Words You Have Taught Me — May 2021
№ 17 — a Look Who’s Back listicle
WYHTM is back, after a near-year-long hiatus. Rested, fortified, vaccinated — as good as new.
It was always a good bit of work, assembling these linguisticles — not to mention the requisite reading — and after sixteen installments spanning four years, featuring over 470 unique terms and expressions, I was burnt out.
But even when I got busy with other pursuits and dialed back my reading, the idiomatic novelties kept cropping up at a steady pace.
Staying true to our tradition, the content below draws from multiple languages, including Kazakh, Arabic, Kannada, German, Italian, Greek and Swahili. And there are a few slang terms in the mix also.
So, without further ado: here is the latest in literary lingo, journalist jargon, author’s argot and pencil pusher pidgin that I soaked up here since the last time we did this …
aphelion
the point in the orbit of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which it is furthest from its star
from Alex Guenther — of 108 sonnets fame
azathioprine, azoturia
azathioprine — antimetabolite used especially as an immunosuppressant
azoturia —an abnormal condition of horses characterized by muscle damage especially to the hindquarters and dark-colored urine containing nitrogenous substances from muscle tissue breakdown
from Speaking Fiction To Power
blogroll
“comes from the early days of blogging, when bloggers would often include a list of useful links on their blog (it was literally a roll call of your favorite links. hence, blogroll). It sounds simple, but before search and social media were ubiquitous parts of the internet experience, blogrolls played a crucial role in discovering new content online”
from the product launch article penned by Sam Jayne
curio
a rare, unusual, or intriguing object; short for curiosity
from Tanya E. Denhere
dombra and Daididau
dombra (Kazakh, also dombyra) — a long-necked Kazakh and Bashkir lute and a musical string instrument
read Elisabeth Khan’s story for the full story of Daididau
euneirophrenia
(Greek) the peaceful state of mind after a pleasant dream
from Rachel B. Baxter
gammon
(slang, British) “the gammon are 99.99% white, male, and ruddy-faced — at least when they’re mouthing off about something that raises their blood pressure”
from Katy Preen
gesichtskondom
(slang, German) literally “face condom” — a COVID-ism
from Rashmee Roshan Lall
hatari
(Swahili) “danger”, also a 1962 safari comedy starring John Wayne and Elsa Martinelli
fom Steven Hale
Hueco Mountains
(Spanish) a range of mountains that rise in southern Otero County, New Mexico and extend south into Texas, generally along the El Paso–Hudspeth county line
from K.C. Knouse
Hyperbolia
according to Sally Ito, “It’s a condition poets have” :-)
hyperlexia
as exceptional reading ability at an early age without age-appropriate language and speech skills. it is a learning disability accompanied by language deficits.
intercostal muscle
muscles that run between the ribs, serving to move the ribs in respiration
from Stephen M. Tomic
lachryphagous
tear-feeding, characteristic of a number of insect species including moths, butterflies, and bees, usually on the tears of mammals, in pursuit of minerals, chiefly sodium
from David B. Clear
milk vetch
from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Mouseion
an institution, said to have been founded by Ptolemy I Soter, which which included the famous Library of Alexandria
from Moin Uddin
oleaginous
oily, greasy; exaggeratedly and distastefully complimentary; obsequious
I used this vowel-rich beauty (consonant content only 40%!) in a limerick lampooning our then Vice President, in the final days of the Trump lame duck presidency — but a few days before the now-infamous Capitol Insurrection, so things were kind of still up in the air, and merciless satire was fair game.
palaver
(noun) unnecessarily elaborate or complex procedure
(verb) talk unproductively and at length
from Laura Sheridan
parure
matched set of ornaments, or a set of jewels intended to be worn together
from Lise Colas
purlicue, ulna
purlicue — the space between one’s forefinger and thumb
ulna —the thinner and longer of the two bones in the human forearm, on the side opposite to the thumb
from Mary Holden
seamount
This one is pretty obvious, yet somehow it never comes up in everyday conversation. 🤔… from Sylvia Wohlfarth
a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor but that does not reach to the water’s surface, i.e. a submarine mountain
sirocco
(derived from the Arabic sharqiyy) a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and can reach hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe
from Trisha Traughber
tavoletta
(Italian) tablet, bar, sheet of wood
from enric
TERF
“trans-exclusionary radical feminist”, first recorded in 2008, the term originally applied to the minority of feminists espousing sentiments that other feminists considered transphobic
Ugadi
(Kannada) “Ugadi is a festival celebrated in Karnataka, a Southern state in India. The most likely origin of this word is from these two words — Yuga which is a period in time, and Adi which means the beginning. So Ugadi stands for the beginning of a period of time.”
from Anu Anniah
velvet ants
common term for Mutillidae, a family of more than 7,000 species of wasps whose wingless females resemble large, hairy ants sporting bright colorts, a.k.a. “cow killers” on account of their painful stings
Thanks for your continual patronage!
Please don’t be shy, send me your novelties so that I may include them in the next go-around.
Here are all previous episodes of #WYHTM:
