Sunday, October 28, 2012

word of the day: pobla

The word of the day is pobla

Not entirely sure, but I'm guessing it's short for either
población:
feminine noun
1. town, city (ciudad); village (pueblo)
2. population (personas, animales) 
3. settlement, populating (acción de poblar) (spanishdict.com)

or

poblado:
noun
1. Town, village, or place inhabited (habitado). (m) (spanishdict.com)

"Within a month, a couple of thousand more infections were reported.  It didn't rip through the pobla like the dengues or the poxes.  More of a slow leprous spread."

 - Junot Díaz, "Monstro", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Friday, October 26, 2012

word of the day: culo

The word of the day is culo:
 
(informal o) (vulgar)2. bum (nalgas) (AmBr), butt (United States) (spanishdict.com)

"These days everybody wants to know what you were doing when the world came to an end.  Fools make up all sorts of vainglorious self-serving plep - but me, I tell the truth.

"I was chasing a girl...

Motherfuckers used to say culo would be the end of us.  Well, for me it really was."

 - Junot Díaz, "Monstro", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Thursday, October 25, 2012

word of the day: plep

The word of the day is plep:

A word when at first had no definition, merely created to avoid numerals. But as PLEP evolved, and extensive research was done it's been assosiated with pwning noobs as far back as 2000. (Urban Dictionary: I'm not proud of it, but it was the best I could find)

"These days everybody wants to know what you were doing when the world came to an end.  Fools make up all sorts of vainglorious self-serving plep - but me, I tell the truth."

 - Junot Díaz, "Monstro", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

word of the day: suppurate

The word of the day is suppurate:

Etymology:  < classical Latin suppūrāt-, past participial stem (see -ate suffix3) of suppūrāre to fester under the surface, in post-classical Latin also to bring forth, conceive, generate (late 2nd or early 3rd cent. in Tertullian) < sup- sub- prefix + pūr- , pūs pus n. 
1.a. trans. To cause the formation of pus in or the discharge of pus from (an area of the body); to ripen (an abscess). In early use also: †to cause (material) to become pus (obs.). Now hist. and rare.b. intr. To promote or cause the formation or discharge of pus. Obs.
 2. intr. To form or discharge pus; (of an abscess) to come to a head, to ripen. In early use also: †to become pus (obs.). Also fig. 
3. intr. To exude like pus. Obs. rare.  (OED)


"This new breed of horror magazine had buckets of blood, and viscera to boot, in full-color production stills of mortified bodies stuffed into refrigerators, surveys of charred flesh, foldout posters of suppurating corpses."

 - Colson Whitehead, "A psychotronic childhood: learning from B-movies", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

word of the day: oleaginous

The word of the day is oleaginous:

Etymology:  < Middle French, French oléagineux of the nature of oil (1314 in Old French in an isolated attestation, compare also Middle French oligineux , oleogineux ), producing or yielding oil (1690) < classical Latin oleāginus of or relating to the olive tree, in post-classical Latin also relating to oil (5th or 6th cent.; alteration of earlier oleāgineus of or relating to the olive tree, in post-classical Latin also oily (4th cent.) < olea olive tree (related to olīva olive n.1) + -āgineus (in farrāgineus , corresponding to farr- , far corn: see farrago n.)) + French -eux -ous suffix. 
1.a. Having the nature or properties of oil; containing oil or an oily substance; oily, fatty, greasy. 
b. Producing or yielding oil. 
2. fig. Exaggeratedly and distastefully complimentary; obsequious, unctuous. (OED)


"Joe Biden watching Ryan, meanwhile, put me in mind of nothing so much as the great, grouchy, aged Eddie Albert in Elaine May’s matchless original, “The Heartbreak Kid,” narrowing his eyes in disbelief as he listens to the slick, oleaginous (and already married!) Charles Grodin courting his beautiful blond daughter: “ I heard everything you said… and I will tell you, quite honestly, I was very impressed. Very impressed. And I think I can also say, quite honestly… I have never heard such a crock of horseshit in my life.”"

 - Adam Gopnik, "Of babies and beans: Paul Ryan on abortion", 12 October 2012 News Desk

Monday, October 22, 2012

word of the day: judder

The word of the day is judder:

Etymology:  Imitative; compare shudder v. 
intr. To shake violently, esp. of the mechanism in cars, cameras, etc.; also of the voice in singing, to oscillate between greater and less intensity. (OED)


"After a juddering ride of several hours, you may not notice at first that the boat is approaching a shore."

 - Jennifer Egan, "Black Box", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Sunday, October 21, 2012

word of the day: poltroon

The word of the day is poltroon:

Etymology:  < Middle French, French poultron, poltron coward (1509; 1495 as poiltron in sense ‘good-for-nothing’), lazy person (1552), bird with clipped talons (1680) < Italian poltrone worthless or cowardly person (13th cent.), lazy person (a1348), ultimately < a post-classical Latin derivative (compare post-classical Latin poledrus , poletrus , pulletrus foal (7th cent. or earlier)) of classical Latin pullus young animal (see pull n.2; compare classical Latin pullitra young chicken, pullet (Varro); the exact suffixation is uncertain); with the suffixation of the Italian word compare -one -oon suffix.
The derivation (by popular etymology) of poltron from an unattested post-classical Latin phrase pollice truncus ‘maimed or mutilated in the thumb’ (i.e. in order to shirk military service, a practice mentioned by Latin authors from the 4th cent.), was suggested by Salmasius (1640), and was long accepted as the etymology; it probably gave rise to the use in falconry in French and English.
A. n.1. An utter coward; a mean-spirited person; a worthless wretch. Also used as a general term of abuse. Now chiefly arch. or humorous. 
2. Falconry. A falcon whose hind talons have been removed. Obs. rare. 
B. adj. Characteristic of or resembling a poltroon; cowardly; wretched. Now rare. (OED)


"For adult readers, both then and in the future, there were several ways of decoding this story, from misogynist ("That's what women are like, the bloodsuckers") to feminist ("That's what men really think of women, the poltroons") to sadomasochist ("That's what I'd call a fun day out") to arachnologist ("That's an interesting commentary on the progeny-feeding strategems of spiders")."

 - Margaret Atwood, "The spider women", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Saturday, October 20, 2012

word of the day: weltgeist

The word of the day is weltgeist:


"You’ll read “Orlando,” because you heard it has a sex-changing time-traveller in it. Your English teacher will tell you witheringly that, for that reason, it’s very minor Woolf. Give it a few years. The movie will come out, and his opinion will look foolish and rote. You know and I know that your minor vanguardism wasn’t planned, but there’s no harm in being pleased by this unlikely Weltgeist, this Cunning of Geekdom."

 - China Miéville, "Forward thinking", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Friday, October 19, 2012

word of the day: infra dig

The word of the day is infra dig:

Etymology:  Colloquial abbreviation of Latin infrā dignitātem beneath (one's) dignity: the source of the expression is obscure.
Beneath one's dignity; unbecoming one's position; not consistent with dignity; undignified. (OED)


"You can be insular, too, in truth—it wouldn’t kill you to start reading and appreciating some non-S.F. There can be a philistinism within this field that is philistinely denounced as infra dig."

 - China Miéville, "Forward thinking", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Thursday, October 18, 2012

word of the day: quiddity

The word of the day is quiddity:

Etymology:  < Middle French quiddité (14th cent.; French quiddité ) and its etymon post-classical Latin quidditas (12th cent.; frequently from 13th cent. in British sources) < classical Latin quid (see quid n.1) + -itās -ity suffix.
 1.a. Chiefly Philos. The inherent nature or essence of a person or thing; what makes a thing what it is. (OED)


"No matter how rumpty-tum her diction, nothing can domesticate the freakish Land of Topsy-Turvy, dilute the glacial awe of the Land of Ice and Snow, or still the fear invoked by the fucking Land of Smack—an entire world whose quiddity is pain."


 - China Miéville, "Forward thinking", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

letter to Prof. Mastripieri



"Are unattractive women particularly attracted to neuroscience? Are beautiful women particularly uninterested in the brain?"

Not sure how to answer that, but perhaps we can address why more women, in total, aren't attracted to neuroscience: one reason could be that they're concerned they're not going to be judged solely on the quality of their ideas, presentations, posters, or publications, that some asshole will say to them, "Excellent controls, brilliant experiments: but you really should wear more makeup, smile, and wear a tighter shirt.  That is what is really important: for women to look pretty for men's enjoyment."

Now, you might say that I am now attacking a straw man: that even you would never actually go up to a woman as an individual and tell her that she wasn’t pretty enough, recognizing that such comments are neither kind nor productive.  But the fact of the matter is that when you post such comments to facebook, you are, in effect, broadcasting them not just to the individuals you had in mind when you wrote the comments, but also to any young woman in science who happens across your facebook page, or the story on Jezebel, or the link from the Association for Women in Science.  You were, in fact, addressing the entire world, including all of the graduate students and post-docs attending that conference who, in addition to thinking about questions to ask after the seminars they’ve attended, and the next experiments they want to do based on what they just learned from someone’s poster, now also stop and think: wait, am I not pretty enough?

If it were just you, it really wouldn’t be a problem.  But the fact is, it’s not just you.  Nor is it just the professor at a proteolysis seminar I recently attended who made a joke about cleavage.  These are but tiny components that, in aggregate, contribute to a much larger culture that judges women not just on their science, but also their sexual appeal, and that is one of the factors contributing to one of the greatest challenges to our field, the mass exodus of women from academic science between the postdoctoral level and the assistant professor level, as they leave one line of work that is hostile to them and seek out others that appreciate them more.  (Just yesterday I met (yet another) former biochemist who is now a stay-at-home mom.)

You can argue that women shouldn’t care what assholes think of them, precisely because they’re assholes, and that if something as small as a mildly offensive facebook post is enough to make you quit science, then your passion for your work must not be very great.  That sentiment is not without merit, but rightly or wrongly, the sexually hostile environment is going to exert a pressure that causes people to leave.  In fact, it might provide exactly the kind of selective pressure that then leads to the phenomenon you observe: the sexually hostile environment will enrich for people who don’t care whether other people think they’re pretty or not, and might also cause attractive young women to play down their attractiveness because giving a poster is difficult enough without also having to deal with creepy older guys coming up and hitting on you.


Wednesday, October 17, 2012

word of the day: rumptytum

The word of the day is rumptytum:
 
Etymology:  Imitative of the sound of a drum roll.
A. int.  Used as a meaningless refrain or to represent a regular rhythmic sound.  
B. n.  Rhythmic repetitiveness, esp. in music or verse; an instance of this.  
C. adj.  Esp. of music or verse: repetitive, trivial, commonplace.


"No matter how rumpty-tum her diction, nothing can domesticate the freakish Land of Topsy-Turvy, dilute the glacial awe of the Land of Ice and Snow, or still the fear invoked by the fucking Land of Smack—an entire world whose quiddity is pain."


 - China Miéville, "Forward thinking", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

word of the day: alterity

The word of the day is alterity:
 
Etymology:  < Middle French alterité (French altérité ) state of being different, otherness (a1481, subsequently from 1697; 1270 in Old French in a philosophical context in sense ‘change, alteration’) or its etymon post-classical Latin alteritat-, alteritas state of being different, otherness (4th cent.) < classical Latin alter other (see alter n.) + -itās -ity suffix, after ancient Greek ἑτερότης
The fact or state of being other or different; diversity, difference, otherness; an instance of this. (OED)


"You’ll come to realize why Blyton is a controversial figure (for entirely understandable reasons, such as her use of racist terms and figures like the golliwog), but what strikes you at this first reading is the disparity between her tone of comfortable and sedate fabulism and the shocking alterity she depicts."


 - China Miéville, "Forward thinking", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Monday, October 15, 2012

word of the day: irruption

The word of the day is irruption:
 
Etymology:  < Latin irruptiōn-em, n. of action < irrump-ĕre 
1. The action of bursting or breaking in; a violent entry, inroad, incursion, or invasion, esp. of a hostile force or tribe. spec. An abrupt local increase in the numbers of a species of animals.
2. Confused with eruption n.  (OED)

"Several early pages are taken up by a musical score, but Chapter 13 is the revelation. It is structured by Jack Gaughan’s full-page illustrations, around and through which words must find their way. The images are the engine, organizing what language there is, invoking awe and, on the last page, an irruption of sudden textless terror. This is how you’ll discover modernism and its typographical games—not through concrete poetry but in this nastily visionary S.F. dystopia."


 - China Miéville, "Forward thinking", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Sunday, October 14, 2012

word of the day: numinous

The word of the day is numinous:

Etymology:  < classical Latin nūmin-, nūmen numen n. + -ous suffix.
1.a. Of or relating to a numen; revealing or indicating the presence of a divinity; divine, spiritual. Also as n.
 b. In extended use: giving rise to a sense of the spiritually transcendent; (esp. of things in art or the natural world) evoking a heightened sense of the mystical or sublime; awe-inspiring. Also as n.
 2. Psychol. Relating to the experience of the divine as awesome or terrifying; designating that which governs the subject outside his or her own will. Also as n. Cf. numinosum n.  (OED)


"This is where you learn the vertigo of knowing something a protagonist doesn’t. For you, the tradition of the glimpsed numinous starts here."

 - China Miéville, "Forward thinking", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Saturday, October 13, 2012

word of the day: batrachian

The word of the day is batrachian:

Etymology:  prop. batrachīa, modern Latin, < Greek βατράχεια (sc. ζῳ̑α animals), neuter plural of βατράχειος, adj. < βάτραχος frog.

A. adj.  Of or pertaining to the Batrachia, esp. frogs and toads.
B. n.  An animal of the order Batrachia.  (OED)


"Your dapper batrachian hero sits on his lily pad."

 - China Miéville, "Forward thinking", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker

Friday, October 05, 2012

word of the day: redound

The word of the day is redound:

Etymology:  < Anglo-Norman redounder, Anglo-Norman and Middle French redonder, redunder (French (now rare and literary) rédonder ) to be plentiful, abound (first quarter of the 13th cent. in Old French), (of a bodily fluid) to overflow (1314), to have the effect of contributing to some advantage or disadvantage to (a person) (late 14th cent. in redonder à , redonder en , early 15th cent. in redonder sur ), to proceed, arise from something (early 15th cent. in redonder de ), in Anglo-Norman also to resound, re-echo (second half of the 13th cent. or earlier), to rebound (end of the 13th cent. or earlier), to return, to come back (early 14th cent. or earlier) and its etymon classical Latin redundāre to flow back, to overflow, to spread over, to turn (to one's profit, loss, etc.), to recoil (upon), to be present to excess, to abound (in) < red- , variant (before a vowel) of re- re- prefix + undāre to flow in waves (see undation n.).

a. Of water, waves, etc.: to swell or surge up, to overflow. Obs.
 b. Of a bodily fluid: to overflow, superabound. Obs.
 c. fig. To be excessive or superfluous. Obs.
 2. intr.
†a. To be plentiful, abound. Obs.
 b. To abound or be rich in a thing or quality. With in, with.
†c. To have a superfluous number of something. Obs.
 3. intr.
 a. To flow or come back; to return; to come again. Now rare.
 b. To rebound after impact; to recoil, spring back. Now rare.
  c. To pass, make way, penetrate. Obs.
 4. a. intr. To have the effect of contributing to some advantage or disadvantage for a person or thing. With to or (occas.) †into. 
   b. intr. To contribute to the honour, disgrace, etc., of a person, nation, or organization. 
†c. trans. To reckon to a person's dishonour. Obs. rare.
†d. intr. To bring credit or honour to something. Obs. rare.
5. a. Of a sound: to resound, reverberate, re-echo. Also in extended use.
 b. Of a place: to resound or reverberate. Now rare.
 6. a. trans. To reflect (honour, disgrace, etc.) on to a person. With in, to, upon, etc.
 b. intr. Of revenue, wealth, or profit: to come or fall to, unto a person, organization, etc.
 c. intr. Of honour, disgrace, advantage, etc.: to attach or accrue to a person. With to, unto, upon, etc.
 d. intr. Of honour, disgrace, advantage, etc.: to recoil, come back on, upon a person.
e. intr. To cast opprobrium; to reflect unfavourably on, upon a person or thing. rare.
 f. intr. Of an action, event, or fact: to have an effect or impact on something. With on, to.
 a. Sc. To return, refund (money or expenses). Obs.
 b. To add, yield, cause to accrue. Obs.
 c. To give back, return. Obs.
 8. intr. To proceed, issue, arise from, out of something.
 9. intr. To result, turn out. (OED)


"You’d think that the Greeks’ resentment of austerity might be attenuated by the recognition of how much money Germany has already paid and how much damage was done by rampant Greek tax dodging. Or Germans might acknowledge that their devotion to low inflation makes it much harder for struggling economies like Greece to start growing again. Instead, the self-serving bias leads us to define fairness in ways that redound to our benefit, and to discount information that might conflict with our perspective."

 - James Surowiecki, "The Fairness Trap", 4 & 11 June 2012 The New Yorker