WoW: Perendinate
PERENDINATE - to defer until the day after tomorrow. [From Latin perendie - 'on the day after after tomorrow''] If I were to perendinate the weekly WoW, the post would land on Wednesday.
WoW: Mampoer
MAMPOER [mum-PAW-uh] - potent home-distilled brandy derived from peach and prickly pear [From mampuru - strong man - in Sotho language of South Africa] One shot of mampoer may see you on the floer.
WoW: Stigler's Law
STIGLER'S LAW - a principle claiming that no scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer. [After Uni of Chicago stats professor, Stephen Sigler, who attributed fellow academic - Robert Merton - for identifying the trend.] Venn diagrams and Halley's Comet are two examples of Stigler's Law.
WoW: Cakeism
CAKEISM - derisive tag for the doctrine of having one's cake and eating it too, especially in regards to Whitehall's Brexit views [Early citing of the original phrase dates back 1538 in a letter from the Duke of Norfolk to Thomas Cromwell.] An Evening Standard headline: Cakeism Has Served Johnson Well, But The Cake Is About To Bite Back.
WoW: Tassie tuxedo
TASSIE TUXEDO - puffer jacket [Comedic slang alluding to regular outwear favoured by Tasmanians] Not just hikers and skiers rely on the Tassie tuxedo to cope with wintry blasts.
WoW: Corflute
CORFLUTE - lightweight, waterproof sign made of layered corrugated plastic, often used by candidates or real estate agents. [Proprietory name] During elections in swing seats, voters can't swing a boot without hitting a corflute.
WoW: Brontide
BRONTIDE - deep rumbling sound attributed to seismic activity [From Greek - bronte - thunder] Road trains in the Outback night can create their own terrestrial brontide.
WoW: Flimp
FLIMP - to steal by means of one partner hectoring or pushing the victim while their accomplice fleeces property [Criminal cant - origin uncertain] Pickpockets work in pairs to allow for a brisk flimp in crowded spaces.
WoW: Remontoir
REMONTOIR [reh-MON-twah] - clock's device that compensates for any minor variation occurring within a pendulum's impulses [From French remonter - to wind] Atomic clocks, as epitomes of precision, have no call for remontoirs.
WoW: Landau Bar
LANDAU BAR - S-shaped mounting on a car's rear panel, an embellishment common among hearses. [Named after Landau, a Bavarian town where the carriages were first made] Just as flame-shaped globes on a chandelier revive an earlier finery, so too does a hearse's landau bar.
WoW: Absit Omen
ABSIT OMEN - interjection or aside equating to 'may what is said not come true'; equivalent of 'God forbid' [Latin: may the omen be absent.] If lockdown life is a 2022 reality, absit omen, then I'd best upholster my patio chair.
WoW: Yichus
YICHUS [YEEK-us] - prestige; social standing; air of nobility [From Yiddish yihus - pedigree] Some rabbis define yichus as the 'legacy of generations past'.
WoW: Pygmalion Effect
PYGMALION EFFECT - whereby positive expectations have a positive influence on outcomes; opposite of Golem Effect. [Allusion to Greek sculptor Pygmalion whose love for his own statue brought the figure to life.] When strong results are met by students whose teachers anticipated strong results, this showcases the Pygmalion Effect.
WoW: Shemagh
SHEMAGH [shair-MARG] - Arabian headdress fashioned from a cotton scarf, used to guard against sunburn, sand and dust. [Arabic] Popularised by Yasser Arafat, the shemagh is also known as a keffiyah, a ghutrah, a hattah and a mashadah.
WoW: Talaria
TALARIA [tuh-LAIR-ee-ah] - the winged sandals worn by Mercury (and his Greek counterpart in Hermes) as a divine means of speed. [From Latin talaris - of the heel or ankle, from talus - anklebone] The Delta variant of Covid-19 can spread like malaria wearing talaria.
WoW: Kafkatrapping
KAFKATRAPPING - opaque procress whereby a citizen can be arrested or detained for crimes that are never specified. [Coined in 2010 by US software developer, Eric S. Raymond in honour of Franz Kafka's nightmarish novel, The Trial] As homeland powers grow in Australia, we may see more instances of Kafkatrapping.
WoW: Gerygone
GERYGONE [jair-REE-gon-EE] - dainty, sweet-tuned breed of Australasian warbler [From Greek, gērygonē - 'born of sound'] Now and then, twitcher chatrooms twitch with pronunciation debates surrounding the gerygone.
WoW: Muay Thai
MUAY THAI [MOY tyyy] - martial art known as 'Thai boxing', where fighters can strike their opponent with hands, feet, shins, elbows, and knees [Lit 'Thai boxing'] Queensbury Rules are KO-ed by the ferocity of Muay Thai.
WoW: Hügelkultur
HÜGELKULTUR [HYOO-guhl-KULL-chur] - gardening method where a mound of decaying wood is layered, then covered with soil, to create a fertile bed [From German - literally 'hill culture'] Hügelkultur is viewed as an alternative to composting.
WoW: Brocken Spectre
BROCKEN SPECTRE - mountaineering phenomenon where the observer's shadow is eerily magnified against clouds, often ringed by a halo [First cited by Lutheran pastor Johann Silberschlag in 1780, while climbing the Brocken, a peak within Germany's Harz Mountains] A climber can be spooked by divine or alien notions on seeing their own Brocken spectre.
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