The intriguing, compelling and beguiling vocabulary thread

Deli said:
Fundement

1 : an underlying ground, theory, or principle. 2a : buttocks,. b : anus. 3 : the part of a land surface that has not been altered by human activities.
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So if one had an underlying theory that the Earth's anus was in a land area that had not been altered by human activity, could we use that word three times in the same sentence?

electrovice said:
I am not sure that this fits in this category but I ran across this listing for carpet ruminants in the local craigslist this morning. I am sure that Mark H will have something witty to say about it after some rumination.
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I think carpet ruminants are little plastic farm animals that children leave on the floor for adults to step on. Somewhat akin to Lego, which is also a strange word to pluralize in its own right.

mhardy6647 said:
I'm never quite sure how many instances of the letter "i" to put in that gerund that means "the act of sliding around on a pair of skis".

And speaking of gerunds...
Lightning.
What is the verb form of lightning? If it's doin', you know, that flashy/boomy stuff outside... is it Lightninging? Lightningning? Lightning? Lighting? Lightening?

Oh, and don't get me started on participles.
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Double i in skiing.

I vote for lightninging as present tense and lightninged as past tense.
 
ahh... tenses.
There's always some... umm... tension... associated with tenses, especially when time travel is involved.

 
mhardy6647 said:
These two, in their time, probably woulda been considered carpet ruminants had they a few more stomach segments. They certainly liked to anoint carpets with... well... various bodily effluvia. :confused:

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And, is there alluvia amongst the effluvia? I certainly hope, not too much.
 
Oh, did I mention the word cleave?

The verb to cleave has two essentially opposite definitions.

transitive verb: to divide by or as if by a cutting blow
intransitive verb: to adhere firmly and closely or loyally and unwaveringly

www.merriam-webster.com

Definition of CLEAVE

to adhere firmly and closely or loyally and unwaveringly… See the full definition
www.merriam-webster.com www.merriam-webster.com

I mean, how can one not love English?
 
If memory serves, when Joe Walsh* ran for President, his campaign promise was to rename the US Capitol city Walshington.


(this came later, but seemed somehow apropos)
_____________
* This probably goes without saying, but any mention of memory and Joe Walsh in the same sentence is ironic and/or on the verge of a metaphysical conundrum. :smoke
 
JoeThePop said:
I remember him running for president. If he was running today he'd get my vote; even from the grave.
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I went to a campaign rally he held in support of his 1968 run. The "opening act" was Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. Paulsen was a member of the STAG Party which was an acronym for "Straight Talking American Government".
 
mhardy6647 said:
If memory serves, Paulsn ran numerous times.
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Yes. I think he ran every presidential election from 1968 to 1996. I saw him when he had his first campaign tour in 1968. The campaign sort of spun off from his regular appearances on the Smothers Brothers show. Kenny Rogers & company were periodic guests on the show. Other cast (semi) regulars that got their national break on the show were Steve Martin (with his banjo) and Sally Struthers.

I was way too young to vote when I saw him. The voting age was 21 in 1968. I was 12 days too young to vote in 1972 when the voting age had been lowered to eighteen.
 
Yup, I remember The SmoBro show quite well. Jennifer Warnes was a fairly frequent early guest -- and, of course, some of the seminal rock bands of the 20th Century...



 
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@mhardy6647
Thanks to you, Jasper, our 30y.o. Cockatiel, who has accumulated an endless string of nicknames over her life, now has a new one, Effluvia.
I mentioned it to Sarge, and, she threw it at Jasper and it stuck. Actually, Jasper dropped one on her, Sarge, and it stuck.
 
crepuscular
[krəˈpəskyələr]
ADJECTIVE

of, resembling, or relating to twilight.

synonyms:
indistinct · faint · vague · ill-defined · unclear · blurred · blurry · misty · hazy · foggy · veiled · cloudy · clouded · nebulous · fuzzy · dark · dim · unlit · black · [more]


zoology
(of an animal) appearing or active in twilight.

The usage that caught my ear:

The crepuscular Gray Fox can be seen most active at dawn and dusk.

Sarge and I were watching a nature program, and, the narrator dropped this bomb, casually.
Me on hearing it: I jumped for the TV remote, backed it up, hit closed caption so that I could see it spelled out, and off to the dictionary I went.
It seems to cover quite a bit of ground in its usages.
 
Crepuscular is a standing joke in my family.
Well, more to the point, my inability to say it properly is a standing joke.
My default is crespucular. My second try is almost always crepsucular.
By then, my wife and children (now, of course, very adult) are rolling on the floor.
:confused: :o
 
my goal for today:

To use scintilla, flotilla, tortilla, and chinchilla in a sensible & grammatical sentence.
Maybe sarsaparilla and vanilla too, if things go well...


It's important to have goals.
 
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