According to Etymology online, it's still correct to use gauntlet. But originally gauntlet did mean glove, as in "throwing down the gauntlet" in challenge
According to the Oxford American Dictionary, gauntlet as glove comes from a late Middle English word, itself from Old French, usually a stout armored glove; gauntlet as an ordeal is from a 17th century Swedish word meaning running between two lines of men with sticks. (my paraphrase)
I swear we've already had this gantlet/gauntlet conversation before, but I could just be suffering from deja vu.
Plenipotentiary noun a person, especially a diplomat, invested with the full power of independent action on behalf of their government, typically in a foreign country. adjective having full power to take independent action. "he went armed with plenipotentiary powers, to take whatever measures he felt necessary"
Limerence noun The state of being obsessively infatuated with someone, usually accompanied by delusions of or a desire for an intense romantic relationship with that person.
Martinet noun a strict disciplinarian, especially in the armed forces. "the woman in charge was a martinet who treated all those beneath her like children"
I've got a whole slew of newly learned words. Today I read the poem Jabberwocky, from Alice in Wonderland. Here's the first verse: 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. Carroll explained in Mischmasch that the individual words meant the following: “Bryllig”: (derived from the verb to bryl or broil). “the time of broiling dinner, i.e. the close of the afternoon” “Slythy”: (compounded of ‘slimy’ and ‘lithe’). “smooth and active” “Tove”: a species of Badger. They had smooth white hair, long hind legs, and short horns like a stag. lived chiefly on cheese. “Gyre”: verb (derived from ‘gyaour’ or ‘giaour’: “a dog”) “to scratch like a dog.” “Gymble”: (whence ‘gimblet’) to screw out holes in anything “Wabe”: (derived from the verb to ‘swab’ or ‘soak’) “the side of a hill” (from it’s being soaked by the rain) “Mimsy”: (whence ‘mimserable’ and ‘miserable’) ” unhappy” “Borogove”: an extinct kind of Parrot. They had no wings, beaks turned up, made their nests under sun-dials and lived on veal. “Mome”: (hence ‘solemome’ ‘solemone’ and ‘solemn’) “grave” “Rath”: a species of land turtle. Head erect, mouth like a shark, the front [crossed out] fore, legs curved out so that the animal walked on its knees, smooth green body, lived on swallows and oysters. “Outgrabe”: past tense of the verb to ‘outgribe’ (it is connected with the old verb to ‘grike’ or ‘shrike’, from which are derived “shriek” and “creak.”) “squeaked”
Phenomenology is the study of subjective experience (especially with mental disorders). It is one’s empathic access or understanding of the patient’s experience.
sonder n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
Five hundred new 'words' here. The game will never be the same to me. https://www.cbs17.com/news/national-news/hundreds-of-words-added-to-scrabble-dictionary-including-fauxhawk-convo/ Yeehaw, meet bae, inspo, vibed and vibing, all new additions to the Scrabble dictionary. Ixnay, which was already in the book, has been promoted to a verb, so ixnayed, ixnaying and ixnays are now allowed. Welp, thingie, roid, skeezy, slushee and hygge (the Danish obsession with getting cozy) also made the cut. So did kharif, the Indian subcontinent’s fall harvest. So, foreign words now?
Might be worth it to remember some of the more valuable of the new ones. Some new options for when you snag that Z: zuke, zonkey, zoomer. Most are going to be hard to recall, but there's also vax, dox, and jedi. Also some fun ones like embiggen, guac, and fugly. I see that spellcheck hasn't received the news as yet.
apothegm - a short clever saying that is intended to express a general truth E.g. Tolstoy's apothegm: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Not a new word, but a new phrase. Boston Marriage = A "Boston marriage" was, historically, the cohabitation of two wealthy women, independent of financial support from a man. The term is said to have been in use in New England in the late 19th/early 20th century. Some of these relationships were romantic in nature and might now be considered a lesbian relationship; others were not. I ran across that in the biography on Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Interesting. I wondered how apothegm relates to words like aphorism and epigram, and some googling suggests that they're all very similar, but that an epigram is known for wit, an aphorism for depth, and an apothegm perhaps for a little of both. However, my favorite definitions come from a discussion on StackExchange:
Recently learned the word "oology" for egg collecting ornithology. Apparently there are now laws against taking wild bird eggs.
Reminds me of Milksops, or I think it's also just called Sops. People used to (maybe still do in some places) make a meal of milk and bread. You put the bread in the milk and sop some of it up. Doubtless not with today's overprocessed white bread—that would just dissolve. In books from 4 or 5 decades ago or earlier you'll sometimes see this.
Also a chain of highend Italian restaurants (I think I've been to the one in NYC). Also Italian for "little shoe," not to be confused with "scarpiello," (a shoemaker) also an Italian butter lemon sauce similar to a francese without the egg-battered proteins. I've heard it's called the shoemaker style because the chicken bones protrude from your mouth like a shoemaker's nails. Don't confuse that with caccitore (hunter's style), so called because the chicken is rough cut and complete with the birdshot used to hunt the bird. Speaking as an Italian and a restaurateur, I can testify that we made most of this shit up.
