Apr 14, 2019
Words You Have Taught Me — April 2019
#8 — an early Easter listicle
compiled by Joe Váradi
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 … I’ve been on a self-imposed near-hiatus from Medium in recent weeks, so harvesting this collection has taken a bit longer than usual.
My gratitude as always to the veteran contributors — you know who you are — as well as to authors I’m featuring for the first time.
affective presence
the personality trait of how a person makes others feel — ranges from negative or positive, and stronger in some while weaker in others
from The Atlantic
Alcubierre warp drive & EmDrive
Alcubierre drive — (Wikipedia) a speculative idea based on a solution of Einstein’s field equations in general relativity as proposed by Mexican theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre, by which a spacecraft could achieve apparent faster-than-light travel if a configurable energy-density field lower than that of vacuum (that is, negative mass) could be created
EmDrive — short for “electromagnetic drive”, for details see this fascinating article
from Ella Alderson
biexponential
an exponential function that is the sum of two other exponential functions
by Oleg Sobchuk
The (slow) dying of cultural forms
Do cultural forms die? And if they do, then how exactly?
medium.com
bogart
(verb, slang) Urban Dictionary: To keep something all for oneself, thus depriving anyone else of having any. A slang term derived from the last name of famous actor Humphrey Bogart because he often kept a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, seemingly never actually drawing on it or smoking it
from Lauren Elizabeth
BDS
“Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” — a movement that targets businesses and organizations deemed complicit in Israel’s known and alleged human rights violations against Palestinians
from Kent Kroeger
CMWC
Cycle Messenger World Championship
from Lee Basford
Dunning-Kruger effect
a form of cognitive bias where people who are least competent at a particular skill tend to incorrectly rate themselves as higher-than-average performers because they are too ignorant to know otherwise
from Jeffrey Denny
eucatastrophe
a sudden and favorable resolution of events in a story; a surprise happy ending
from marjorie steele
glo up
(slang) from Urban Dictionary: when someone becomes really attractive after they hit puberty
from Isabel Hope, and a shout-out to Afy
hypnagogic
relating to the state of mind immediately before falling asleep
from Merry Mercurial
izakaya
a type of Japanese bar in which a variety of small, typically inexpensive, dishes and snacks are served to accompany the alcoholic drinks
from Alexandro Chen
M&C Meeting
“ministry and council meeting” serving a Quaker community; a forum for addressing issues and resolving conflicts within the congregation
from Kylin Vandermeer
marmorated
veined or streaked like marble
from Joel Sucher
mind sphincter
… is a term Sarah Lofgren made up to describe how her brain works when nursing a cold. I think it’s brilliant and should become a household term.
noctilucent
of high-altitude clouds, consisting of ice crystals, visible during the short night of the summer
from Anna D. Invernizzi (thanks for the recommend, Jack)
Oamaru limestone
a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru in Otago, New Zealand
from Mary Jane Walker
orthopraxy
correctness in action and conduct — in the context of religion, can be contrasted with orthodoxy, or adherence to faith, belief, ritualism
from Darcy Reeder
palilogy
repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis
from Michele Sharpe
patzer
(from German) an inept chess player
phallocratic
Pertaining to government or dominance by males.
from the same story already referenced above, by Jeffrey Denny
plumule
the rudimentary shoot or stem of an embryo plant
from Michael Stang
popinjay
a vain or conceited person, especially one who dresses or behaves extravagantly
from Meg
puerperium
the period of about six weeks after childbirth during which the mother’s reproductive organs return to their original nonpregnant condition
from Kim Allen
pylorus
the muscular opening in vertebrates from the stomach into the small intestine
from Stephen M. Tomic
psilocybin
a hallucinogenic compound, produced by over 200 species of mushrooms
from Stephen M. Tomic
souk
(Arabic) a marketplace in northern Africa or the Middle East, or a stall in such a marketplace
from the 2 interculturalists, Erin & Nael
susurration
whispering, murmuring,rustling
"Three Ancestors Can't Imagine Three Hiroshimas Per Second"
A place where words matter
link.medium.com
Taweret
the ancient Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility, typically depicted as a bipedal female hippopotamus with feline attributes
from Tim Gihring at Minneapolis Institute of Art
termination shock
best explained by Alexander C. Kaufman below:
tisane
an herbal tea, originally made with barley
from Robyn Jane
vesica piscis
a pointed oval shape formed by the intersection of two disks with the same radius, intersecting in such a way that the center of each disk lies on the perimeter of the other
from Lise Colas
wheedle
use flattery or coaxing in order to persuade someone to do something
from Stuart James
… and the bonus,
a blast from the past, April 2017 to be precise, some time before I joined Medium:
antimetabole
a literary construct where words are repeated in successive clauses, but in transposed order, as in “failing to prepare is preparing to fail” or the famous JFK line “ask not what your country can do for you …”
Analogous to but not the same as a chiasmus, a term that I learned from Tammy in episode #2 of #WYHTM.
from Alan Cooper
Thanks for your attention & contributions. Keep ’em coming!
Here are the previous installments of #WYHTM:
