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Disorder of a Man of Letters — Xah's Belles-lettres

On English vocabulary, writing styles, grammar, idioms, linguistics, literature.

The soybean (US) or soya bean (UK) (Glycine max) is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses. The plant is classed as an oilseed rather than a pulse by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

Fat-free (defatted) soybean meal is a significant and cheap source of protein for animal feeds and many prepackaged meals; soy vegetable oil is another product of processing the soybean crop. For example, soybean products such as textured vegetable protein (TVP) are ingredients in many meat and dairy analogues. Soybeans produce significantly more protein per acre than most other uses of land.

Traditional nonfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, and from the latter tofu and tofu skin. Fermented foods include soy sauce, fermented bean paste, natto, and tempeh, among others. The oil is used in many industrial applications. The main producers of soy are the United States (35%), Brazil (27%), Argentina (19%), China (6%) and India (4%). The beans contain significant amounts of phytic acid, alpha-linolenic acid, and isoflavones.

Soy bean

A pulse (Latin “puls”, from Ancient Greek πόλτος poltos “porridge”), sometimes called a “grain legume”, is an annual leguminous crop yielding from one to twelve seeds of variable size, shape, and color within a pod. Pulses are used for food for humans and other animals. Included in the pulses are: dry beans like pinto beans, kidney beans and navy beans; dry peas; lentils; and others.

Pulse (legume)

toaster to bread inside me hot
Toaster to bread: “I want you inside me.”. Bread: “That's hot.”.

Logic Writing Style: the Incongruousness of the Word “Actually”

now, all classic tales and essays on this site has JavaScript highlighting feature. For example, go to the Story of Cupid and Psyche, hoover annotated words to see its annotation highlighted.

some selection of other stories and essays with heavy annotation:

Arabian Nights. Spectacular tale. The First Kalandar's Tale

Allograph

today's words: multiplex, hymn, chorale, stark, bunting. Arcade Fire — Abraham's Daughter (Hunger Games Ending Credits Song) 🎶

today's word: Elysium. Portishead — Elysium 🎶

Portishead — Wandering Stars 🎶

starting to banish the article “the” in my writings. Mostly. Banish the f�ck out of it of the universe.

what accent is the girl? New England?

“How Guys Will Use Google Glass”

English Accent: British Accent 2 📺

Google Translate does Rap (beatboxing) 📺

updated. Online English Dictionary Tools

O Fortuna

when you type “weather” or “whether”, make sure you don't botch it into wether, because that could be devastating.

St. Patrick's Day, although not a legal holiday anywhere in the United States, is nonetheless widely recognised and celebrated throughout the country. It is primarily observed as a celebration of Irish and Irish American culture; celebrations include prominent displays of the colour green, feasting, copious consumption of alcohol, religious observances, and numerous parades. The holiday has been celebrated on the North American continent since the late eighteenth century.

from Saint Patrick's Day

. Shamrock

The shamrock refers to the young sprigs of clover or trefoil. It is known as a symbol of Ireland, with St. Patrick having used it as a metaphor for the Christian Trinity, according to legend. The name shamrock is derived from Irish seamróg, which is the diminutive version of the Irish word for clover (seamair) meaning simply “little clover” or “young clover”.

watch this. English Accent: British Accent 📺. What's the exact locality of the brother sister's accent?

heard of science news of turning excrement into artificial food? The idea is also in Gulliver's Travels 1726 Gulliver's Travels. PART III. A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG, GLUBBDUBDRIB, AND JAPAN.

some fantastic readings, on language and logic.

what's a word that is a thing associated with a group and for some reason BECAME sacred identity of the group that any bad words on the thing is taken as insult to the group?

something similar to icon, effigy, mascot, statue… but i know there's a more proper word.

i'm a sybarite with lots fripperies!

The Tyranny of Twit Writing: Facebook Twitter Char Limits & SMS Abbrevs

what is science? science is to split, rend, cleave!

science «c.1300, “knowledge (of something) acquired by study,” also “a particular branch of knowledge,” from Old French science, from Latin scientia “knowledge,” from sciens (genitive scientis), prp. of scire “to know,” probably originally “to separate one thing from another, to distinguish,” related to scindere “to cut, divide,” from PIE root *skei- (cf. Greek skhizein “to split, rend, cleave,” Gothic skaidan, Old English sceadan “to divide, separate;” see shed (v.)).»

aspell's Dismal Vocabulary Size

cant and argot

A cant (or cryptolect) is the jargon or argot of a group, often implying its use to exclude or mislead people outside the group.

An argot is a secret language used by various groups — including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals — to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job, sport, etc.

The author Victor Hugo was one of the first to research argot extensively. He describes it in his 1862 novel Les Misérables as the language of the dark; at one point, he says, “What is argot; properly speaking? Argot is the language of misery.”

examples of unix tech geeker argots: YMMV, TIMTOWTDI, RFC, RTFM, I-ANAL, shebang, lisp1 lisp2.

Patter

Patter is a prepared and practiced speech, that is designed to produce a desired response from its audience. Examples of occupations with a patter might include the: auctioneer, salesperson, dance caller, or comedian.

The term was originally a colloquial shortening of “Pater Noster” and referred to the practice of mouthing or mumbling prayers quickly and mechanically, without any expression of meaning or sincerity.

Latitude, Longitude, Meridian, Knots

Official Lincoln #SteerTheScript Commercial 📺

today's homework: what's the difference between fornication and copulation?

and how to euphemistically describe the act in a way that's universally endorsed? the answer to that lies in the lyrics of The Power of Love.

transistor = transfer resistor

Poetry Appreciation: Maiden Love

Most beautiful poem. And the word of the day is: pine.

我走遍漫漫的天涯路
我望断遥远的云和树
多少的往事堪重数
你呀你在何处

我难忘你哀怨的眼睛
我知道你那沉默的情意
你牵引我到一个梦中
我却在别个梦中忘记你

啊…我的梦和遗忘的人
啊…受我最初祝福的人
终日我灌溉着蔷薇
却让幽蘭枯萎
I have roamed all the roads
I have seen past the clouds and trees
How many memories are worth recounting
You, O, you; where are you?

I cannot forget your pining eyes
I understand your quiet affections
You lead me into a dream
Yet I've forgotten you in another

O… my dream and my forgotten one
O… the one who had my first blessing
Daily I tend to rambler roses
In derelict is the quite orchid

初恋女 (Maiden Love)

today's words: floozy, hussy, ingenue, canny, trollop, zeitgeist, dichotomy, flake, de rigueur, patsy.

they say poetry is like honey. This is like molasses.

the Littlest Harlot (by Tracy Quan)

moved to its own page. Humor: Sh%t Southern Women Say (slang; accent) 📺

the transcription needs work. Anyone?

Pere Lachaise Cemetery sculpture 2012
Oscar Wilde's tomb.

Oscar Wilde's Tomb and Quips

Polyglot: Young Man Speaks 20 Languages 📺

Did Stephen King Really Say that on Twilight?

word by song. wanton, undulate, billow, demure.

an endless wave of affection,
 undulates like the waters of summer

it arrived at your side,
 have you felt it?

the image of you,
 flashed into my mind

your moves,
 your thoughts,
 are my thirsts and cravings

i always had this wish,
wished there's a night

where i whisper my grievances at your side,
 burden you with my worries

sorrow is the billow of affection,
 and the bridge of affection
 the guide of affection

if you need the nourishment of love;
 hesitate no more

A old song from Shanghai, China. A classic beauty. The lyrics is demure yet drips wantonness. 周璇 — 诉衷情 (Grievances of Love)

Symbol, Semantics, Design: Unicode for “e.g.” (exempli gratia)

word by song. This song showcases a girl besotted in a flame. Rihanna — SOS

today's words, writter's words. emetic, logorrhea, notarize, treacly, travesty, vagary, usher, refractory, putrescence

Writer's Words ₁₂

make a sentence of it.

words by song. Slangs and idioms.

Last Friday night
We went streaking in the park
Skinny dipping in the dark
Then had a ménage à trois

Katy Perry — Last Friday Night

see also English Vocabulary: Foreign Words

word by song. After watching this music video, you'll know what lackadaisical means. Anya Marina — All the Same to Me

word by song: Undulation. You'll remember this word after watching Björk - Pagan Poetry

Undulation «1640s, from Medieval Latin *undulatio, from Late Latin undulatus “wavy, undulated,” from undula “wavelet,” diminutive of Latin unda “wave”»

Dave Pawson gave this usage.

At the inaugural meeting, his purported verve suffered from concealment. His niche, malicious gossip, facilitated the presentation. In a somewhat covert manner his gruesome side was shown, redemption being sought through words.

by Dave Pawson.

SAT words ₁₉

following yesterday's theme of “recursion”, here's a idiom about recursion used in computing . English Idiom in Unix: Directory Recursively

I'm a fountain of blood
in the shape of a girl
you're bird on the brim
hypnotized by the whirl

Drink me - make me feel real
wet your beak in the stream
the game we're playing is life
love's a two way dream

word by song: recursion. “recursion” — a central theme in this song. Björk — Bachelorette

Words By Songs: Waywardness, Spunk

and what does spunk mean? and who is Cleopatra, Mata Hari?

This song: Madonna — Like It or Not.

today's word: forte. Example: “drinking coffee is my forte.” ☺

Today's words: hollow, cavern, jingle, jangle. Dusty Springfield — the Windmills of Your Mind

lojban translated
xkcd comics on lojban. (http://xkcd.com/191/)

Lojban is a constructed language, design based on predicate logic. Some tutorial here, with voice recording: Xah's lojban Tutorial.

Alice in Wonderland, Zero-sum game

“The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours.”

from Wonderland: Chapter 9: The Mock Turtle's Story

That's the concept of Zero–sum game. However, in real world, most things isn't zero-sum game. Both parties actually benefit. ⁖ when you give something you no longer want to someone, a value is created “out of nothing”.

today's words: inaugural, verve, purported, concealment, niche, malicious, facilitate, covert, gruesome, redemption.

exemplary usage: SAT words ₁₉

make a sentence of it. Or else i whip you.

Today's word: polyamory.

A song of polyamory. “you and me and her” — every man's dream. Snake River Conspiracy — You And Your Friend

Words By Songs: Waywardness

What does waywardness mean? This song: Björk — Unison. Read into the ballad, the spirit, the innocence, and the waywardness!

Noun things: manor, armada, ungulates, varicose, insignias, mandible, frontispiece, hotcake, bric-a-brac, cowcatcher, cataract, palimpsest, causeway, reservoirs, duffel, lanyard, halberd, dirndl, chronograph, chronometer, stork, battlement, citadel, bastion, bile, backhoe, sinew, pachyderm, necropolis, spindle, foyer

English Vocabulary: Noun Things

blue, dusk, a wandering waif
lazy songs, and the red caravan
wutong trees shaded the dancing shoes
the circus narrates the scene

anyhow; a dime you have or a boat of gold
anyhow; an ant you are or a god

i long for a fleeing peep
the contentment and wellness in a sip
the old red bearded man
a smile serene and plain
my dancing shoes swirl
i sing into a frenzy
i would withdraw into a being
the spinning carts cheer for me
how would i ever tire

王菲 — 流浪的红舞鞋 (Wandering Red Dancing Shoes)

Much updated. 20 articles of video recordings. English Accents

English Convention of Capitalization in Titles

In the North there's a lady,
stunning and singular.
One look confounds a city;
a touch dooms an empire.
Rather not wishing to know, the ruination that may follow.
Rare beauty is here and now.

House of Flying Daggers — The Beauty Song (十面埋伏 — 佳人歌)

“And there I saw the lady stripped to the skin, her limbs bound to four stakes and blood welling from her sides”

From Arabian Nights, The Second Kalandar's Tale

in typography, ligature is certain glyphs that are made up of combined letters. ⁖ fi=, ae=æ

See also: The Moronicities of Typography: Hyphen, Dash, Quotation Marks, Apostrophe

Dave Pawson gave this example: “The wizened pariah addressed the calumny of his interlocutor with vagary, not liking the accusation of a complicity in inerrancy; whilst the leitmotif played gently.”

usage examples: GRE Words ₁₅

Learn 3 words from Gangnam Style: neologism, exude, lavish. The first one is a bit hard, it's a terminology from linguistics. The other two are highschool level words. PSY — Gangnam Style

Today's words, arcane words: oniomania, precocial, neonate

Oniomania

Oniomania (from Greek ὤνιος onios “for sale” and μανία mania “insanity”) is the technical term for the compulsive desire to shop, more commonly referred to as compulsive shopping, shopping addiction, shopaholism, compulsive buying disorder.
Oniomania, 2012-12-21

Vocabulary Study: Arcane

What's vestal virgins?

Answer: A Whiter Shade of Pale

Today's words, EASY: juvenile, genre, subordinated, tangible, protagonist, coming-of-age, unobtrusive.

Young-adult fiction. Quote:

Young-adult fiction or young adult literature (often abbreviated as YA), also juvenile fiction, is fiction written, published, or marketed to adolescents and young adults. The Young Adult Library Services (YALSA) of the American Library Association (ALA) defines a young adult as someone between the ages of twelve and eighteen. Authors and readers of young adult (YA) novels often define the genre as literature as traditionally written for ages ranging from twelve years up to the age of eighteen, while some publishers may market young adult literature to as low as age ten or as high as age twenty-five. The terms young-adult novel, juvenile novel, young-adult book, etc. refer to the works in the YA category.

YA literature shares the following fundamental elements of the fiction genre: character, plot, setting, theme, and style. However, theme and style are often subordinated to the more tangible elements of plot, setting, and character, which appeal more readily to younger readers. The vast majority of YA stories portray an adolescent, rather than an adult or child, as the protagonist.

The subject matter and story lines of YA literature are typically consistent with the age and experience of the main character, but, beyond that, YA stories span the spectrum of fiction genres. Themes in YA stories often focus on the challenges of youth, sometimes referred to as problem novels or coming-of-age novels. Writing styles of YA stories range widely, from the richness of literary style to the clarity and speed of the unobtrusive and free verse.

Example of Young Adult Fiction that's hugely popular in recent years:

Major update. Two hundred songs of humanity, literature, poetry, annotated for your reading pleasure. Xah Music

Today's words: débutante, ingénue.

If you want to remember what débutante means, this song makes it a permanent impression. Blondie - Dreaming.

A similar word is ingénue. And this song makes it: Mono - Slimcea Girl, Ingénue

See also: English Vocabulary: Foreign Words

Faye Wong has a song, called〈彼岸花〉 (Flower of Paradise). It is a beautiful song. Somber and tranquil, and the lyrics touches ancient Buddhism mythology — a couple who can never meet each other. 王菲 - 彼岸花 (Flower of Paradise)

Today's word: epiphany.

See: Epiphany in a Dream: Seat as Inverted Ass.

See also this UCLA Racisim incident: Racism Humor: Asians in UCLA, where the girl used the word “epiphany” as “… when i'm about to reach an epiphany…”.

Some words, are particularly attached to a thing, or a story, or a personal event, such that the word describes it “To a T”, that you'll think of the word whenever you think of the thing/song/event.

Can you remembers one thing, person, song, photo, event, phrase, that particularly remind you of a word?

PS “To a T” is a idiom. If you are not familiar, look it up.

Today's words: leitmotif, vagary, contingency, complicity, cull, wizened, inerrancy, pariah, calumny, interlocutor

usage examples: GRE Words ₁₅

Today's words: pyre, napalm, schizoid. See: 21st Century Schizoid Man

Today's words: burly, indefatigable, malaise, redux, anodyne, remonstrate, culpability, peripatetic, redoubtable, prognostication.

Usage examples: GRE Words ₁₄.

Make a sentence of it. If you just know one word or two, make a sentence of using the word you know. For advanced readers, concoct a single sentence using all words you know.

If there's a song for the word “sultry”, this is it Sharon Apple - the Borderline (Macross Plus)

Today's words: sectarian, respite, cognate, minutiae, avuncular, epiphany, titular, defeatist, estimable, capitulate.

Usage examples: GRE Words ₁₃

What to do if someone is bugging you?

Growl.

Growl «1660s, from M.E. grollen “to rumble, growl” (early 15c.), from O.Fr. grouler “to rumble,” said to be from Frankish; probably ultimately of imitative origin. Related: Growled; growling. The noun is 1727, from the verb.»

What to do if you disapprove?

Hiss.

hiss «late 14c. (v.); 1510s (n.); of imitative origin. Johnson wrote, “it is remarkable, that this word cannot be pronounced without making the noise which it signifies.” Related: Hissed; hissing.»

These are called Onomatopoeia. English Vocabulary: Animalistic Cries (Onomatopoeia).

10 Difficult words: salubrious, capricious, putative, grist, euthanize, nettlesome, edict, jeremiad, cognate, maladroit.

These are GRE words. Usage example. GRE Words ₁₂.

How many do you know off the bat?

for I, for my own part, cannot think that these latter days of weak experiment, fragmentary theory, and mutual discord are indeed man's culminating time! I say, for my own part. He, I know—for the question had been discussed among us long before the Time Machine was made—thought but cheerlessly of the Advancement of Mankind, and saw in the growing pile of civilization only a foolish heaping that must inevitably fall back upon and destroy its makers in the end. If that is so, it remains for us to live as though it were not so. But to me the future is still black and blank—is a vast ignorance, lit at a few casual places by the memory of his story. And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers— shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle—to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man.

Time Machine: Chapter XII

Today's words: spindle, racket

spindle

Spindle (textiles) is the thing that winds threads. Compare to Ratchet ratchet.

See also: English Vocabulary: Noun Things

Online Dictionary with lots usage examples

Can you make 5 sentences involving the word “coalesce”? If you can, all power to you. else …

Here's a great vocabulary learning tool, at http://dict.bing.com.cn/#coalesce

It gives many usage examples of a word, gathered from current news.

This is fantastic. Because, traditional dictionaries only give one or two example, usually a exemplary usage, often from old writings that's a hundred years old. But the bing dictionary site, you can see many live examples.

The site is designed for Chinese people who are learning English, but that shouldn't bother you. For polyglots, the advantage is that it not only give you English usage examples, but also provide translation in Chinese. However, the translation to Chinese is done by machine. Often, it's incorrect.

Here's some other nice {Chinese-to-English, English-to-Chinese} dictionary sites, some also show English-to-English. But i haven't tried them in detail:

For English dictionary tools, see: Online English Dictionary Tools

thanks to 假日笛声 for “dict.bing.com.cn”. Thanks to Aphantee for “http://dict.youdao.com/”.

updated: English Writing Style: Oxford Comma and Strippers

today's words: armada, coalesce. A futuristic passage.

armada

At some point, the armada of devices we strap to our bodies like tools on Batman's belt will coalesce into a smaller number of multifunction devices. Equipped with radio links, a pda can serve as an appliance-control remote, a digital wallet, a cell phone, an identity badge, an e-mail station, a digital book, a pager and perhaps even a digital camera. There is sure to be a catchy name for this all-purpose Internet-enabled thingy, perhaps Wireless Internet Digital Gadget for Electronic Transactions, or WIDGET.
What Will Replace The Internet? By Vinton Cerf. @ www.time.com…

Shakespeare's Words: spleen, trull, deflower

Now will I hence to seek my lovely Moor,
And let my spleenful sons this trull deflower.

From Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus: Act 2.

What's the relationship between the words “troll” and “prostitute”? Their etymology gives us a clue.

today's words: pliable, pander, lest.

pliable

“Men in general are the 'funnier sex.” … No. It is not due “in part” to how men and women are socialized. It is due entirely to how men and women are socialized. Oh, but “psychology” says men are the funniest? Well, I guess we're done here! It certainly couldn't be that women just shut up and laugh because we're trained from birth that we're supposed to be pleasant, pliable, and inoffensive, and that we should pander to men at all times lest we be labeled an undesirable. No, the obvious explanation is that every time a woman tries to tell a joke, an invisible dream-catcher telescopes out of her vagina and snatches it from the air. Science.
Hey, Men, I'm Funnier Than You By Lindy West. @ jezebel.com…

Make a sentence of it. Use it. Because if you don't, you won't remember it.

affected

Nepeta cataria (catnip) are known for their behavioral effects on the cat family, not only on domestic cats but also big cats. N. cataria is used as a recreational substance for pet cats' enjoyment, and catnip and catnip-laced products designed for use with domesticated cats are available to consumers. Not all cats are affected by catnip. The common behaviors when cats sense the bruised leaves or stems of catnip are rubbing on the plant, rolling on the ground, pawing at it, licking it, and chewing it. Consuming much of the plant is followed by drooling, sleepiness, anxiety, leaping about and purring. Some will growl, meow, scratch, or bite the hand holding it. Some cats will eat dried catnip; often eating too much can cause cats to be aggressive, typically making them hiss.
Catnip,

“women's pleasure without man is short of measure”

—Arabian Nights, The Porter And The Three Ladies Of Baghdad

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