Search found 125 matches
- Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:02 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Sleigh
- Replies: 1
- Views: 3242
Re: Sleigh
A lot of words in English with a silent "gh" originate from a Dutch-like language which had a guttural sound like the "ch" in loch. The Dutch words for light, night, weigh, and enough retain this sound; the English words do not. I speculate (and it is only speculation) that the p...
- Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:16 am
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: ultimatum
- Replies: 1
- Views: 6332
ultimatum
I was looking for a word that applied to a situation where a person was presented with an immanent choice between troublesome options e.g. new job location with much longer commute; or local position with pay cut. "Hobson's choice" is wrong; it means no choice at all. "Sophie's choice...
- Fri Dec 13, 2019 11:57 am
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: bubble
- Replies: 1
- Views: 6114
bubble
Interesting for its variety of uses from soap bubbles, stock market bubbles, living in a bubble, and thought bubbles in comic strips.
- Wed Nov 27, 2019 5:45 pm
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: ontology
- Replies: 3
- Views: 9025
Re: ontology
Thanks.
- Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:19 pm
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: ontology
- Replies: 3
- Views: 9025
ontology
I wrestle with the difference between ontology—the study of existence; and teleology—the study of purpose.
- Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:15 pm
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: confuse/confound
- Replies: 1
- Views: 5972
Re: confuse/confound
This topic was somehow not included in the Goodword discussion area.
From the second verse of the British National Anthem:
O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix:
God save the Queen.
From the second verse of the British National Anthem:
O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix:
God save the Queen.
- Wed Nov 06, 2019 11:37 am
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: Humiliate/Humble
- Replies: 1
- Views: 5943
Humiliate/Humble
I generally associate humiliation with profound embarrassment, but recently I have found the word used without such extreme connotations—particularly in a legal context. In Canadian law, a person can be dismissed without just cause only by providing appropriate notice (which can be substantial) or p...
- Fri Nov 01, 2019 11:46 am
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: confuse/confound
- Replies: 1
- Views: 5972
confuse/confound
Both words have an etymology suggestive of pouring or mashing things together to produce a gallimaufry or mélange.
"The candidates speech was a confusion of exaggerations, quotes taken out of context, and outright lies."
"The candidates speech was a confusion of exaggerations, quotes taken out of context, and outright lies."
- Fri Nov 01, 2019 11:30 am
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: Fulminate
- Replies: 2
- Views: 5094
Re: Fuminate
Good word, but missing the l in the title.
- Fri Nov 01, 2019 11:28 am
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: prudent
- Replies: 2
- Views: 4830
Re: prudent
I like this word. It has such positive connotations for me.
- Thu Oct 24, 2019 1:32 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Concatenate
- Replies: 8
- Views: 9957
Re: Concatenate
Unix has the cat command, which chains files together. Wikipedia claims that the name is derived from its function to con cat enate files but I wonder if it derives from catenate instead. When two words have similar meanings, often they have some connotation that distinguishes them. Is that the case...
- Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:40 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Concatenate
- Replies: 8
- Views: 9957
Re: Concatenate
I have heard catenate and concatenate used interchangeably. Is there a difference between them. I first met catenate as an operation that linked separate pieces of text into a single entity such as message = "your search has yielded " & text(count) & " results" In the abo...
- Mon Sep 16, 2019 4:34 pm
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: review
- Replies: 2
- Views: 5105
review
This is such a simple word and yet it is causing me problems in the context of a legal document. If someone promises to review something, is there an implication of some diligence? This may be less a semantic question than a legal one.
- Mon Sep 16, 2019 3:57 pm
- Forum: Good Word Suggestions
- Topic: nugatory
- Replies: 1
- Views: 3607
nugatory
I would be interested in clarifying the shades of meaning associated with "nugatory", "otiose", and "feckless". To my ear, "feckless" is used to pejoratively describe an actor: "my dog's feckless attempts to catch a squirrel". To me, "nugatory&q...
- Tue Aug 20, 2019 11:20 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Aggregate
- Replies: 2
- Views: 4578
Re: Aggregate
to call_copse: In North America as well, aggregate is used to mean sand and gravel—particularly in the context of construction. "My son needed four dump-truck loads of aggregate to build up the low spot on his driveway." "Pourable concrete is a mixture of cement, aggregate, and water....