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PENGCI [pehn-SHEE] - a scam involving inferior, fragile products, placed where they may be easily damaged, drawing exorbitant costs of compensation. [Cantonese literally: touching-porcelain] When pengci is in play, a street vendor might pull $100 from a patsy for one broken piece of trashy crockery.
CAMOGIE [car-MO-ghee] - Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women, the female equivalent of hurling. [Named by Irish poet Tadhg Ua Donnchadha in 1903, based on a diminutive form of 'caman' - or curved stick.] Beckett scholars will know camogie earns a reference in Waiting For Godot.
FAUTE DE MIEUX [phote-duh-me-UWW] - for lack of something better or more desirable; a bearable compromise; makeshift [French, literally 'for lack of better'] Democracy and TV viewing can often invoke faute de mieux.
ALLOCHROIC [all-oh-CROW-ick] - capable of changing colour; of changeable colour [From Greek, 'changed in colour' plus -ic] Cuttlefish and chameleons are both allochroic.
SIMULDRAINEOUS [pinball slang] - of a multiball game when every ball leaves the playing table at the same time; also called drainsplosion. [Blend of drain - a pinball's death gullet - and simultaneous] For more pinball slang, like drianbow and peavlering, check out Fun With Bonus.
COLEMAK - alternative to the QWERTY keyboard, designed on ergonomic principles by software engineer Shai Coleman [Partial eponym of Coleman in combination with Dvorak, another QWERTY alternative.] A registered trademark from 2006, the Colemak keyboard has the most common letters as central home-keys.
VERKRAMPTE [vuh-KRUMP-tuh] - an Afrikaner Nationalist (during apartheid) who opposed any changes toward liberal trends in policy, especially those relating to racial questions [Afrikaans, literally: restricted] From 1948 until the early 90s, a typical vekrampte insisted on a rigid adherence to apartheid protocol.
TOBIANO - of a horse having large white patches; skewbald; pinto [Deemed a Latin American corruption of Tobias, a Dutch name, reflecting the horses' European roots.] "Hi-ho my little tobiano!" sounds a sweeter alternative for the Lone Ranger.
LANGSTROTH - most common type of commercial beehive, with removable frames that preserve 'bee-space' for honey creation. [Eponym of US apiarist, Reverend Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, 1810-95] The honey frames within a langstroth are some 6-9mm apart, so the resident colony doesn't build additoinal honeycombs.
PALERMO SCALE - a measure rating the likielihood, and potential consequences, of a cosmic body striking Earth. [Named after Palermo Observatory, where in 1801 Giuseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres, the first and largest asteroid, Ceres] The recent Netflix satires, Don't Look Up, shows how politicians seek to downplay the Palermo scale.
KINTSUGI - Japanese art of mending cracked pottery with gilt lacquer to highlight its imperfections [Literally 'golden joinery'] Beauty lies in frailty, as celebrated in kintsugi.
MOLDAVITE - glassy-green silica, originally found in Bohemia (Czech Republic) in 1786, formed by a meteorite impact some 15 million years ago. [Named after Moldau - the German name for Vlatva River] Moldavite is classed as a tektite - deriving from tektos in Greek: molten.
COEHORN - a lightweight mortar designed by Dutch military engineer Menno van Coehoorn. [Eponym] A rise in siege warfare during the 1500s compelled armies to adopt heavier artillery, such as the coehorn, yet still maintaining portability.
POT-VALIANT - a person emboldened by booze [Pot plus valor (Latin for worth) from valere - to be well] Friday night in the city belongs to the pot-valiant.
BLATTODEA - order of insects that includes cockroaches, beetles and termites. [From Latin - blatta: cockroach] Unless you live through a Sydney summer, you have no idea of blattodea.
CRASH BLOSSOM - ambiguous or misleading headline, especially one that inspires a comical interpretation, such as Diabetes in Women Mushrooms [Coined in 2009 by Danny Bloom, a member of the Testy Copy Editors discussion group, after the headline: Violinist Linked to JAL Crash Blossoms] Kids Make Tasty Snacks is a delectable crash blossom.
NASOTHEK [nay-zo-TECK] - a set of sculpted noses [From Latin nasus - nose, plus Greek thiki - case] In a photoshop foreshadowing, sculptors in Ancient Rome would offer their client a nasothek, a set of noses carved or scavenged for their selection.
LIGGER - one who attends free company events, often to promote a product; showbiz hanger-on; plank as footbridge; millstone; counterpane [Variant of Middle English 'lier' - to lie] Hollywood entourages are littered with liggers.
LATERITIOUS [latt-uhr-RISH-us] - resembling a brick in colour or shape; brick-red [From Latin - later: brick] The staple Lego piece is lateritious in both colour and shape.
SEICHE [saytsh] - a wave on a lake or landlocked bay, triggered by atmospheric or seismic disturbances. [from Swiss French, perhaps from German Seiche ‘sinking (of water)’] A seiche on Loch Ness is as likely to be caused by a tremor than a monster.
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