December 11, 2006

• Please enter your password, followed by the octothorpe...
• Phosphenes: I knew that one! And I really like it. And used to like playing with them, until had a radial keratotomy and got aprehensive about pressing my eyeballs.
• Otter dung needs its own word?
• Quackle \Quac"kle\, v. i. & t. [imp. & p. p. Quackled; p. pr.& vb. n. Quackling.] [Cf.Querken.] To suffocate; to choke. [Prov. Eng.] -- Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
• 'Bye dear, see you!' 'Uh-oh, honey, I think you forgot to shave your ophryon...' *cringes*
• There seems no end to the wonder of the names of fishes: the eelpout, the alewife, the chubb, the thimble-eye mackerel, the pavender etc.
• Is ferrule a weird word? Though admittedly I knew it as the name for the metal tip on a walking stick. Other words I picked up from various jobs over the years that seemed fairly task-specific were the verbs 'screeding' for using a straight edge to smooth off wet concrete, and 'dibbling' for making small holes to plant seeds in.
• Cucoloris: a device for casting shadows to produce patterned illumination
• Not weird Abs - it's pretty well known that "ferrus" is Latin for iron. Right?
• One of my fave, obscure words is, borborygmi PS: I think I went to school with someone with the last name of Ferrule...
• Ferrule \Fer"rule\ n. [Formerly verrel, F. virole, fr. L. viriola little bracelet, dim. of viriae, pl., bracelets; prob. akin to viere to twist, weave, and E. withe. The spelling with f is due to confusion with L. ferrum iron.] -- from Webster's (1913) ferrule ...Alteration (influenced by Latin ferrum, iron), of Middle English verrele, from Old French virole, from Latin viriola, little bracelet, diminutive of viriae, bracelets.... --The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. ferrule /ferrool/ • noun 1 a ring or cap which strengthens the end of a handle, stick, or tube. 2 a metal band strengthening or forming a joint. — ORIGIN Old French virelle, from Latin viriae ‘bracelets’. --the Compact Oxford English Dictionary [Fooled me, too, gomichild]
• Last night I told my wife that I put our son's freshly-laundered blanket on the newel of the staircase. She didn't bat an eye. Damn, I'll have to try again.
• I knew a pretty windlass Our luff it was complete and once I saw her boom vang when I let go the sheet. I had a salty skeg once I wanted to belay I produced my tallboy spanker her clevis to assay.
• Clevis? You mean like Clevis the Slackjawed Yokel? Oh no... that's CLETUS... nevermind...
• Dammit - that'll learn me for not brushing up on my Old French! [ta beeswacky]
• ((( fish tick! *turns hard-astern, does donuts*
• We retired to the fo'c's'le and upon some baggy wrinkle, after a bit o' nudgin' my pintle joined 'er gudgeon.
• The cuff on the end of a billiard cue that holds the tip is also called a ferrule. Egregore was in my head. Now I have "borborygmi egregore". Frabjous day, etc. In this list, "obdormition" is my fave, though I do like me some phosphenes and hemidemisemiquavers.
• Anyone with art training probably knows ferrule, because once you get anything (ie paint, ie dried paint) up into a brush's ferrule, the brush is ruined. I'm a little embarrassed that I know about 3/4 of the words on the list. I'm not sure whether the embarrassment is that I know that many (sure proof that I'm wasting my life on static pursuits) or that I don't know more. A word I like that isn't there is caltrop: A metal device with four projecting spikes so arranged that when three of the spikes are on the ground, the fourth points upward, used as a hazard to pneumatic tires or to the hooves of horses. I don't think most caltrops, the kind meant to keep you from going the wrong way in a parking lot or leaving without paying, are made that way anymore, and the word also has a couple of botanical meanings. (Also, I've always seen the second word on the list as "armscye" - used a lot in garment creation, esp sewing and knitting.)
• The yale (also "centicore", Latin "eale") is a mythical beast found in European mythology. Most descriptions make it an antelope- or goat-like four-legged creature with large horns that it can swivel in any direction. -- nicked from Wikipedia [my bold]
• Previous zarf reference. I remember a John Glashan character saying contemptuously "I would not give you the ferrule off a shoelace."
• I feel bad. I only knew aglet and peen. Aglet is a very useful word. I'm surprised everybody doesn't know it.
• Aglets
• So... Are aglets one kind of ferrule?
• ...and one ring ferrule them all.
• Fastilarian \Fas"ti*la"ri*an\, n. [From Fusty.] A low fellow; a stinkard; a scoundrel.[Obs.] --Shak. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
• Pilgarlic!
• Weasand \Wea"sand\, n. [OE. wesand, AS. w[=a]send; akin to OFries. w[=a]sende, w[=a]sande; cf. OHG. weisunt.] The windpipe; -- called also, formerly, wesil. [Formerly, written also, wesand, and wezand.] Cut his weasand with thy knife. --Shak. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)