word of the day: knurl

The word of the day is knurl:

Etymology:  apparently a derivative (? dim.) of knur n.; but compare also knarl n., gnarl n.¹

1. A small projection, protuberance, or excrescence; a knot, knob, boss, nodule, etc.; a small bead or ridge, esp. one of a series worked upon a metal surface for ornamentation or other purpose. 

2. A thick-set, stumpy person; a deformed dwarf. dial. 

3. A knurling-tool. (OED)

"José had drawn the watch with remarkable fidelity, putting in every feature (at least every essential feature - he did not put in 'Westclox, shock resistant, made in USA), not just 'the time' (though this was faithfully registered as 11:31), but every second as well, and the inset seconds dial, and, not least, the knurled winder and trapezoid clip of the watch, used to attach it to a chain."

 - Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

word of the day: guayabera

The word of the day is guayabera:

Etymology:  < Spanish guayabera (1888 or earlier in this sense), of uncertain origin, perhaps ultimately showing a derivative of either guayaba guava or guayabo guava tree.

Chiefly U.S.

A lightweight, loose-fitting shirt for men, typically having two breast pockets and two lower front pockets, a number of vertical pleats, and short sleeves, and usually worn untucked. (OED)

"A slim, friendly man with a shaved head, Rodríguez was derssed in the informal manner of many of Chávez's ministers: a crisp white guayabera over black jeans and running shoes."

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

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: junto

The word of the day is junto:

Etymology:  Erroneous form of junta n., by assimilation to Spanish nouns in o (compare -ado suffix ). The form juncto (after Latin junctum) was very common down to 1700. 

 

1. A body of men who have joined or combined for a common purpose, especially of a political character; a self-elected committee or council; a clique, faction, or cabal; a club or coterie.

a. In politics or matters of public interest.

b. In ecclesiastical affairs. Obs.c. In general sense. 

2. = junta n. 1. Obs. (OED)

"The necessity of unanimity in public bodies, or of something approaching towards it, has been founded upon a supposition that it would contribute to security.  But its real operation is to embarrass the administration, to destroy the energy of the government, and to substitute the pleasure, caprice, or artifices of an insignificant, turbulent, or corrupt junto, to the regular deliberations and decisions of a respectable majority."

 - Alexander Hamilton, as quoted by Ezra Klein, "Let's talk: The move to reform the filibuster", 28 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: koine

The word of the day is koine:

Etymology:  < Greek κοινή, feminine singular of κοινός common, ordinary.

 a. Originally the common literary dialect of the Greeks (ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος) from the close of classical Attic to the Byzantine era. Now extended to include any language or dialect in regular use over a wide area in which different languages or dialects are, or were, in use locally.
b. A set of cultural or other attributes common to various groups. Also attrib.


"Clearly, we are in no imminent danger of Ithkuil becoming established as the koine of the realm—its purpose lies more in the domain of speculation than in that of implementation."

  - John McDowell, "Unnatural language", 28 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: breviary

The word of the day is breviary:

Etymology:  < Latin breviārium ‘summary, abridgement’, from neuter of breviārius adj. ‘abridged’, < brevi-s short. 

1.a. A brief statement, summary, epitome. ? Obs. 

b. transf. and fig.; cf. epitome n. 2.

2.a. In the Roman Catholic Church, the book containing the ‘Divine Office’ for each day, which those who are in orders are bound to recite.  The Office consists of psalms, collects and ‘lections’ or readings from the Scripture and the lives of the Saints. Those who are only in ‘Minor Orders’, i.e. below the grade of sub-deacon, are not required to say Office.

 b. fig. 

c. fig. phr. matter of breviary (= matiere de breviaire, Rabelais, Pantagruel IV. viii): a thing that admits of no question or doubt. (OED)

"One medieval source records his response to a novice who asked for a psalter: “When you have a psalter, you will want a breviary; and when you will have a breviary, you will install yourself in a throne like a great prelate, and you will command your brother: ‘Bring me my breviary!’ ” He then took some ashes from the hearth and rubbed them into his body, all the while repeating, “I’m a breviary, I’m a breviary!”"

 - Joan Acocella,  "Rich man, poor man: The radical visions of St. Francis", 14 January 2013 The New Yorker

No, I don't get it.  I guess this is evidence that St. Francis was a strange guy?

question to Senator Cardin at BCFA

I asked this question of Senator Cardin at the most recent meeting of the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs:

"Here in Maryland people die in police custody not infrequently.  Just a couple of weeks ago, a young man died in police custody.  A few weeks ago, another young man was shot and killed at a traffic stop.  You mentioned human trafficking: here in the United States, prostitution is a $33 billion industry, and the average age of entry into prostitution is thirteen: all of whom are victims of human trafficking.  My question for you is: what are you doing to advance human rights and the rule of law in the United States?"

His answer was unsatisfying: he said that yes, we have problems in the United States, but they are "nothing like" the problems in Russia.


But another person asked about gender equity in human rights, and another person asked about human trafficking in Maryland, so I hope that, if enough other people call his attention to human trafficking, he will gradually consider it a more important problem, and recognize that it is a human rights issue, and maybe he will even do something about it.

word of the day: psalter

The word of the day is psalter:

Etymology:  Originally < classical Latin psaltērium (see below); subsequently reinforced by Old French saltier, sauter, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French sautier, psautier, psaltier (Middle French psaultier , French psautier ) book containing psalms (c1119), Book of Psalms (c1130), stringed instrument, psaltery (first half of the 12th cent.), the rosary (c1349 in ton sautier ‘your psalter’, addressed to the Virgin Mary), set of psalms for recital (1377) < classical Latin psaltērium (see psalterium n.).
I. A collection of psalms. 
1.a. The Book of Psalms of the Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures.
b. A particular translation or arrangement (prose or metrical) of the Book of Psalms. Now usu. with distinguishing word, as Latin, English, metrical, etc.    
Roman Psalter n. St. Jerome's first version of the Psalter, a slight revision of the Old Latin text based on the Septuagint.   
Gallican Psalter n. a more thorough revision, based on Origen's Hexaplar text of the Septuagint, prepared by St. Jerome c392.   
Hebraic Psalter n. a new translation from the Hebrew, prepared by St. Jerome c400.
 c. A copy of, or a volume containing, the Psalms, esp. as arranged for liturgical or devotional use. 
2. A set of the Psalms, recited or sung at a particular service or for a particular purpose, esp. in the Office of the Dead. Obs. 
3. R.C. Church. With modifying word or clause, as Lady psalter, Marian psalter, etc.
4. Any of several Irish chronicles chiefly written in verse, dating from around the 10th cent., and now no longer extant. Usu. with distinguishing word, as Psalter of Cashel, Psalter of Tara, etc. 
II. An instrument.  
5.a. A stringed musical instrument; = psaltery n. 1. Now arch. or hist. 
b. Heraldry. A kind of wind instrument, used as a device. Obs. rare. (OED)



"One medieval source records his response to a novice who asked for a psalter: “When you have a psalter, you will want a breviary; and when you will have a breviary, you will install yourself in a throne like a great prelate, and you will command your brother: ‘Bring me my breviary!’ ” He then took some ashes from the hearth and rubbed them into his body, all the while repeating, “I’m a breviary, I’m a breviary!”"

 - Joan Acocella,  "Rich man, poor man: The radical visions of St. Francis", 14 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: wattle-and-daub

The word of the day is wattle-and-daub:

n. interwoven twigs plastered with clay or mud, as a building material for huts, cottages, etc.; chiefly attrib. (OED)



"Then, in a district called the Portiuncula, they found a ruined church, Santa Maria degli Angeli, and they built wattle-and-daub cells around it."

 - Joan Acocella, "Rich man, poor man: The radical visions of St. Francis", 14 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: bibulous

The word of the day is bibulous:

Etymology:  < Latin bibul-us freely or readily drinking ( < bibĕre to drink) + -ous suffix.

1. Absorbent of moisture. 

2. Addicted to drinking or tippling. 

3. Relating to drink. (OED)

"The twenties, possibly alone among the middle decades of life, are passionately celebrated in fiction and memoirs, and the celebrations tend to share a style that is personal, specific, cliquish, pastiched, breathless, often bibulous, and flagrantly confessional - the voice of early mastery without mature constraint, self-discovery at a moment when each revelation seems unique."

 - Nathan Heller, "Semi-charmed life: the twentysomethings are all right", 14 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: Wanderjahr

The word of the day is Wanderjahr:

Etymology:  < wander v., after German Wanderjahr n., the year, or one of the years, spent in travel for the purpose of perfecting one's skill and knowledge between the completion of apprenticeship and settling down to the practice of a trade.

A year of wandering or travel (usually with more or less direct reference to German usage). (OED)

"Among the alleged crimes of twentysomethings these days is hiding out in school (or in various far-flung places, like Iceland), thus deferring adult life, or being fickle in the job market once they get there.  Yet the Henigs dismiss the idea that insane tuition costs and rival opportunities have made education a bad investment - if nothing else, median salaries rise with every new degree.  And they wonder whether the Wanderjahr truly offers much escapism.  'Doors do eventually close - sometimes because of things you did, somethings because of things you didn't do,' Robin Marantz Henig notes."

 - Nathan Heller, "Semi-charmed life: the twentysomethings are all right", 14 January 2013 The New Yorker

acronym of the day: WYSIWYG

The acronym of the day is WYSIWYG.  It stands for "what you see is what you get".


"Kedit (pronounced "kay-edit"), a product of the Mansfield Software Group, is the only text editor I have ever used.  I have never used a word processor.  Kedit did not paginate, italicize, approve of spelling, or screw around with headers, WYSIWYGs, thesauruses, dictionaries, footnotes, or Sanskrit fonts."

 - John McPhee, "Structure: Beyond the picnic-table crisis", 14 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: platen

The word of the day is platen:

Etymology:  < Anglo-Norman and Middle French platine (c1230 in Old French in sense 2; 1347 in sense 1; 1514 in sense 3a; French platine ) and its variant Anglo-Norman platain, plataine, platein, plateine, platene and Middle French plataine (13th cent. in Old French in sense 1; 1280 in Old French in sense 2; earlier in sense ‘gravestone’ (c1165 in Old French); French †plataine ) < plat flat (see plat adv.) + -ine -ine suffix⁴. 

 

1. A plate, often of gold or silver, on which the bread is laid during the celebration of the Eucharist; = paten n. 1. Obs. 

2. A flat plate, usually of metal, having various purposes. Obs. 

3.A metal (formerly wooden) plate in a printing press, which presses the paper against the inked type to obtain an impression; (more generally) a flat surface by means of which pressure is applied in any type of press. Now also in extended use: the glass surface of a photocopier or scanner, on which items are placed to be copied. 

b. In a typewriter and some types of computer printer: a surface (usually a cylindrical roller) against which the paper is held as it is struck by the printing elements.

4. The movable table of a planer, milling machine, or rotary saw. (OED)

"The notes from one to the next frequently had little in common.  They jumped from topic to topic, and only in places were sequentially narrative.  So I always rolled the platen and left blank space after each item to accommodate the scissors that were fundamental to my advanced methodology."

 - John McPhee, "Structure: beyond the picnic-table crisis", 14 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: rusticate

The word of the day is rusticate:

Etymology:  < classical Latin rusticāt-, past participial stem (see -ate suffix³) of rusticārī to live or stay in the country, to work in the country, to practise farming, in post-classical Latin also to speak like a rustic (5th cent.) 

1. intr.a. To stay or live in the countryside; to live a quiet country life. 

b. To live or spend time in seclusion, esp. enforcedly. 

2. trans. To make rustic or rural in nature or character; to countrify. Usu. in pass. 

3. trans.a. To dismiss or send down (a student) from university on a temporary basis, as a punishment; to suspend. 

b. To send (a person) into the countryside. Also in extended use. Also refl.: to settle oneself in the countryside. 

4. trans. Archit. To make rustic in appearance or style; esp. to roughen (the surface of masonry, etc.) (OED)

"Hoving had been, to put it mildly, an unpromising youth.  For example, after slugging a teacher he had been expelled from Exeter.  As a freshman at Princeton, his highest accomplishment was 'flagrant neglect'.  How did Peck's rusticated youth ever become an art historian and the director of one of the world's greatest museums?"

 - John McPhee, "Structure: beyond the picnic-table crisis", 14 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: swivet

The word of the day is swivet:

Etymology:  Origin unknown.

dial. (chiefly U.S.).

A state of agitation; a fluster or panic. Also, a hurry. Freq. in phr. in a swivet. (OED)

"It was meant to be only five thousand words and a straightforward biographical sketch, appearing during the Kennedy-Nixon Presidential campaigns, but the five thousand words seemed formidable to me then.  With only a few days to listen to recordings, make notes, digest files from Time correspondents, read morgue clippings, and skim through several books, I was soon sprawled on the floor at home, surrounded by drifts of undifferentiated paper, and near tears in a catatonic swivet."

 - John McPhee, "Structure: beyond the picnic-table crisis", 14 January 2013 The New Yorker

some of the best advice Adam Gopnik has ever received

"Trying to decide whether to major in psychology or art history, I had gone to his office to see what he thought.  He squinted and lowered his head.  'Is this a hard choice for you?' he demanded.  Yes! I cried.  'Oh,' he said, springing back up cheerfully.  'In that case, it doesn't matter.  If it's a hard decision, then there's always lots to be said on both sides, so either choice is likely to be good in its way.  Hard choices are always unimportant.'"

 - Adam Gopnik, "Music to your ears: The quest for 3-D recording and other mysteries of sound", 28 January 2013 The New Yorker

Letter to The New Yorker

Better late than never?

***

Dear New Yorker,

If the FBI is serious about taking on the sexual abuse of minors (The Science of Sex Abuse, January 14th), they should making a higher priority of cracking down on the $33 billion a year industry of prostitution: the average age of entry into prostitution in this country is thirteen, well below the age of consent.  Why are so much of our resources dedicated to catching "John"s while johns, who actually have sex with young girls, are rarely prosecuted, and even when they are, are given only the lightest of sentences, and are never considered pedophiles?  Are we more offended by the aesthetics than the actual deeds?

word of the day: desideratum

The word of the day is desideratum:

Etymology:  < Latin dēsīderātum thing desired, neuter of dēsīderāt-us , past participle of dēsīderāre

 

Something for which a desire or longing is felt; something wanting and required or desired. (OED)

"Poke around the site and these are some of the desiderata you'll find, along with the amounts that various Task Rabbits have bid to do comparable jobs: 'Sit with me while I do my taxes (and make me do them)' ($33-$45).  'Proofread my wife's novel' ($82-$112).  'Locate a reptile handler who is in legal possession of a rattlesnake' ($47-$65)."

 - Patricia Marx, "Outsource yourself: the online way to delegate your chores", 14 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: spheroplast

The word of the day is spheroplast:

Biol. a bacterium or plant cell bound by its plasma membrane, the cell wall being deficient or lacking and the whole having a spherical form. (OED)


"In the first study aimed at identifying the in vivo substrates of GroEL, E. coli cells were lysed on ice in the presence of EDTA (to prevent ATP-dependent release of substrate) and GroEL-bound substrates were immunoprecipitated, isolated on 2D gels and identified by mass spectrometry.  The results of that work were challenged, however, on the grounds that substrate binding may have occurred not in vivo, but during cell lysis.  This uncertainty was circumvented in a subsequent study by isolating substrate-containing GroEL-GroES complexes from E. coli spheroplasts expressing C-terminally His6-tagged GroES using immobilized metal-affinity chromatography."

 - Ariel Azia, Ron Unger, and Amnon Horovitz, "What distinguishes GroEL substrates from other Escherichia coli proteins?", FEBS Journal 279:543 (2012)

word of the day: protomer

The word of the day is protomer:

Etymology:  < prot- (in protein n.) + -o- connective + -mer comb. form².

Biochem.

Each of the protein subunits of which an oligomeric protein is built up. (OED)

"To our knowledge, the protomer of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase from Rhodospirirum rubrum (55 kDa) is probably the largest molecule for which GroEL-mediated folding shows strict GroES dependence, an indication of folding in the cis-cavity."

 - Chisa Sakikawa, Hideki Taguchi, Yoshishide Makino, and Masasuke Yoshida, "On the maximum size of proteins to stay and fold in the cavity of GroEL underneath GroES", The Journal of Biological Chemistry 274:21251 (1999)


...And we can't just say "monomer" because then someone might think that the monomer had a physiological function?

word of the day: septation

The word of the day is septation:

Etymology:  < septum n. + -ation suffix.

Division by a septum or septa. (OED)

which leads us to septum:

Etymology:  < Latin sēptum, sæptum, < sēpīre, sæpīre to enclose, < sēpēs, sæpēs hedge.

  A partition; a dividing wall, membrane, layer, etc.; a dissepiment.

a. gen.

b. Anat. e.g. the partition between the nostrils ( septum nasi), the membrane separating the ventricles of the heart ( septum cordis). septum lucidum or pellucidum , a thin double layer of tissue forming a partition between the two lateral ventricles of the brain.

c. Bot. e.g. the division-wall of a cell, a partition in a compound ovary or spore.)

d. Geol.

e. Zool. e.g. one of the radiated plates of the cell of corals, one of the partitions of a chambered shell.

f. Electronics. A metal plate placed transversely across a waveguide and attached to the walls by conducting joints. (OED)

"Co-chaperones have been observed as necessary because overexpression of dnaK gene alone is toxic for the cell, leading to growth inhibition and abnormal septation."

 - Mónica Martínez-Alonso, Elena García-Fruitós, Neus Ferrer-Miralles, Ursula Rinas, and Antonio Villaverde, "Side effects of chaperone gene co-expression in recombinant protein production", Microbial Cell Factories 9:64 (2010)

word of the day: chuffed

The word of the day is chuffed:

Etymology:  compare chuff adj.¹, chuff adj.²

slang (orig. Mil.). 

a. Pleased, satisfied. 

b. Displeased, disgruntled. (OED).

"Mary, Julie and Gerald are all gone, but I feel somehow called,' she wrote, 'as humble messenger from Mary, to salute you.  She would have been so chuffed!"

 - Nancy Gordon, as quoted by Daniel Mendelsohn, "The American boy: a famous author, a young reader, and a life-changing correspondence", 7 January 2013 The New Yorker


This appears to be another one of those words, like "sanction" or "cleave", that is its own adjective.

word of the day: importune

The word of the day is importune:

Etymology:  < French importune-r (1512 in Godefroy Compl.) = Italian importunāre (Florio), Spanish importunar (Percivall), medieval Latin importūnārī , -āre , < importūnus : see importune adj. 

1. trans. To burden; to be troublesome or wearisome to; to trouble, worry, pester, annoy. 

2. To press, urge, impel. Also absol. Obs. 

3. To solicit pressingly and persistently; to ply or beset with requests or petitions. 

4. To ask for (a thing) urgently and persistently; to crave or beg for.

5.a. intr. To make urgent solicitation; to be importunate. 

b. To solicit for purposes of prostitution.

6. To import, portend. (A Spenserian misuse.

 (OED)

"I studied hard and absorbed my grammars and didn't confide any of this to Mary Renault.  She had brought me to the Greeks, and had shown me what I was, and it was somehow shaming to let on that I was having a hard time finding anyone like the characters in her novels.  Somewhere in the 'The Persian Boy', when the young Bagoas is being schooled at Susa in the arts of the courtesan, the kindly master who is preparing him for service to the King reminds of a crucial rule of life at court: 'Never be importunate, never, never.'  I was no longer sixteen, and I was determined never to importune her."

 - Daniel Mendelsohn, "The American boy: a famous author, a young reader, and a life-changing correspondence", 7 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: marmoreal

The word of the day is marmoreal:

Etymology:  < classical Latin marmoreus (see marmoreous adj.) + -al suffix¹.

literary.

1. Resembling marble or a marble statue; cold (also smooth, white, etc.) like marble.2. Made or composed of marble. Obs. (OED)

"To me, Andrew and Ralph were figures in a vast allegorical conflict.  Under the white banner of Andrew there was Renault, and true love, and the ancient Greeks, with their lofty rhetoric and marmoreal beauty; under the black banner of Ralph there was Playgirl, and sex, and thoughts about naked men - the messy and confusing present."

 - Daniel Mendelsohn, "The American boy: a famous author, a young reader, and a life-changing correspondence", 7 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: buckram

The word of the day is buckram:

Etymology:  Found in most of the European languages between 12th and 15th cents...

 

1. A kind of fine linen or cotton fabric. Obs. 

2.a. A kind of coarse linen or cloth stiffened with gum or paste. men in buckram: sometimes proverbially for non-existent persons, in allusion to Falstaff's ‘four rogues in buckram’ (quot. 1598).

b. A lawyer's bag; = buckram-bag n. at Compounds 2. Obs. 

3. fig. Stiffness; a stiff and starched manner; that which gives a man a stiff exterior. 

4.a. Of buckram, like buckram. 

b. fig. Stiff, ‘starched’, ‘stuck up’; that has a false appearance of strength. (OED)

"I remember the day that this teacher handed me the jacketless hardback of 'The Charioteer', with its dark-gray buckram boards."

 - Daniel Mendelsohn, "The American boy: a famous author, a young reader, and a life-changing correspondence", 7 January 2013 The New Yorker

phrase of the day: coals to Newcastle

The phrase of the day is coals to Newcastle:

To do something pointless and superfluous. (phrases.org.uk)


"Patrick O'Brian, the author of 'Master and Commander', was an admirer; he dedicated the fourth Aubrey-Maturin book to her, with an inscription 'An owl to Athens' - the ancient Greek version of 'coals to Newcastle'."

 - Daniel Mendelsohn, "The American boy: a famous author, a young reader, and a life-changing correspondence", 7 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: donnybrook

The word of the day is donnybrook:

Etymology:  < the name of Donnybrook, a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, once famous for its annual fair. 

 

A scene of uproar and disorder; a riotous or uproarious meeting; a heated argument. (OED)

"This may be the marquee bowl game, with the undefeated Texas State College of the Pacific Homicidal Maniacs setting their sites on the No. 1-ranked Tallahassee University Khmer Rouge.  These two college programs consistently rise to the top of every major statistical category, including early-onset Alzheimer's, so expect a real donnybrook."

 - Jay Martel, "Your guide to the top bowl games", 7 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: roundelay

The word of the day is roundelay:

Etymology:  < Middle French rondelet roundlet n., with remodelling of the ending (through folk-etymological association) after lay n.⁴ or virelay n. Compare earlier roundel n. II., roundlet n.

Now somewhat arch. Freq. in pastoral poetry, or with pastoral associations.

 

1.a. A short simple song with a refrain. 

b. The competitive singing of such songs. Obs. rare.

2. A bird's song. 

3.a. A round dance. Cf. roundel n. 12. 

b. = fairy ring n. Obs. rare. 

4. A piece of music based on or accompanying such a song or dance. Also fig.5. fig. (orig. U.S.). A repetitive and apparently pointless cycle of events; a farce. (OED)

"Despite the bubbly erotic wit of Ernst Lubutisch's comedy 'Ninotchka' (playing at Film Forum through Jan. 3), the movie's political satire is chillingly serious.  Greta Garbo stars as Nina Ivanovna Yakushova, a stone-faced Soviet agent who arrives in Paris to sell jewelry confiscated from an exiled Russian noblewoman, Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire).  There, she allows herself to be seduced by Count Leon d'Algout (Melvyn Douglas), a debonair French idler, who happens to be Swana's lover.  The romantic roundelay, linking fine emotions with fine lingerie, is shadowed by the brutality of Soviet tyranny."

 - Richard Brody, "Red all over", 7 January 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: expiate

The word of the day is expiate:

Etymology:  < Latin expiāt- participial stem of expiāre to make satisfaction, < ex- (see ex- prefix¹) + piāre to seek to appease (by sacrifice), < pius devout. 

1. trans. To avert (evil) by religious ceremonies; to avert the evil portended by (a prodigy or prophecy). Obs. exc. Hist. 

2. To cleanse, purify (a person, a city) from guilt or pollution by religious ceremonies. Occas. Const. of. Obs. 

3. To do away or extinguish the guilt of (one's sin); to offer or serve as a propitiation for. †to expiate oneself (rare): to do penance.

4. To pay the penalty of.

5. To make amends or reparation for. 

6. intr. To make expiation for. Obs. 

7. To extinguish (a person's rage) by suffering it to the full; to end (one's sorrows, a suffering life) by death. Obs.  (OED)

"The sets, by Jasmine Catudal, rich in gold and red, offer all kinds of spaces in which singers and dancers can move about: stage, auditorium, trap room, prompter's box, catwalks.  When, at the beginning of Act III, the action goes backstage, with the Met's own back wall towering in the distance, it's as if Lepage were expiating for the colossal clautsrophobia of his 'Ring'."

 - Alex Ross, "Retaking the stage: 'The Tempest' and 'Un Ballo in Maschera', at the Met", 3 December 2012 The New Yorker

word of the day: fugacious

The word of the day is fugacious:

Etymology:  < Latin fugāci-, fugax ( < fugĕre to flee) + -ous suffix.

1. Apt to flee away or flit.

a. Of immaterial things: Tending to disappear, of short duration; evanescent, fleeting, transient, fugitive. 

b. Of persons: †Ready to run away. Also humorously (of persons), fleeing; (of things) slippery. rare. 

c. Of a material substance: Volatile. 

2. Bot. and Zool. Falling or fading early; soon cast off. (OED) 

 

 

"The oxygen fugacity of the deepest rock samples from Earth’s mantle is found to be more oxidized than previously thought, with the result that carbon in the asthenospheric mantle will be hosted as graphite or diamond but will be oxidized to produce carbonate melt through the reduction of Fe³⁺ in silicate minerals during upwelling."

 

 - Vincenzo Stagno et al., "The oxidation state of the mantle and the extraction of carbon from Earth's interior", Nature 493:84 (3 January 2013), doi:10.1038/nature11679

word of the day: ascites

The word of the day is ascites:

Etymology:  Latin, < Greek ἀσκίτης (sc. ὕδρωψ dropsy), < ἀσκός bag.

Pathol.

A collection of serous fluid in the peritoneal cavity; dropsy of the abdomen. (OED)

"This antibody is an IgG2a isotype from mouse ascites fluid."

 - ebiotrade.com

word of the day: gouache

The word of the day is gouache:

Etymology:  French, < Italian guazzo.

A method of painting with opaque colours ground in water, and mixed with gum and honey so as to form a sort of paste. Also, a painting executed in this way, and the pigment itself. (OED)

"Tamimi writes poetry, in Arabic, and paints.  There is a haunting gouache on his living-room wall - lines of script painted over with bright-yellow flowers and green leaves.  The poem, he told me, is 'about the things you're supposed to remember and the things you have to forget'; the flower are 'the way I felt after it was written'."

 - Jane Kramer, "The philosopher chef: Yotam Ottolenghi's ideas are changing the way London eats", 3 December 2012 The New Yorker

word of the day: bogie

The word of the day is bogie:

Etymology:  A northern dialect word, which has recently been generally diffused in connection with railways as applied to the plate-layer's bogie, but especially in sense 2. Of unknown etymology: notwithstanding absurd stories in the newspapers (invented ad rem ), it has (as the sense might show) nothing to do with bogy n.¹, which is not a northern word. 

 

1. north. dial. A low strong truck upon four small wheels, also called trolly, hurly, etc. ‘A kind of cart with low wheels and long shafts, used by masons to remove large stones’ (Peacock Lonsdale Gloss.); ‘a rude contrivance for moving heavy articles, consisting of a simple plank on low wheels’ ( Lanc. Gloss.). esp. in Newcastle, A strong low truck (about 1 ft. high) on 4 small wheels, used, since c1817, for transporting a single cask or hogshead from the quay to the town; also a flat board with 4 very small wheels on which lads career down steep banks or roads, as in the Canadian sport of tobogganing. Hence, in general use, the low truck used by platelayers on a railway.

2. A low truck or frame running on two or more pairs of wheels and supporting the fore-part of a locomotive engine or the ends of a long railway-carriage, to which it is attached by a central pivot, on which it swivels freely in passing curves; a revolving under-carriage. (OED)

"In those years, we always travelled to the farm in the south by overnight train.  Arriving at the Lahore station by night, in two or three straggling cars, among hissing gas lanterns on venders' carts and the shouts of red-coated porters greasing their way through the crowd with suitcases stacked on their heads, we were bustled into a cream-and-green railway bogie, onto a train that seemed always to begin clanking and rolling just as we boarded, onto the Tezgam, the Khyber Mail, the Karachi Express, so that bedrolls and hampers of food and bottles and leaking thermoses, cases of tinkling silverware and rattling dishes, enormous leather-strapped suitcases would be thrust up into the moving vestibule, and Ghulam Rasool, my father's portly valet, galloping alongside the surging locomotive, would make a last desperate lunge, both feet seemingly in the air and his torso blown sideways in the slipstream, and be triumphantly hauled in by numerous hands."

 - Daniyal Mueenuddin, "Sameer and the samosas: a son, an inheritance, and a battle of wills", 3 December 2012 The New Yorker

word of the day: janky

The word of the day is janky:

Etymology:  Origin unknown.

U.S. slang (chiefly in African-American usage).

Of poor quality, bad; untrustworthy, suspicious. (OED)

"Eventually, he moved to Los Angeles, and in 2007, through an agency, got a job working for Nicolas Cage and his family as a private chef. While with the Cages, he began to assemble the pieces to build Wolvesmouth: the table, the chairs, china, glasses, and flatware. “I didn’t want to do it janky,” he told me."

 - Dana Goodyear, "Toques from underground: The rise of the secret supper club", 3 December 2012 The New Yorker

microwave popcorn fail

A recipe for microwave popcorn, from The Food Matters Cookbook, also by Mark Bittman:

***

"Real hot popcorn is one of nature's ultimate convenience foods.  I can't say this strongly enough: There's no reason to use microwavable packages, no matter how "natural" they claim to be.  Any popcorn can be microwaved, as you'll see below.

Toss the popcorn with extra ingredients while it's still warm and the seasonings will stick pretty well, even without adding any more fat.

Microwave Popcorn (Makes 2 to 4 servings).  In a small glass container, or a brown paper lunch bag, combing 1/4 cup popping corn with 1/4 teaspoon salt and fold the top of the bag over a couple of times.  Microwave on high for 2 to 3 minutes, until there are 4 or 5 seconds between pops.  Open the bag or container carefully, because steam will have built up.  Toss with your seasonings and a drizzle of butter or olive oil or serve as is.

A Dozen Ways to Spike Your Popcorn

Toss any of these with just-cooked popcorn, alone or in combination.  Since some are more potent than others, start with a light sprinkle and taste as you go.

Chopped fresh herbs

Black pepper

Chili powder

Curry powder, or garam or chaat masala

Old Bay seasoning

Five-spice powder

Toasted sesame seeds

Cayenne or red chile flakes

Grated Parmesan cheese

Brown sugar

Finely ground nuts or shredded, unsweetened coconut

Chopped dried fruit"

 

***

 

So I tried the paper bag version just now and made a horrible burnt mess.  Perhaps the paper bag wasn't big enough?  Will try with a container next time.

Does anyone have any experience with homemade microwave popcorn?

word of the day: caesura

The word of the day is caesura:

Etymology:  < Latin cæsūra ‘cutting, metrical pause’, < cæs- participial stem of cædĕre to cut. The earlier form was immediately < French césure. (Some writers appear to have erroneously associated it with cease.) 

 

1.a. In Greek and Latin prosody: the division of a metrical foot between two words, especially in certain recognized places near the middle of the line.

b. Used for the lengthening of the last syllable of a word by arsis which sometimes occurs in the cæsura.

2. In English prosody: a pause or breathing-place about the middle of a metrical line, generally indicated by a pause in the sense. 

3. transf.a. A formal break or stop. 

b. A break, interruption, interval. (OED)

"The director suggested that he not move around too much, or at all, contending that theatre is ultimately not spectacle but sound.  With a cynical chuckle, Malkovich would invoke Faulkner's line about man's 'puny, inexhaustible voice still talking'.  Pinter's plots are rife with exhausted intervals, of course, and onstage, Sands parses the varieties: a beat is a breath, a pause is a moment of consideration, and a silence - he lets the caesura linger - is an absence so emphatic that it becomes a presence."

 - Tad Friend, "Skyping John Malkovich", 3 December 2012 The New Yorker

word of the day: mensch

The word of the day is mensch:

Etymology:  < Yiddish mensh < Middle High German mensch , mensche person (see mannish n.).

colloq.

 In Jewish usage: a person of integrity or rectitude; a person who is morally just, honest, or honourable. (OED)


"Mixing readings with recollections of Pinter's pugnacious judgments, he argues that the playwright, while justly celebrated for his merciless dialogue and eerily aloof characters, was underappreciated as a poet and a mensch."

 - Tad Friend, "Skyping John Malkovich", 3 December 2012 The New Yorker

word of the day: vulpine

The word of the day is vulpine:

Etymology:  < Latin vulpīn-us, < vulpēs fox

1. Characteristic of a fox; similar to that of a fox.

2.a. Resembling a fox; spec. in vulpine opossum or phalanger .

b. fig. Cunning, sly.3. Consisting of foxes.  

 4. Of or pertaining to a fox or foxes. (OED)

"Thanksgiving was still two weeks away when the Republican Party, to its evident shock, found itself stuffed, trussed, roasted, and ready to be served with all the trimmings. This was not the menu that the Party’s nominees, donors, and operatives had looked forward to. It was emphatically not the feast they had been primed to expect by their vulpine cheerleaders in the island universe of the illiberal media."

 - Hendrik Hertzberg, "Mandate with Destiny", 3 December 2012 The New Yorker


No, I still don't know what he means.

word of the day: bourse

The word of the day is bourse:

Etymology:  < French bourse in same sense, literally ‘purse’. The form burse n. was in regular use from c1550 to c1775, when it became obsolete; bourse is a re-adoption of the word from modern French, as an alien term. 

 

An exchange, or place of meeting for merchants; the money-market (of a foreign town). Used esp. of the French institution corresponding to the Stock Exchange in London.  (OED)

"They were joined by national flagships: in the UK, Celltech, then British Biotech, then Celltech again (after British Biotech's demise on the stock exchange); for a while, Genset shone in France and Lion Bioscience in Germany, until they, too, disillusioned their bourses; then there was ES Cell International in Singapore and Macrogen in South Korea; and now we have Genmab in Denmark and Actelion in Switzerland and several potential flagships in Belgium (as is much in the nature of things Belgian)."

 -  "Where have the flagships gone?", Nature Biotechnology, 7 December 2012


The flowery prose is cute, but I fear the editors are losing control.

word of the day: moiré

The word of the day is moiré:

Etymology:  Probably < French moiré

A. n. 

1. A variegated or clouded appearance like that of watered silk, originally as an ornamental finish applied to metal (in full moiré metallique); a pattern or effect giving this appearance.2. = moire n.¹ 1. Also: an item of clothing made of this fabric. 

B. adj.  

1.a. Of silk: having a rippled, lustrous finish; watered. Also, of paper, metal, etc.: having a clouded appearance like watered silk.

b. Of a garment, shoes, etc.: made of moire. 

2. Designating a wavy or geometrical pattern of light and dark fringes (stripes) observed when one pattern of lines, dots, etc., is visually superimposed on another similar pattern, or on an identical one that is slightly out of alignment with the first. (OED)

"Please do not scan laser printouts of figures and send them to us as digital files. The dot pattern on a laser print often creates a moiré pattern when scanned."

 - Scientific Reports submission guidelines

word of the day: putsch

The word of the day is putsch:

Etymology:  < German Putsch (first half of the 19th cent.), spec. use of German regional (Swiss) Putsch knock, thrust, blow (1431), sudden rush, especially against an obstacle (1555), revolt, riot (19th cent., perhaps also 1524 in an apparently isolated attestation), of imitative origin. Compare earlier putschism n., putschist n. With the sense development compare also coup n.³ 2b, coup d'état n. at coup n.³ 5a, stroke of state n. at stroke n.¹ 14b.The German word became known outside Switzerland following the Zurich Putsch (German regional (Swiss) Züriputsch) of 1839.1. An attempt to overthrow a government, esp. by violent means; an insurrection or coup d'état.2. In a weakened sense: a sudden or forceful attempt to take control of an organization, business, etc.; a sudden vigorous effort, a concerted drive or campaign. (OED)

"Pakistan has a way of cutting careers short, some tragically.  One Prime Minister was sent to the gallows after being toppled in a coup.  Nine years later, the general who led the putsch died in a plane crash; conspiracists posit that it was brought down by combustible crates of mangoes on board."

 - Nicholas Schmidle, "Homecoming dept.: after Pakistan", 26 November 2012

word of the day: bezel

The word of the day is bezel:

Etymology:  < Old French *besel, *bezel, in modern French biseau , bizeau (compare Spanish bisel ), also basile ; of unknown origin: it may be diminutive of bis , bez , or contain that word. (It does not represent medieval Latin bisalus .) Compare belef adv., bevel n.² 

 

1. A slope, a sloping edge or face: esp. that of a chisel or other cutting tool (commonly basil.) 

2. The oblique sides or faces of a cut gem; spec. the various oblique faces and edges of a brilliant, which lie round the ‘table’ or large central plane on the upper surface, comprising the 8 star-facets, 16 skill-facets, and 8 lozenges.  [Compare Spanish bisel ‘edge of a looking-glass, or crystal plate.’] 

3. ‘The groove and projecting flange or lip by which the crystal of a watch or the stone of a jewel is retained in its setting.’ (OED)

"Johnson was in New York to promote a limited-edition luxury wristwatch called the Big Unit ($15,500), which incorporates, at his suggestion, a baseball (on the second hand) and his old uniform number (on the bezel, which marks fifty-one minutes after the hour, rather than fifty)."

 - Reeves Wiedeman, "Second acts: pitchman", 26 November 2012 The New Yorker