Comments on: A Presidential Word-a-Day

A Presidential Word-a-Day

Tarn — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:00:01 -0800

The wonderful wordsmith, Anu Garg, at Wordsmith.org has posted five words this week: "To barrack"."Bidentate"."Meeken". "Palinode". "Obambulate". Definitions inside.

"Obambulate", verb intr.: To walk about. "Palinode", noun: A poem in which the author retracts something said in an earlier poem. "To barrack", verb tr., intr.: 1. To shout in support: to cheer. 2. To shout against: to jeer. noun: A building used to house soldiers. "Bidentate", adjective: Having two teeth or toothlike parts. "Meeken", verb tr., intr.: To make or become meek or submissive.

By: heyho

heyho — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:11:47 -0800

Wow. Words! Words I know! (I don't get it.)

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:13:29 -0800

"Palinode", noun: A poem in which the author retracts something said in an earlier poem. Now that is just perfect. Also, apparently "palin" is a Greek root word meaning "backwards" (for example, "palindrome" is literally "backwards" + "path"). It's like we're living in a Harry Potter book.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:17:48 -0800

Happily, none of these words are bush-league.

By: Yoshi Ayarane

Yoshi Ayarane — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:18:50 -0800

Needs more "Obamalicious." Best used in the context of Homer Simpson-style drooling (e.g. "Mmmm, Obamalicious....") Yes, I'm guilty of doing that... often...

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:20:44 -0800

Also, for those who did not RTFA, these are all actual dictionary words, not just neologisms people have made up for the election.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:34:08 -0800

mccainate - to identify a scot who is not abel

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:54:24 -0800

I would have went with "enmeekenate". It's a perfectly cromulent word.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:58:59 -0800

Bushless \Bush'less\, a. Free from bushes; bare. "O'er the long backs of the bushless downs." --Tennyson.

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:17:34 -0800

"Obambulate", verb intr.: To walk about.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:33:48 -0800

Nadir nadir nadir.

By: strawberryviagra

strawberryviagra — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:22:56 -0800

I took an enourmous Bush this morning. Better out than in, I say.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:25:13 -0800

Obambulance: the vehicle that will take McCain home on November 4th.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:33:52 -0800

Dan Savage does this, too: Santorum (aside: I can't wait to watch Palin's downward spiral after the dust settles. It's going to be schadenfreudetastic (see, I can make words, too)).

By: Joe in Australia

Joe in Australia — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:14:34 -0800

"To barrack" is a perfectly cromulent word in Australia. People will ask something like "which team do you barrack for", i.e., which team do you support. My understanding is that it comes from Ireland and originally meant shouting or jeering.

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:16:39 -0800

Those are really clever. What's that annual competition where peeps are allowed to change one syllable of a word and give it a new definition? They come up with a pretty darn big list every year and they are all quality. Wordsmiths can come up with some funny clever stuff I wish I was a wordsmith. Word. I don't like the example of a palindromic web address. Needs more forward slashies. http://wordsmith.org/words/sdrow/gro.htimsdrow//:ptth

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:26:32 -0800

Palindrome is given as a root word example for palinode. Why not give the most obvious one for obambulate - ambulate? Is it because it has the same meaning, so Anu Garg chose other examples?

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:37:08 -0800

Good gravy, they are real words. The first one I read was palinode and I was sure it was a piss take. Eyes must have glazed over by the time I got to the "usage" section.

By: tushfestival

tushfestival — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:54:27 -0800

Heh heh, so John McCain was obambulating all over the place in that last debate.

By: ersatz

ersatz — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 06:56:48 -0800

Also, apparently "palin" is a Greek root word meaning "backwards" (for example, "palindrome" is literally "backwards" + "path"). It's like we're living in a Harry Potter book. You'll be thrilled to know that "pali", the newer form of "palin", was also the name of the major surrealist magazine in Greece. Foreign policy by proximity is a surrealist idea, indeed.

By: maggieb

maggieb — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 07:24:17 -0800

I'm liking "Embarracuda" used by Joe Klein here.

By: flibbertigibbet

flibbertigibbet — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 08:48:16 -0800

No, Santorum is not the same as these.

By: djeo

djeo — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:35:42 -0800

Oh, yes, I wrote 'The Purple Cow,' I'm sorry now I wrote it! But I can tell you anyhow, I'll kill you if you quote it. Awesome.

By: hippugeek

hippugeek — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:30:48 -0800

The Washington Post's Style Invitational, uncanny hengeman? Here are last year's results for that contest.

By: hippugeek

hippugeek — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:50:11 -0800

This year's results (login req)

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 21:09:54 -0800

Thankyou Hippugeek, that looks like it. Further to what Joe in Australia said. Barrack is what you Americans call root. But root in Australia means f*ck. Normally a casual f*ck as in "I went to the pub and scored a root." But when we hear an American asking who we root for we understand and generally don't snigger we are a worldly lot.

By: Joseph Gurl

Joseph Gurl — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 22:46:00 -0800

bushu-suru