Thought of this list when I came across cuscuses for the first time today. Cuscus is the common name for a particular species of possum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuscus
I am kad, I've just been reborn as kitinka here on Wordnik. When John comes back to the couch I'll ask him why kitinka won out over kad in the Wordie-Wordnik shuffle.
"An artifact is the product of a successful attempt to make a purposeless, useless, beautiful thing out of a past-tensed fact. It can never be art, and it can never be fact."
--"Everything Is Illuminated" (Jonathan Safran Foer)
The biliary tract (or biliary tree) is the common anatomy term for the path by which bile is secreted by the liver on its way to the duodenum, or small intestine, of most members of the mammal family. (Wikipedia)
A coronagraph is a telescopic attachment designed specifically to block out the harsh, direct light from a star, so that nearby objects can be resolved without burning out the telescope's optics.
"The Romans were so smitten with Zadar — the Old Town is a 400-by-1,000-meter peninsula (about 100 acres) framed by Adriatic islands — they gave it municipium status, the second highest among cities."
"...the stiff, sensitive whiskers that a walrus uses to search for bivalves through the seabed’s dark murk, and that feel like slender tubes of bamboo."
--Natalie Angier, "Who is the Walrus?", NYTimes, 5/20/08
"...the ability to declaim for portentous minutes about the revolution in world affairs brought about by technological change/environmental degradation/the fundamental decline in moral values."
--David Brooks, The Rank-Link Imbalance New York Times, March 14, 2008
"It was the subject of a recent cover story in San Francisco magazine that quotes a Berkeley mother so stressed out about the extravagance of her nightly baths that she started to reuse her daughter’s bath water. Where there is ecoanxiety, of course, there are ecotherapists."
Nope, I'm a kiwi-eating, darjeeling-swilling eater of world foods. To me, coffee is the #1 reason not to be a locavore, with greek olives a close second. But because I am with child* I have given it up for the time being.
*Actually had a doctor refer to me as such. I nearly peed my pants trying not to laugh.
It's not arcane, but one of my favorite units of measure is the Sverdrup. In oceanography, it's a measure of the volume of water transported by a current in a given amount of time.
"They had taken supper, an inedible excrescence, at a restaurant across the parking lot, in a booth beneath a faux Tiffany lamp, served by a spotty high school girl with an eerily keen smile and an imposingly cleft chin."
-- The Emperor's Children, by Claire Messud (page 454)
Oct 29, 2007
Comments for kad
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kad commented on the list animals-with-nifty-names
Thought of this list when I came across cuscuses for the first time today. Cuscus is the common name for a particular species of possum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuscus
May 7, 2011
kad commented on the word aulacogen
A failed arm of a triple-junction of a plate tectonics rift system.
Jun 25, 2010
kad commented on the word zud
An extended period of heavy snow and extreme cold in Mongolia that prevents livestock grazing.
May 20, 2010
kad commented on the list animals-with-nifty-names
how about quokka? (Now wracking my brain to think of other words with a double k.)
Mar 10, 2010
kad commented on the word cotagonist
a co-protagonist.
Jan 13, 2010
kad commented on the list funny-place-names-in-the-garden-state
I am kad, I've just been reborn as kitinka here on Wordnik. When John comes back to the couch I'll ask him why kitinka won out over kad in the Wordie-Wordnik shuffle.
Mollusque, there's a Bivalve, NJ?
Dec 2, 2009
kad commented on the word saola
A rare ungulate no scientist has ever glimpsed in the wild. Also known as the Vu Quang ox.
Sep 4, 2009
kad commented on the word artifact
"An artifact is the product of a successful attempt to make a purposeless, useless, beautiful thing out of a past-tensed fact. It can never be art, and it can never be fact."
--"Everything Is Illuminated" (Jonathan Safran Foer)
Aug 3, 2009
kad commented on the word artifice
"Artifice is that thing that was art in its conception and ifice in its execution. Look around. Examples are everywhere."
--"Everything Is Illuminated" (Jonathan Safran Foer)
Aug 3, 2009
kad commented on the word ifact
"An ifact is a past-tensed fact. For example, many believe that after the destruction of the first Temple, God's existence became an ifact."
--"Everything Is Illuminated" (Jonathan Safran Foer)
Aug 3, 2009
kad commented on the word ifice
"Ifice is a thing with purpose, created for function's sake, and having to do with the world. Everything is, in some way, an example of ifice."
-- "Everything Is Illuminated" (Jonathan Safran Foer)
Aug 3, 2009
kad commented on the word nephelometer
A nephelometer is used to measure the turbidity of water via the scattering of light through a water sample.
Jun 26, 2009
kad commented on the word biliary tree
The biliary tract (or biliary tree) is the common anatomy term for the path by which bile is secreted by the liver on its way to the duodenum, or small intestine, of most members of the mammal family. (Wikipedia)
Apr 3, 2009
kad commented on the word pozzolan
A material which, when combined with calcium hydroxide, exhibits cementitious properties.
Apr 1, 2009
kad commented on the word lemmata
plural form of lemma.
Mar 24, 2009
kad commented on the word coronagraph
A coronagraph is a telescopic attachment designed specifically to block out the harsh, direct light from a star, so that nearby objects can be resolved without burning out the telescope's optics.
Nov 14, 2008
kad commented on the word log line
Used for measuring the speed of a ship.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mosmd/logln.htm
Oct 21, 2008
kad commented on the word secchi disk
A circular disk used to measure water transparency in oceans and lakes.
Oct 21, 2008
kad commented on the word osmometer
A device for measure the osmotic strength of a solution.
Oct 21, 2008
kad commented on the word robocall
This robocall has John McCain in hot water right now:
Oct 20, 2008
kad commented on the word hypnagogic startle
The sudden, whole-body jerk that often occurs as you're falling asleep.
Oct 7, 2008
kad commented on the word deriching
The opposite of enriching.
Sep 30, 2008
kad commented on the word bacteriovory
"Marine bacterial populations are controlled through grazing protists in a process known as bacteriovory."
--Zubkov and Tarran, Nature, September 2008
Sep 11, 2008
kad commented on the word bananaphone
noooooo! the bananaphone earworm begins again!
Jul 14, 2008
kad commented on the word municipium
"The Romans were so smitten with Zadar — the Old Town is a 400-by-1,000-meter peninsula (about 100 acres) framed by Adriatic islands — they gave it municipium status, the second highest among cities."
-- New York Times, 7/7/08
Jul 8, 2008
kad commented on the word bdelloid rotifers
small transparent animals that live in damp places such as puddles, or patches of moss
Jun 4, 2008
kad commented on the word vibrissae
or walrus whiskers:
"...the stiff, sensitive whiskers that a walrus uses to search for bivalves through the seabed’s dark murk, and that feel like slender tubes of bamboo."
--Natalie Angier, "Who is the Walrus?", NYTimes, 5/20/08
May 21, 2008
kad commented on the word squananaphone
a telephone that looks, amazingly, like a banana and a squid.
Mar 15, 2008
kad commented on the word globaloney
"...the ability to declaim for portentous minutes about the revolution in world affairs brought about by technological change/environmental degradation/the fundamental decline in moral values."
--David Brooks, The Rank-Link Imbalance
New York Times, March 14, 2008
Mar 14, 2008
kad commented on the list a-long-strange-trip
Strawberry Fields?
Feb 18, 2008
kad commented on the word ecoanxiety
"It was the subject of a recent cover story in San Francisco magazine that quotes a Berkeley mother so stressed out about the extravagance of her nightly baths that she started to reuse her daughter’s bath water. Where there is ecoanxiety, of course, there are ecotherapists."
--For 'EcoMoms,' Saving Earth Begins at Home. NYTimes, 2/16/08
Feb 16, 2008
kad commented on the word eat, pray, rove
The disillusioned Boy Genius seeks gastronomical and spiritual enlightenment on a journey to the world's most traveled places.
Feb 14, 2008
kad commented on the word the kite ruiner
The story of an Afghan boy haunted by the guilt of destroying his best friend's kite.
Feb 14, 2008
kad commented on the word angels and lemons
Dan Brown's suspense-filled tale of an attempt by the Illuminati to sell the Pope a Ford Pinto.
Feb 14, 2008
kad commented on the word human stain remover
Or is it someone who hates Phillip Roth?
Jan 29, 2008
kad commented on the word run dry run
excellent!
Jan 29, 2008
kad commented on the word aqua regia
Such a nice sounding phrase for what is actually extremely caustic stuff.
Dec 13, 2007
kad commented on the word idea hamster
I thought I'd discovered a bug on dictionary.com when this came up. Does anyone actually use this phrase?
Dec 8, 2007
kad commented on the list reasons-to-love-the-steelers
cowher power! here we go!
Nov 15, 2007
kad commented on the word baklava
see also: yummy
Nov 15, 2007
kad commented on the word holy carp
can't believe this hadn't been listed until now! it's a colleen classic!
Nov 15, 2007
kad commented on the word locavore
Nope, I'm a kiwi-eating, darjeeling-swilling eater of world foods. To me, coffee is the #1 reason not to be a locavore, with greek olives a close second. But because I am with child* I have given it up for the time being.
*Actually had a doctor refer to me as such. I nearly peed my pants trying not to laugh.
Nov 13, 2007
kad commented on the word locavore
I've also heard locatarian as a way to describe the valiant few among us on the east coast who can forgo coffee.
Nov 12, 2007
kad commented on the word eye cap
Skipvia, did you actually witness such an eye popping event?
Nov 10, 2007
kad commented on the list the-measure-of-man
It's not arcane, but one of my favorite units of measure is the Sverdrup. In oceanography, it's a measure of the volume of water transported by a current in a given amount of time.
Nov 6, 2007
kad commented on the word bobization
or systematically naming all men 'Bob'
Nov 2, 2007
kad commented on the word pseudotribosphenic
From what I can gather, this is a type of tooth, a molar to be more precise.
Etymology: Pseudo, false, for superficial resemblance; tribos, grinding, for the grinding and crushing function of the pseudo-tribosphenic molar;
Oct 31, 2007
kad commented on the word next steps
perhaps each of us should have an action item.
Oct 31, 2007
kad commented on the word succotash
Or, as served in Pittsburgh in the 1970s, a dish that came in a box in the frozen food section and elicited groans from young children.
Oct 29, 2007
kad commented on the word excrescence
"They had taken supper, an inedible excrescence, at a restaurant across the parking lot, in a booth beneath a faux Tiffany lamp, served by a spotty high school girl with an eerily keen smile and an imposingly cleft chin."
-- The Emperor's Children, by Claire Messud (page 454)
Oct 29, 2007