Blue on Apr 23 2006 | Filed under: WOTD - English
“The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region” “The terminology used by people belonging to a specified group or engaging in a specialized activity” : gardening vernacular Difference between “Vernacular” and “Dialect”: When a New York City cab driver calls out the window, “Hey, wassa madda wichoo?” he [...]
Blue on Apr 19 2006 | Filed under: WOTD - English
- Experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person. Examples: “I could glean vicarious pleasure from the struggles of my imaginary film friends” “I would like to live vicariously through him” in the meaning of “spend some time in his shoes” and experience what he does.
Blue on Mar 23 2006 | Filed under: WOTD - English
Means: “apt” or “valid” in the circumstances or in relation to something. “The iMac comparison is apposite because…” “The observations are apposite to the discussion”
Blue on Mar 22 2006 | Filed under: WOTD - English
Means: “until now” or “until the point in time under discussion” * There is a need to replace what has hitherto been a haphazard method of payment. * Under the bill, companies would be required to reveal the secrets of hitherto-exclusive copy-protection technologies such as Apple’s FairPlay format and the ATRAC3 code used by Sony’s [...]
Blue on Dec 12 2005 | Filed under: WOTD - English
1 returning little in exchange for great effort : her uncle’s hardscrabble peanut farm. 2 characterized by chronic poverty and hardship : the hardscrabble coal town of Grundy, Virginia. From SMH: Those who live in the eastern suburbs rarely venture beyond the CBD if they can help it. Those from the northern beaches think they [...]
Blue on Nov 22 2005 | Filed under: WOTD - English
Means “Old Fasioned”. I saw this used in the paper today. What a great word. The meaning in todays sense is generally “old fasioned” as in, an old fasioned attidude, or way of thinking. Diluvian means flood, from deluge I guess, and ante means “before”, so the latin meaning is before the flood, apparently referring [...]