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MANEKI-NEKO - feline icon of Japanese culture, beckoning onlookers in order to bestow good fortune. [Lit. 'beckoning cat'] Next time you meet such a talisman, try saying "maneki-neko" rather than the mundane ''lucky cat" to ensure good fortune.
BELLOWSER - a punch to the stomach; transportation [to Australia's penal colony] for a life sentence [Early 1800s UK slang, both senses 'taking the wind from' the recipient] The worst of the worst British felons would cop a bellowser for their troubles.
CIOPPINO [CHOP-pin-oh] - rich US-Italian stew combining fish, shellfish and tomato [From Ligurian dialect, ciuppin - torn to pieces.] Traditional taverns of Genoa would often serve cioppino to sailors and port workers.
SYCEE - silver ingot, often slipper in shape, used a medium of exchange in feudal China. [From Cantonese, saì sz - fine silk. So called as the silver could be rendered into threads of silken fineness.] Inflation in ancient China saw a sampan skyrocket from one sycee to three.
FRIDGESCAPING - arranging your fridge's contents in a visually pleasing manner; selecitng certain foods to enhance the inner decor. [Neologism] A jar of pinkish kimchi beside a bright wedge of cheddar is Fridgescaping 101.
AYAHUASCA [eye-ah-WAH-ska] - a mind-altering infusions from a South American vine, used in rituals or therapy [Borrowed from Quechua 'ayawaska', where aya means spirit - or ancestor - plus waska: vine] Fittingly, the taking of ayahuasca is cautioned on Trip Advisor
GRAMMELOT - a mock-language used in street theatre or comedy, akin to the 'logical' gibberish of Pingu or The Line. [From French grommeler, to grumble] Carlo Bononi, the vocal talent behind La Linea - or The Line - modified Milanese dialect to create the character's grammelot.
CORVEE [COW-vay] - a day of unpaid labour, as owed by a serf to his feudal lord; any period of forced labour [From Old French, from Late Latin corrogāta contribution, linked to corrogāre to collect, via rogāre to ask] Under-quoting a freelance gig may entail a corvee or complete the task.
FACE JOURNEY - emotional transition of a person's face across the one moment, or event. [New slang entered into OED, June 2024] A bride's expressions throughout a wedding album can provide the complete face journey.
DWILE FLONKING - a preposterous pub-sport in which teams take turns to dance while dodging dwile (soaked beermat) thrown by their opponents [Possibly from Dutch dweil - floorcloth - plus English flong, an old past tense of fling.] Dwile flonking, first cited in 1966, seems the "real-ale alternative" to dodgeball.
KAR SEVA [CAR-say-vuh] - volunteering one's time and service for a charitable cause [From Punjabi, literally 'hand-service'] As a Hindu-Sikh article of faith, kar seva seeks no material reward.
DRABBLE - a short fiction work of exactly 100 words, the brevity testing a writer's talent to express intruguing and meaningful ideas in a limited space. [Possibly after UK novelist Margaret Drabble, pictured, after a game in Monty Python's Big Red Book, where the first player to write a novel wins] Flash fiction is variant of the drabble.
MISCLICK - press a mouse button accidentally, such that a program function is activated or altered [Mis- wrongly, plus click] Oxford Dictionaries has just listed 'misclick' in their new 2024 intake.
KNIPHOFIA - flamboyant plant native to Africa with bright red, upright flowers; red-hot poker; flamethrower [Named after German botanist (and GP), Johann Hieronymus Kniphof] The colour range of kniphofia flowers run from red to yellow to orange, plus possible bi-colouring.
GOGOPLATA - choke hold used in judo or Brazilian ju-jitsu, using the shin bone to lever against your opponent's throat. [Debated origins, the word popularised by martial arts cinema, possibly linked to 'gogo' in Portuguese - the Adam's apple area] The gogoplata falls under the category of 'submission grappling'.
ANOESIS - the brain's reception of impressions, or sensations, without any intellectual understanding [From Greek "lack of intelligence", linked to anoetos - inconceivable] Techno music's film clips - full of abstract patterning - may invoke anoesis.
DOOLIGAH [or DOOLIGARL] - yowie-like creature of Aboriginal folklore, said to camp without a fire, and abduct children [Kattang language of Taree area] "Beware the [Dooligah] my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch."
DROSTE EFFECT [DROSS-tuh] - the mind-numbing impact of a picture that appears within itself ad infinitum [Named after Gerardus Droste, Dutch founder of the cocoa company - in 1863 - whose packet featured a nurse eternally iterated] Observers can fall into a mesmeric trance, lost in the Droste effect.
ESHAY - teen - or young adult - wearing prominent in-brands and presenting as aggro troublemaker [Australia slang, like a pig Latin encoding of sesh - a drug session] Writers on Heartbreak High have helped to popularised eshay, both here and offshore.
TORINO SCALE - scoring system used to rate the power and likelihood of an asteroid striking Earth [Coined the Professor Richard Binzel - of MIT - during the UN's 1995 conference in Turin, or Torino to locals] Coded by colour, the Torino scale has yellow - meriting attention - and red: certain collision.
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