Sunday, April 28, 2019

Word of the Week 04/28/19: Glib

From Dictionary.com:
1. Readily fluent, often thoughtlessly, superficially, or insincerely so
2. Easy or unconstrained, as actions or manners.
3. (Archaic) Agile; spry.

From Grammarist.com:
Glib describes someone who is a smooth talker, someone who speaks easily and fluently, someone who is convincing in speech. However, someone who is speaking in a glib manner is usually insincere, and is trying to convince someone that something is better or more important than it is, or is trying to perpetrate a fraud of some sort. Glib describes an eloquent speaker, but usually one who has an ulterior motive. To call someone glib is usually a minor insult, or a challenge. The word glib is derived from the German word glibberig which means slippery or slimy.

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Word of the Week 04/21/19: Colloquy

From Wiktionary:
A conversation or dialogue. [from 16th c.]
A formal conference. [16th-17th c.]
A church court held by certain Reformed denominations. [from 17th c.]
A written discourse. [from 18th c.]
A discussion during a trial in which a judge ensures that the defendant understands what is taking place in the trial and what their rights are.

From Wikipedia:
In law, a colloquy is a routine, highly formalized conversation. Conversations among the judge and lawyers (as opposed to testimony under oath) are colloquys.


From Merriam-Webster:
Colloquy may make you think of "colloquial," and there is indeed a connection between the two words. As a matter of fact, "colloquy" is the parent word from which "colloquial" was coined in the mid-18th century. "Colloquy" itself, though now the less common of the two words, has been a part of the English language since the 15th century. It is a descendant of Latin loqui, meaning "to speak." Other descendants of "loqui" in English include "eloquent," "loquacious," "ventriloquism," and "soliloquy," as well as "elocution" and "interlocutor."

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Word of the Week 04/14/19: Aloof

From Merriam-Webster:
removed or distant either physically or emotionally

Indifferent, Unconcerned, Incurious, Aloof, Detached, Disinterested mean not showing or feeling interest. Indifferent implies neutrality of attitude from lack of inclination, preference, or prejudice. Unconcerned suggests a lack of sensitivity or regard for others' needs or troubles. Incurious implies an inability to take a normal interest due to dullness of mind or to self-centeredness. Aloof suggests a cool reserve arising from a sense of superiority or disdain for inferiors or from shyness. Detached implies an objective attitude achieved through absence of prejudice or selfishness. Disinterested implies a circumstantial freedom from concern for personal or especially financial advantage that enables one to judge or advise without bias.

From Wiktionary:
At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.
Without sympathy; unfavorably
From Middle English loof (“weather gage, windward direction”), probably from Middle Dutch (Compare Dutch loef (“the weather side of a ship”)), originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter, hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart"

Sunday, April 7, 2019

Word of the Week 04/07/19: Offal

From Wikipedia:
Offal (/ˈɒfəl/), also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but includes most internal organs excluding muscle and bone. Some cultures strongly consider offal as food to be taboo, while others use it as everyday food, or in delicacies. Certain offal dishes—including foie gras, pâté and sweetbread—are considered gourmet food in international cuisine. Others remain part of traditional regional cuisine and may be consumed especially in connection with holidays. This includes Scottish haggis, Jewish chopped liver, U.S. chitterlings, Mexican menudo as well as many other dishes. Intestines are traditionally used as casing for sausages.

Depending on the context, offal may refer to those parts of an animal carcass discarded after butchering or skinning; it may also refer to the by-products of milled grains, such as corn or wheat. Offal not used directly for human or animal food is often processed in a rendering plant, producing material that is used for fertilizer or fuel; or in some cases, it may be added to commercially produced pet food.

In earlier times, mobs sometimes threw offal and other rubbish at condemned criminals as a show of public disapproval.

From Merriam-Webster:
In its original sense, offal refers to something that has fallen or been cast away from some process of preparation or manufacture, and it has been used to describe such things as the stalks and dust from tobacco leaves, the less valuable portions of an animal hide, the by-products of milling grain, and the viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal. The word offal, however, is not an etymological cast-off, but is an English original that arose in the late 14th century as a combination of of (the Middle English spelling of "off") and fall, aptly naming that which "falls off" or is cast aside from something else. Since the late 16th century, offal has also been used as a synonym for trash, garbage, and rubbish.