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ASF Word of the Day

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Julia said:
I took pixel's post to be for amusement value at the funny mistake he'd come across somewhere.
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As did I - gave me quite a chuckle:)

A veterinarian is without question a person qualified to treat animals.

A similar common mistake is people who describe the owner of a restaurant as a "restauranteur".
The word is "restaurateur", no 'n' in it.

Also "comraderie" (presumably on the mistaken assumption that it derives directly from "comrade") rather than "camaraderie".
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I guess you could even say that the Russian equivalent of our Anzac Day might be known as a lot of veterinarians enjoying some camaraderie :rolleyes:
 
heu·ris·tic
   [hyoo-ris-tik or, often, yoo-] Show IPA

adjective
1.
serving to indicate or point out; stimulating interest as a means of furthering investigation.

2.
encouraging a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve problems on his or her own, as by experimenting, evaluating possible answers or solutions, or by trial and error: a heuristic teaching method.

3.
of, pertaining to, or based on experimentation, evaluation, or trial-and-error methods.

4.
Computers, Mathematics . pertaining to a trial-and-error method of problem solving used when an algorithmic approach is impractical.
 
burglar said:
heu·ris·tic
   [hyoo-ris-tik or, often, yoo-] Show IPA

adjective
1.
serving to indicate or point out; stimulating interest as a means of furthering investigation.

2.
encouraging a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve problems on his or her own, as by experimenting, evaluating possible answers or solutions, or by trial and error: a heuristic teaching method.

3.
of, pertaining to, or based on experimentation, evaluation, or trial-and-error methods.

4.
Computers, Mathematics . pertaining to a trial-and-error method of problem solving used when an algorithmic approach is impractical.
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nice one, Burglar
if I may add: It comes from the same Greek verb (to search) that gave us Eureka = "I found it!"
 
Satisficing

"1. General: Aiming to achieve only satisfactory results because the satisfactory position is familiar, hassle-free, and secure, whereas aiming for the best-achievable result would call for costs, effort, and incurring of risks.
2. Decision making: Examining alternatives until a practical (most obvious, attainable, and reasonable) solution with adequate level of acceptability is found, and stopping the search there instead of looking for the best-possible (optimum) solution."
 
Medical Definition of STANCH


: to check or stop the flowing of <stanch bleeding>; also : to stop the flow of blood from <stanch a wound>

Could be used for politics or finance!
 
burglar said:
Medical Definition of STANCH


: to check or stop the flowing of <stanch bleeding>; also : to stop the flow of blood from <stanch a wound>

Could be used for politics or finance!
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As opposed to "staunch" :)

Thesaurus: Synonyms
Verb 1. staunch - stop the flow of a liquid; "staunch the blood flow"; "stem the tide"
stanch, stem, halt
check - arrest the motion (of something) abruptly; "He checked the flow of water by shutting off the main valve"
 
burglar said:
Medical Definition of STANCH


: to check or stop the flowing of <stanch bleeding>; also : to stop the flow of blood from <stanch a wound>

Could be used for politics or finance!
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Where did you get that spelling, burglar?
 
dutchie said:
Omnishambles named word of the year by Oxford English Dictionary

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20309441

Meaning:
(1) Australian Labor Party, Execution of Australian Labor Party policies.
(2) a situation which is shambolic from every possible angle.
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Some amusing variants at that link. ".."Romneyshambles" - used to describe gaffes by US presidential candidate Mitt Romney during his visit to the UK - and "omnivoreshambles", referring to the row about a planned badger cull in England and Wales.."

Also "Yolo" from social media:evilburn: - You Only Live Once.

I liked "heuristic" from Burglar. It's a daily experience in the IT field.
 
Julia said:
Where did you get that spelling, burglar?
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I have checked my most recent copy of The Economist style manual, and stanch is in there. It, I believe came in via the Webster.

Be thankful the Japanese lost WW2.

We may by now even be calling round sweets on a stick, rorripops, should Hirohito and his murderous thugs have won.

English is a delightful changing language.

gg
 
Spifflicated





Drunk: 1920s Jazz-era usage. See also: hammered, sloshed, ****-faced, tanked, blitzed, bombed, wrecked, three sheets to the wind, loose, tipsy, trashed, smashed, etc.
 
repartee


1

a : a quick and witty reply

b : a succession or interchange of clever retorts : amusing and usually light sparring with words

2

: adroitness and cleverness in reply : skill in repartee
 
Discombobulated

Past tense of discombobulate

dis·com·bob·u·late [dis-kuhm-bob-yuh-leyt]
verb (used with object), dis·com·bob·u·lat·ed, dis·com·bob·u·lat·ing.
to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate:
The speaker was completely discombobulated by the hecklers.

Origin: 1825–35, Americanism; fanciful alteration of discompose or discomfort
 
Interesting to know the origin is American. Thanks, johenmo. If I'd had to guess I'd have thought it more likely to be British.
 
Julia said:
Interesting to know the origin is American. Thanks, johenmo. If I'd had to guess I'd have thought it more likely to be British.
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I did too. So your reply encouraged me to look search further. From "Words at Random", & I like the last bit of the last sentence (my bold):

The fanciful alteration of words, especially by adding pseudo-Latin elements, has long been a feature of American English. One classic is absquatulate 'to run away; abscond', from the early nineteenth century but still in occasional use. The word obfuscate has been elaborated into obfusticated--Davy Crockett was quoted in 1834 as saying that he'd "be tee-to-natiously obfusticated if he would take office on any condition."

Many words similar to discombobulate, which does mean 'to fluster or disconcert; confuse; upset', have likewise been around since the early nineteenth century. The earliest such form is discombobracated (also 1834), but others include discomboberate, discombobelate, discombooberate, discombobble, discomboobleate, and more. Your form discombobulate, perhaps the most common of these, is first found in a dialect study from 1916, when it was identified as a New England term.

The exact origin of such fanciful formations is impossible to pin down. It is probable that discombobulate is a fanciful alteration of a specific word such as discompose or discomfort, but the various pseudo-Latin elements could simply be stuck together in an amusing-sounding way, without much regard for meaning; the -com- element is common in such words.
 
I appreciate your further research, johenmo. Hopefully in another couple of generations we'll not be reduced to the level of current texting in our communications.
 
SNOLLYGOSTER

Etymology
19th-century American English. Possibly from snallygaster, a mythical beast that preys on poultry and children, possibly from Pennsylvania German schnelle geeschter, from German schnell, quick + geist, spirit.

Noun
snollygoster (plural snollygosters)
(slang, obsolete) One, especially a politician, who is guided by personal advantage rather than by consistent, respectable principles.
 
Me again ... like I'm talking to myself! :rolleyes:

Definition of BRUSQUE

1
: markedly short and abrupt


2
: blunt in manner or speech often to the point of ungracious harshness

Synonyms for Brusque:

abrupt, bluff, blunt (also brusk), crusty, curt, downright, short, short-spoken, snippy, unceremonious
 
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