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:
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.
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”.
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.
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.)).»
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.”
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.
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
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)
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 purportedverve 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.
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?
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”.
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
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.
Dave Pawson gave this example: “The wizenedpariah addressed the calumny of his interlocutor with vagary, not liking the accusation of a complicity in inerrancy; whilst the leitmotif played gently.”
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
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.
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:
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)
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.
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.
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.»
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.
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:
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.
What's the relationship between the words “troll” and “prostitute”? Their etymology gives us a clue.
spleen «c.1300, from O.Fr. esplen, from L. splen, from Gk. splen, from PIE *splegh- …. Regarded in medieval physiology as the seat of morose feelings and bad temper. Hence figurative sense of "violent ill-temper" (1590s).»
trull «“a low prostitute or concubine; a drab, strumpet, trollop” [OED], 1510s, from Ger. trulle, perhaps cognate with troll (n.), or perhaps from troll (v.), cf. M.H.G. trolle “awkward fellow.”»
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.
My putativeantagonist, an estranged classmate, is an erudite jokester with an affinity for facetious yet poignant persiflage, and who will rejoice if his pervasive stench manages to innundate my senses to the point where I am unable to concentrate on my play.
These are university graduate level. Good for GRE takers. Make a sentence out of them.
The state doctor, mumbling inarticulately while staring surreptitiously at the nebulous, yet fetid growth dangling off the patient's nose, had no compunction about faking a prognosis while clandestinely filing a secret report with his superiors, thus condeming this poor fool to eternal peonage for the act of ignoring the amity of his superior and snubbing his attempts at comraderie.
Answer to last review: I gleaned the etiquette from the contemporaneous period relentlessly and found inexorable reprise of vitriol that repeal the restive revisionists.
SAT words ¹¹
Schadenfreude /ˈʃɑːdənfrɔɪdə/ (German: [ˈʃaːdənˌfʁɔʏdə]) is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. This German word is used as a loanword in English and some other languages, and has been calqued in Danish and Norwegian as skadefryd and in Swedish as skadeglädje and Finnish as vahingonilo.
An English expression with a similar meaning is “Roman holiday”, a metaphor taken from the poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by George Gordon, Lord Byron, where a gladiator in Ancient Rome expects to be “butcher'd to make a Roman holiday” while the audience would take pleasure from watching his suffering. The term suggests debauchery and disorder in addition to sadistic enjoyment.
Another phrase with a meaning similar to Schadenfreude is “morose delectation” (“delectatio morosa” in Latin), meaning “the habit of dwelling with enjoyment on evil thoughts”. The medieval church taught that morose delectation was a sin. French writer Pierre Klossowski maintained that the appeal of sadism is morose delectation.
An English word of similar meaning is “gloating”, where “gloat” is defined as “to observe or think about something with triumphant and often malicious satisfaction, gratification, or delight” (gloat over an enemy's misfortune). Gloating is differentiated from Schadenfreude in that it does not necessarily require malice (one may gloat to a friend about having defeated him in a game without ill intent) and that it describes an action rather than a state of mind (one typically gloats to the subject of the misfortune or to a third party).
In Internet culture, “lulz” has a very similar meaning of getting laughter out of people's misfortune.
In linguistics, a calque (/ˈkælk/) or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word (Latin: “verbum pro verbo”) or root-for-root translation.
Before we get started, there are a few things you oughta know about me. I'm 29, no kids, and I live in a smallish apartment in Seattle with my boyfriend, who has kindly agreed to go along with these cockamamie schemes. We've got no garden space and one car between the two of us.
Meet the Greenie Pig By Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan. @ grist.org…
A Dilemma in English Grammar of Plurality
“women's rights” or “woman's rights”?
Technically, i think it's more correct to say “woman's”. But there comes a logical conundrum. “woman's” seems to imply a single female, while “women's” implies all female. So, if you write “women's”, the meaning for all female is embedded, clear to all, including the massive number of people whose native language is not English, yet also clearly understandable and non-intrusive to native speakers (most won't even notice, except the handful and loud “grammar nazis”)
Started a Chinese only blog, at 李杀中文博客. All future posts that require fluency in Chinese language, will be posted there.
bitingly
Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James's Theatre in London. The play was first published in 1893. Like many of Wilde's comedies, it bitingly satirizes the morals of Victorian society, particularly marriage.
A heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs. In certain historical Christian, Jewish, and some modern cultures, espousing ideas deemedheretical was punishable by law.
The term heresy is from Greek αἵρεσις originally meant “choice”, but also referred to that process whereby a young person would examine various philosophies to determine how to live one's life. The word “heresy” is usually used within a Christian, Jewish, or Islamic context, and implies slightly different meanings in each.
Heresy was redefined by the Catholic Church as a belief that
conflicted with established Catholic dogma. Eventually it took on the meaning of an
accusation levied against members of another group which has beliefs
that conflict with those of the accusers. It is usually used to
discuss violations of religious or traditional laws or codes, although
it is used by some political extremists to refer to their
opponents. It carries the connotation of behaviors or beliefs likely
to undermine accepted morality and cause tangible evils, damnation, or
other punishment. In some religions, it also implies that the heretic
is in alliance with the religion's symbol of evil, such as Satan or
chaos.
Last time, i posted a vocabulary review (SAT words ⁹) of these words:
loom
upsurge
onerous
haggard
titillate
hubris
holistic
colloquial
exacerbate
shrivel
Mathematician John C. Baez gave this usage example:
As my colloquial vocabulary shrivels, I exacerbate my hubris with an upsurge in titillating terminology: my listeners grow haggard at my holistic deployment of onerous language. —John C. Baez
That's very funny, and a excellent construction. So, can you make a sentence of the following words?
arduous, shenanigan, tantamount, belligerent, onus, multifarious, glisten, relish, tepid, nominate: SAT words ¹⁰.
The more artistic, creative, meaningful, coherent, would be better. Must use at least 7 of the words.
Using Google Translate as Voice Input and Foreign Language Reading
新发现,如果中文打字不熟,可以先到 Google Translate 用声音输入.
New discovery. If you are not familiar with Chinese input, you can go to Google Translate first, use voice input. (other language work too)
Also, you can paste any sentence in any language, then Google translate to another language, and hear Google read out the sentence in the new language. (this can work for other languages, ⁖ Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, …) For example, try to paste the Chinese above.
i've been checking on Wikipedia article on Nihilism, about every year since about 2005. In the past, the article is misleading, describing nihilism as some destructive Russian political movement, or some anti-moralist thesis. Today, the intro section is correct.
Nihilism (play /ˈnaɪ.ɨlɪzəm/ or /ˈniː.ɨlɪzəm/; from the Latin nihil, nothing) is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism, which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. Moral nihilists assert that morality does not inherently exist, and that any established moral values are abstractly contrived. Nihilism can also take epistemological or metaphysical/ontological forms, meaning respectively that, in some aspect, knowledge is not possible, or that reality does not actually exist.
in short, nihilism means that life couldn't possibly mean anything if you follow logic, and all the supposed meaninful interpretations, are basically deception.
William “Bill” Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is an American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, which was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes at the end of 1995 with a short statement to newspaper editors and his readers that he felt he had achieved all he could in the medium. Watterson is known for his views on licensing and comic syndication, as well as for his reclusive nature.
syndicate «1620s, “council or body of representatives,” from Fr. syndicat, from syndic “representative of a corporation” (see syndic). Meaning “combination of persons or companies to carry out some commercial undertaking” first occurs 1865. Publishing sense of “association of publishers for purchasing articles, etc., for simultaneous publication in a number of newspapers” is from 1889. (Syndication “publication, broadcast, or ownership by a syndicate” is attested from 1925.) As a synonym for “organized crime, the Mob” it is recorded from 1929.»
mammoth
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, “Derivative but charming and fun enough, Disney's mammoth scifier is both spectacular and a bit cheesy.”
1706, from Rus. mammot, probably from Ostyak, a Finno-Ugric language of northern Russia (cf. Finnish maa “earth”). Because the remains were dug from the earth, the animal was believed to root like a mole.
As an adjective, “gigantic,” from 1802; in this sense “the word appears to be originally American” [Thornton, “American Glossary”], and its first uses are in derogatory accounts to the cheese wheel, more than 4 feet in diameter, sent to President Jefferson by the ladies of the Baptist congregation in Cheshire, Mass., as a present, engraved with the motto “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” Federalist editors mocked the affair, and called up the word mammoth (known from Peale's exhibition) to characterize it.