Words

[hellymedic]

The medic remarks that scrofula is tuberculosis of the skin.

[Wowbagger]

Trollop.

that reminds me of an ex colleague of mine

At a restaurant for an office Christmas curry, as a more mature lady walked past, done up to the nines, he remarked "look at that, mutton dressed as mutton"

That'd be me, then.   

I can't remember who it was who once described Sarah Ferguson as "mutton dressed as pork".

PS - is this a record, waiting almost 4 years to reply to a post?

I came here because of today's Graun quick crossword. INHERE. Exist permanently as part of as in "Where do you keep your biscuits?" "Inhere!"

[T42]

I came here because of today's Graun quick crossword. INHERE. Exist permanently as part of as in "Where do you keep your biscuits?" "Inhere!"

That one was irritating.  They do it deliberately, you know.

[meddyg]

Scots weather blether

'drych and smur'


German ones almost onomatopoeic

'Hochgeschwindigkeit ' (upper speed limit obv.)
don't know if 'Mahlneid' really exist
(I think Ben Schrott made some of them up).

- Mahlneid is sposed to be 'meal envy'
(you look over to the next table and think 'I wish I'd ordered that !')


'Leertreppen'  stepping into that void space where you expected the fourteenth step to be !

[T42]

Nah, Hochgeschwindigkeit is just high speed. You have fiddle a bit and add Begrenzung to turn it into a limit: Höchstgeschwindigkeitsbregrenzung, although in practice you'd more likely see Geschwindigkeitsbregrenzung.

Mahlneid might also mean "I wish I'd painted that".

[Beardy]

Superfluous is a personal favourite, possibly because it was a word I was trying to spell when a penny dropped a little way about syllables. I was only 40 something at the time. 

[Ian H]

Two I'd forgotten. 

Osteosarchaematosplanchnochondroneuromuelous
Osseocarnisanguineoviscericartilaginonervomedullary

[spesh]

Who let the sesquipedalianists in here?

[Basil]

Hate to be a spoil sport, but nobody actually says 'Popty Ping.  In jest perhaps, but I've never heard it. People round here refer to Y Micro  Short for Popty Microdon.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I thought microdon was a dinosaur with very small teeth.

[TheLurker]

Mumpsimus.  Describes a colleague to perfection.

"Someone who obstinately clings to an error, bad habit or prejudice, even after the foible has been exposed and the person humiliated."

[TheLurker]

I thought microdon was a dinosaur with very small teeth.

Nah, a diminutive Mafia boss.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I thought microdon was a dinosaur with very small teeth.

Nah, a diminutive Mafia boss.

(click to show/hide)

Actually they're a genus of hoverflies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdon

[Efrogwr]

Hate to be a spoil sport, but nobody actually says 'Popty Ping.  In jest perhaps, but I've never heard it. People round here refer to Y Micro  Short for Popty Microdon.

I've just discussed this with Mrs E. She is of the opinion that it was a joke started by Welsh language teachers, teaching adults, in the north. I first heard it, from one of the teachers (a native speaker from Anglesey), at a Welsh summer school about twenty years ago.

... I believed the teacher at the time...

[meddyg]

Could we have a ban on 'leverage' as a verb ?
(YACFers of course wouldn't noun when they should be verbing!)

e.g.
In the coming years, initiatives will leverage a solid manufacturing base

My old school emails to suggest I 'leverage my professional network to get to introduced to people you should know' !

[Canardly]

Some words are so precise. Unctuous. I can think of a few politicians and a bell end for which this is most apt.

[Wowbagger]

- Mahlneid is sposed to be 'meal envy'
(you look over to the next table and think 'I wish I'd ordered that !')

To which the answer must surely be "Jawohl, Oskar, jawohl!"

[Wowbagger]

Palimpsest.

[Redlight]

I know this is a three word phrase (dos that count?) but I'd like to see an end to the term "of all time". Unless time has now ended, in which case it doesn't matter who was the greatest drummer / writer / ballet dancer / marrow-grower or whatever, no person or thing can be described as 'the greatest --- of all time'. 

And I particularly object to it being applied to any recordings by Simply Red.

[Mr Larrington]

This ^^^^.  Especially Moto GP colemantators using it to describe Valentino Rossi.  Have these clods never heard of Mike Hailwood?

[spesh]

A word posted earlier Palimpsest.

Gratis.

[T42]

This ^^^^.  Especially Moto GP colemantators using it to describe Valentino Rossi.  Have these clods never heard of Mike Hailwood?

I've never heard of Valentino Rossi. Is that good?

[Mr Larrington]

Signor Rossi was quite handy on a motorcycle, m'lud, although he turned visibly pale when he visited the TT a few years ago and may have accused the riders therein of suffering some kind of mental instability.

[T42]

Always a good sign, or at least gratifying.

[Nuncio]

I wonder why so many languages, including English, have such euphonious 3-or-4 syllable words for 'butterfly' eg schmetterling, papillon, sommerfugl, pili-pala. Welsh has at least 2 more which make up in curious etymology what they lack in euphony, namely 'glöyn byw' - 'live coal' and 'iâr fach yr haf' - 'little summer chicken'.