Words, words, words

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:27 pm

lol, Al....good'un.

Liam1965 · Post by **Liam1965** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:28 pm

Now I have the urge to use the word lugubrious, but I'm really not sure to whom it would apply.

(It means excessively or dramatically mournful, with people, and dismal with objects.)

Liam, also wanting to use phlegmatic and niggardly(*).

(*I particularly love this one, because it doesn't have any relationship to another word that it sounds a little bit like, and yet it really makes people uncomfortable, nonetheless.)

LDuyer · Post by **LDuyer** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:34 pm

Liam1965 wrote:Now I have the urge to use the word lugubrious, but I'm really not sure to whom it would apply.

(It means excessively or dramatically mournful, with people, and dismal with objects.)

Liam, also wanting to use phlegmatic and niggardly(*).

(*I particularly love this one, because it doesn't have any relationship to another word that it sounds a little bit like, and yet it really makes people uncomfortable, nonetheless.)

lugubrious
SYLLABICATION: lu·gu·bri·ous
PRONUNCIATION: l-gbr-s, -gy-
ADJECTIVE: Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin lgubris, from lgre, to mourn.

phlegmatic
SYLLABICATION: phleg·mat·ic
PRONUNCIATION: flg-mtk
VARIANT FORMS: also phleg·mat·i·cal (--kl)
ADJECTIVE: 1. Of or relating to phlegm; phlegmy. 2. Having or suggesting a calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English fleumatik, from Old French fleumatique, from Late Latin phlegmaticus, full of phlegm, from Greek phlegmatikos, from phlegma, phlegmat-, heat, the humor phlegm, from phlegein, to burn.

niggardly
SYLLABICATION: nig·gard·ly
PRONUNCIATION: ngrd-l
ADJECTIVE: 1. Grudging and petty in giving or spending. 2. Meanly small; scanty or meager: left the waiter a niggardly tip.

Gee, and I was always scared to even try to use this last one, for fear of seeming to offend someone. I will probably never use it, even in the example they gave. Too scared.

Linda, who is enjoying the lessons

BuffaloAl · Post by **BuffaloAl** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:37 pm

She sat in front of the class
Twas English that pleased the lass
While he sat behind
and studied in kind
Her body and curve of her ( oh well)

OK I'm not 16 anymore. But I remember it!

LDuyer · Post by **LDuyer** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:39 pm

Finally!!

Finally a poem where I know all the words!
(even the unspoken ones)

BuffaloAl · Post by **BuffaloAl** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:40 pm

Sorry Liam,

I have racked my brain for 15 seconds and can't rhyme lugubrious or niggardly.

-Al

LDuyer · Post by **LDuyer** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:45 pm

BuffaloAl wrote:Sorry Liam,

I have racked my brain for 15 seconds and can't rhyme lugubrious or niggardly.

-Al

How about dragon's teeth and/or catholicity mentioned in my previous posts. I REALLY liked selacious!

LDuyer · Post by **LDuyer** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:50 pm

Here's one I'd not heard of. (From word a day website):

skookum (SKOO-kuhm) adjective
Powerful; first-rate; impressive.

[From Chinook Jargon, from a Chehalis word meaning spirit or ghost.]

"Beth Baker of Knik may be an Iditarod rookie, but she's a skookum
one."
Opinion; Anchorage Daily News (Alaska); Mar 18, 1994.

"His big seller is the Zooper Buddy, an all-terrain vehicle with
three inflatable tires, an adjustable handle bar, amazing
suspension and a skookum reclining seat."
Karen Gram; Stroller Envy; Vancouver Sun (Canada); Oct 21, 2003.

BuffaloAl · Post by **BuffaloAl** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:51 pm

I was seeing where I could go with Phlegmatic. I can use the "Phleg" and leave the -matic to poetic license. But I'm not getting anywhere. I'm gonna go get a beer from my Keg-matic and see it if helps.

LDuyer · Post by **LDuyer** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:07 pm

Buffalo Al won't you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight.
Buffalo Al won't you come out tonight, and dance by the silvery moon.

Is that how it goes?

Linda, who likes BuffaloAl's username

Mikesus · Post by **Mikesus** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:42 pm

Watch it Liam

Someone in DC lost their job over that one!!

Top D.C. Aide Resigns Over Racial Rumor

Yolanda Woodlee, Washington Post Staff Writer

THE director of D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams's constituent services office resigned after being accused of using a racial slur, the mayor's office said yesterday.

David Howard, head of the Office of Public Advocate, said he used the word "niggardly" in a Jan. 15 conversation about funding with two employees.

"I used the word 'niggardly' in reference to my administration of a fund," Howard said in a written statement yesterday. "Although the word, which is defined as miserly, does not have any racial connotations, I realize that staff members present were offended by the word.

"I immediately apologized," Howard said. " . . . I would never think of making a racist remark. I regret that the word I did use offended anyone."

When Howard, who is white, noticed the reaction to his use of the word, he apologized to his three-member staff, which is made up of two blacks and another white. It is unclear which two employees he was addressing when he used the word.

Soon after the remark was uttered, the rumor mill started churning that Howard had used the word "nigger."

Howard said he has received numerous telephone calls since Jan. 15 from people in the community who had heard "I had made a racist remark . . . [which is] in fact unquotable here."...

Mikesus · Post by **Mikesus** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:51 pm

There once was a man from Nantucket
who lived on a ship named "The Bucket"
he was often lugubrious
because it wasn't salubrious
so he got off the boat and he sunk it.

LDuyer · Post by **LDuyer** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 5:03 pm

Mikesus wrote:There once was a man from Nantucket
who lived on a ship named "The Bucket"
he was often lugubrious
because it wasn't salubrious
so he got off the boat and he sunk it.

lugubrious
SYLLABICATION: lu·gu·bri·ous
PRONUNCIATION: l-gbr-s, -gy-
ADJECTIVE: Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin lgubris, from lgre, to mourn.

salubrious
SYLLABICATION: sa·lu·bri·ous
PRONUNCIATION: s-lbr-s
ADJECTIVE: Conducive or favorable to health or well-being.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin salbris, from sals, health.

Liam1965 · Post by **Liam1965** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 5:04 pm

Mikesus wrote:Watch it Liam

Someone in DC lost their job over that one!!

Yeah, I know, but I try not to let stupidity and political correctness (taken to the extreme) ruin my day.

I know that niggardly means miserly, and that it bears no commonality (other than coincident phonetics) with the racial slur, and anyone who gets offended is simply not educated well enough.

(Now, I still don't use the term in general, because "miserly" works just as well. But I still love the word.)

Besides, how far can you go to avoid offending people? I read something a while back about a woman named Pat who filed harrassment charges against her boss because he was running around spreading rumors that everyone hated her. His actual quote? Something along the lines of "We're making inroads against the competition, but we can't stand pat."

If one wants to take offense at something someone else said, they should at LEAST make sure that the problem isn't their own.

Liam, working on rhymes for lugubrious and niggardly.

Liam1965 · Post by **Liam1965** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 5:10 pm

Ah... I was going to use Salubrious, but I just realized someone already did that. (Although I was going to try to make it a limerick, so perhaps I can one-up him by coming up with TWO...)

There was a young lass so lugubrious
took vitamins oh so salubrious
they made her smile
and laugh all the while
now we can't abide all her goofiness.

I once spoke the silly word niggardly
brought trouble to me higgly piggly
Uneducated louts
opened their mouts (poetic license)
And say "oh, being a pig are we?"

(Well, it was close).

Phlegmatic is too easy. Dramatic, traumatic, pragmatic... anything that ends in "matic".

Liam, limerick master...

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