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P Prolagus

Prolagus has looked up 15533 words, created 71 lists, listed 4910 words, written 7594 comments, added 1696 tags, and loved 38 words.

Comments by Prolagus

  • In Italy, a bimbominkia or bimbominchia (f. bimbaminkia or bimbaminchia) is a... well, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bimbominkia
    Instaminkia is used ironically by teenagers to tag their Instagram "selfies".

    Apr 22, 2013

  • Often used to increase visibility by other people, though.

    Apr 22, 2013

  • Hello to you!
    You are right in that it means "drenched in sweat"; this particular word for "drenched", however, is hardly ever used in any context other than that of exhaustion. That's what I meant - it seems to incorporate both senses of bedraggled in the mind of an Italian reader.

    Mar 27, 2013

  • @Frog: madido di sudore!

    Mar 27, 2013

  • I'll go with something along the lines of "covered in sweat", then. There's an Italian word that incorporates both exhaustion and sweat. (Ew!)
    Thanks! <3

    Mar 26, 2013

  • "Four bedraggled porters came through the door, each one staggering under a huge load. They hauled a collection of trunks and large canvas bags."
    Given that there is no reference to the luggage being wet or soiled anywhere in the chapter, and that these are the porters of a moody and tyrannical woman, am I right in assuming the word is used to mean something like "exhausted/in poor conditions"? Or maybe "covered in sweat"?

    Mar 26, 2013

  • Happy World Oral Health Day!

    Mar 20, 2013

  • Who's there?

    Mar 16, 2013

  • Bilby, you surely mean mes geese.

    Feb 18, 2013

  • According to Weirdnet, I haven't had one in quite a while. Who knew!

    Feb 17, 2013

  • I'm pretty sure the other guy at the meeting looks much frailer.

    Feb 17, 2013

  • In Italian this is a "party" in a more Berlusconian sense.

    Feb 15, 2013

  • Wonderful, ruzuzu!

    Feb 14, 2013

  • Ha!

    Feb 10, 2013

  • Happily for the paranoid, a trio of researchers reckon they have come up with a way to send secret messages via Skype without tipping off censors or intelligence agencies that something fishy is going on. The three, Wojciech Mazurczyk, Maciej Karas and Krzysztof Szczypiorski, who all work at the Warsaw University of Technology, made use of a technique called steganography, cryptography’s lesser-known, less glamorous cousin. Whereas cryptography relies on the brute force of mathematics to make messages unreadable, steganography relies on stealth and cunning to make them undetectable, by hiding them within other, innocent communications. (A classic example is writing in invisible ink between the lines of an ordinary letter.) That way, potential eavesdroppers are not even aware that a conversation is happening.

    "Speaking with silence: Tinkering with Skype can allow people to send undetectable messages" - The Economist
    http://econ.st/WyHpdg

    Feb 6, 2013

  • "I've had it done up lately," he explained, as he had explained for the past -- how many? -- weeks. "New carpet," and he pointed to the bright red carpet with a pattern of large white rings. "New furniture," and he nodded towards the massive bookcase and the table with legs like twisted treacle. "Electric heating!" He waved almost exultantly towards the five transparent, pearly sausages glowing so softly in the tilted copper pan.

    (The Fly, by Katherine Mansfield)

    I'm trying to figure out what the author means by twisted treacle.

    Could it be the way thick molasses flows, something like this?

    http://footage.shutterstock.com/clip-3042472-stock-footage-red-thick-liquid-in-a-super-slow-motion-flowing-against-a-white-background.html

    Feb 1, 2013

  • Don't trust the bilby, he forgot what dimenticare really means!

    Jan 28, 2013

  • ooooh, I miss all of this so much. :)

    Jan 27, 2013

  • Blacked out? Which one?

    Jan 27, 2013

  • That woman has "shoulder-length, pale-brown hair", so I'd say no...

    Jan 25, 2013

  • "Did you grow up in Kentucky?" he asked. He imagined her as a big-eyed child in a cotton shift, playing in some dusty, sunny alley, some rural Kentucky-like place. Funny she had grown up to be this wan little bun with too much makeup in black creases under her eyes.

    "The girl on the plane", from "Because They Wanted to", by Mary Gaitskill

    What would you say bun means in this context?

    Jan 25, 2013

  • Just found out that the suffix -ster was originally "used to refer to woman doing a job normally performed by a man" as the GNU Webster's 1913 Dictionary definition says:
    http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/sex_neutral_terms/

    This gives Webster itself a whole new meaning.

    Jan 10, 2013

  • whichbe?

    Jan 10, 2013

  • This isn't going to be a Goldacresque run-down of study after study of evidence (although here's a handy Cochrane review for the nerds). What's so interesting about the antioxidant myth is its wider cultural and social dimension. Why is this perception so hard to shift? And is there anything we can do about it?
    From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/10/antioxidant-myth-easy-to-swallow

    (still too hard for me to type all html code for a proper link)

    Jan 10, 2013

  • A word or expression that is repeated elsewhere in a text, but whose first occurrence, and not the following, should be removed.

    (I made it up this morning while translating what could become my first editorial translation if I manage to sell it)

    Dec 22, 2012

  • sionnach - HA!

    Dec 19, 2012

  • I saw this tattoo on the internet (on graphic designer Jim Parkinson's body)
    http://welovetypography.com/post/8154
    and I wonder if there's a pun that I don't get. I have seen "born to ride" stickers with the same kind of design before – is that the original, or are both of them referring to some other "born to (...) + skull" concept I am unaware of?

    Dec 19, 2012

  • :-) I think it would be a very nice addition. Thanks!

    Dec 19, 2012

  • I don't know how to say it, but most forums have a toolbar at the edge of comment boxes. You type your comment, then you select the part you would like to see italicized, click "I" on the toolbar, and that bit of text is in italics now. You want to post a link? You type "check this out", select "this", click "link" on the toolbar, a window pops up, you paste your YouTube link, et voila, you still read "check this out" but the word "this" links to the YouTube video. Without me having to type all the HTML code.

    Dec 18, 2012

  • And I just used it, milosrdentsvi.

    Dec 18, 2012

  • Hello Feedback,

    I would just like to say that I still find Wordnik quite messy.

    I simply can't find what I need, when I need it. And this is why I hardly ever use it, despite my love for the community.

    For instance, comment boxes; conversations arranged in a meaningful way on the community page (I'd like to see all recent comments posted to a word/list page somehow grouped together, not as distinct entries).

    I'd like to have collaborative lists that are not open to anyone, like we used to have in the YOW days.

    I'd like to have a quick-translate button (again, something we used to have) for a first hint about a word's meaning when I don't need anything sophisticated.

    And finally, and most urgent, I would really need something better than the 'feeling fancy' text suggesting how to use HTML. I think I said that before: a drop-down gizmo would be great. I don't even understand how to post some clickable text with a link anymore (see ë), and my computer skills are, I believe, above average.

    I'm not complaining, I'm actually concerned for you. If I ended up visiting Word Reference more often than I visit Wordnik, other people are probably doing so.

    Dec 18, 2012

  • laughing out at a reasonable volume!

    Dec 18, 2012

  • I'm almost positive I found cryoturbation videos in the "adult" section. Or something like that.

    Dec 10, 2012

  • "n. An obsolete and more original form of apron." The Century Dictionary is such a trendsetter.

    Dec 9, 2012

  • And then there's also my collaborative project sweet-tooth-fairy-dominoes.

    Dec 9, 2012

  • A great alternative to scanno :)

    Hey, welcome to Wordnik!

    Dec 5, 2012

  • Spent the past half-hour reading your lists and almost choking on them. Love you!

    Dec 4, 2012

  • what was he eating when he recorded unfathomable?

    Dec 4, 2012

  • fluffy rainbow-colored unicorns frolicking in the surf with happy dolphins was added by ruzuzu and appears on just this list

    clan tartans that resemble waffle patterns, and vice-versa was added by bilby and appears on just this list

    Dec 4, 2012

  • See also grangerize. Or if you prefer, you can try gangerhize.

    Dec 4, 2012

  • http://xkcd.com/1142/

    Dec 4, 2012

  • Shevek's comment still makes me laugh out loud, as my roommate just found out.

    Dec 2, 2012

  • Which leads to a second question: Can a word be porno-graphic? Or just porno-logical?
    And which of the meanings of vulgar are the terms of service referring to?

    :)

    Oct 10, 2012

  • I love that we have a translation of Wordnik's terms of service that people can actually understand! It's the first time I really read any ToS.
    Despite the mistake with the font size in the "Beta" section.

    Oct 8, 2012

  • Too bad iced tea isn't there.

    Sep 21, 2012

  • Überthanks guys! As usual, I added either your suggestion or something related I found while looking for the page you pointed out.

    Aug 27, 2012

  • I haven't, but I'll try and find her!
    Thank you 'zu - this whole American experience has been wonderful, especially the first two years and the past few months, and I wish I could stay. Unfortunately, this is not possible.
    Let's hope the next adventure is... worth its price.

    Aug 2, 2012

Comments for Prolagus

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  • Thank you, Pro! I was thinking of you recently when I found myself looking through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trees. (Also, I had to explain casu marzu to someone recently.) <3

    Dec 5, 2012

  • How's life in █████?

    Aug 16, 2012

  • Thanks, I should have checked.

    May 23, 2012

  • Oh, and brackets around "Zeitmunity," please.

    Mar 29, 2012

  • I'm glad you visit often. :-)

    We could just start up some new threads--have you come across any interesting words lately? (You are good at finding ones that are iroquoisy.)

    Mar 29, 2012

  • I less than three you.

    Mar 27, 2012

  • Guys! You should really be kind.

    Jan 13, 2012

  • When I think of you, I think cunt.

    Jan 13, 2012

  • Hi! I hope your Friday 13th was unlucky.

    Jan 13, 2012

  • I (heart) you, too.

    Jan 13, 2012

  • This was only <3 and an apostrophe...

    Jan 12, 2012

  • Jan 12, 2012

  • (that was actually <3 x 3)

    Jan 12, 2012

  • <3

    Jan 12, 2012

  • ok, <3 and apostrophe. that is the issue.

    Jan 12, 2012

  • test 6
    it would be easier to t STOP

    Jan 12, 2012

  • test 5
    it would be easier to <3 you back if it didn STOP

    Jan 12, 2012

  • test 4
    it would be easier to t take me STOP

    Jan 12, 2012

  • test 3
    it would be easier to <3 you back STOP

    Jan 12, 2012

  • Oh, that worked!

    Jan 12, 2012

  • test:
    OK, there's something wrong with <3 in a sentence.

    Jan 12, 2012

  • OK, there's something wrong with "less than 3" in a sentence.

    Jan 12, 2012

  • test:
    it would be easier to t take me 5 minutes just to find the comment section

    Jan 12, 2012

  • I wrote something like "it would be easier to (heart) you back if it didn't take me 5 minutes just to find the comment section"

    Jan 12, 2012

  • Where? Which part?

    Jan 11, 2012

  • This is NOT what I wrote!

    Jan 11, 2012

  • It would be easier to section...

    Jan 11, 2012

  • <3

    Jan 11, 2012

  • Pro, for your question about comments on tags, try writing Erin directly by email (erin (at) wordnik.com) -- if you haven't already.

    Nov 29, 2011

  • Pro, I just went to my own profile and changed my preferences in order to hide my lookups from "the public." The first time it didn't take, but the second time it did.

    Nov 29, 2011

  • :-)

    Jul 22, 2011

  • Thank you for your kind comments.

    At SUNY, you would have a different link to OED.

    Jun 27, 2011

  • Thanks for the input; I updated zeke.sikelianos.com

    Jun 27, 2011

  • Maybe you were thinking about my Geek Culture list?

    May 18, 2011

  • Thanks, Pro. I do poke my nose in from time to time. Hope you're doing well.

    May 9, 2011

  • Thanks pro--will check out the Twitter link thing tonight.

    May 6, 2011

  • Thanks much for those bug reports, they were super userful--the loop bug and profile link on mobile should be fixed.

    May 3, 2011

  • Just fixed the mobile login issue, I think--let me know if it's still giving you trouble.

    May 2, 2011

  • Hi Pro, no, absolutely not--I'm sorry I haven't been more responsive. A series of the issues you reported fell into the bermuda triangle zone where they weren't absolute showstoppers, nor were they two minute fixes, so I made a mental note to get to them and have been slow about it.

    Though coincidentally, I'm moving some new stuff into production later tonight, including fixes for a handful of the things you've mentioned recently. The mislabeled link when comments appear on word pages is fixed, and most embedded video should start working again too--we upgraded some internal components, and the new versions had stricter embedding policies, which I've adjusted.

    May 2, 2011

  • Arigato gozaimasu, bilby-san.

    May 2, 2011

  • Mine go unanswered. For months. Probably forever. And bilbies don't live a long time in captivity.

    Edit: 6 months. I realise I may be guilty of the odd nonce comment that doesn't require responding, but there are serious suggestions that have been sitting there for 6 months.

    May 1, 2011

  • Yes. You are.

    Apr 29, 2011

  • You are adorable.

    Apr 29, 2011

  • Howdy do to you, too. :-)
    Have you had anything exciting for breakfast lately?

    Apr 17, 2011

  • You cannot escape the charge that you have previously engaged in the amazing pastime that is IDENTIFY THE WORDIE.
    You are therefore prime target material for inviting to IDENTIFY THE WORDIENIK.
    The whole of the bit of Wordnik that joins in on this would be truly honoured should you participate this time round.
    Easily find the right page right now because it is currently the most commented on list shown on the Community page.

    Apr 14, 2011

  • Has anyone ever made a list of iroquoisy words?

    Apr 14, 2011

  • In answer to your comment at "brogan", asking where the proper name entries I had mentioned were, I entered the following:

    To Progasus: They were removed, along with my complaint (as it should). I am gratified to see that comments are attended to. However, in this case, although the capitalized entries were apparently blanket removed, the three citations one first sees are also useless for other reasons. Although I can appreciate that culling the caps is a practical approach, it is not a substitute for reviewing the examples.

    Apr 14, 2011

  • Le corne! Le corne!

    Apr 2, 2011

  • devil horns hand sign .. |m| or \m/.

    Apr 1, 2011