"I've just learned a term so marginal it's not even in the newly revised M section of the OED, but useful enough to occur frequently in books about West Africa: moriman, plural morimen (sometimes written "mori man," "mori men"). It refers to people in Sierra Leone who earn a living from writing Arabic charms for magical amulets, and of course I wanted to know its origin. Assiduous googling made it clear that mori is a Mende word for 'Muslim' (morimo or moremo is "Muslim/mori man"), but the only suggestion I could find about its origin is in a footnote on page 211 of The Mende Language: Containing Useful Phrases, Elementary Grammar, Short Vocabularies, Reading Materials (London: Kegan Paul, 1908) by F. W. H. Migeod (available at Archive.org): "Mori, corruption of Moor, means magician, or Arabic charm writer, etc." Now, Moor goes all the way back to Latin Maurus 'inhabitant of North Africa,' so it's not unthinkable (as dear Prof. Cowgill used to say) that some related form is the source of the Mende word, but I have no idea whether it's plausible." from Language Hat.
Thanks Renee! You're on the list, and will get our next monthly newsletter, which will go out next week. You should also begin receiving the word of the day email next week as well.
I saw this in the context of (I think) promotional material, especially promotional material put up illegally in public places: "At the same time, Mercury did a snipe poster campaign in retail stores and on the streets with the image of the band and call letters of stations playing "Laid."" Billboard Feb 19, 1994
and "It shall be unlawful for any person, persons, firm or corporation
to post, stick, tack, or otherwise affix or cause to be posted,
stuck, tacked or otherwise affixed any bill, snipe, poster, banner,
notice or advertisement to or upon any building, outbuilding or
part thereof, or upon any wall, fence, gate, post, sidewalk, tree,
telegraph pole, telephone pole, awning or shelter pole in the City
of Oakland, except on a regularly authorized bulletin board, bill-
board or structure built especially for that purpose, and then only
on consent in v/riting from the owner or authorized agent of the
property on which the advertisement is to be placed." General municipal ordinances of the city of Oakland, California, in effect November 1, 1912
I keep meaning to let you guys know that cat is the word looked up by the service we use (Pingdom) to test that the website is up and running. It's looked up every few minutes all day every day without fail (unless, of course, we're NOT up and running, in which case it does fail).
It's like Schroedinger's Cat, actually -- until we look it up we don't know if Wordnik is alive or dead. :-)
Oh, thanks! The green words aren't synonyms ... they are words that are used in similar contexts. For example, mustard and mayonnaise aren't synonyms, but people talk about them in similar ways.
Of course, even with that explanation the same-context words for Godzilla don't make all that much sense, either. Good thing we're working on updating that data, huh?
marky you're totally right, as usual. There is definitely a better way ... I can't find your email with the suggestion right now, could you resend to feedback and I'll make a ticket for it?
An alphome is a set of alphabetically ordered letters of which at least one arrangement is a word. For instance GHIMNOTU is an alphome because it can be rearranged to spell mouthing.
hi bilby! Yes, I would love it if we could select the examples. There are some hard questions about sorting/indexing that have to get straightened out. :-(
Hi Michel! We noticed you signed up for our Word of the Day, but our email address for you isn't working. Would you mind emailing us at feedback@wordnik.com so we can get you signed up?
Hi mpgrassfield, if you email us at feedback@wordnik.com (or use the feedback tab on this page) we can change your username for you. Just let us know what name you would like.
James Halliday, otherwise known as “substack”, has been making what he calls computer generated beepstep using two new modules: baudio (npm: baudio, License: MIT) and plucky (npm: plucky, License: MIT). DailyJS
Dear Prolagus, thank you! I know it is frustrating not to be able to find what you need.
We're working on a lot of these things but progress is (a lot) slower than we'd like.
Can you give me more feedback on what you'd like the comment boxes to be like? And I'm not sure I understand the problem with clickable text with a link is -- is it a problem with putting in a href= type tags?
Thank you again for the feedback. I know it comes from a good place ... I wish I had firm dates for certain improvements and updates.
"to slide or expose your passport, driver's license, company-issued ID card, and/or credit card to a machine that identifies you and/or your account." via Dennis Sonifer
"We firmly believe that there is a time for tortoiseshell and a setting ideally suited for faux suede—which we insist ought to be called “fuede.”" Bureau of Trade
"As mentioned earlier, you will need a heat press, but you then have the task of displaying the printed textile. If you are going to suspend it you may need capability for putting it into frames, creating hems for silicon strips known as kaydars, or to create eyelets, so you need some sewing and cutting capability." Printweek
The story is that “flow” is especially possible for people with an *autoletic* personality. That is, people with high levels of curiosity, persistence, low self-centeredness, and a high rate of performing activities for intrinsic reasons only. (from Dan Russell)
Oh, so glad you like the new terms of service! The vulgar and pornographic out is so that we can eject folks who add irrelevant vulgar and pornographic material. On-topic vulgar material is fine, as we maintain the use-mention distinction here at Wordnik.
dear pgmcc -- we don't seem to have an active email address for you; would you please email us at feedback at wordnik.com to update your email address?
An easy way to sound like a creep is to add the word “ladies” to the end of things you say. It can be harmless too, but it just makes you a creep. “Yeah after college I spent two years in the peace corps, ladies?” The more harmless it is, the more of a creep you become. “I broke my arm. I need help, ladies?” FYDemetriMartin
""Entire clinical trials are run not as trials at all, but as under-the-counter advertising campaigns designed to persuade doctors to prescribe a company’s drug." Back in 2004, I coined the term experimercials for these pretend trials. See PubMed ID 15169734.
Bernard Carroll." Economist
In the notice, the company accuses r/photobucketplunder of "fuskering," or "fusking," the act of using a piece of software to search through a private Photobucket album based on the likelihood that the photographs follow one of a few common naming systems. Gawker
In the notice, the company accuses r/photobucketplunder of "fuskering," or "fusking," the act of using a piece of software to search through a private Photobucket album based on the likelihood that the photographs follow one of a few common naming systems. Gawker
"Podfic is an audio recording of fanfic, read aloud by a fan (or several). The term is also used as a verb; someone may ask to podfic someone else's story." Fanlore.org
thanks oroboros! The bad news is that this is a known bug. The good news is that we have a fix for it, and it should be rolled out to the site early next week!
Thanks again for reporting this -- I'm sorry for the hassle.
Social entrepreneurs are known for the creativity and innovation they bring to bear on the gaps in development. Whether tackling water or education, energy or sanitation, social entrepreneurs develop inventive ways to bring new solutions to social challenges. But, in all this creativity, they may be missing one of the larger issues at hand: “employership,” or, the generation of jobs where none existed before. India Real Time
The phrase “Galapagos syndrome” or the tongue-twisting literal translation “Galapagozation,” became common here in the mid-to-late 2000s when talking about Japanese mobile phones, which were extremely advanced for the time, yet couldn’t be used outside the country. WSJ, May 30, 2012
Yeah, that was me. :-( It looked okay in beta. I added the rollover to see who added to an open list, but the # of comments code is messing with the width. I'll fix it tonight.
“We get swamped by people who bring us ‘meteorwrongs,’” says Carl Agee, director of the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico. He says it’s extremely rare for alleged space rocks to turn out to be bona fide. WIRED May 2012
A "Twitter documentary", according to the PR email I got from Glamour magazine: "Wait, there’s more: a Twittermentary! Watch the magic unfold by following @glamourmag #makingsept."
"Dangerism is a term which refers to the practice of maximising the perception of risk and the cultivation of fear and the accommodation of those fears by a "hardening" of safety measures, which then, in turn feed back into a greater yet perception of risk in an increasingly strident feedback howl, until an activity comes to be regarded (however irrationally) as being almost unthinkably dangerous." Aberdeen Cars
"Hate on the web is banding together as "twitchfork mobs".
A combination of Twitter and pitchfork, the term was first recorded in Urban Dictionary in 2009 but gained currency in the past year as a way of describing viral mobs who bombard their targets with verbal bile and threats of physical harm - mostly anonymously."
Great Lakes Advocate
Forget a pampering makeover to help heal your broken heart this Valentine's Day. Go for a "digital breakover" instead, using a growing number of tech tools to save you from yourself or to sob on a safe shoulder in the ether. HuffPo
"Doxing is the process of gaining information about someone or something by using sources on the Internet and using basic deduction skills. Its name is derived from “Documents” and in short it is the retrieval of “Documents” on a person or company." Treasure Sec
Néo-Breton is a 'xenolect', that is, a slightly foreignized and largely synthetic, consciously normalized variety. From Elvish to Klingon, Michael Adams, 2011
His aesthetic response to these losses was to scrawl very short poems -- what he called 'mirlitonnades' -- on any scrap of paper he could salvage: an envelope, beer mat, even a label from a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky. Biographer James Knowlson notes that Beckett initially named these verse 'rimailles' or 'versicules' before settling on 'mirlitonnades', which some editors have translated as 'bird calls'; but, given the definition of mirliton in the Oxford English Dictionary, the name also recalls the buzzing or nasal quality of the sound produced by a musical instrument that resembles a kazoo. (From Elvish to Klingon, Michael Adams, Oxford 2011)
(pronounced in a peculiar way, something like "ceighp", the "eigh" being quickly given as in "weight") to sulk, and show that you are sulking; to cry obstinately and causelessly, but in a subdued way, like bleeding inwardly.
To shoot a marble cunnithumb is to place it in the middle of the bent forefinger instead of poising it at the tip of the finger. It is considered a childish or effeminate way of playing marbles, and the marble is not discharged with anything like the proper force.
a round flat piece of stone, but now more generally a piece of sheet iron, with a handle over the top, upon which various kinds of tea-cakes are baked. The article is not seen nearly so often as formerly.
A word used in scolding a child; also a sort of exclamation of surprise, or when sudden pain is felt. Thus, if a man took up a piece of iron which he unexpectedly found was too hot to hold he would, very likely, in dropping it make use of the exclamation.
"Railroading fabric is nothing more than running the fabric 90 degrees from its normal direction. You simply turn the fabric sideways." Fabric Workshop
"A shrill local rants against tourists, referring to them as wash-ashores; whereas anyone who lives here knows that a washashore is a resident who came from somewhere else." Where Am I Now When I Need Me
"Millenium Grove was the 1850's revival campground, "Silicon Sandbar" the nascent electronics industry around Hyannis, a "washashore" is a phony Indian word for anyone not a native Cape Codder, "rural character" is a frequent wishful thinking phrase in the newspapers." Cape Cod Year 2
Hi Allegria! When you're logged in, you can add any word to your favorites list just by "love"-ing it (click on the LOVE link to show a word some love). Your favorites can then be seen here: http://www.wordnik.com/users/allegria/favorites
If you want to make another list (say, Allegria's Wordarama), choose "New List" from the drop-down (click on your username in the black menu bar).
Hi susaneiland! If you're able to leave a comment, you're already logged in. Do you see your username in the top right corner of the screen, next to the search box?
"Stickers is an actual woodworking term, not an ad hoc one. The little bits of wood you place between boards to allow air to circulate all around them, and helps to keep wood from warping from having only one side exposed to the air, are called stickers." Sippican Cottage
Hi Reader! I'm sorry to take so long to reply to your comment ... you can find more information about using Wordnik at our "About" link, here: About Wordnik. Or you can always email us at feedback@wordnik.com.
Thanks for the feedback! We're having trouble with the buttons (signup, logout) showing up in IE8 ... we're working to fix it. To log out, use this url: http://wordnik.com/logout
It is true that the rivers went nosing like swine,
Tugging at banks, until they seemed
Bland belly-sounds in somnolent troughs,
That the air was heavy with the breath of these swine,
The breath of turgid summer, and
Heavy with thunder's rattapallax,
That the man who erected this cabin, planted
This field, and tended it awhile,
Knew not the quirks of imagery,
That the hours of his indolent, arid days,
Grotesque with this nosing in banks,
This somnolence and rattapallax,
Seemed to suckle themselves on his arid being,
As the swine-like rivers suckled themselves
While they went seaward to the sea-mouths.
A brand name that has become a generic name for its product category, e.g. Kleenex and Xerox. A word was needed to describe the result of genericide, which is the process by which a brand name becomes a generic name for an entire product category. AllExperts.com
My shirt has my company name logo-d on the back, and “Massage Therapist” with the company phone number on the back. Everyone can watch my ass as I attempt to sprint. Great. But really, what I hope they’re looking at is my t-shirt. What a great combination. Losing fat and gaining clients.
Reps also tell me that the C-Max is an MAV or Multi Activity Vehicle. It’s a fancy new word to mean a passenger vehicle that’s a bit sleeker than either an SUV or minivan. Ford C-Max
Oh, thank you hernesheir, those are all good points ... the eight syllables one is fixed in the new site, here's a sneak preview (http://cl.ly/343Z0J3g1T162H0k2Z3a)
Although it's not showing all 140 words. I've put in a query about that.
Hi folks! We should (fingers crossed) have a preview version of the updated site ready in a day or so. If you would like to be on the list to see the preview version, would you email me at erin at wordnik?
"Whereas the red-ocean strategy focuses on engaging and defeating the competition, blue-ocean strategy suggests that there is more opportunity in creating uncontested market space." It's all about the client: consulting for results
rolig -- we hired another UI wizard, Alex Le, who started Monday. I don't want to jinx it (or him) but (contrary to how the 'mythical man-month' would have it) lots of progress is being made!
Most future projections have it that the Pacific will close as its crust continues to sink beneath Asia to the west and North America to the east, and that South America and Antarctica will eventually join the ultra-slow-motion train wreck to form a supercontinent variously dubbed "Amasia" or "Novopangaea". (New Scientist, 17 September 2011)
Most future projections have it that the Pacific will close as its crust continues to sink beneath Asia to the west and North America to the east, and that South America and Antarctica will eventually join the ultra-slow-motion train wreck to form a supercontinent variously dubbed "Amasia" or "Novopangaea". (New Scientist, 17 September 2011)
Oh man. Yep, things still broken. Fixes coming sooner now than ever. The only bright spot in this long and difficult trough of missing-comments despair is the word harshmallow, which was new to me.
I have seen the code for the return of the comments, and it sparkles. It also has new-code smell, which is part toasted marshmallow, part fresh-cut grass, and part petrichor. (I'm also not allowed to touch the new code without washing my hands first. Well, actually, I'm not allowed to touch it at all.)
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Harold Palmer, who pioneered the study of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), also noted the presence of polylogs, or known units in language. He built a list of over 6,000 frequent collocations which he included in his teaching, so that students could learn them in block. Syntax-Based Collocation Extraction
Caterina Fake, who helped to found Flickr, the photo-sharing service, among other start-ups, recalled her initial awe of Delicious. “It opened up the Internet in a way that was not remotely possible before,” she said. “You couldn’t stop surfing. It was infini-surf. You could be interested in a really arcane field of biology and find the five other people that shared that same interest and shared links on that topic.” YouTube Founders Aim to Revamp Delicious
Hi guys, I hear you. And I wish I could get things working the way we all want them to work again (comments on profiles, comments on lists, comments pagination, faster loading) ... and you're perfectly within your rights to complain, here, or to the feedback address, or to my personal address (I'm just erin@wordnik).
I appreciate both the kind words and the complaints -- they both act as a spur. But there's a big tangledy wad of code to sort out and through, and only so many people who can work on it. (Most Wordniks don't work on the functionality of the site itself, but on the back-end data analysis and processing and infrastructure.)
My best guess on the return to full functionality is still several weeks out. :-(
In the meantime, marky, if you need to find certain lists, I can search all your comments with our admin tool. Email me and I'll send you links.
Sionnach -- thank you especially for your kind words, but I don't want to give up just yet. I understand that the continued delay will definitely anger some folks (who may understandably never come back), but we don't want to just shrug and say that just because something's hard to do and taking MUCH longer than we thought, we shouldn't keep trying ...
"Perhaps a word that someone tries aggressively to mint but that doesn’t catch on should be called a Brooksism, in honor of David Brooks." Believer Mag
"If nomothete or even onomaturge do not suit as terms, I propose a newer neologism already in use, glossopoeist, a "maker of language"." Hildegard of Bingen's unknown language
Hi Prolagus, that's been a persistent and very tricky bug. It seems to affect only pages with encoding issues ... thanks for the feedback, we haven't been able to reproduce it ourselves!
dontcry -- the pronunciations are having a timeout issue (not that they've been bad, exactly, just that there's a problem with how long the link to play them persists -- does that make sense? I hope so, as that was how it was explained to me).
bilby -- in "mediocre news", I found this excellent word today: noöpolitik.
At the same time, the leader may block the drafter by “mirror-driving” — steering to the inside or outside of the race track to keep his car in front of the path he thinks the drafter may use to slip around. FirstMonday.org
"Then why doesn't he? What's wrong with us? I'd begun to think he was temperamentally morose -- that he just couldn't help it -- but after seeing him turn on his charm for the Cottons -- ! Heaven knows I didn't expect an easy life when I married him -- I was prepared even for violence. But I do loathe morosity."
It was no moment to tell her there is no such word; anyway, I rather liked it.
Hi marky! We're still plugging away. There have been some unexpected dependencies ... the good news is, the new stuff is verrry nice. The bad news is we have to make more new stuff than we thought we would.
Thanks bbmexplorer! We're using the Flickr API which links to the Flickr image page, which links to your site -- we're trying to get better data from Flickr in cases where the credit URL is different from the API URL.
I'm including the credit url here: Awesome picture of synapta below by BBM Explorer, from www.redseaexplorer.com.
Some new stuff is coming soon; it's in testing now and waiting on the dock, ticket clutched in one sweaty hand, cardboard suitcase in the other, for the next deployment packet.
erinmckean commented on the word determs
The Cincinnati tax-exempt determinations unit, which employees refer to as "determs," is considered by employees one of the less-attractive IRS posts.
Division in Dispute Followed Own Course, May 16, 2013
May 23, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user replysurbhi81
hi bilby so it seems we had a y2k-type error in our all-time comments total, we're missing a place at the end. :-) It's on the fixit list.
May 20, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
thanks marky -- we're seeing some high loads that we're looking into now, too.
Apr 23, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
thanks marky! We're looking into it, there's a chance there was a regression on the server side of things ...
Apr 22, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word genethliac
dearest ruzuzu
our genethliac wishes
for a happy day
Apr 22, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word moriman
"I've just learned a term so marginal it's not even in the newly revised M section of the OED, but useful enough to occur frequently in books about West Africa: moriman, plural morimen (sometimes written "mori man," "mori men"). It refers to people in Sierra Leone who earn a living from writing Arabic charms for magical amulets, and of course I wanted to know its origin. Assiduous googling made it clear that mori is a Mende word for 'Muslim' (morimo or moremo is "Muslim/mori man"), but the only suggestion I could find about its origin is in a footnote on page 211 of The Mende Language: Containing Useful Phrases, Elementary Grammar, Short Vocabularies, Reading Materials (London: Kegan Paul, 1908) by F. W. H. Migeod (available at Archive.org): "Mori, corruption of Moor, means magician, or Arabic charm writer, etc." Now, Moor goes all the way back to Latin Maurus 'inhabitant of North Africa,' so it's not unthinkable (as dear Prof. Cowgill used to say) that some related form is the source of the Mende word, but I have no idea whether it's plausible." from Language Hat.
Apr 15, 2013
erinmckean commented on the list port-man-teaus
I've just seen "man-gagement" in the sense of "man-gagement rings"
Apr 15, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user Renee1
Thanks Renee! You're on the list, and will get our next monthly newsletter, which will go out next week. You should also begin receiving the word of the day email next week as well.
Apr 5, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word dartcapitation
the process of removing the whistling tip of a Nerf foam dart, to improve accuracy.
Mar 22, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word snipe
I saw this in the context of (I think) promotional material, especially promotional material put up illegally in public places: "At the same time, Mercury did a snipe poster campaign in retail stores and on the streets with the image of the band and call letters of stations playing "Laid."" Billboard Feb 19, 1994
and "It shall be unlawful for any person, persons, firm or corporation
to post, stick, tack, or otherwise affix or cause to be posted,
stuck, tacked or otherwise affixed any bill, snipe, poster, banner,
notice or advertisement to or upon any building, outbuilding or
part thereof, or upon any wall, fence, gate, post, sidewalk, tree,
telegraph pole, telephone pole, awning or shelter pole in the City
of Oakland, except on a regularly authorized bulletin board, bill-
board or structure built especially for that purpose, and then only
on consent in v/riting from the owner or authorized agent of the
property on which the advertisement is to be placed." General municipal ordinances of the city of Oakland, California, in effect November 1, 1912
Mar 13, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word nomophobia
nomophobia: fear of being without a cell phone (from "no" + "mobile" + phobia)
Mar 13, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word attitudical
In the sense of "showing or having a bad attitude."
Mar 3, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word hormental
A blend of hormonal and mental.
Mar 3, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word randonee
Randonee (according to the OED) comes from a French word meaning "a long uninterrupted walk."
Feb 27, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word kenopsia
oh hernesheir & bilby, I didn't know how much I needed this word. Thank you!
Feb 21, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word boodler
Thanks for the heads-up -- can you let me know what link you're trying to share? This one, or the wordnik.com/word-of-the-day link?
Feb 13, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
Hi bilby! We've found the fix, and it will be deployed next week ...
Feb 8, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
Hi bilby! We've found the fix, and it will be deployed next week ...
Feb 8, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word apiaster
This is a bird.
Feb 6, 2013
erinmckean commented on the list trending-words
I keep meaning to let you guys know that cat is the word looked up by the service we use (Pingdom) to test that the website is up and running. It's looked up every few minutes all day every day without fail (unless, of course, we're NOT up and running, in which case it does fail).
It's like Schroedinger's Cat, actually -- until we look it up we don't know if Wordnik is alive or dead. :-)
Feb 6, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word undermimed
I'd rather be undermimed than overmimed.
Jan 31, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
oh weird. Okay, will try to fix! Any way you could send a screenshot?
Jan 30, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
Okay -- so this is what I'm seeing, which I'm assuming is not what you're seeing? (Small matter of username aside?)
http://cl.ly/image/3d2W2c171E0L
Jan 29, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word diarrhoea
We use Flickr's safe filter ... which is, as you say, a good thing.
Jan 29, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
Hi bilby! that should have a black background, I will try to see where it went ... can you let me know what browser you're using?
Jan 29, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user smartypant
Hi Smartypant! Your user information is active -- if you're logged out, your lookups won't register, so please do log in.
Jan 28, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word wordmap
Oh, thanks! The green words aren't synonyms ... they are words that are used in similar contexts. For example, mustard and mayonnaise aren't synonyms, but people talk about them in similar ways.
Of course, even with that explanation the same-context words for Godzilla don't make all that much sense, either. Good thing we're working on updating that data, huh?
Jan 22, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word wordmap
We've added wordmaps to many of the words on Wordnik -- check them out in the Related section. This is still a beta feature, so feedback welcome!
Jan 22, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user mary-ann_sturdy
Thanks Mary-Ann ... we're updating our sources soon and with any luck cire will join the ranks of words with traditional dictionary definitions. :-)
Jan 21, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
marky you're totally right, as usual. There is definitely a better way ... I can't find your email with the suggestion right now, could you resend to feedback and I'll make a ticket for it?
Thanks!
Jan 20, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word alphome
An alphome is a set of alphabetically ordered letters of which at least one arrangement is a word. For instance GHIMNOTU is an alphome because it can be rearranged to spell mouthing.
Jan 11, 2013
erinmckean commented on the word feedback
hi bilby! Yes, I would love it if we could select the examples. There are some hard questions about sorting/indexing that have to get straightened out. :-(
Jan 2, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user michel.reginster1
Hi Michel! We noticed you signed up for our Word of the Day, but our email address for you isn't working. Would you mind emailing us at feedback@wordnik.com so we can get you signed up?
Jan 2, 2013
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
thanks marky -- that would be useful. I'm not sure if we have API support for that right now, I will check!
Dec 22, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user mpgrassfield
Hi mpgrassfield, if you email us at feedback@wordnik.com (or use the feedback tab on this page) we can change your username for you. Just let us know what name you would like.
Thanks!
Dec 22, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word beepstep
James Halliday, otherwise known as “substack”, has been making what he calls computer generated beepstep using two new modules: baudio (npm: baudio, License: MIT) and plucky (npm: plucky, License: MIT). DailyJS
Dec 21, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
Oh, yes, I know those! I will see how easy that is to add. It must be, or it wouldn't be everywhere ...
Dec 18, 2012
erinmckean commented on the list the-karamazov-bros-blab
I agree! But I was slightly hoping for something related to the *FLYING* Karamozov Bros. :-)
Dec 18, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
Dear Prolagus, thank you! I know it is frustrating not to be able to find what you need.
We're working on a lot of these things but progress is (a lot) slower than we'd like.
Can you give me more feedback on what you'd like the comment boxes to be like? And I'm not sure I understand the problem with clickable text with a link is -- is it a problem with putting in a href= type tags?
Thank you again for the feedback. I know it comes from a good place ... I wish I had firm dates for certain improvements and updates.
Dec 18, 2012
erinmckean commented on the list sup-bro
I feel I should add brostep. Great suggestion!
Dec 14, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word slidentify
"to slide or expose your passport, driver's license, company-issued ID card, and/or credit card to a machine that identifies you and/or your account." via Dennis Sonifer
Dec 10, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word worm burden
This is also a great name for a band.
Dec 6, 2012
erinmckean commented on the list sweet-tooth-fairy
ooh, ry do it. I'm in.
Dec 5, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word Irish nachos
"Irish Nachos are like regular nachos but instead of tortilla chips there are crispy sliced of baked potatoes on the bottom!" What's Gaby Cooking?
Nov 29, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word fuede
"We firmly believe that there is a time for tortoiseshell and a setting ideally suited for faux suede—which we insist ought to be called “fuede.”" Bureau of Trade
Nov 28, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word kaydars
"As mentioned earlier, you will need a heat press, but you then have the task of displaying the printed textile. If you are going to suspend it you may need capability for putting it into frames, creating hems for silicon strips known as kaydars, or to create eyelets, so you need some sewing and cutting capability." Printweek
Nov 27, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word thesdex
a combination thesaurus and index in one document.
Nov 26, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word sesquilingualism
"Mastery of one and a half languages" (Herbert Pilch)
Nov 25, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word autoletic
The story is that “flow” is especially possible for people with an *autoletic* personality. That is, people with high levels of curiosity, persistence, low self-centeredness, and a high rate of performing activities for intrinsic reasons only. (from Dan Russell)
Nov 21, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word shoepeau
a shoe-hat, like this one: http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ci/web-large/DT10720.jpg
Nov 20, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user wcw11653
Thank you for letting us know! Could anyone have used your browser while you were logged in?
Nov 19, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word offboard
the opposite of "onboard" -- to remove someone from an organization or company.
Oct 18, 2012
erinmckean commented on the list wi-fi-names
Oh, that's a great list!
Oct 18, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word stroobly
Of hair: untidy, straggly. (Pennsylvania German)
Oct 16, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word terms of service
Oh, so glad you like the new terms of service! The vulgar and pornographic out is so that we can eject folks who add irrelevant vulgar and pornographic material. On-topic vulgar material is fine, as we maintain the use-mention distinction here at Wordnik.
As to what is pornological? Well, I know it when I see it.
Oct 11, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
Thanks marky -- it's our top-priority issue. Seems like a problem with lists over 1000 items right now. :-(
Oct 6, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user pgmcc
dear pgmcc -- we don't seem to have an active email address for you; would you please email us at feedback at wordnik.com to update your email address?
Oct 5, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word ambletexterous
"Able to walk and text at the same time" (via email from Rod Kimball)
Oct 4, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word dry labbing
She told police she identified some drug samples as narcotics simply by looking at them instead of testing them, a process known as "dry labbing." WSJ
Oct 3, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word ladies
An easy way to sound like a creep is to add the word “ladies” to the end of things you say. It can be harmless too, but it just makes you a creep. “Yeah after college I spent two years in the peace corps, ladies?” The more harmless it is, the more of a creep you become. “I broke my arm. I need help, ladies?” FYDemetriMartin
Oct 1, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word experimercials
""Entire clinical trials are run not as trials at all, but as under-the-counter advertising campaigns designed to persuade doctors to prescribe a company’s drug." Back in 2004, I coined the term experimercials for these pretend trials. See PubMed ID 15169734.
Bernard Carroll." Economist
Sep 30, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word goopoo
It is sometimes called a syllabic abbreviation. Wikipedia
Sep 20, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word 8-bit day
8-bit day is the 256th day of the year. Tantek
Sep 18, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word sharf
a cross between a scarf and a shawl (Skud)
Sep 18, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word AVA
AVA can stand for American Viticultural Area.
Sep 7, 2012
erinmckean commented on the list mobying-along
Thank you! I need to pick up Moby Dick again ...
Aug 21, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user WilliamBG
Also, you might like these lists: https://www.wordnik.com/lists/scriptie-master-and-commander and http://www.wordnik.com/lists/master-and-commander
Aug 20, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user WilliamBG
Hi William! Welcome to Wordnik! You can create a list by clicking on your username in the upper right corner of the screen, and choosing "New List".
Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Aug 20, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word fuskering
In the notice, the company accuses r/photobucketplunder of "fuskering," or "fusking," the act of using a piece of software to search through a private Photobucket album based on the likelihood that the photographs follow one of a few common naming systems. Gawker
Aug 19, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word fusking
In the notice, the company accuses r/photobucketplunder of "fuskering," or "fusking," the act of using a piece of software to search through a private Photobucket album based on the likelihood that the photographs follow one of a few common naming systems. Gawker
Aug 19, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
lazy loading sounds like a good idea ... I'll look into it! Thanks!
Jul 29, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word harassle
a blend of "hassle" and "harass"?
Jul 26, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word podfic
"Podfic is an audio recording of fanfic, read aloud by a fan (or several). The term is also used as a verb; someone may ask to podfic someone else's story." Fanlore.org
Jul 5, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word bro-brand
"The male version of a tramp stamp shall hereby be know as a bro-brand" @gourneau
Jun 26, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
great! thanks for taking a look!
Jun 19, 2012
erinmckean commented on the list outcasts
hi deinonychus -- I'm working on one here (favorites--52) but I'm having trouble getting it to work. One of these days ... :-(
Jun 19, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user erinmckean
Thank you! These are all good suggestions ... I will look into the Community page stats issue asap.
Jun 18, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
thanks oroboros! The bad news is that this is a known bug. The good news is that we have a fix for it, and it should be rolled out to the site early next week!
Thanks again for reporting this -- I'm sorry for the hassle.
Jun 17, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
List improvements are on the roadmap -- that's what we want to focus on. :-) I'm targeting the end of the summer, fingers crossed!
Jun 16, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word employership
Social entrepreneurs are known for the creativity and innovation they bring to bear on the gaps in development. Whether tackling water or education, energy or sanitation, social entrepreneurs develop inventive ways to bring new solutions to social challenges. But, in all this creativity, they may be missing one of the larger issues at hand: “employership,” or, the generation of jobs where none existed before. India Real Time
Jun 15, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
Weird! Thanks for the update, I will try to sort it out!
Jun 11, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
hi marky -- I'm still seeing it, can you let me know which browser it's gone missing in?
Jun 11, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word upsetting thermometer
Not as upsetting as the upsetting thermocouple.
Jun 8, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user jonesey95
Thank you for adding the citations from Zuleika Dobson -- I really enjoyed that book. :-)
Jun 6, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word pyrrhic
Thanks rolig! There's also a Wiktionary definition at Pyrrhic.
Jun 6, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word Galapagozation
The phrase “Galapagos syndrome” or the tongue-twisting literal translation “Galapagozation,” became common here in the mid-to-late 2000s when talking about Japanese mobile phones, which were extremely advanced for the time, yet couldn’t be used outside the country. WSJ, May 30, 2012
May 31, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
Yeah, that was me. :-( It looked okay in beta. I added the rollover to see who added to an open list, but the # of comments code is messing with the width. I'll fix it tonight.
May 30, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word meteorwrong
“We get swamped by people who bring us ‘meteorwrongs,’” says Carl Agee, director of the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico. He says it’s extremely rare for alleged space rocks to turn out to be bona fide. WIRED May 2012
May 28, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word star-algebra
Oh, thanks for letting us know, this is a good edge case. :-)
May 22, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word gatorade
Thanks for making me laugh out loud, Prolagus. Next time I'm up to my ass in alligators I will haul out the gator-juicer ...
May 22, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word Twittermentary
A "Twitter documentary", according to the PR email I got from Glamour magazine: "Wait, there’s more: a Twittermentary! Watch the magic unfold by following @glamourmag #makingsept."
May 18, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word scabstache
A scab across the upper lip, caused by overenthusiastic shaving.
May 11, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word dangerism
"Dangerism is a term which refers to the practice of maximising the perception of risk and the cultivation of fear and the accommodation of those fears by a "hardening" of safety measures, which then, in turn feed back into a greater yet perception of risk in an increasingly strident feedback howl, until an activity comes to be regarded (however irrationally) as being almost unthinkably dangerous." Aberdeen Cars
May 10, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user erinmckean
Thanks Heather! The floating words were a little too slow for the homepage, but I hope they will get their own dedicated page soon.
I'll see if I can't work Vahowwge into my daily conversation ...
May 10, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word cat
We use this word to test that everything is up and running, so it gets looked up a lot. We could filter it out, but we like cats. :-)
May 10, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word twitchfork
"Hate on the web is banding together as "twitchfork mobs".
A combination of Twitter and pitchfork, the term was first recorded in Urban Dictionary in 2009 but gained currency in the past year as a way of describing viral mobs who bombard their targets with verbal bile and threats of physical harm - mostly anonymously."
Great Lakes Advocate
May 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
Thanks marky ... I've made a ticket. That really bugs me, too.
Apr 30, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word breakover
Forget a pampering makeover to help heal your broken heart this Valentine's Day. Go for a "digital breakover" instead, using a growing number of tech tools to save you from yourself or to sob on a safe shoulder in the ether. HuffPo
Apr 25, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word doxing
"Doxing is the process of gaining information about someone or something by using sources on the Internet and using basic deduction skills. Its name is derived from “Documents” and in short it is the retrieval of “Documents” on a person or company." Treasure Sec
Apr 25, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word slenthem
The slenthem (also slentem or gender panembung) is a Javanese metallophone which makes up part of a gamelan orchestra. (Wikipedia
Apr 23, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word xenolect
Néo-Breton is a 'xenolect', that is, a slightly foreignized and largely synthetic, consciously normalized variety. From Elvish to Klingon, Michael Adams, 2011
Apr 22, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word mirlitonnades
His aesthetic response to these losses was to scrawl very short poems -- what he called 'mirlitonnades' -- on any scrap of paper he could salvage: an envelope, beer mat, even a label from a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky. Biographer James Knowlson notes that Beckett initially named these verse 'rimailles' or 'versicules' before settling on 'mirlitonnades', which some editors have translated as 'bird calls'; but, given the definition of mirliton in the Oxford English Dictionary, the name also recalls the buzzing or nasal quality of the sound produced by a musical instrument that resembles a kazoo. (From Elvish to Klingon, Michael Adams, Oxford 2011)
Apr 22, 2012
erinmckean commented on the list eight-is-enough
I suggest "octopush"!
Apr 11, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word daffock
a woman's dress that is too short.
Apr 11, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word cuyp
(pronounced in a peculiar way, something like "ceighp", the "eigh" being quickly given as in "weight") to sulk, and show that you are sulking; to cry obstinately and causelessly, but in a subdued way, like bleeding inwardly.
Apr 11, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word cunni-thum
To shoot a marble cunnithumb is to place it in the middle of the bent forefinger instead of poising it at the tip of the finger. It is considered a childish or effeminate way of playing marbles, and the marble is not discharged with anything like the proper force.
Apr 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word cumberlin
a troublesome fellow, one that cumbers the earth, and does no good.
Apr 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word bad luck top end
short of intellect; slightly crazy.
"Thah's getten bad luck top end, tha cumberlin." J.C. Clough
Apr 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word backstun
a round flat piece of stone, but now more generally a piece of sheet iron, with a handle over the top, upon which various kinds of tea-cakes are baked. The article is not seen nearly so often as formerly.
Apr 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word backarding
a change from excessive joy and feasting to mourning.
Apr 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word avandrill
a daffodil, in the county of Chester.
Apr 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word apse upon thee
A word used in scolding a child; also a sort of exclamation of surprise, or when sudden pain is felt. Thus, if a man took up a piece of iron which he unexpectedly found was too hot to hold he would, very likely, in dropping it make use of the exclamation.
Apr 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word antipranty
frisky, restive, said of a horse.
Apr 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word anglesea
the name given to a peculiar curl of the hat brim.
Apr 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word allegar skrikers
thin gruel flavored with vinegar.
Apr 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word Igree
a compressed form of "I agree":
A: "We should go to the movies!"
B: "Igree!"
Apr 7, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user jsp
Thanks jsp ... could you let us know *which* app? Wordnik doesn't actually make any apps, but many apps use our APIs ...
Apr 7, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user jsp
Hi jsp! Thanks for the feedback! Are you talking about the Wordnik.com site, or the word of the day, or perhaps about an app that uses our API?
Apr 6, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word railroading
"Railroading fabric is nothing more than running the fabric 90 degrees from its normal direction. You simply turn the fabric sideways." Fabric Workshop
Mar 17, 2012
erinmckean commented on the list things-that-make-a-sound-in-a-bell
I would like to give this list a ringing endorsement.
Mar 14, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word whorts
Whorts = "winter shorts"
Mar 3, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word legidepity
Legitimizing something in the process of legitimizing something else.
Mar 3, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word Copenhagenizing
The process of making other cities more like Copenhagen, especially in regards to bike routes and green spaces.
Mar 3, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word mirkning
late twilight OED
Feb 9, 2012
erinmckean commented on the list let-s-go-strap-on-the-ole-air-chine-and-bore-holes-in-the-sky
what about "aluminum shower"? Morbid but interesting ...
Feb 3, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user ruzuzu
oh thank you, good catch!
Feb 1, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word washashore
"A shrill local rants against tourists, referring to them as wash-ashores; whereas anyone who lives here knows that a washashore is a resident who came from somewhere else." Where Am I Now When I Need Me
Jan 23, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word washashore
"Millenium Grove was the 1850's revival campground, "Silicon Sandbar" the nascent electronics industry around Hyannis, a "washashore" is a phony Indian word for anyone not a native Cape Codder, "rural character" is a frequent wishful thinking phrase in the newspapers." Cape Cod Year 2
Jan 23, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user allegria
Hi Allegria! When you're logged in, you can add any word to your favorites list just by "love"-ing it (click on the LOVE link to show a word some love). Your favorites can then be seen here: http://www.wordnik.com/users/allegria/favorites
If you want to make another list (say, Allegria's Wordarama), choose "New List" from the drop-down (click on your username in the black menu bar).
I hope this helps!
Jan 23, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user feedback
hey marky! we don't have a way to disable Flickr right now ... sorry about that.
Jan 23, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word vulpeculated
"And the night before widow Wamford was vulpeculated of her brood goose." The words of John Eachard
Jan 23, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word STOP SOPA
Yes - more information on our blog: http://blog.wordnik.com/stop-sopa-and-pipa
(if you're desperate, mouse over the definitions in Chrome, anyway to see them)
Jan 18, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user susaneiland
Hi susaneiland! If you're able to leave a comment, you're already logged in. Do you see your username in the top right corner of the screen, next to the search box?
Jan 17, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user jennarenn
hi jennarenn -- the email for wordplay is an aol one, and it includes the string "frogs". Is that enough to narrow it down?
Jan 17, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word Am-hole
derogatory term for rude Seattle Amazon employees: Seattle PI blog
Jan 15, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word stickers
"Stickers is an actual woodworking term, not an ad hoc one. The little bits of wood you place between boards to allow air to circulate all around them, and helps to keep wood from warping from having only one side exposed to the air, are called stickers." Sippican Cottage
Jan 15, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word scorp
A scorp is a type of knife with a curved, circular blade that's ideal for scooping out bowls, spoons, or masks. Woodcarving: 20 great projects for beginners & weekend carvers
Jan 15, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word buffling
"business waffling" -- using jargon in an effort to sound smarter or to confuse others.
Jan 12, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user Reader
Hi Reader! I'm sorry to take so long to reply to your comment ... you can find more information about using Wordnik at our "About" link, here: About Wordnik. Or you can always email us at feedback@wordnik.com.
Jan 10, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word kerykeion
Ooh, thanks for pointing this one out!
Jan 6, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word spam
Thanks hernesheir! We're doing an extravigorous spam crackdown and sweep this weekend. :-)
Jan 6, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word qft
"quoted for truth"
Jan 6, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user JMcGoo
Thanks for the feedback! We're having trouble with the buttons (signup, logout) showing up in IE8 ... we're working to fix it. To log out, use this url: http://wordnik.com/logout
Jan 5, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word snapback
A baseball cap with a back snap fastener.
Jan 3, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word ladies-putting
Ah. Yet another remnant of the great definition muddle of 2010. I remember it well. Should be tidied away soon.
Jan 3, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user hunter2
Shhhhhhh! Don't say that! (looks around cautiously)
Jan 3, 2012
erinmckean commented on the user teachus
Hi teachus! How can we help?
Jan 3, 2012
erinmckean commented on the word rattapallax
It is true that the rivers went nosing like swine,
Tugging at banks, until they seemed
Bland belly-sounds in somnolent troughs,
That the air was heavy with the breath of these swine,
The breath of turgid summer, and
Heavy with thunder's rattapallax,
That the man who erected this cabin, planted
This field, and tended it awhile,
Knew not the quirks of imagery,
That the hours of his indolent, arid days,
Grotesque with this nosing in banks,
This somnolence and rattapallax,
Seemed to suckle themselves on his arid being,
As the swine-like rivers suckled themselves
While they went seaward to the sea-mouths.
Frogs Eat Butterflies, Snakes Eat Frogs, Hogs Eat Snakes, Men Eat Hogs, Wallace Stevens
Dec 30, 2011
erinmckean commented on the user parthibansekar
Hi parthibansekar -- here's how to get the Word of the Day via email: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny_5pYeQ5-E
Dec 30, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word disimprovement
'Disimprovement’ is a wonderful word invented by an Irish client of ours. It means making things worse by trying to make them better. Gossage
Dec 22, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word LHAF
“I just Made Up A New Txt Abbr. just Now --------> LHAF !! " Laughing Hard As Fukk" @GaTrademark
Dec 21, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word MAME
MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator.
Dec 21, 2011
erinmckean commented on the list overused-by-zeke--1
just the one? :-)
Dec 21, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word feedback
Thanks oroboros -- seems like a transient error. Cash money should be cash money again now.
Dec 14, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word bro-gurt
“Man flavored yogurt... We call it bro-gurt” @Theafritz1
Dec 7, 2011
erinmckean commented on the user erinmckean
Thanks marky! We really appreciate all the feedback you've given us as we work to make Wordnik better ...
Dec 7, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word not like a word
aw, zeke, I know you like a challenge!
Dec 3, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word feedback
Thanks folks! I'm making tickets for all these requests and comments.
Prolagus, we'll get those tag-comments back eventually. Tags don't have their own pages now, so it's a matter of figuring out where to put them ...
Nov 29, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word new interface
Just enjoying that I can comment that there's a new new interface on the new interface page.
Thanks so much to all who are giving us feedback, especially via the new feedback tab!
(<-- over there)
Nov 29, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word generonym
A brand name that has become a generic name for its product category, e.g. Kleenex and Xerox. A word was needed to describe the result of genericide, which is the process by which a brand name becomes a generic name for an entire product category. AllExperts.com
Nov 28, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word exercisvertising
My shirt has my company name logo-d on the back, and “Massage Therapist” with the company phone number on the back. Everyone can watch my ass as I attempt to sprint. Great. But really, what I hope they’re looking at is my t-shirt. What a great combination. Losing fat and gaining clients.
Exercisvertising. Word. ThrivingMassageBiz.com
Nov 28, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word MAV
Reps also tell me that the C-Max is an MAV or Multi Activity Vehicle. It’s a fancy new word to mean a passenger vehicle that’s a bit sleeker than either an SUV or minivan. Ford C-Max
Nov 28, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word feedback
Oh, thank you hernesheir, those are all good points ... the eight syllables one is fixed in the new site, here's a sneak preview (http://cl.ly/343Z0J3g1T162H0k2Z3a)
Although it's not showing all 140 words. I've put in a query about that.
Nov 27, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word feedback
Hi Rolig! Only a few folks have access to the preview, which is the only place where you can see the "feedback" tab right now.
Nov 25, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word new interface
Hi folks! We should (fingers crossed) have a preview version of the updated site ready in a day or so. If you would like to be on the list to see the preview version, would you email me at erin at wordnik?
Nov 16, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word red-ocean strategy
"Whereas the red-ocean strategy focuses on engaging and defeating the competition, blue-ocean strategy suggests that there is more opportunity in creating uncontested market space." It's all about the client: consulting for results
Nov 11, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word blimpworthy
Worthy of a visit from a Goodyear blimp. From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/07/goodyear_blimp_blimpworthy/
Nov 11, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word new interface
rolig -- we hired another UI wizard, Alex Le, who started Monday. I don't want to jinx it (or him) but (contrary to how the 'mythical man-month' would have it) lots of progress is being made!
Nov 10, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word topothesia
The description of an imaginary place.
Nov 9, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word solomo
web buzzword, standing for "social" + "local" + "mobile". Credited to John Doerr of KPBC.
Nov 9, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word GNFAB
= great name for a band
Nov 9, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word hobnail
The houses are now unshod. Thanks!
Nov 3, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word hectopron
a unit of one hundred audio pronunciations
Nov 2, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word Novopangaea
Most future projections have it that the Pacific will close as its crust continues to sink beneath Asia to the west and North America to the east, and that South America and Antarctica will eventually join the ultra-slow-motion train wreck to form a supercontinent variously dubbed "Amasia" or "Novopangaea". (New Scientist, 17 September 2011)
Oct 23, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word Amasia
Most future projections have it that the Pacific will close as its crust continues to sink beneath Asia to the west and North America to the east, and that South America and Antarctica will eventually join the ultra-slow-motion train wreck to form a supercontinent variously dubbed "Amasia" or "Novopangaea". (New Scientist, 17 September 2011)
Oct 23, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word Alaska divorce
"Alaska divorce ‘liberating oneself from marriage by murdering the spouse’ (Tabbert 1991)" Speaking American
Oct 21, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word moneme
A word unanalyzable into two morphemes.
Oct 12, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word TOO
target of opportunity
Oct 7, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word bison
A bison is what an Australian washes his face in.
Oct 7, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word new interface
Oh man. Yep, things still broken. Fixes coming sooner now than ever. The only bright spot in this long and difficult trough of missing-comments despair is the word harshmallow, which was new to me.
I have seen the code for the return of the comments, and it sparkles. It also has new-code smell, which is part toasted marshmallow, part fresh-cut grass, and part petrichor. (I'm also not allowed to touch the new code without washing my hands first. Well, actually, I'm not allowed to touch it at all.)
Oct 4, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word polylogs
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Harold Palmer, who pioneered the study of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), also noted the presence of polylogs, or known units in language. He built a list of over 6,000 frequent collocations which he included in his teaching, so that students could learn them in block. Syntax-Based Collocation Extraction
Oct 4, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word gnat
according to Tony, "A gnat is inelegant code. It's not quite a bug."
Sep 30, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word new interface
Hi bilby -- yeah, it looks like Niger (and niger) have been wiped off the map. We'll take a look at it!
Sep 20, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word kilolex
why doesn't this mean "a thousand words"?
Sep 13, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word infini-surf
Caterina Fake, who helped to found Flickr, the photo-sharing service, among other start-ups, recalled her initial awe of Delicious. “It opened up the Internet in a way that was not remotely possible before,” she said. “You couldn’t stop surfing. It was infini-surf. You could be interested in a really arcane field of biology and find the five other people that shared that same interest and shared links on that topic.” YouTube Founders Aim to Revamp Delicious
Sep 13, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word blarticle
"Interestingly a bias that perhaps the OP recognizes shows up in this blarticle (what do you call one entry in a blog anyway)." Hacker News
Sep 13, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word new interface
Hi guys, I hear you. And I wish I could get things working the way we all want them to work again (comments on profiles, comments on lists, comments pagination, faster loading) ... and you're perfectly within your rights to complain, here, or to the feedback address, or to my personal address (I'm just erin@wordnik).
I appreciate both the kind words and the complaints -- they both act as a spur. But there's a big tangledy wad of code to sort out and through, and only so many people who can work on it. (Most Wordniks don't work on the functionality of the site itself, but on the back-end data analysis and processing and infrastructure.)
My best guess on the return to full functionality is still several weeks out. :-(
In the meantime, marky, if you need to find certain lists, I can search all your comments with our admin tool. Email me and I'll send you links.
Sionnach -- thank you especially for your kind words, but I don't want to give up just yet. I understand that the continued delay will definitely anger some folks (who may understandably never come back), but we don't want to just shrug and say that just because something's hard to do and taking MUCH longer than we thought, we shouldn't keep trying ...
Sep 12, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word Brooksism
"Perhaps a word that someone tries aggressively to mint but that doesn’t catch on should be called a Brooksism, in honor of David Brooks." Believer Mag
Sep 9, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word glossopoeist
"If nomothete or even onomaturge do not suit as terms, I propose a newer neologism already in use, glossopoeist, a "maker of language"." Hildegard of Bingen's unknown language
Sep 8, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word new interface
Hi Prolagus, that's been a persistent and very tricky bug. It seems to affect only pages with encoding issues ... thanks for the feedback, we haven't been able to reproduce it ourselves!
dontcry -- the pronunciations are having a timeout issue (not that they've been bad, exactly, just that there's a problem with how long the link to play them persists -- does that make sense? I hope so, as that was how it was explained to me).
bilby -- in "mediocre news", I found this excellent word today: noöpolitik.
Sep 6, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word mirror-driving
At the same time, the leader may block the drafter by “mirror-driving” — steering to the inside or outside of the race track to keep his car in front of the path he thinks the drafter may use to slip around. FirstMonday.org
Sep 6, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word noopolitik
"He works on ideas about new information-age modes of conflict (cyberwar, netwar) and cooperation (noopolitik)." FirstMonday.org
Sep 6, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word morosity
"Then why doesn't he? What's wrong with us? I'd begun to think he was temperamentally morose -- that he just couldn't help it -- but after seeing him turn on his charm for the Cottons -- ! Heaven knows I didn't expect an easy life when I married him -- I was prepared even for violence. But I do loathe morosity."
It was no moment to tell her there is no such word; anyway, I rather liked it.
from I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith.
Sep 4, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word isandlwana
Images from BBM Explorer via Flickr courtesy of http://southafricaholidaysblog.co.uk/battlefields/
Aug 31, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word Isandlwana
Images from BBM Explorer via Flickr courtesy of http://southafricaholidaysblog.co.uk/battlefields/
Aug 31, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word new interface
Hi marky! We're still plugging away. There have been some unexpected dependencies ... the good news is, the new stuff is verrry nice. The bad news is we have to make more new stuff than we thought we would.
Aug 31, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word synapta
Thanks bbmexplorer! We're using the Flickr API which links to the Flickr image page, which links to your site -- we're trying to get better data from Flickr in cases where the credit URL is different from the API URL.
I'm including the credit url here: Awesome picture of synapta below by BBM Explorer, from www.redseaexplorer.com.
Aug 31, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word new interface
hey marky, that's my list so I'll fix it -- thanks!
Aug 29, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word new interface
Hi folks!
Some new stuff is coming soon; it's in testing now and waiting on the dock, ticket clutched in one sweaty hand, cardboard suitcase in the other, for the next deployment packet.
Aug 23, 2011
erinmckean commented on the word new interface
Thanks dharma66! Time has run out for that spammer; I've deleted all those comments.
and ... testing edits.
Aug 19, 2011