Word of the day: flak

The word of the day is flak:

1. antiaircraft fire, especially as experienced by the crews of combat airplanes at which the fire is directed.
2. criticism; hostile reaction; abuse

1938, from Ger. Flak, acronym for Fliegerabwehrkanone "airplane defense cannon." Sense of "anti-aircraft fire" is 1940; metaphoric sense of "criticism" is c.1963 in Amer.Eng.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/flak)

"Hamburg knew the bombs were coming, and so the prisoners of war and forced laborers had just half a year to build the giant flak bunker."

 - Robert Kunzig, "The Will to Change", The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016

Word of the Day: unheimlich

The word of the day is unheimlich:

Uncanny; weird.

(https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/unheimlich)

"In making the case for Jackson as a herald of Friedan and others, Franklin doesn't say much about Jackson's humor—which is a pity, because one of her most distinctive and appealing characteristics is a tendency to interleave unheimlich atmospheres and dark portraits of psychological breakdown with bursts of spry drawing-room comedy, droll Mitfordian dialogue, and the odd joke about eating children."

 - Zoe Heller, "Haunted Houses: What frightened Shirley Jackson?", 17 October 2016 The New Yorker (https://www.google.com/amp/www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/the-haunted-mind-of-shirley-jackson/amp?client=safari)

Word of the day: clapboard

The word of the day is clapboard:

1. Chiefly Northeastern U.S. a long, thin board, thicker along one edge than the other, used in covering the outer walls of buildings, being laid horizontally, the thick edge of each board overlapping the thin edge of the board below it.

c.1520, partial transl. of M.Du. klapholt (borrowed into Eng. 14c.), from klappen "to fit" + L.Ger. holt "wood, board."

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/clapboard)

"Like the other boats, she was clinker-built—which meant that the wooden planks of her hull overlapped in the fashion of a clapboard house."

 - Hampton Sides, In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette

Word of the day: meerschaum

The word of the day is meerschaum:

1. a mineral, hydrous magnesium silicate, H ₄ Mg ₂ Si ₃ O _1 0 , occurring in white, claylike masses, used for ornamental carvings, for pipe bowls, etc.; sepiolite.
2. a tobacco pipe with a bowl made of this substance.

1789, "tobacco pipe with a bowl made of meerschaum," a type of soft white clay, from Ger., lit. "sea-foam," so called from its frothy appearance, translation of L. spuma maris, from Pers. kef-i-darya.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/meerschaum)

"Whenever he had a moment to sit, he could usually be found smoking a meerschaum pipe, his head buried in a book."

 - Hampton Sides, In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette

word of the day: dirndl

The word of the day is dirndl:

1. a woman's dress with a close-fitting bodice and full skirt, commonly of colorful and strikingly patterned material, fashioned after Tyrolean peasant wear.

2. a full, gathered skirt attached to a waistband or hip yoke.

3. any skirt with gathers at the waistband.

German Dirndl, short for Dirndlkleid, equivalent to Dirndl young woman (orig. Bavarian, Austrian dialect, diminutive of Dirne young woman, Middle High German dierne, Old High German thiorna; akin to thane ) + Kleid dress (see cloth) (dictionary.com)

"'Oh!  What masterly use you are making of your silences and your predicates tonight!' commented Startling Glower during an effervescent lull in the conversation he was taping with Joubert Plume and his bride, the tongue-tied Nada Seria, hard at work on To Die in a Dirndl and intolerant of interruptions."

 - Karen Elizabeth Gordon, Out of the Loud Hound of Darkness: A Dictionarrative

word of the day: barouche

The word of the day is barouche:

a four-wheeled carriage with a high front seat outside for the driver, facing seats inside for two couples, and a calash top over the back seat.

dialectal German Barutsche  

Italian baroccio  

Late Latin birot (us) two-wheeled (see bi-¹, rota¹) + -ium -ium (dictionary.com)

"'This spell won't inure right away, so don't get jumpy.  In fact, you must feign indifference to its initiation and outcome, forget it was ever uttered,' explained the footman - an amateur magician - to Dariushka during one of their thaumaturgical trysts that was recorded in Dariushka's diary as: 'Speak to Trask about peacock blue or Vertigo Forest green upholstery for the barouche box."

 - Karen Elizabeth Gordon, Out of the Loud Hound of Darkness: A Dictionarrative

word of the day: gesellschaft

The word of the day is gesellschaft:

 

1. an association of individuals for common goals, as for entertainment, intellectual, or cultural purposes or for business reasons.

2. Sociology. a society or group characterized chiefly by formal organization, impersonal relations, the absence of generally held or binding norms, and a detachment from traditional and sentimental concerns, and often tending to be rationalistic and secular in outlook.

German, equivalent to Geselle companion + -schaft -ship (dictionary.com)

"The rock glanced off the surface with six gazelleschaft leaps before plunging into the fathomless waters of Lake Sandali, the twin sister of Lake Shayesteh."

 - Karen Elizabeth Gordon, Out of the Loud Hound of Darkness: A Dictionarrative


 See, this is a pun.

word of the day: fleissig

The word of the day is fleissig:

diligent (Google translate)

"She was fleissig - the opposite of lazy."

 - Rainer Eppelmann, as quoted by George Packer, "The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world", 1 December 2014 The New Yorker 

word of the day: bürgerlich

The word of the day is bürgerlich:

bourgeois (Google translate)

"In 1970, an incident exposed the fragile standing of the bürgerlich Kasner family.  At a local Party meeting, the Russian Club's latest triumph was announced, and Benn expected praise.  Instead, the schools supervisor observed acidly, 'When the children of farmers and workers win, that will be something.'"

 - George Packer, "The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world", 1 December 2014 The New Yorker 

word of the day: Weltanschauung

The word of the day is Weltanschauung:

a comprehensive conception or image of the universe and of humanity's relation to it.

literally, world-view (dictionary.com) 

 

 

"Anyone who thinks he has a superior Weltanschauung is summoned to the map room."

 

 - Karen Elizabeth Gordon, Torn Wings and Faux Pas

word of the day: alpenstock

The word of the day is alpenstock:

a strong staff with an iron point, used by mountain climbers.

< German, equivalent to Alpen Alps + Stock staff (dictionary.com)

"The brigands with fans have been colluding against local officials with a band of slaphappy vandals the Passevitza Clarion has inaccurately dubbed their Doppelgang.  In fact, the true Doppelgang is elsewhere engaged, marauding the countryside of Lavukistan with Belle Epoque fans in their fluttering hands and garters over their alpenstocks."

 - Karen Elizabeth Gordon, Out of the Loud Hound of Darkness: A Dictionarrative

word of the day: pfeffernuss

The word of the day is pfeffernuss:

a small hard highly spiced cookie made traditionally for the Christmas holidays (merriam-webster.com)

"To complement the fig, pistachio, and finocchio caprice, the chef whipped up an acidulous splash of hazelnut oil, oxalis, and lime juice, with a pinch of powdered pfeffernuss."

 - Karen Elizabeth Gordon, Out of the Loud Hound of Darkness: A Dictionarrative

word of the day: lumpen

The word of the day is lumpen:

adj. boorish, stupid, unenlightened, used derisively to describe persons, attitudes, etc., supposed to be characteristic of the lumpenproletariat; also ellipt. or as n. (OED)

which brings us to lumpenproletariat:

Etymology:  < German lumpenproletariat (K. Marx 1850, in Die Klassenkämpfe in Frankreich and 1852, in Der achtzehnte Brumaire des Louis Bonaparte), < lumpen , rag (lump ragamuffin: see lump n.¹) + proletariat (see proletariat n.)

 

 A term applied, orig. by Karl Marx, to the lowest and most degraded section of the proletariat; the ‘down and outs’ who make no contribution to the workers' cause.

"One journalist friend, Boris Muñoz, told me that the building was run by 'empowered lumpen', who controlled the residents with the same violent system that rule life inside Venzuela's prisons."

 - Jon Lee Anderson, "Slumlord: What has Hugo Chávez wrought in Venezuela?", 28 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: weltshmerz

The word of the day is weltschmerz:

Etymology:  German, formed as welt v.¹ + schmerz pain.

A weary or pessimistic feeling about life; an apathetic or vaguely yearning attitude. (OED)

"If a reaction is warranted — and Miss Manners does not expect you to post one every time a 'contact' has weltschmerz — it should be done when the news is received."

 - Miss Manners, The Washington Post, 22 August 2012

word of the day: echt

The word of the day is echt:

German, real, true, genuine.

Authentic, genuine, typical. (OED)

"Still, “The Juniper Tree,” which Tatar herself describes as “probably the most shocking of all fairy tales,” is not placed among the “Tales for Adults,” presumably because it is too characteristic, too echt Grimm, to be cordoned off in a special section."

 - Joan Acocella, "Once Upon a Time: The lure of the fairy tale", The New Yorker 23 July 2012

Word of the day: Aufseherin

The word of the day is Aufseherin:

"Of the 55,000 guards who served in Nazi concentration camps, about 3,700 were women.^{[citation needed]} In 1942, the first female guards arrived at Auschwitz and Majdanek from Ravensbrück. The year after, the Nazis began conscripting women because of a guard shortage.
The German title for this position, Aufseherin (plural Aufseherinnen) means female overseer or attendant."

 - Wikipedia


"The ultimate ambiguity of the plot is that we cannot be sure if Lisa really sees Marta on the ship.  The Aufseherin may be hallucinating, her mind corroded by guilt and fear."

 - Alex Ross, "Testament: Recovering a Holocaust opera by Mieczysław Weinberg", 5 September 2011 The New Yorker