Showing posts with label dictionary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dictionary. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Words Today.

Today I happened to encounter several words that I am not accustomed to encountering on a run-of-the-mill Wednesday. These aren’t words I didn’t know, but rather words I don’t generally encounter in life.

Polymath – If ever you are asked to introduce me at a Rotary Club luncheon or a WGA awards banquet (be still my heart!) then I would like you to use this word to describe me. Thanks!

Presumed – Not a terribly esoteric word or anything, but somehow – I think – it has some implied lasciviousness. Maybe that’s just me who thinks that though. Problem being this word was said to me in the most un-lascivious of conversations today. It always makes we smile when people use words I think are dirty in a completely not dirty way.

Presumptive – This was used in the same conversation as ‘presumed’. The two words were used interchangeably. Normally I would rush to my dictionaries to figure out what exactly the difference is, however, I did not. For today I will pretend that the difference is that ‘presumed’ is kinda dirty and ‘presumptive’ is not.




(My dictionaries.)


Adjudicate – I’m absolutely CERTAIN that this word was not used properly when said to me today (in reference to verifying if property taxes were calculated correctly), but I’m too polite to correct people, and I don’t like to get my (secret) English degree all splashed all over everybody when they talk to me.

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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Weather sure is Somethin'




Below is the link to a website with some of the most startling and amazing photos of weather that I have ever seen. It will rock your socks off (Yeah, I guess I am the kind of person who says things like that).



GetWonder.com

For fun, I looked up the definition of 'weather' because I had never really thought about it before. This is from Merriam-Webster, which I trust:

\'we-thər\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English weder, from Old English; akin to Old High German wetar weather, Old Church Slavic vetrŭ wind
Date:
before 12th century
1: the state of the atmosphere with respect to heat or cold, wetness or dryness, calm or storm, clearness or cloudiness
2: state or vicissitude of life or fortune
3: disagreeable atmospheric conditions: as a: RAIN , STORM b: cold air with dampness