Excellent words and phrases

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
had to look this up (the sort of word sometimes picked up from the broadsheets),
the other day, "Bathetic"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathetic

"... now used more broadly to cover any ridiculous artwork or performance. More strictly speaking, bathos is unintended humor caused by an incongruous combination of high and low" (hmm - prog rock?).

used like this: "The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant."


which reminds me of this from kottke.org:

Which in turn guides us to a 2008 article in Harper's, A mind dismembered: In search of the magical penis thieves. George Costanza had a personal case of penis panic in the Seinfeld episode entitled The Hamptons.

George is seen naked by Jerry's girlfriend Rachel, to whom he tries vainly to explain that, having just gotten out of the cold water, he is a victim of penile "shrinkage."

Penis panic put me in mind of a similar phenomenon and after a couple of failed searches -- "afraid to pee", "pee in public" -- I finally found it: paruresis, aka "pee shyness, shy kidney, bashful bladder, stage fright, urophobia or shy bladder syndrome".

Paruresis [...] is a type of phobia in which the sufferer is unable to urinate in the (real or imaginary) presence of others, such as in a public restroom. It can affect both males and females. The analogous condition that affects bowel movement is called parcopresis.

Also when I used the word ruddy at work some time ago no one knew what I meant, but "looking fresh, healthy, and red (especially in the cheeks)"or "rubicund: inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life; "a ruddy complexion".

I'm Scandie, so sometimes a word that everyone knows, ie like "listing" about boats will turn up and I will have to look it up.
There is no shame in this, if you never ask or look things up you will never know.

The problem is - next week I will probably have forgotton what bathetic means

[Edit - and right on cue on via kottke (which now looks a bit like a bath) - http://dfwwords.wordpress.com/ - Words I Learned From Reading David Foster Wallace; I haven't read any DFW, but I see on other threads that he comes highly commended (2010 it will be then, the lit in-box is already bursting. And yup - I do like brackets, so much better than footnotes)]
 
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Agent

dgaf ngaf cgaf
no one else will think this is funny, because it isn't, but phrases like "aggravated sodomy" and "sexual predator" crack me up for some reason.
 
I have a soft spot for fecundity. It sounds like it should be an italian insult with accompanying hand gesture for emphasis or how about obsequious?... a french canadian tribe of native americans.
 
I like making new words.

cryptosporadic - typically an acute short-term e-infection. It is spread through the fecal-oral route, often through contaminated websites [1]; the main symptom is self-limiting verbal diarrhea in people with intact virtual immune systems.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Yesterday I came up with the ultimate phrase for sounding like a debauched Roman aristocrat. You put on your best posh/slurred 'Withnail' voice and say:

Send for more wine! and bring me another slave boy to be sick into...

I've also decided I quite like the vaguely Victorian practice of using ! or ? in the middle of a sentence (see above).
 
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Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
Clipped from The Times (headline "When it comes to being sarky, Sarko can't cut the moutarde"):

"When they circumcised Herbert Samuel, they threw away the wrong bit".

(Lloyd George)
 

Client Eastwood

Well-known member
cantankerous.... especially good when followed with bastard or cunt

I first heard cantankerous in a early dancehall tune way back cant remember the singer or title atm but it was something along the lines of 'anytime we come we come cantankerous, nicer than a coffee inna thermos' oh there was a dangerous in there too . . . depleted brain cells hold tight.
 
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