Oasis footage or AMV's. There is this one. It may not be manly, but babies are cute so shut up!!!



L to the I to the N to the K

Also, Microsoft Word is Dumb



LNIK Link