Things you didn't know that had names.
Names have power. Rumpelstiltskin was right. I have posted before about words like "rowel," which is included on this list of 33 Names of Things You Never Knew Had Names. I knew about five of these, including hemidemisemiquaver. Be sure to check out the other links at the bottom of the page.
* 13 Sayings of Woody AllenI love this stuff.
* 17 Pairs of Contradictory Proverbs
* 23 Obscure and Obsolete Words
* 3 Famous Commas
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4 comments:
Hi Chuck,
I love this stuff too. Of the Names of Things You Never Knew Had Names, I knew aglet, punt and octothorpe.
In the list of obscure words, if PREANTEPENULTIMATE - means fourth from last, I would guess that ANTEPENULTIMATE means third from last. And shouldn't SUPPEDANEUM - A foot support for crucifix victims be CRUCIFIXION victims? A crucifix is a replica, crucifixion is the act.
Thanks for posting this, I bookmarked it.
Merry Christmas to you and Cheryl.
George Haberberger
Of course we knew the octothorpe! Used to talk about that one all the time. I wonder if they know circumflex and diaresis?
Nice to hear from you! Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.
I knew eight of the Names of Things, or maybe nine if knowing a variant of a listed name counts. That would be "armsaye", which I had never heard of in that form, but know as "armscye".
That said, some of the definitions might be a bit incomplete. In particular, the definition for "tang" omits the fairly important information that the tang supports the handle of the knife or other tool, i.e., it's not just a protruding piece.
Tang is pretty wholly defined wrong, there. When making any kind of bladed, hand-held instrument, from X-Acto knife to katana, a portion of the metal used to create the actual cutting surface is not honed, so as to provide something to attach a hilt or handle to.
In X-Acto terms, the pointy part is the blade, the square end is the tang.
Anyway, I knew seven, eight if you count hemidemidemiquaver. I knew "semiquaver," and read the word before the defition, and thought "that's some tiny-ass note." So, I guess seven and a half.
By the way, phosphenes, I knew, from a Balderdash question, I'm pretty sure.
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