Saturday, November 17, 2007

Isochronal

Some recent words from the AHD WAD calendar
fustigate (FUSS-ti-gate) v 1. to beat with a club; cudgel. 2. to criticize harshly.
evidently, we need a word for clubbing for those situations when it might be confusing. "Captain Caveman fustigated the evil man, to which Taffy replied 'zowie'."
isochronal (EYE-SOCK-ra-nul) or isochronous adj 1. equal in duration. 2. characterized by or occurring at equal intervals of time.
"My wife dropped me off for my manicure so she could get the snow tires put on the car, but it turned out our errands were isochronal and neither of us had to wait for the other."
anile (AH-nile or AY-nile) adj 1. of or like an old woman. 2. senile.
A quick check of senile's etymology (courtesy of m-w.com) is "Etymology: Latin senilis, from sen-, senex old, old man", which makes sense, when you consider senior can be male-specific.
limacine (LIM-uh-SEEN or LIE-muh-SEEN) adj of, relating to, or resembling a slug.
"The limacine men ogling her on the subway made the mother superior uncomfortable."
febrific (fi-BRIF-ik) adj 1. producing fever. 2. Having a fever; feverish.
"Her febrific looks drove me insane."
au courant (OH-koo-RAWN) adj 1. informed on current affairs; up-to-date. 2. fully familiar; knowledgeable.
If you're commenting on current affairs and you want to say "obviously she's not au courant", you probably sound pretentious. But if you use the term to pay a compliment, I bet you sound very knowledgeable yourself.
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. --Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance"