Caltrop: a spiny plant (Pages 71–84)
Already experiencing some technical difficulties . . . I've had to tape pages back in three times and we've just begun with the letter C.
👀 Observations
Going purely by availability heuristics (and you must know that this method of judgment fascinates me. It happens in advertising and religion all the time), there seems to be an uncommon number of words about antelope (there were four more this week), badgers, edible fish, coarse grasses or weeds, perennial herbs, animal diseases, heraldry, and armor that protects the neck. Therefore, these things must be of particular import to the human experience.
Of course, another great word that has come up frequently is nonsense: buncombe, bunkum, bushwa, bushwah.
Other words of visual interest:
Already experiencing some technical difficulties . . . I've had to tape pages back in three times and we've just begun with the letter C.
👀 Observations
Going purely by availability heuristics (and you must know that this method of judgment fascinates me. It happens in advertising and religion all the time), there seems to be an uncommon number of words about antelope (there were four more this week), badgers, edible fish, coarse grasses or weeds, perennial herbs, animal diseases, heraldry, and armor that protects the neck. Therefore, these things must be of particular import to the human experience.
Of course, another great word that has come up frequently is nonsense: buncombe, bunkum, bushwa, bushwah.
Other words of visual interest:
Brank: a device used to restrain the tongue. This was a terrifying contraption was used "primarily on women, as a form of torture and public humiliation. The device was an iron muzzle in an iron framework that enclosed the head. A bridle-bit (or curb-plate), about 2 inches long and 1 inch broad, projected into the mouth and pressed down on top of the tongue. The curb-plate was frequently studded with spikes, so that if the offender moved her tongue, it inflicted pain and made speaking impossible. Wives who were seen as witches, shrews and scolds, were forced to wear the branks, locked onto their head" (Wikipedia; see here for more images).
Slideshow time! Click to see definitions.
Slideshow time! Click to see definitions.
⚛ Units of the Week
Braza: a Spanish unit of length
Buqsha/Bugsha: a monetary unit of Yemen
Butut: a monetary unit of Gambia
Byte: a group of adjacent binary digits
!!! Words of the Week
Bravo: a hired killer
Braxy: a fever of sheep
Bren: a submachine gun
Bright: a light-hued tobacco
Brock: a badger
Brulyie: a noisy quarrel
Brute: to shape a diamond by rubbing it with another diamond
Brux: to grind the teeth
Bubkes/bupkus/bupkes/bupkis: the least amount (I believe I always thought this words was “bupkiss” or “buttkiss,” as in, “We don’t get bupkiss for doing chores around this house!” Yiddish, bobkes, meaning nonsense or nothing—another nonsense word for this week)
Bubo: a swelling of a lymph gland
Bubonic: pertaining to a bubo (Wikipedia on “bubonic plague”: The term bubonic plague is derived from the Greek word βουβών, meaning "groin." Swollen lymph nodes (buboes) especially occur in the armpit and groin in persons suffering from bubonic plague)
Buckeen: a poor man who acts as if wealthy (but a poor woman acting this way is out of luck is she wants her own term)
Buffalo: to intimidate
Bughouse: an insane asylum
Bumf/bumph: paperwork
Bunraku: a Japanese puppet show
Buppie: a black professional person working in a city (um, this seems like it would be offensive . . . particularly since there is no delineation that I’m aware of for a white professional person working in a city)
Burgoo: a thick oatmeal (chiefly used by those at sea; Arabic in origin)
Burke: to murder by suffocation
Burker: one that burkes (“The burker lurked, then burked.”)
Bushel: to mend clothing
Busk: to prepare (“Must busk and dust before dusk!”)
Buss: to kiss
Butch: a lesbian with mannish traits (also seems like it would be offensive)
Cabbage: to steal
Caboched: full-faced—used of an animal's head in heraldry (can’t get away from heraldry)
Caestus: cestus (hand covering for ancient Roman boxers. I don’t think I realized there were ancient Roman boxers.)
Cager: a basketball player
Cahoot: partnership (usually used in the plural)
Caisson: a watertight chamber (used in laying foundations of bridges in deep water or in making canals. Also can mean a chest containing bombs or ammunition, to be buried and fired as a mine. May the last not be used to construct the first)
Caitiff: a despicable person
Calipee/calipash/callipee: an edible part of a turtle (turtle tastes gross and makes you feel bad, trust me. Also, if you eat too much of it, you get sick)
Calkin: a gripping projection on a horseshoe
Callet: a prostitute
Calque: to model a word's meaning upon that of an analogous word in another language. Click here for a few examples.
Cameleer: a camel driver
Camisado: an attack made at night (perhaps the more efficient kind—OED says it was a very common word in the 16–17th centuries)
♡ Favorite Words of the Week
Brash: rash, hasty
Bricky: made of bricks
Brutify: make brutal
Bulbous: bulb-shaped; bulging
Butchery: wanton or cruel killing
Butyrous: resembling butter
Cabbagey: resembling a cabbage (a leafy vegetable)
Caconymy: the state of having an erroneous name
Cageful: the number held in an enclosure
Cajolery: persuasion by flattery
Calyx: the outer protective covering of a flower
Braza: a Spanish unit of length
Buqsha/Bugsha: a monetary unit of Yemen
Butut: a monetary unit of Gambia
Byte: a group of adjacent binary digits
!!! Words of the Week
Bravo: a hired killer
Braxy: a fever of sheep
Bren: a submachine gun
Bright: a light-hued tobacco
Brock: a badger
Brulyie: a noisy quarrel
Brute: to shape a diamond by rubbing it with another diamond
Brux: to grind the teeth
Bubkes/bupkus/bupkes/bupkis: the least amount (I believe I always thought this words was “bupkiss” or “buttkiss,” as in, “We don’t get bupkiss for doing chores around this house!” Yiddish, bobkes, meaning nonsense or nothing—another nonsense word for this week)
Bubo: a swelling of a lymph gland
Bubonic: pertaining to a bubo (Wikipedia on “bubonic plague”: The term bubonic plague is derived from the Greek word βουβών, meaning "groin." Swollen lymph nodes (buboes) especially occur in the armpit and groin in persons suffering from bubonic plague)
Buckeen: a poor man who acts as if wealthy (but a poor woman acting this way is out of luck is she wants her own term)
Buffalo: to intimidate
Bughouse: an insane asylum
Bumf/bumph: paperwork
Bunraku: a Japanese puppet show
Buppie: a black professional person working in a city (um, this seems like it would be offensive . . . particularly since there is no delineation that I’m aware of for a white professional person working in a city)
Burgoo: a thick oatmeal (chiefly used by those at sea; Arabic in origin)
Burke: to murder by suffocation
Burker: one that burkes (“The burker lurked, then burked.”)
Bushel: to mend clothing
Busk: to prepare (“Must busk and dust before dusk!”)
Buss: to kiss
Butch: a lesbian with mannish traits (also seems like it would be offensive)
Cabbage: to steal
Caboched: full-faced—used of an animal's head in heraldry (can’t get away from heraldry)
Caestus: cestus (hand covering for ancient Roman boxers. I don’t think I realized there were ancient Roman boxers.)
Cager: a basketball player
Cahoot: partnership (usually used in the plural)
Caisson: a watertight chamber (used in laying foundations of bridges in deep water or in making canals. Also can mean a chest containing bombs or ammunition, to be buried and fired as a mine. May the last not be used to construct the first)
Caitiff: a despicable person
Calipee/calipash/callipee: an edible part of a turtle (turtle tastes gross and makes you feel bad, trust me. Also, if you eat too much of it, you get sick)
Calkin: a gripping projection on a horseshoe
Callet: a prostitute
Calque: to model a word's meaning upon that of an analogous word in another language. Click here for a few examples.
Cameleer: a camel driver
Camisado: an attack made at night (perhaps the more efficient kind—OED says it was a very common word in the 16–17th centuries)
♡ Favorite Words of the Week
Brash: rash, hasty
Bricky: made of bricks
Brutify: make brutal
Bulbous: bulb-shaped; bulging
Butchery: wanton or cruel killing
Butyrous: resembling butter
Cabbagey: resembling a cabbage (a leafy vegetable)
Caconymy: the state of having an erroneous name
Cageful: the number held in an enclosure
Cajolery: persuasion by flattery
Calyx: the outer protective covering of a flower
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