New word!

[Paul Whybrow]

I came across a word new to me in a crime novel I've just started reading. Ray Celestin's The Axeman's Jazz deservedly won the CWA New Blood Dagger for best debut crime novel of the year, and was featured on numerous Books of the Year lists.

In describing a street scene in New Orleans, he mentions colporteurs, which are street sellers of books, pamphlets and other publications.

Colportage - Wikipedia

Once carried by horse or covered waggon, I wondered if we'll see a resurgence of this trade after the crisis is over. Not every closed bookshop will weather the storm. Barnes & Noble was already in financial trouble.

It could be that we writers will become street peddlers to support our online sales.

(not me!)

 

[Paul Whybrow]

A modern word appeared in Anu Garg's A Word a Day newsletter today.

Coined on al fresco, and something that we all do, al desko means being at one's desk!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I started reading Marcel Pagnol's My Father's Glory last night, encountering an unusual word in a section about teachers leaving college to educate the rural poor:

"Then, by a sort of dehiscence, the good seeds would be squirted to the four corners of the département, to battle against ignorance, glorify the Republic, and keep their hats on when religious processions passed."

It turns out that dehiscence is a medical term, used to describe a wound's stitches splitting apart revealing the innards. Or, it can be used botanically for a seed pod splitting to release its seeds.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Twenty-six new old words in this article:

An A to Z of old words to calm and inspire hope

I'm pleased to be full of omnibenevolence and proud to be in the company of so many zenobias on the Colony!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Not a new word, but an amusing meaning of the Mandarin Chinese symbols for a penguin:

 

[Mythobeast]

Not a new word, but an amusing meaning of the Mandarin Chinese symbols for a penguin:

Is there a term for the grammatical equivalent of a Freudian slip? I'm learning Japanese and keep running into these.

Yesterday I heard a new definition for a word that really spoke to me. There's a thing called "imposter syndrome," where people feel that they're only pretending to be good enough for whatever job they're doing. This is apparently very common among MIT students and CEOs. The book I was reading yesterday related this to a more common, older word: shame. It's where you feel you should be apologetic to everyone around you for thinking you're good enough.

 

[CageSage]

Is there a term for the grammatical equivalent of a Freudian slip? I'm learning Japanese and keep running into these.

Yesterday I heard a new definition for a word that really spoke to me. There's a thing called "imposter syndrome," where people feel that they're only pretending to be good enough for whatever job they're doing. This is apparently very common among MIT students and CEOs. The book I was reading yesterday related this to a more common, older word: shame. It's where you feel you should be apologetic to everyone around you for thinking you're good enough.

parapraxis? I hope that's the one you're looking for.
parapraxis - a minor inadvertent mistake usually observed in speech or writing or in small accidents or memory lapses etc. slip-up, miscue, slip.

 

[Mythobeast]

parapraxis - a minor inadvertent mistake usually observed in speech or writing or in small accidents or memory lapses etc. slip-up, miscue, slip.

Sorry, no, I was being imprecise. I meant the etymological equivalent of a freudian slip. While learning Japanese, my daughter wondered that she had never realized that triangle literally meant "three corners" (Japanese has the same concept). Their term for "reality" involves the kanji "book correct," which suggests a subconscious preference for the written down vs. the objectively observed. This gets into Sapir-Whorf theory, but I think it gets at what I'm looking for.

I suspect that this kind of linguistic bias is what drives politically correct language, but maybe we don't have a word for it.

 

[CageSage]

In that one, you're on your own. My father spoke Japanese (lived there for years) but he's no longer here, so I can't ask him. Somehow, I expect he'd say that any form of error that may occur (words are not alone) would not be acknowledged so the person doing it may not be embarrassed by the slip.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

A new word for 2020: Doomscrolling

From Merriam-Webster:

Doomscrolling and doomsurfing are new terms referring to the tendency to continue to surf or scroll through bad news, even though that news is saddening, disheartening, or depressing. Many people are finding themselves reading continuously bad news about COVID-19 without the ability to stop or step back.

 

[Emily]

I wonder is there a medical term for the mental/emotional/physical illness that occurs after excessive doomscrolling...?

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Bibliosmia: the aroma of a book that delights your nostrils!

On the Science of Bibliosmia: That Enticing Book Smell - Interesting Literature

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Cryptophasia: a language developed by twins that only they can understand.

Cryptophasia - Wikipedia

 

[Hannah F]

Suzie Dent of BBC's 'Countdown' fame is writing a book about words.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Some of you will be familiar with the term ‘spondulix’ meaning money. What I hadn’t realised, was that it’s thought to derive from an ancient practice of using the spondylus shell as currency:

Spondulix - Wikipedia

Make sure that you don’t shell out for anything that you don’t really need!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I like the sound of this word—Darg—which appeared in dictionary.com’s word of the day.

The etymology of Darg includes ‘dark’ and 'daywork’ and it’s still used in Northern England and Scotland, though it sounds to me like something that a prehistoric man would grunt on returning to his cave and greeting his wife!

 

[Hannah F]

I like the sound of this word—Darg—which appeared in dictionary.com’s word of the day.

The etymology of Darg includes ‘dark’ and 'daywork’ and it’s still used in Northern England and Scotland, though it sounds to me like something that a prehistoric man would grunt on returning to his cave and greeting his wife!

Yeah, we say "Oh God, that's gonny be a real drag." or younger generation: "total drag!"

 

[Paul Whybrow]

A ‘Veblen good’ is a product that’s ridiculously expensive, priced to show how wealthy the owner is—that they can afford a status symbol, which isn’t demonstrably superior in form or function to something cheaper. Proof of conspicuous consumption.

Veblen good | Wikiwand

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I found a word new to me in a charming Guardian article about long-lasting love.

‘Treasure the small moments’: the Netflix series on long-lasting love

Inosculate means to bind together in mutual support: Inosculation - Wikipedia

 

[Vagabond Heart]

I think this is all getting a bit sesquipedalian (thanks for that one, Times crossword).