Friday, February 15, 2008

some Schott's Misc'y

SomE ShaPES
Term.....................shaped like a...
acetabuliform......................saucer
acinaciform......................scimitar
bacciform.........................berry
botuliform........................sausage
bursiform.........................purse
calamiform.......................feather
cassidiform.......................helmet
columelliform..................little pillar
cordiform..........................heart
cruciform..........................cross
draconiform......................dragon
ensiform..........................sword
fenestriform.....................window
guttiform.........................droplet
hippocrepiform................horseshoe
infundibuliform...................funnel
lachrymiform....................teardrop
myrtiform...................myrtle berry
napiform..........................turnip
obpyriform..................inverse pear
pyriform...........................pear
raniform............................frog
quadriform.......................square
serratiform..........................saw
tauriform............................bull


rEtronymS
‘Retronyms’ are terms that have been created to clarify an existing word rendered ambiguous by evolutions in technology or social practice. The origin of the word itself is unclear, though it may have been coined by Frank Mankiewicz (one-time press secretary to Robert Kennedy). Below are some current retronyms:

snail-mail
acoustic guitar
free parking
analogue watch
birth-mother
organic food
black & white photo
church wedding
summer Olympics
two-parent family
conventional oven
free-range eggs
real fire
fruit in season

countinG ShEEP
In addition to inducing somnolence, sheep are counted by shepherds to audit their flocks. Traditionally, special counting terms were used which varied across Britain and within regions. Below is one of the many (now archaic) versions:

1....................Yan
2....................Tan
3..................Tether
4.................Mether
5.....................Pit
6..................Tayter
7..................Layter
8..................Overa
9.................Covera
10..................Dicks
11............Yan-a-Dicks
12............Tan-a-Dicks
13.........Tether-a-Dicks
14........Mether-a-Dicks
15................Bumfit
16..........Yan-a-Bumfit
17..........Tan-a-Bumfit
18........Tether-a-Bumfit
19.......Mether-a-Bumfit
20..................Jiggit
20 sheep are a ‘score’

SwordS & thEir wiEldErS
Excalibur....................King Arthur
Waske..............................Iring
Naegling, Hrunting..............Beowulf
Sanglamore.................Braggadochio
Arondight.......................Lancelot
Balisard........................Ruggiero
Curtana............Edward the Confessor
Greysteel..................Koll the Thrall
Tizona............................El Cid
Mimung........................Wittich
Angervadil........................Frithiof
Ascalon.......................St George
Morglay.........................Sir Bevis
Joyeuse.....................Charlemagne
Zuflagar..............................Ali
Cortana..................Ogier the Dane
Baptism, Florence.......Strong-o’-the-Arm
Nothung........................Siegfried
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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"