Comments by cydonian

  • Qiūb�?: Literally "autumn waves," but by poetic association, "girl's bright glance" as defined by DeFrancis's ABC Chinese-English Dictionary (source)

    June 8, 2008

  • The Monster that Cannot Be Pronounced. It however comes with its own market research teams.

    March 11, 2008

  • 春�?� - The world's largest free movement of people for a festival. Happens every year in China; according to Wikipedia, two billion people used the transport system during Chinese New Year.

    February 4, 2008

  • Also,

    hogra : mépris (en dialectal algérien), terme utilisé par le mouvement démocratique algérien à partir de 2001 pour désigner l'attitude des autorités vis-à-vis du peuple

    January 28, 2008

  • As seen in this Times article.

    January 28, 2008

  • The editorial, or royal, we.

    Mark Twain once said, "Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we'." (quote)

    October 26, 2007

  • Pennsylvania Deutsch to describe "the intense grief a parent feels when a child dies". (source via Wordsmith)

    October 22, 2007

  • That's the beauty of German compound-nouns. They say exactly what you're thinking.

    Just this. Who or what is a Hottentot potentate? :-|

    October 21, 2007

  • Added both! :-)

    Loved your songs, VanishedOne, especially We Didn't Start Inquiry. Hope you wouldn't mind if I forward the link to some of my friends who'd love it as well! ;-)

    October 21, 2007

  • Check out the wikipedia link for a fascinating reading on the subject.

    October 9, 2007

  • I am liking this.

    October 1, 2007

  • A good list of which would be here.

    September 26, 2007

  • Reseetee, well, you shouldn't be. It's simple, really; while I had promised to not correct my misspelling for the word-that-is-the-opposite-of-perihelion, it appears that I had already corrected it auto-magically and had forgotten about it. Something Pavlovian, I would presume, in hitting the edit button.

    I have now gone back on my promise, re-re-editted the spelling to show the right misspelling, and have brought peace, prosperity and much tranquility to this thread. If you haven't been confused even more, that is.

    September 25, 2007

  • What does this mean?

    September 24, 2007

  • When chiefs become cheifs, and aphelion becomes aphelion.

    September 24, 2007

  • That it is. Yes.

    This e-only dyslexia (e-slexia ?), it keeps popping up when you least expect it, doesn't it.

    (I'll leave my misspelling in tact to let folks know what we're talking about.)

    September 24, 2007

  • I just thought it was me. :-|

    (You can be sure I'll come back to this comment in an hour or two, and edit it with a further witticism).

    September 24, 2007

  • This is not the same as perihelion, which in turn, is the opposite of apehelion, both of which can be generically called an apsis.

    None of which is related, but heck.

    September 24, 2007

  • Stolen, favouritized, and dusted for a possible sale in a musty warehouse in small Victorian shop with wooden stairs.

    September 24, 2007

  • Here it is.

    September 24, 2007

  • There are no google hits for this word! :O

    September 24, 2007

  • "And I become Greenspan, destroyer of syntaxes".

    One good example:

    "Modest pre-emptive actions can obviate the need of more drastic actions at a later date, and that could destabilize the economy."

    September 24, 2007

  • Good to see another fan of the Indic calendar system. :-)

    September 24, 2007

  • While 'darshan' is often used to describe the act of seeing an idol in a temple ("I stood in the queue at Tirumala for two hours to have a darshan of the Lord"), the word is entirely secular in nature. As far as I know, it merely means 'the acting of seeing something'. Consequently, you have India's state-run television, 'doordarshan', ('the act of seeing, ie, vision, from afar').

    Of course, my understanding could be clouded by dialectal usage in modern Indian languages, something that may, or may not, reflect on its original Sanskrit roots.

    September 24, 2007

  • The Urban Dictionary clarifies:

    There is an important age distinction between a yummy mummy and a MILF. Yummy mummys are younger than 30, while MILFs are older than 30.

    Also note that the plural appears to be 'yummy mummys', and not yummy mummies, as is the case with 'mummy'. Additionally, it is interesting to observe that that it is 'mummy'and not 'mommy', a distinction that is often lost on this Indian-flavoured brain.

    And finally, this word doesn't seem to be hypenated.

    September 24, 2007

  • Dry British wit gets a lock on gas-guzzling consumerism.

    September 24, 2007

  • Added! :-)

    September 19, 2007

  • I'm thinking I should split this into more groups.

    Hmmmm. Naah, will create other groups _in addition_. :-)

    September 19, 2007

  • 1) v. (archaic) "to arm/to reinforce"

    2) v. (urban Jerusalem slang) "to fuck"

    Described here.

    September 19, 2007

  • John, that's a great band-name, Testing Email Notification. Techno-rock, I'm sure. ;-)

    September 17, 2007

  • This page is one of the five sites on the web to feature this term.

    September 14, 2007

  • Personality, in German.

    September 14, 2007

  • Consider its IUPAC name:

    Methionylglutaminylarginytyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenylalanylalanylglutaminylleucyllysylglutamylargin

    yllysylglutamylglycylalanylphenylalanyvalylprolylphenylalanylvalythreonylleucylglycylaspartylprolyglycy

    lisoleucylglutamylglutaminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanylglycy

    lalanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglycylglycylisoleucylprolylphenylalanylserylaspartylprolylleuc

    elalanylaspartyglycylprolythreonylisoleucylglutamiylasparaginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylphenyla

    lanylalanylglycylvalyltheonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanygllutamylmethionylleucyalanylleu

    cylisoleucylarginylglutaminyllysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleucylpriIylisoleucylglycylleucylleucylmethi

    onyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalyphenylalanylasparaginyllysylgyycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenyl

    alanyltyrosylalanylgutaminyllcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycylavlylaspartylserylvalylleucylvalylalanyla

    spartylvalyprolylvalylglutaminylglutamyllserylalanyprolyphenylalanylarginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucyl

    arginylhistidylasparaginylvaylalanylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartylal

    anylaspartylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginyglutaminylisoleucylalanyylseryltyrosylglycylarginylglycyl

    tyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleucylserylarginylalanylglycylvalythreonylglycylalanylglutamylasparaginylar

    ginylanylalanylleucylprolylleucylaspaaginylhistidylleucylvaylalanyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasara

    ginylglycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylaspa

    rtylalanylalanyglycylalanylalanyglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycyserylalanylisoleucylbalyllsylisoleucylis

    oleucylglutamyyylglutaminylhistidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamylprolyglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanyla

    lanylleucyllysylvalylphenylalabylvalylglutaminlylprolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine

    September 14, 2007

  • Page-widening trolls were a major problem in this forum I used to frequent, so I know about how irritating this can get. Funny that I seem to have become one here, even for a few minutes! ;-)

    (Moved the comment over to tryptophan synthase, btw.)

    September 14, 2007

  • My preferred spelling for a word with a very inconvenient spelling.

    September 14, 2007

  • Everyone,

    I've just had kensho. I get it: the next time you want to (correctly) use that s-fraud word, just say, "It's not mudita".

    More points if you can pull it off with a zen-like serenity; you might want to raise your palm gently while saying it. Or if you have a beard, you could also gently stroke it. (Won't work with moustaches or fake beards though.)

    September 14, 2007

  • I don't know how I forgot this one, but this song is the very definition of a curry-western. (The movie isn't, and for the most part, is crap; just the song)

    September 14, 2007

  • quepol, perhaps you don't, ah, grok Wordie sufficiently.

    September 13, 2007

  • Reesetee: I have this weird urge to laugh at your inability at pronouncing a certain word, but that would be plainly ironic, wouldn't it. ;-)

    September 13, 2007

  • From Wikipedia:

    to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell if they are being observed or not, thus conveying a "sentiment of an invisible omniscience."

    September 13, 2007

  • jennarenn: There are close to 950-odd movies produced in India every year, so you'd have a lot of choice. :-)

    To stick on-topic, though, let me suggest some good curry-westerns:

    a) Sholay: The biggest, baddest, and most popular of them all. Defined Hindi cinema for a generation.

    b) China Gate: Clearly Kurosawan.

    c) Lagaan: No guns, but lots of horses and lots more cricket. Like China Gate before, (and, years earlier, Yul Brynner's Magnificient Seven), clearly inspired by Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai. Except that, it's set in the British Raj, and amidst dust, guns and cross-racial romance, ends in an exciting, international cricket match.

    d) takkari donga (Not in Hindi, but Telugu): More cowboy-ed fun.

    OTOH, you want to grab something on a (an Indian) theater near you, Chak de India is a good bet. Haven't seen it myself, but apparently has is an interesting commentary on women's empowerment, intra-national cultural clash and field-hockey.

    September 13, 2007

  • కూపమ�?, అనగా బావిలో, ఉన�?న మండూకమ�?, అనగా కప�?ప. "కూపస�?థ ఇతి మండూకః" అన�? సంస�?కృత మూలమ�?నక�? సమాసమ�?.

    A compounded noun in Sanskrit1 (and by extension, Telugu) for 'a frog situated inside the well'. A frog inside a a well is figuratively so inward-looking that s/he doesn't know much about the outside world.

    Similar to, or perhaps derived from, the Chinese chengyu about a frog and a turtle, supposedly composed by the ancient Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi.

    Chengyu-related interpretations in other Asian languages:-

    井底之蛙 -- Chinese

    井�?�中�?�蛙 -- Japanese

    우물 안 개구리 -- Korean

    (source )

    For a delicious multi-language irony, consider this rendition of the parable; the website in question, in turn, seems to be using the parable to train its readers in using the term abashed for their TOEFL test.

    You could, therefore, say, that someone reading the parable there (and learning English) ironically will not be a frog-in-the-well anymore.

    --

    1 - Contemporary writers usually use the Devnaagri script to write Sanskrit. Because I'm lazy, and because my mastery over the Devnaagri script has been diminishing over the past few years, and more importantly, because I'm more at home in the Telugu script, I had chosen to write this word here in the Telugu script. Here's how you write it in the Devnaagri script:- कूपस�?थमंडूकमं

    I think.

    September 7, 2007

  • coz I got the spelling wrong earlier.

    September 7, 2007

  • కూపమ�?, అనగా బావిలో స�?థిర పడ�?డ మండూకమ�?, అనగా కప�?ప.

    Literally, a frog in the well who, figuratively, is so inward-looking that s/he doesn't know much about the outside world.

    Similar to, or perhaps derived from, the Chinese chengyu about a frog and a turtle, composed by the ancient Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi.

    Chengyu-related interpretations in other Asian languages:-

    井底之蛙 -- Chinese

    井�?�中�?�蛙 -- Japanese

    우물 안 개구리 -- Korean

    (source )

    For a delicious multi-language irony, consider this rendition of the parable; the website in question, in turn, seems to be using the parable to teach its readers the usage of the term abashed!

    September 7, 2007

  • Chinese idiomatic expressions consisting of four characters. 井底之蛙 (కూపస�?థమండూకమ�?) is one very good example, apparently.

    September 7, 2007

  • Wikitionary:

    Etymology

    From Italian capisce, third person present tense form of capire "to understand", from Latin capere "to grasp, seize". Related to capture.

    September 7, 2007

  • Here's what Uncyclopedia had to say on the topic:-

    A robosexual is a term used to identify people who find themselves sexually aroused by presence or mere thought of the deliciously angular proportions of a man-made contraption designed to assist in the execution of tasks necessitating strength, danger, or a total immunity to the effects of mind-numbing interminably dull repetitive tasks. Such as sex.

    Capisce?

    September 7, 2007

  • This wasn't in English, this was in Telugu. :-)

    Calling the list as 'vaartaanandamu' (the Joy in News); it's about 'hard' (ie, unknown for me) Telugu words I've come across while following contemporary news.

    (Non-English words are a-okay, yes?)

    September 7, 2007

  • As mentioned in this BBC report.

    September 6, 2007

  • Like spaghetti western, only more tear-jerking and melodramatic.

    Sholay, for one.

    September 6, 2007

  • Despite being bleak and dreary, the winter of 1914 was particularly fecund for Ramanujan, given his work on highly composite numbers.

    September 6, 2007

  • People who use big-sounding words like to think they have an innate sprachgefuhl; in reality, they're just being rodomontade.

    September 6, 2007

  • (From AWAD)

    People who use big-sounding words like to think they have an innate sprachgefuhl; in reality, they're just being rodomontade.

    September 6, 2007

  • The floccinaucity of collecting words on the web cannot be understated.

    September 6, 2007

  • Mentioned here.

    September 6, 2007

  • Considered to be the opposite of schadenfreude, or epicaricacy. Buddhist concept; word comes from Pali or Sanskrit.

    September 6, 2007