Word Definitions & Origins
2/12/09 A Good Chance
serendipity (sare en-DIP e-tee) noun. The faculty of making fortunate and unexpected discoveries by accident.
This is sort-of the positive flip side of contretemps, accidents where good things happen. Something in the way Jed Clampett got rich "while shootin' at some food." Or maybe how "you got peanut butter on my chocolate" created Reeses peanut butter cups.
Though a better example might be the story behind using microwaves for cooking. Which was discovered when some guy experimenting with microwaves found it melted a chocolate bar in his pocket. Of course, nobody these days cooks food in their pockets with microwaves. Not unless they're wearing lead underwear or something.
1/12/09 Reality is Unreal
Doublethink (DUH-bul think) noun. The ability to simultaneously know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies. To hold simultaneously two opinions which cancel out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both.
Doublethink comes from George Orwell's great dystopian novel 1984.
While it seems a lot like talking out of both sides of your mouth or hypocrisy, I'd say doublethink is something like willful self-delusion. Something along the lines of wishful thinking, believing something is true because we want it to be true, though with the addition we know it's not true, but should be, so we will it to be. Which doesn't really make sense, which is kind-of the point.
Not unlike when our parents tell us, "You can do anything you set your mind to."
12/24/08 The Bribe of Frankincense
As the story goes the Magi brought to Bethlehem gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Now, gold is still pretty popular for gift giving and getting, but the other two seem to have gone out of style. I mean, I've never been given, or even seen, frankincense or myrrh. Still, have you ever wondered what on Earth these two substances are?
frankincense (FRANK in sens) noun An aromatic gum resin obtained from trees of the genus Bowellia, used as an incense.
myrrh (mur) noun An aromatic gum resin obtained from trees and shrubs of the genus Commiphora, used in perfume and incense.
So basically the Magi were bringing gifts of Glade and Chanel No. 5. Which I guess were needed as the family was living in a stable at the time. Which means we've solved some of the mystery of what and why. But it does leave one thing unanswered, what's with that strange spelling... myrrh?
Czar, Tsar, Tzar, (zar) noun. Russian autocrat, king.
Czar comes from the Latin, Caesar. Notice how we pronounce it, "see zar". Just drop the first bit and you get Czar. The Germans also used Caesar to get Kaiser. If I'm not mistaken, this is actually closer to the way the Romans would have said it. Take the "C" and make it hard so it sounds like a "K". Then take the "ae" and say it like the diphthong it really is and you get the long "i" sound, as in "eye". You wind up with Kaiser.
Which brings me to question why it is that politicians so often propose we have czars of this and that. Like a Drug Czar, a National Security Czar, and now president-elect Obama has proposed a Car Czar to deal with the troubled auto industry.
Considering Russian history, why do we want czars of anything? Czars were autocratic dictators and not exactly the most benevolent sort. Would we want to have a Drug King or a National Security Dictator? Worse, we could adopt fascist nomenclature for "leader" and have a Drug Duce or a National Security Fuhrer. Or we could go all Mafia and have an Auto Boss or Car Cappo.
There must be a better term.
zzyzzyzee (ZIZ-zeh zee) noun. One of a series of letter zees indicating snoring in a cartoon.
Admittedly, you won't find this word in a standard dictionary, or a non-standard one either. I made it up out of thin air as it were. For no good reason other than to coin the last word listed in an English language dictionary. Why not? Somebody has to do it. Not that I expect it will ever make it into standard usage. But a guy can dream. And dreaming and zzyzzyzees just rather go together.
By the by, outside the US they say "zed" and not "zee" for the 26th letter of the alphabet, so it would be a zzyzzyzed.
contretemps (KAHN tre-tahn) noun, An inopportune or embarrassing occurance, a mishap.
In other words, the description of half of all sit-com humor and slapstick as well as 90% of America's Funniest Home Videos. Can you say pratfall, crotch-hit, Freudian slip, or fart? How about Oops!? Of course, as Mel Brooks tells us, when it happens to you it's tragedy. When it happens to someone else it's comedy.
tonsure (TAHN shur) noun 1. The act of shaving the top or crown of the head, especially as a preliminary to becoming a priest or monk. 2. The part of a monk's head so shaven.
How the voluntary bald spot caught on is something of a mystery to me. Can't imagine it was to look cool or stylish, those things being eschewed by ascetics. Maybe it was supposed to make you look old and wise, when looking old and wise was a good thing. Then again, could have been a sort-of hair halo or something.
Whatever it was intended for, it seems to have gone out of style even for monks.
Catch any flak at work lately? As you might know, flak originally was anti-aircraft fire.
flak (flak) noun, 1. Anti-aircraft artillery. 2. The bursting shells from anti-aircraft artillery. 3. slang. Excessive criticism; abuse.
But where did the word come from? Is it onomatopoeia* like ack-ack, which is also anti-aircraft gunnery?
It comes from the Germans who like to make compound words ramming adjectives into nouns creating one big noun. For instance, in Germany a tank is a Panzerkampfwagen, which is an armored (panzer) fighting (kampf) vehicle (wagen). They take that another step and start lopping off bits into a shorter version. Which is how they got flak. Flieger (aircraft) abwher (defense) kanone (canon).
FLiegerAbwherKanone.
Which makes it a kind of Teutonic acronym. This German business of combining the starts of words is how they got the notoriuos...
Gestapo. Which comes from Secret (Geheime) State (Staats) Police (polizei).
GEheimeSTAatsPOlizei.
*I'll get to onomatopoeia some other time.
quixotic (kwik SAH tik) adj. Caught up in the romance of noble deeds or unobtainable ideals; romantic without regard to practicality.
This is an eponym after Don Quixote, the man of La Mancha who was prone "to dream the impossible dream. To fight the unbeatable foe" as the lyrics go. Quixote is pronounced "kee HOE tay" but we don't say "kee HOE tik" for quixotic. Must be an Anglicizing of the Spanish original.
The story of Don Quixote is also where we get the phrase "tilting at windmills" which means the same thing as quixotic. Tilting in this instance means jousting, thrusting with a lance and not leaning or tipping. Hey, look it up for yourself.
Here's couple words whose senses overlap which suggests they're interchangeable. But not really, the pair have distinctive usages.
Historic is largely restricted to important events, unique contributions to history.
Historical, on the other hand more broadly applies to everyday things or events from the past.
Something historic is history-making, like Washington crossing the Delaware. Historical is like an old house from a bygone era, but nothing of note happened there. Maybe even a house from Colonial times, perhaps Washington even slept there, which doesn't quite qualify as historic. History might be made while you sleep, but rarely does sleeping make history.
This is why you get a plaque to hang on an old house from the local Historical Society and not the Historic Society. Should George Washington stop by for a nap, that's another story. Especially since he's been dead almost 200 years. Such an event might be historic or hysterical, depending on your point of view.
utopia (yoo TOE pee-ah) noun, 1. Any condition, place, or situation of social or political perfection. 2. Any idealistic goal or concept for social or political reform.
Utopia is a word from Greek roots coined by Sir Thomas Moore in his 1516 novel, Utopia. Which translates as "nowhere." (ou, not + topos, place) This should give you a good hint as why utopias are very hard to create. You can't have some-place that's no-place. Something not unlike the way Dorothy Parker once quipped, "there's no there there."