Puzzles, posts, news and general word-chat.
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CARIOCA - Rio resident; samba variant; sideways dance step where one leg crosses the other. [Literally 'white house' in Tupi, a native language of Brazil.] The carioca equivalent can be seen in equestrian events.
POMMER'S LAW - a rule stating, 'A person's mind can be changed by reading info online, whereby the nature of this change will be from having no opinion to having a wrong opinion.' [Named after Wiki contributor, Rob Pommer in early 2007] Public health policies can be hampered by volatile lobby groups, swung via Pommer's Law
FESTUCINE [fair-STOO-sign] - straw-coloured; greenish-yellow [From Latin festula - stalk or straw, the same origin of fescue, a teacher's pointer.] Sauvignon blanc is festucine.
DUMARESQ - mechanical device gauging the speed of an enemy ship, or missile. [Named after its inventor RN Lieutenant John Dumaresq who applied a set of sliding and rotating bars to emulate the motion of two ships.] The dumaresq was used during both World Wars as a complement to the Vickers range clock.
KHEDDA (or khedah or keddah) - an enclosure into which wild elephants are driven to be captured; an elephant trap [From Hindi] The khedda is the sheep pen of the savannah.
ACT BLUR - feign ignorance [From Singlish - or Singapore English] Different from the general blur of New Year's Eve, to act blur is to pretend oblivion about a divisive or shaming topic.
SUPEREROGATE - to go beyond what was asked; to do or pay more than needed. [From Latin super-, above, plus ērogāre - to pay out, from rogāre, to ask.] A salute to all parents who supererogate during Christmas, as they vie to maintain family budgets and harmony.
ELECTUARY - a balm or medicine originally made to be licked by the patient, but now any tablet sweetened for easier intake. [From Greek ekleikhein to lick out, via leikhein to lick] A strep-throat lollipop is your quintessential electuary.
POZIDRIV - upgraded version of the Phillips' head screwdriver, where the screw's starlike indentation allows for greater torque and security. [Trademark] Tradies know that PZ on the spec sheet stands for Pozidriv screws.
CODON - a sequence of three adjacent bases on a DNA strand; a trumpet's flaring mouth; a hand-bell used to summon monks [Code-on for meaning 1; and codon - mediaeval Latin for handbell - for meanings 2 & 3] Monastery crypts may hold the codon of the original codon-ringer.
ALGOSPEAK - coded language - where sex is seggs, say - used on social media in order to sidestep moderation systems [Short for algorithm-speak]. Suicide in algospeak is unalive - as a verb - to keep platform alerts quiet.
SPHEXISH [SFEX-ish] - wasp-like; fixed in one's behaviour. [From Greek sphex, sand wasp. Coined in 1982 by US scientist and literary scholar, observing the robot-like determinism of the solitary digger wasp.] Those held hostage by their own instincts are deemed to be sphexish.
BARANI - an aerial front flip followed by a half-twist, or 180-degree turn; also called a BARANI FLIP. [Named after Italian acrobat, Alfonso Barani who performed the trick in 1881.] The barani is a dazzling staple of circus, snowboarding and trampoline routines.
TRUNNION - a cannon's mounting, allowing the weapon to pivot or adjust its elevation. [From Old French, trognon - or trunk, stump.] Without its trunnion, a cannon would only serve if the target matched the muzzle's direction and angle.
SPREZZATURA - the art of doing a difficult task with effortless grace. [Italian for 'nonchalance', a quality popularised in the 1520s by diplomat, Baldassare Castiglione, seen here in Raphael's portrait.] More recently, sprezzatura has been aligned with the carefree flow of masterful artwork.
FILEMOT [FILL-eh-mo] - dull or yellowish brown [Anglicised version of French feuillemorte - a dead leaf] Autumn is a hymn to the filemot spectrum.
CANARY TRAP - ruse designed to expose an informer, whereby suspected leaks are supplied differing information [Popularised by Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels - also called the barium meal test.] Language use as much as particular data are integral to the canary trap.
PATAGIUM - translucent membrane extending between a bat's or sugar gliders forelimbs to create the mammal's wing [From Latin: the edging of a woman's tunic.] The fruit bat would go 'splat' without its trusty patagium.
CACAFUEGO [kar-kar-FWAY-go] - braggart; volatile person prone to outburst [From Spanish, literally one who shits fire, from cagar to defecate + fuego fire.] Gordon Ramsay in the Hell's Kitchen series is a classic cacafuego.
YEALM - to prepare straw for thatching; a straw bundle ready for the cottage roof [Old English - also yelm - via gelm, or handful.] Thatchers must tamp each yealm tightly to keep a cottage rainproof.
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