I believe it was James Bond who said of the unexpected "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action."
From 1855, so it's got the legitimacy of age at least: happenstance (n.) 1855, from happening + ending from circumstance. More detail here: https://grammarist.com/usage/happenstance/
As an ex-yank, I've always felt a wee chuckle coming on when somebody mentions having been 'burgled.' It's like gargled or something. I've been trying to think what I would have said, 35 years ago? Burglarized doesn't actually roll off the tongue either. Dunno. I guess I'll need to wait till we get another visit from burglars to find out how I'd describe it. Maybe "We've had a burglary?" (Yeah, we had it once, years ago. Interesting experience. We were not home at the time.)
I picked up two (three) words late last night, technically this morning, from the same book, within the span of about ten minutes. Sawhorse, noun: A rack supporting wood for sawing. By extension I learned the word sawbuck, which is a different kind of rack, the kind I'm used to seeing. By the looks of them it seems to me the sawhorse is designed for flat wood, like planks, while the -buck is for rounded pieces. Fascinating. Systolic, adj.: Relating to the phase of the heartbeat when the heart muscle contracts and pumps blood from the chambers into the arteries. "My doctor says my systolic pressure is too high"
From Least Moon’s Blue Highways: Vade mecums. Apparently they’re ‘useful things that one always carries’ I suppose it’s what we now call EDC.
That's interesting. There's a Norwegian (I think?) brand of mouthwash named Vademecum. According to Wiki it's indeed from the Latin vade mecum, "walk with me".
Commiserable Self-coined; misery loves company. Not to be confused with "commiserable", describing something as having a quality of or conducive to commiserating.
Troglodytic. I knew the noun 'Troglodyte,' but I didn't know the adjective existed. It sounds amazing.
^ Makes me wonder if there's such a word as Trogloditia, or Troglodism. Maybe Trogoloditism. Troggishness? Ok, suddenly it's not even a word to me anymore.
It's in a Björk song (Hunter). One of those so that's what she's saying moments. I've not heard this word west of the Atlantic.
@Wreybies used a fancy word lol. Had to google it Definition of proselytize intransitive verb 1: to induce someone to convert to one's faith 2: to recruit someone to join one's party, institution, or cause
Pogue, and the rather wild semantic ride that word has taken in the U.S. since the beginning of the 20th century. Its current mission:
And it's currently double-reverse-backronymed as POG: Personnel Other than Grunt. Not to be mistaken for POGs: cardboard Passion Orange Guava fruit juice caps from Hawaii that kids used to play a sidewalk game with before they endured a brief fad in the mid-90s.
I just learned the word "nibling". There's a website which sends me new words through email. And finally, I've gotten a word that I think I may actually use. It's a gender neutral term for a niece or nephew. So you could say, "oh, I think that belongs to one of my niblings," for instance. Or, "my sister's pregnant with my brand new nibling."
♫ If I should fall from grace with god where no doctor can relieve me, If I'm buried 'neath the sod but the angels won't receive me. Let me go, boys. Let me go, boys. Let me go down in the mud where the rivers all run dry. ♫
In college, there were the Athletes and the NARPs, aka "Non Athletic Regular Person/People" So when one of the sports teams threw a party, they specified whether or not NARPs would be there.
[harmonica] Hm hmh hmh hmh, hmh hmh hmh hmh hmh, Hmh hmh hm, hmhm hmh hm. hmhm hmh hmh, hmh hmh hm hhmh hmh hmh. hm hmh hmh hmh hmh hm. I met my love by the gasworks wall dreamed the dream by the old canal I kissed my girl by the factory wall DIRTY OLD TOWN, DIRTY OLD TOWN
When I first saw it, I thought: "Must be an anti LARPer." Though it could still stand for: Non Action Role Player.
