# 📙 WORDS & PHRASE **antediluvian** before the flood (very old) **obtuse vs abstruse** * An individual who is obtuse cannot understand * A book or explanation that is abstruse cannot be easily understood. **hillbillery** **autarky** - policy of national self-sufficiency and nonreliance on imports or economic aid; self-sufficient region or country; economic independence as a national policy; **virago** - a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues **tohubohu** - state of chaos; utter confusion (Biblical Hebrew) **absquatulate** - Leave abruptly; verb; American English, mid-19th century **abrogate** - repudiate **"church it up"** terco toothsome - delicious; luscious; sexually attractive verisimilitude (or truthlikeness) - the quality of appearing to be true or real. arrogate - to take or claim for oneself without right; appropriate camarilla - A company of secret and irresponsible advisers, as of a king; a cabal or clique. warf and wept - In the manufacture of cloth, warp and weft are the two basic components in weaving to transform thread and yarn into textile fabrics. The vertical warp yarns are held stationary in tension on a loom while the horizontal weft is drawn through the warp thread. **prisposoblenets** —that means “a person skilled in the act of compromise and adaptation, who intuitively understands what is expected of him and adjusts his beliefs and conduct accordingly.” the word **“yogurt”** comes from the Turkish “yogurmak,” which means “to thicken.” It was first made, accidentally, by herders in Central Asia several thousand years ago. They used sheep stomachs to store their milk. The bacteria from the stomach lining thickened the milk into yogurt. **joie de vivre** - enjoyment of living; happiness, ebullience, zest for life. [[provenience vs. provenance](https://www.thoughtco.com/provenience-vs-provenance-3971058) ["good enough for government"](https://grammarist.com/idiom/good-enough-for-government-work-and-close-enough-for-government-work/) **construction** refers to the process of interpreting a law or a legal document. Construction is necessary when the plain language of a law or legal document is ambiguous, or the intent of its authors is unclear or conflicting. internecine - relating to struggle within a nation, organization, or group; mutually destructive; ruinous or fatal to both sides frisson - shiver, intense excitement Élections, piège à con ("Elections, a trap for idiots") **piquant** (pee-kant) **Dysmenorrhea** - menstrual cramps **immiseration** - to impoverish; to sink into misery **atavistic** - Displaying characteristics of a previous cultural era or of a previous ancestral form; displaying atavism **élan** = flair “apokalypsis” means “uncovering” or “unveiling.” It refers to the moment when a long-buried truth is finally exposed failson - An incompetent, unsuccessful middle-class or upper-class man who is protected from economic duress by his family's wealth or influence. Fernweh (German) - A longing for distant places—and while the English word wanderlust comes close, fernweh can also refer to a longing for a place you’ve never even been. L’esprit de l’escalier (French) ras el hanout is apparently nicknamed the “lazy wife spice” in Morocco Pronoia - opposite of paranoia; a person experiencing pronoia believes that the world around them conspires to do them good vivandières - french medics automata (the plural of automaton) comes from the Greek word αὐτόματα, which means "self-making". pseudocide - faking your own death Scandinavians call friluftsliv (pronounced free-loofts-liv). The expression literally translates as ‘open-air living’ efflorescence - process of developing and unfolding, similar to a flower blooming, or it can refer to a crystalline deposit of salts that forms on surfaces when water evaporates. "Nugatory” means that the law is inoperative or unable to function bedraggled - wet, drenched outré - Highly unconventional; eccentric or bizarre. Out of the common course or limits; extravagant; bizarre; outlandish; Very unconventional. bête noire = black beast disremember = to be unable to recall or think of aliis exterendum-"to be threshed out by others." Their aim was thus simply to gather the facts, leaving it to others to draw whatever conclusions might be warranted kenopsia as “the eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.” epenthesis - The insertion of a letter or a sound in the body of a word. example its-a-me mario kino - Excellent, superb, of the highest quality. Originally referred specifically to films. anathema - someone or something which is particularly disliked or avoided; an object of aversion, the bane of one’s existence. estuary - mixture of salt water and fresh water is called brackish water. sclerotic bureaucracy - A sclerotic bureaucracy is a system that is rigid, unresponsive, and unable to adapt or compromise. Solvitur ambulando = "it is solved by walking" cineast - An enthusiast of film and the cinema. A person in the filmmaking industry. mountebank /moun′tə-băngk″/ - A hawker of quack medicines who attracts customers with stories, jokes, or tricks. A flamboyant charlatan. One who mounts a bench or stage in the market or other public place, boasts of his skill in curing diseases, and vends medicines which he pretends are infallible remedies; a quack doctor. scrumping - to steal fruit such as apples from trees au courant - fully informed / familiar; fashionable garrulous - excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative; talking much, especially about commonplace or trivial things; talkative; loquacious; temerity - excessive boldness or rashness; foolhardiness or recklessness. obsequious - marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness galumphing - galloping in a triumphant manner sheela na gig - a figurative carving of a naked woman displaying an exaggerated vulva vaccine = vacca latin for cow clue = "clew", ball of year, Theseus and minotaur Quarantine = Italian, 40 days is quaranta giorni; ship plaque malaria = “bad air" mortgage = dead pledge Sciolist - one who has only superficial knowledge; a pretender to profound or scientific knowledge Smatter - To study or approach superficially; dabble in. smatterer - one who knows many things superficially; a pretender to science; exhibits only superficial knowledge; a self-proclaimed expert with little real understanding. fachidiot - a (narrow) specialist expert who is ignorant outside of their specialty, or who only looks at problems through the (blinkered) lens of their own specialty. by jing - a mild oath usually used in the phrase by jing jackleg - lacking skill or training : amateur querulous - Given to complaining; peevish outré - violating convention or propriety : bizarre zaftig - having a full rounded figure : pleasingly plump; german - saftig" meaning "juicy". bon mot - A clever saying; a witticism. bon mot (“good word”). mot juste - The perfectly appropriate word or phrase for the situation. eudaimonia — full human flourishing — requires balancing action with contemplation. Orthorexia is a condition where someone focuses on healthy eating to the point where it actually becomes unhealthy. Allodoxaphobia is an irrational fear of opinions. Chisoku - Chisoku talks about being content with what you already have. Mitate - Mitate teaches us that every object has more than one purpose. confelicity - pleasure in another's happiness avuncular - uncle like morosoph / morosophist - a learned fool Equanimity - mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation opprobrium - Disgrace arising from exceedingly shameful conduct; ignominy. bonhomie (bŏnˌə-mēˈ) - A pleasant and affable disposition; geniality. aphantasia - some people can’t visualize things in their mind’s eye "mortgage," translated from old French, literally means "death pledge." Numinous (/ˈnjuːmɪnəs/) is a concept derived from the Latin numen meaning "arousing spiritual or religious emotion; mysterious or awe-inspiring".[1] The term was popularized by the German theologian Rudolf Otto in his influential 1917 German book Das Heilige, which appeared in English as The Idea of the Holy in 1923. cloud cuckoo land - a state of absurdly, over-optimistic fantasy or an unrealistically idealistic state where everything is perfect Jungle buzzard - a hobo or tramp who preys on his own Echopraxia is the involuntary repetition or imitation of another person's actions. therianthrope - A generic term for any mythical being which is part human, part animal. therianthrope - Someone with an intense spiritual or psychological identification with a non-human animal. Hybristophilia is a paraphilia in which sexual arousal, facilitation, and attainment of orgasm are responsive to and contingent upon being with a partner known to have committed an outrage, cheating, lying, known infidelities, or crime—such as rape, murder, or armed robbery. **GIRIH** is the Persian word for “knot” and refers to the complex system of geometric patterns that emerge upon the specific arrangement of 5 fundamental tiles: the decagon, the bowtie, the rhombus, the hexagon and the pentagon. **pedantry** - ostentatious display of knowledge “**apotheosis**” means “the highest point in the development of something; culmination or climax” **Stendhal syndrome,** Stendhal's syndrome or Florence syndrome is a psychosomatic condition involving rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations, allegedly occurring when individuals become exposed to objects or phenomena of great beauty **Polysemy** (from Greek: πολυ-, poly-, "many" and σῆμα, sêma, "sign"), the capacity for a sign, such as a word, phrase, or symbol, to have multiple meanings, usually related by contiguity of meaning within a semantic field." – definition adapted from Wikipedia **Paraprosdokian** - A paraprosdokian (/pærəprɒsˈdoʊkiən/) is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence, phrase, or larger discourse is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part **[Auto-antonym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym)** **Octothrope** # **Obelus** ÷ **Agelast** - a person who never laughs **Hirquiticke** - horny teenager **muzak** - trademark "elevator music" **kalsarikännit** - "the feeling when you are going to get drunk home alone in your underwear" **Yule Cat** (Icelandic: Jólakötturinn or Jólaköttur) **Jólabókaflóð** (say it yo-la-bok-a-flot) is an Icelandic tradition that takes place each Christmas Eve, when families and friends wrap books to give each other as gifts; translates roughly into English as ‘Christmas book flood’. **denude** - stripe **alacrity** - promptness in response : cheerful readiness **Waldeinsamkeit** (German): forest solitude; the strange feeling of solitude or loneliness when alone in the woods. **Resfeber** (Swedish): Travel fever/bug; the feeling of excitement and nervousness experienced by a traveller before undertaking a journey. Finnish concept of “**sisu**,” which roughly translates to having “extraordinary determination in the face of adversity” **weltschmerz** (from the German, literally world-pain, also world weariness, is a term coined by the German author Jean Paul and denotes the kind of feeling experienced by someone who believes that physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind. prurient cosmic indifferentism strange quarks strangelets neurology over-inclusiveness under-inclusiveness **rassol** - rassol is a solution of salt in water with the addition of spices and herbs. It is widely used in Russia and in the republics of the former Soviet Union for two main purposes: to preserve pickled products for long periods of time; to cure morning hangovers. **mountweazel** - fictitious or fake entries are deliberately incorrect entries in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and directories. There are more specific terms for particular kinds of fictitious entry, such as Mountweazel, trap street, paper street, paper town, phantom settlement, and nihilartikel. **phalaenopsis** (fayl -eh - NOP -siss) - orchid, the collective noun is coterie of orchids **backpfeifengesicht** (German) - A face badly in need of a fist **l’esprit de l’escalier** (French) - literally, stairwell wit—a too-late retort thought of only after departure. **green eye-shades** can be applied to individuals who are excessively concerned with financial matters or small and insignificant details; "Green eyeshade"= money men ## Hindi loan words **pajamas** - Broken down, “pay” means leg and “jama” means clothing, thus referring to a pair of comfortable, loose and lightweight trousers fitted with drawstring waistbands. **juggernaut** - Jagannath yatra – a religious procession in Puri in Orissa where a giant carriage carries the image of Lord Jagannath **veranda** - itself came to Hindi via the Portuguese. **jungle** - jangal meaning a wild wasteland **bandana** - from two Hindi words – badhnu, which describes the process of tie-and-dye through which large handkerchiefs with vibrant, distinctive designs were made, and bandhana meaning to tie something up. **dinghy** - dingi or dingiya that was used for small rowing boats that travelled through the sheltered waters of Indian rivers and along the Indian coasts to fish and to transport passengers and freight in the olden days. **chutney** - chatṭni means ‘to lick’and denotes a pickled condiment made from fruit, vinegar, spices and sugar. **bangles** - bangri which originally meant the colored glass ring ornaments worn on the wrist by Indian women **shampoo** - champo, meaning to squeeze, knead or massage. **punch** - ‘paanch’ in Hindi, meaning ‘five’, because of the five ingredients used in it – spirit/soda, sugar, lemon, water and tea/spices.