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Category Archives: Words
yawnomatopoeia
yawnomatopoeia, n. — words that sound like gibberish because you’re too bored to listen to them. [Savage Chickens]
textnook
textnook, n. – a cozy place with books. origin – typographical error for textbook
Conversation overheard in elevator
Three other people sharing the elevator were discussing a documentation error. One of them explained that a consultant had been brought in to write that documentation, but had been “thrown out the window”. I asked, “are we actually allowed to … Continue reading
Eschered
eschered /ˈɛsh’É™r/, v. intr., to move or disappear in a surreal way, as might be seen in the works of Dutch artist M.C. Escher (e.g., Relativity). Used in the novel American Gods by Neil Gaiman; since since in modest usage … Continue reading
od hac
Originally a spoonerism I inadvertently used in a business meeting. Someone proposed a kludgy solution to a problem, and I meant to say that we should use a better, more general approach rather than an ad hoc fix. od hac … Continue reading
Popemobile
BBC World Service aired a news item concerning the Pope’s visit to Brazil, and mentioned that he rode in the “popemobile,” though the word is not used in the written news story on their web site. Wikipedia confirms that it … Continue reading
Nerdgasm
nerdgasm /nûrd-gasm/, noun, a feeling of euphoria brought on by exposure to a new piece of tech gear or software. Seen in Boing Boing post by Cory Doctorow, referring to student reactions to the Neuros OSD set-top box: I’ve had … Continue reading
New PCs come preloaded with lots of “craplets”
I mostly use Linux, but on rare ocassions I do have to use Windows. When I bought a new laptop last year, I was annoyed at how much worthless junk (e.g., limited trial versions of software I don’t want) came … Continue reading
What is a hero?
In an email discussion with two friends, criticism was levelled at an organization which has an image of Margaret Sanger on their web site, and it was said that one should “be careful about your ‘heroes’ — Margaret Sanger was … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Words
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Ballot confusion
My previous post mentioned a problem with a way to decide how to vote on ballot propositions. I guess it’s not surprising that they should be a source of confusion to people. As Marcus Schmidt observes in Institutionalizing Fair Democracy: … Continue reading →