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Caturday Morning Open Thread

 Hello and welcome to another weekendish thing.

Monday, December 12, 2022

Monday πŸŒ– OT - Boys, Toys, Electric Irons, and TVs

Words. So sick of words. They're something to hide behind and lie to ourselves about. Strike a note of healthy pessimism below.

We've got [lustrum*], my brain hurts a lot[lustrum], that's all we've got

Here are words from professional word users: 

The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots. ~ Mencken
Words, words, words ~ Hamlet, son of Claudius and Gertrude

Language gives us an identity; it speaks of who we are. In my country, in my language, a language I share with 22 other nations and 572 million people, we say "dog" – perro – to speak about man's best friend. When we use the feminine noun perra it becomes synonyms with puta (whore). When we speak about someone who is daring – atrevido – we are talking about a fearless man. When we utter the feminine form atrevida we are referring to a puta (whore). The synonyms we use in Spanish for puta are many (101, to be precise), but there is no negative equivalent to talk about a man who has sex with many women. Because using the masculine form puto constitutes an insult to refer to a homosexual man. Men who have sex with lots of women are considered desirable. There is no derogative word to define them and that is a clear sign of the social construction that is patriarchy. ~ Argentine writer Agustina Bazterrica, essay in The Irish Times 

If you would be unloved and forgotten, be reasonable. ~ Vonnegut

What are words for? When no one listens anymore? ~ Bozzio and Cuccurullo

•••

Here are some words I know but cannot use without looking the fool and sucking the life out of a room:

Clepsydra - fancy word for a water clock. WTF is a water clock? This is useless and will never come up in convo unless I force it to happen

Franion - a pleasure seeker, an idler. Similar to epicurean but not exactly synonymous

Durance vile - Paul Whelan is currently suffering through this

Pogonotrophy - the act of growing facial hair

Furacity - thievish. Example: "He was disgusted with the evidence of TFG's vominous furacity."

Supervacaneous - e.g.: "Sqrl's word usage tends to be supervacaneous."

*Lustrum - a period of five years

... and more. But I'll stop here.

•••

How was your day? What's the good word?








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