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Author Topic: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner  (Read 119328 times)

Offline BFM_JANE

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #60 on: February 08, 2008, 04:27:38 AM »
Seen THIS word before. AIGLETS is a high probability scrabble bonus word ::)

Is that your submission?! It doesn't count.

It was too simple and cheap, like the way an aglet makes it easier to lace something. A real tier3 doesn't need those namby-pamby aglets, just as a Scrabble wiz should be able to use a word in a... Well, maybe you just know a lot of words.

I still think you should make up a real sentence! Oooh! And try to use amusing hyphenations, such as:

hoity-toity (1 or 2)
wishy-washy
higgledy-piggledy (<-- Found this one when I got side-tracked looking up a word in the dictionary, which happens too often--I'm such a nerrrrrd!)

Offline MrMxyzptlk

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #61 on: February 08, 2008, 12:32:36 PM »

Well, what we have here is clearly a hodgepodge of shibboleths!

OOoOOOOO!  Hey!! THAT'S a good one RIGHT THERE!:


shib·bo·leth     [shib-uh-lith, ‑leth]

–noun

1.   a peculiarity of pronunciation, behavior, mode of dress, etc., that distinguishes a particular class or set of persons.
2.   a slogan; catchword.
3.   a common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth.


[Origin: < Heb shibbōleth lit., freshet, a word used by the Gileadites as a test to detect the fleeing Ephraimites, who could not pronounce the sound sh (Judges 12:4–6)]



Now all I have to do is come up with my sample sentence. ... Oh yeah!  I already DID THAT!

 ;)


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Offline Maelstrom/Iron

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #62 on: February 08, 2008, 08:47:09 PM »
 :o cool, I got a word of the day thing, but it gives me most words I learned already. I was reading your thread here and saw defenestrate. I remember that one still, came from the Latin for window. Fenestra, -ae. Only way I used it was, "Don't make me defenestrate you!" Weird reply and most just go, "Huh?" Anyways, nice thread. I look forward to using shibboleth.

Offline Forseti

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #63 on: February 09, 2008, 01:59:37 PM »
Not taking the cheap way out just to use it in a sentence  :siderofl: but shibboleth has a much deeper meaning behind it from the bible if anyone knows it. It was even the center of the plot for an episode of West Wing some years ago.

bah never mind I should learn to read an entire post before replying lol.

Offline Fender

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #64 on: February 12, 2008, 08:56:18 AM »
If it weren't for shibboleths, what would the "733t" have to talk about?
  

Offline Forseti

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #65 on: February 15, 2008, 03:56:36 PM »
One final bump from me as this will be the last time visiting this topic  :'(
I never visit the gaming corners or other sub-forums, but it was fun while it lasted. Thanks Mxy.

Offline BFM_JANE

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #66 on: February 28, 2008, 05:04:45 AM »
1.   a peculiarity of pronunciation, behavior, mode of dress, etc., that distinguishes a particular class or set of persons.
2.   a slogan; catchword.
3.   a common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth.

It means all that?! I needs (sic) some clarification. Do all of these apply or am I understanding it wrong:

1. (this one is the hardest for me. how can "pronunciation" and "mode of dress" be used in the same definition?!) I can't think of any examples, except maybe odd clubs that have uniforms or something.  :-\

2. Could it be "Dy-no-mite!" or the way we (or maybe just Americans) call all brands of facial tissue "Kleenex"? But then, that's a genericized trademark... IDK 'bout this one either.

3. Okay, I give up, I don't know ANY of these!

"Leet" (I refuse to use the symbols) seems like a really good example. Is it?

Help us out Mxy, I'm stumped!

Offline MrMxyzptlk

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #67 on: February 28, 2008, 10:25:21 AM »
1.   a peculiarity of pronunciation, behavior, mode of dress, etc., that distinguishes a particular class or set of persons.
2.   a slogan; catchword.
3.   a common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth.

It means all that?! I needs (sic) some clarification. Do all of these apply or am I understanding it wrong:

You're reading it all too literally. You have to look at it's origins to understand what a shibboleth is, and just how strange a thing it is....:

"Shibboleth" was THE word used by the Gileadites as a test to detect the fleeing Ephraimites, who could not pronounce the sound "sh."  I.e. In order to rat-out a group of people they INVENTED A WORD - "shibboleth" - THOSE PEOPLE COULD NOT PRONOUNCE (because the word contained a pheonetic sound that culture could not pronounce....) So it has since become THE word for any sort of thing like that. (A particular hand signal, type of hat, ... anything that can be used by one group of people to distinguish themselves from another.) Hence a shibboleth can be ANYTHING any one group decides can be used to distinguish itself from another.

Quote
1. (this one is the hardest for me. how can "pronunciation" and "mode of dress" be used in the same definition?!) I can't think of any examples, except maybe odd clubs that have uniforms or something.  :-\

Because shibboleth has come to mean any abstraction of itself!  (Which is SO COOL to me, from a linguistic perspective!)

Quote
2. Could it be "Dy-no-mite!" or the way we (or maybe just Americans) call all brands of facial tissue "Kleenex"? But then, that's a genericized trademark... IDK 'bout this one either.

If you can determine that whatever you pick can be used to distinguish one group from another, then yes, it is a form of shibboleth!  E.g. You wrote (as an addition to other words with specific meaning ONLY TO NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS):

[...]

I still think you should make up a real sentence! Oooh! And try to use amusing hyphenations, such as:

hoity-toity (1 or 2)
wishy-washy
higgledy-piggledy (<-- Found this one when I got side-tracked looking up a word in the dictionary, which happens too often--I'm such a nerrrrrd!)

The prior words plus your additions formed - to me - a list that could be a shibboleth to determine native english-language speakers (albeit imperfectly, but hey - it's not too big a stretch!  ;) )

Ditto your examples of american's using product-name slang for items: Kleenex, Popsicle, ...

Quote
3. Okay, I give up, I don't know ANY of these!

"Leet" (I refuse to use the symbols) seems like a really good example. Is it?

Help us out Mxy, I'm stumped!

No, you're not... you're exactly correct with your example! (Although some "non-leets" might still be able to decipher the "word" "1337...." Oh, and I have absolutely no problem using the replacement symbols as letters, since I'm all for the evolution and diversification of language.... I've made a few contributions of my own, BTW!)

What you've given ("Leet-speak") is a valid example of a shibboleth, since it distinguishes one group from all others. (One side-effect of most shibboleths: they're usually NOT 100% effective....)

So JANE: You're only confused because you haven't made the jump to the fact that the abstraction of shibboleth, in addition to being a shibboleth, is now THE word (or term) for all such sorts of things!
(You're obviously on the right track, but you just don't seem to be able to believe that that's what's going on here, I think!)

It IS kind of crazy - that the word is viewed as the original example of the general meaning of ITSELF - but that's why I added it to my list oddball words long ago! :yesyes:

[Also, it's a great example to show how pretty-much ALL language has evolved when you really think about it: Somewhere, at some time in the past, someone looked at something and said "that's an orange" and hence everything with that color is now called "orange!" I.e. The color "orange" is an abstraction of the thing originally labelled "orange...."]


Capiche? (  :winkgrin: )


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Offline MrMxyzptlk

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #68 on: March 05, 2008, 12:25:15 PM »


Well, well well!  Sure looks like its been AT LEAST a coupla weeks, eh?!  :winkgrin:

Time for a new word then! . . .



vin·cu·lum      [ving-kyuh-luhm]

–noun, plural -la     [-luh]

1.   a bond signifying union or unity; tie.
2.   Mathematics. a stroke or brace drawn over a quantity consisting of several members or terms, as , in order to show that they are to be considered together.


[Origin: 1655–65; < L: fetter, equiv. to vinc(īre) to bind + -ulum -ule]


Despite the propensity to hear this word in its mathematical context, I've taken a liking to it original meaning, that was leveraged into Mathematics usage due to its similar need there. Sooo, my sample sentence this time is:

Once a group starts calling themselves a "clan" they would likely have a vinculum.

« Last Edit: March 05, 2008, 10:11:53 PM by MrMxyzptlk »
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Offline BFM_Hydra

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #69 on: March 05, 2008, 09:04:17 PM »
Shouldn't that sentence be "a vinculum"? The definition that you have there says it is a noun.


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Offline MrMxyzptlk

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #70 on: March 05, 2008, 10:11:38 PM »
Shouldn't that sentence be "a vinculum"? The definition that you have there says it is a noun.

Extra points to Hydra!  :embarrassed:
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Offline Fender

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #71 on: March 18, 2008, 01:56:36 PM »
Thought of an example -- the "BFM" tag is a form of vinculum, or rather a representation of one.  Which I guess begs the question: Is a vinculum the binding itself (which in this case would be BFM membership), or is it the representation of the bind or tie (which would be the tags that represent BFM membership)? Or perhaps it is both.

Given the use in mathematics, the vinculum is the bar (i.e., the symbol) showing the link between quantities in an equation.  Hmmm...

The other phrase that is now running, rather madly, through my head: "Inka-binka, bottle o' vincula..."

arg, danged OCD...!!
  

Offline MrMxyzptlk

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #72 on: March 18, 2008, 09:57:54 PM »

Its' the bond itself, and since any representation of that bond - such a clan tags - is an manifestation of that bond, it would imply to that as well, implicitly.

Good question!

...And ... I can't help you with that song problem, FB!

S'been two weeks, but ... low traffic here lately (Spring Break fever??,) so I'll wait to sync up with my reminder that pokes me to post a new word! (Oops!  Missed a whole two weeks there!  :embarrassed: )

« Last Edit: March 30, 2008, 11:09:55 AM by MrMxyzptlk »
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Offline MrMxyzptlk

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #73 on: March 30, 2008, 11:21:58 AM »


Time for a new word! . . .



bo·lide      [boh-lahyd, -lid]

–noun Astronomy.

a large, brilliant meteor, esp. one that explodes; fireball.


[Origin: 1850–55; < F < Gk bolid- (s. of bolís) missile]


This one's really kind of unfair to give you all, usage-wise, but seeing that I actually HAD the opportunity to use it once, well, it made it onto my list ever since!

You see, myself and the rest of my family were enjoying a (rare) warm summer night out in the hot tub, and all at once, a bright streak shot across the sky and broke into a dozen-odd OTHER streaks of varying hues of orange and yellow! While the rest of my family uttered "Wow!"s and "OOooOOOO!"s, I (of course!) said "Did you see that bolide?!?!" (At which point they all halted their exclamations of astonishment, turned to me and said - in unison: "WHAT?!?!::)  :embarrassed: )

(But it WAS an amazingly cool event to share, tho.... The sight, not my use of the term bolide, I mean!  ::) )

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Offline Acorn

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Re: Mr. Mxy's Word Corner
« Reply #74 on: March 30, 2008, 05:48:12 PM »
Lol you havent updated your sig on it =P

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