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:
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)]
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.
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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