pterodactyl

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• 25 days ago telofy said:
  Glad you like it. :-)
• 25 days ago pterodactyl said:
  Five seconds after learning the word "cnidarian", I started a new list to put it on. Thank you!
• 25 days ago telofy said:
  “Pterodactyl”, with a “c”, as in cnidarian!
• about 1 month ago thtownse said:
  Ptotally, dude
• about 1 month ago pterodactyl said:
  Because I am not merely a gentleman, but also a pedant, I must point out that the phrase "icy vacuum of outer space" is just poetic license. A vacuum cannot be cold, any more than it can be hot, because heat is a property of matter, and a vacuum contains no matter (well, virtually no matter, anyway).
  
  As for the aesthetic qualities of my underthings, well, a reptile's got to have some secrets, hasn't he?
• about 1 month ago chained_bear said:
  Well, I didn't think I knew the bear. I play by similar rules, myself, and am no stranger to disreputable cousins.
  
  Wait, that sounds like I hang out with disreputable cousins, which is not the case.
  
  I'll refrain from asking if you wear an enchanting thong, but be advised I'm dying to know. ;)
• about 1 month ago ruzuzu said:
  So, let's see... I think that makes the bear-o-dactyl your first cousin once removed.
• about 1 month ago pterodactyl said:
  Oh deary me. Well, I am in a bit of a pickle now, aren't I? The secret is out. However shall I live this down?
  
  No, the truth is, the embarrassing antics described therein were perpetrated by one of my disreputable cousins. Personally, I strive to be a more civilized specimen of the order Pterosauria. While I do indulge in the occasional interspecies affaire d'amour, I always adhere strictly to the rules of gentlemanly conduct, such as removing my hat in the presence of ladies, laying down my jacket across any muddy patches in a lady's path, and never subjecting a lady to the icy vacuum of outer space.
• about 1 month ago chained_bear said:
  Ptero, if you're around... I found this and wondered... Do I know the bear?
  (Caution: salty language therein.)
  
• 5 months ago gangerh said:
  I played with your name. 
• 6 months ago telofy said:
  Yes, now you are under the protection of the License to Err. And that’s an excellent idea by the way; I shall do the same.
• 6 months ago pterodactyl said:
  I'm covered by dint of having favorited License to Err. :-)
• 6 months ago telofy said:
  Another content customer, what an honor. :-)
  Yet strictly speaking you’re not yet covered by the License to Err since as of now—unless it’s a cache issue—you haven’t added it to any lists.
  But that reminds me of an emendation I was planning to apply—an important emendation, at least for as long as we still have Time separating past and future. Thanks.
• 6 months ago pterodactyl said:
  For too long I have been treading gingerly through life, eschewing any risk for fear that I might somehow err. Well, no longer. Thanks to telofy and Wordie PRO!, I now have license to err. That's right, boys and girls -- if I screw up now, no big deal! I just laugh about it and get on with my life.
  
  And I gotta say, its a wonderful feeling. :-)
• 7 months ago chained_bear said:
  Don't forget this gem:
  "What's now missing from the pterosaur picture is how these animals took off, but Padian already has some ideas.
  
  'Two obvious choices are just jumping up and flapping, and running along and flapping,' Padian said, adding, 'I suspect both were possible.'"
  
  Congratulations, ptero, on finally being recognized by us hairless monkeys for the flight genius you are. .... How's the real estate at Pterosaur Beach, by the way? ;)
  
• 7 months ago pterodactyl said:
  "The pterodactyl was likely a powerful flyer with highly maneuverable wings and a developed capacity for flight control."
  
  *preens*
• 7 months ago reesetee said:
  At last, we've figured out how you land!
• 11 months ago reesetee said:
  I couldn't agree more.
• 11 months ago pterodactyl said:
  Truth is, pterodactyls are actually adorable. I mean, just look at those cute reptilian eyes!
• 11 months ago gangerh said:
  What's all this about ptropaganda?
• 11 months ago reesetee said:
  Propaganda? I just think it's pfunny. :-)
• 11 months ago Milosrdenstvi said:
  My inner Greek scholar always rankles when people make light of the silent p and other dropped consonants (mnemonic, bdellium, phenophthalein, gnu) ... pedants like me continue to pronounce them. p-terodactyl. It's not incredibly difficult. It's actually kind of fun. And the ancient Greeks did it. So why can't we?
  
  It's one of my sillier linguistic perfectionisms. In other words, whenever I rant about it, you should pay no attention.
• 11 months ago pterodactyl said:
  *clicks link*
  
  *starts to grin*
  
  Gosh. I could really get into that kind of propaganda.
  
  (Even though it it's technically false.)
• 11 months ago chained_bear said:
  *covets*
• 11 months ago reesetee said:
  Ptero, I think I've found the pterfect pt-shirt for you. :-)
• about 1 year ago prolagus said:
  Thank you for the link on my profile, ptero!
• over 1 year ago elgiad007 said:
  Thanks for the welcome, pterodactyl!
• over 1 year ago yarb said:
  When I was about 18 I decided to read my 2-volume Shorter OED in its entirety - I was going great guns getting through 'A' in six weeks, but strangely I lapsed, never made it past the first hundred or so 'B's. Still my favourite dictionary though.
• over 1 year ago reesetee said:
  A little late to the discussion, ptero, but for what it's worth: I concur on MW2 and MW3, but my all-time favorite for browsing is the OED.
  
  And speaking of reading dictionaries cover to cover. . . . When I was in elementary school and preparing for the annual statewide spelling bee, I decided that the best way to know any word they'd throw at me was to study the dictionary one word at a time. Never made it to Z, but it sure was fun trying. :-)
• over 1 year ago plethora said:
  I'm not sure. I suppose the teacher assumed that we were trying to get out of reading, because really, who reads a dictionary word by word?
  What she didn't get is that we both loved reading. While our classmates were struggling through their BSC and "Aussie Bites", 100 page novels (and hating every minute), we were reading adult fiction, which found so absorbing that we couldn't just read for 15 minutes and then stop (I still can't do that. It's torture).
  Plus, we were having fun and learning new words (and partly we were doing it to be smart arses. Fun was discouraged whenever possible, and I think the teacher hated having to mark our spelling words each week because she didn't know what half the words meant, herself.
• over 1 year ago pterodactyl said:
  Thank you all! Your suggestions are lovely, and they're going to be darned useful as I assemble this presentation.
  
  Frindley, I loved the TED video you posted. I think every Wordie should watch it (and be prepared to see the geek needle go all the way into the red...).
  
  Plethora, why the heck wouldn't they let you read the dictionary? If I found a kid sitting quietly and reading the dictionary, I'd shower him or her with praise.
  
  (I once started reading an encyclopedia cover to cover. I think I got about a quarter of the way through before I lost interest.)
• over 1 year ago mollusque said:
  Ptero, in making your presentation, you might want to mention words created in dictionaries. I have a list, Dictionary escapees, that describes various ways this happens.
  
  Following up on John's comment, I regard MW2 as the greatest single volume dictionary. First issued in 1934, it weighed in at 16 pounds, 3350 pages, and more than 600,000 entries. I don't refer to it as W2, because the first dictionary by Noah Webster, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language came out in 1806, and the second, his masterwork, An American Dictionary of the English Language, came out in 1828. Also, the name "Webster" is not trademarked, so anyone can stick it in the title of a dictionary. Merriam-Webster is the company that continues the Webster tradition.
  
  MW3 is the print dictionary I use most often, because it's much better for scientific terminology than MW2, but despite being styled as unabridged, it has 150,000 fewer entries than MW2 (and is 3.5 pounds lighter). MW3 was criticized for being too permissive, but I like that aspect. My main complaint about it is that all the headwords are lowercase (except for acronyms), with "cap", "usu cap", "often cap" stated in entry.
  
  My favorite multi-volume dictionary is OED2, but CDC1 is better for scientific terms.
• over 1 year ago plethora said:
  Perhaps you could mention reverse dictionaries, pter? I have always found them fascinating for some reason.
  
  When I was in year 6, we had 15 minutes of compulsory reading time every day. My equally book-nerdy friend and I both felt that 15 minutes wasn't enough time to enjoy any sort of narrative, so we each brought in a dictionary and started reading at A. We only lasted a week before we were told off and our dictionaries confiscated.
  
  My favourite dictionary is the Macquarie, I must say.
• over 1 year ago chained_bear said:
  John: perhaps it's just that I'm feeling particularly apologetic lately...?
  
  Seriously, I never cared much for dictionaries all my life. Words, yes; dictionaries, no. The OED is hella fun though. It's almost... dare I say... an OEDILF.
• over 1 year ago bilby said:
  In learning foreign languages I've found picture dictionaries to be really useful. I don't think it's the pictures so much as the thematic organisation, eg, you can look at a diagram of a house and go through the words for every danged thing in it on a single page. Learning thematically-linked words in one big bunch works well for me. My Italian picture dictionary even had a diagram of a soccer field and names for the player positions ... twenty minutes with that and I was ready for my trip to the stadium!
• over 1 year ago john said:
  c_b, I can't believe you just called yourself pedestrian because you enjoy the OED. This has to the the only place on the planet where anyone would ever say that :-)
• over 1 year ago frindley said:
  The Macquarie Dictionary sponsored Australian Word Map is a fascinating attempt at using a kind of crowdsourcing to capture the diversity and intricacies of Australian regionalisms.
• over 1 year ago chained_bear said:
  It's pedestrian for me to say so, but I have great fondness for the OED online. I especially love the quotations and etymologies.
• over 1 year ago frindley said:
  Just for inspiration, Erin McKean gives a very entertaining presentation about dictionaries on TED.
  
  And my favourite dictionary story of all time appears in Andrew Clements' Frindle (no, not named after me, alas).
  
  I personally love the stories behind words and the ways they are used. So dictionaries that are "just" definitions are always less interesting to me than the ones with etymologies and historical usage.
  
• over 1 year ago john said:
  Dictionaries! An older and very well-regarded copy editor of my acquaintance says that Webster's 2nd, aka W2 (though mollusque calls it the MW2), is the best dictionary ever created. It's beautifully written and opinionated without being overbearing. And it contains dord, one of the best accidental words ever.
• over 1 year ago dontcry said:
  I had a dictionary for years - a really old one -- called Eskay's (I think) joke dictionary. It was prety lame -- but also cool.
  
  I also have a rhyming dictionary, also old.
• over 1 year ago pterodactyl said:
  Hello, fellow Wordies. I need your help...
  
  In one of the classes I'm taking this semester, I've just volunteered to do a 10-minute presentation about dictionaries. It's a topic that's near and dear to my heart, but I'm still a bit anxious about it.
  
  So I'm asking for suggestions. What are the best and worst dictionaries out there (print or online)? Do you have any favorites? Any dictionaries that have let you down? What about fancy bells and whistles (like those sites where you can hear words pronounced)?
  
  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
• over 1 year ago wordwench said:
  Conversely, "Words that would be even more interesting with a 'P' in front of them'
  sounds like a really good list to me.
  
  Ptruly.
  
  ;)
• over 1 year ago chained_bear said:
  We had a conversation somewhere on Wordie about this very topic, as regards "slave" vs. "enslaved." I think you might be onto something here, and for the same reasons. "Enslaved" describes a condition, not an identity or an object itself. It's an adjective, and as such doesn't tell the whole story; it needs a noun to modify. That noun is the identity of the person. So when you say "slave," you're describing the person as identified with his or her condition—it isn't a person, it's a slave, an object. Whereas if you say "enslaved man," "enslaved woman," "enslaved child," etc., you're not only describing a PERSON who has the condition of being enslaved. You're also (because it's a verb used as an adjective) implying responsibility. Someone enslaved this person/this person was enslaved by someone else.
  
  Not exactly the same thing as what you're talking about, but close.
  
  In the instance of the two offensive as well as not-entirely-accepted terms cited here today, they are coined expressly to insult and denigrate, so it's kind of irrelevant whether they're used as adjectives or nouns. But I think you're onto something about the adj. vs. noun thing. :)
  
  And may I just say, I love discussing language with fellow wordies. :)
• over 1 year ago reesetee said:
  Yes, it's a good point, and I think in many cases it may make a difference. But so does intent, of course.
• over 1 year ago rolig said:
  I once talked to a Jewish friend about this, and he confirmed that to say, "Herman Smith is a Jew" sounded to his ear potentially offensive, whereas saying "Herman Smith is Jewish" is a neutral statement of fact. But the distinction, I think, is not merely that the nominal form defines you, but that it suggests that the speaker sees you as a member of a distinct group which he defines as "Other" or "them". To say, for example, "she's a Hungarian" implies not only that she is Hungarian but also "and we all know what Hungarians are like." Saying "she's Hungarian" doesn't seem to suggest so much "she's one of them."
• over 1 year ago reesetee said:
  Not for me, ptero. "Gaytard" is equally as offensive to me as "gaytarded." But you do bring up an interesting point.
• over 1 year ago pterodactyl said:
  I've been watching the discussion that's currently going on at gaytarded and americunt, and something's just occured to me:
  
  Could it be that nouns are (slightly) more offensive than adjectives?
  
  Consider:
  - "she's a Jew" versus "she's Jewish"
  - "he's a gay" versus "he's gay"
  
  Perhaps the difference is that nouns define you, but adjectives only describe you.
  
  Hmm.
  
  Can you folks think of any more examples to confirm or disconfirm my theory?
• over 1 year ago sionnach said:
  pBoris and pNatasha are ppissed at this ridiculous pcanard that there is no internet in pCalifornia.
  
  pWhat am I? pchopped pliver?
  
  {psulks in pcorner}
• over 1 year ago prolagus said:
  MiaLuthien, do I see pterodactyl's silent P in your mouth? please leave it... bring it here... good girl...