Tag Archives: dictionary

learning some new things most days

Wikipedia says: In pragmatics, scalar implicature, or quantity implicature, is an implicature that attributes an implicit meaning beyond the explicit or literal meaning of an utterance, and which suggests that the utterer had a reason for not using a more … Continue reading

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things I used to know

… but was totally wrong about that cummerbund was spelled with a “b” (as in cumberbund) that chartreuse was a shade of red (actually: green) that puce was a shade of green (actually: reddish to purplish brown) that myriad requires … Continue reading

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folksonomy

folksonomy — from folk + taxonomy, yet not to be confused with folk taxonomy (I guess the difference being folksonomy is internet-based (tagging, indexing = Web 2.0!) and folk taxonomy isn’t — it refers to the vernacular (as opposed to … Continue reading

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mother of reading

mater lectionis — a consonant in Hebrew and some other Semitic languages that is used to indicate a vowel (niqqud — the diacritical marks that appear in some Hebrew text above and below the letters — isn’t used consistently and … Continue reading

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more more more

(totally random) biting mordant — biting and caustic or [see “dyeing”] mordacious — given to biting (as in literally [chomp] and/or being caustic, scathing, etc.) dyeing and dying mordant — substance used to set dyes or stains on fabric or … Continue reading

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