Word lovers unite for rice.
07 Nov 2007 3 Comments
in AWAD, Office Games
Thanks to Carolyn, I’ve been hooked on this game all day (not good since I’m in a boring meeting… or wait.. maybe it is good). If you’re good at words and definitions then this is for you: FreeRice.com
Dreary
15 Oct 2007 Leave a Comment
Dreary
1. Dismal; bleak.
2. Boring; dull: dreary tasks.
3. Dark and depressing: black, bleak, blue, cheerless, dark, desolate, dismal, gloomy, glum, joyless, somber, tenebrific.
4. Arousing no interest or curiosity: boring, drear, dry, dull, humdrum, irksome, monotonous, stuffy, tedious, tiresome, uninteresting, weariful, wearisome, weary.
Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Today is a little dark and dreary. Mostly it’s just gray and misty outside, but of course it is Monday and what could be darker? This is the kind of day that makes me want to go home, brew a nice cup of coffee or tea, and curl up on the couch with slippers, blankets, movies and some knitting. Sitting at my computer at work with my space heater on at my feet is a poor substitute. Which is not to say that I don’t love this weather – I adore it and am excited that winter is coming to the land of room temperature year round. I just wish I were anywhere but here.
Seriously.
14 Sep 2007 Leave a Comment
in AWAD
Disclaimer: If you don’t like cursing, stop reading now. Sorry Dad!
It’s Friday and I’m making words up. From my chat history:
“There’s another grant that I have to ‘un-fuck up.’”
Clearly it is time to go home.
Deep thoughts on words.
23 Jul 2007 Leave a Comment
in AWAD, Deep Thoughts
Conversations with my love about our vacation:
So we’ll sleep in till 8am, have some breakfast and de-boat. Hmmm, I guess that’s disembark…except its deplane. Too confusing.
deplane
1. To disembark from an airplane.
disembark
1. To go ashore from a ship.
2. To leave an aircraft or other vehicle.
3. To remove or unload (cargo or passengers) from a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle.
deboat
1. YOU’RE AN IDIOT.
ETA:
Wes’ contribution: “Deboat is down at Dedock just down at deend of deroad.”
My Word Made the Cut
11 Jul 2007 Leave a Comment
in AWAD
New dictionary includes ‘ginormous’
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – It was a ginormous year for the wordsmiths at Merriam-Webster. Along with embracing the adjective that combines “gigantic” and “enormous,” the dictionary publishers also got into Bollywood, sudoku and speed dating.
Things that sound dirty but aren’t.
01 Jun 2007 Leave a Comment
in AWAD
scrutator (skroo-TAY-tuhr)
noun.
One who investigates.
The wrong word.
19 Apr 2007 Leave a Comment
in AWAD
So I’ve been wondering what to post all day. This just seems to be one of those days where I don’t have too much to say. I’m not as hurt and upset as I was yesterday, but I wouldn’t say things are hunky dory. I think I’m in the acceptance phase of the ending of this chapter of my life and I’m just waiting for the new chapter to start.
So I was thinking that I’d just post a word. Not just any word, but a word that sort of descibes how I feel. Usually I’m pretty good with definitions, but my first choice of a word was the wrong one.
co·pa·cet·ic
fine; completely satisfactory; OK.
I had always used the word in the context of “things aren’t going well, but they’re not going badly – they’re just going,” but apparently that’s not the case.
So even though it has less panache, I’m going to go with this one:
pass·a·ble
Satisfactory but not outstanding; adequate.
P.S. Just in case:
pa·nache
a grand or flamboyant manner; verve; style; flair.
Things that sound dirty, but aren’t.
11 Apr 2007 1 Comment
in AWAD
Last week Beth wrote a post about words that sound dirty but aren’t. She had lots of contributors and it was a great read. (I added UVULA – the dingywidget that hangs down in the back of your throat.)
So I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this week’s theme at A Word A Day by Anu Garg was “Words that Seem Risque.”
Today’s word:
vomitorium (vom-i-TOR-ee-uhm) noun, plural vomitoria
A passageway to the rows of seats in a theater.
[From Latin vomitorium, from vomere (to discharge).]
Vomitoria in ancient amphitheaters helped the audience to reach their seats quickly and then, at the end of the performance, leave at an equal speed (hence the name). Thousands of seats could be filled in minutes. The suggestion that a vomitorium was the place for the ancient Romans to vomit during a feast has no basis.
Today’s Word Is…
06 Mar 2007 Leave a Comment
in AWAD
PROCRASTINATION
pro·cras·ti·nate (verb)
1. to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost.
2. to put off till another day or time; defer; delay.
3. to postpone or delay needlessly.
pro·cras·ti·nat·ion (noun)
1. the act of procrastinating; putting off or delaying or defering an action to a later time
2. slowness as a consequence of not getting around to it
Synonyms: averseness, dalliance, dawdling, dabbling, delay, delaying, frittering, frivolling, idling, loafing, loitering, playing, demurral, hold-up, impediment, interval, lag, postponement, putting off, reprieve, retardation, retardment, stall, stay, stop, stoppage, surcease, suspension, tarrying, wait
Here’s how I deal with my old friend procrastination:
1. Get out a clean sheet of paper.
2. Make a list of all the things that need to be done.
3. Return to the Internet.
4. Do the list tomorrow.
Change: the 6 letter f-word.
09 Oct 2006 Leave a Comment
in AWAD
CHANGE
Noun
* to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone: to change one’s name; to change one’s opinion; to change the course of history.
* to transform or convert
* to substitute another or others for; exchange for something else, usually of the same kind
* to give and take reciprocally; interchange
* to transfer from one (conveyance) to another
* a variation or deviation: a change in the daily routine.
* the supplanting of one thing by another.
Verb
* to become different
* to become altered or modified
* to become transformed or converted
* to pass gradually into
* to make a change or an exchange
Synonyms: about-face*, addition, adjustment, advance, break, compression, contraction, conversion, correction, development, difference, distortion, diversification, diversity, enlargement, innovation, metamorphosis, modification, modulation, mutation, novelty, permutation, reconstruction, refinement, remodeling, reversal, revision, revolution, shift, surrogate, switch, tempering, transformation, transition, transmutation, turn, turnover, variance, variation, variety, vicissitude, accommodate, adapt, adjust, alter, alternate, commute, convert, diminish, diverge, diversify, evolve, fluctuate, make innovations, make over, merge, metamorphose, moderate, modify, modulate, mutate, naturalize, recondition, redo, reduce, reform, regenerate, remake, remodel, renovate, reorganize, replace, resolve, restyle, revolutionize, shape, shift, substitute, tamper with, temper, transfigure, transform, translate, transmute, transpose, turn, vacillate, vary, veer, warp
In other words:
My co-worker has moved to a different area of the building. My boss is about to be replaced (he was interim). The world has shifted on its axis and I don’t like it. Not one effing bit.
