Words you can never remember the definitions of.

Started by Razgovory, March 05, 2021, 11:44:52 AM

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Razgovory

There are some words I can never seem to remember the definitions for no matter how many times I read the definition.  I noticed this using my Kindle (which broke this week), which allows me to find the definition of a word I don't know in a book I'm reading with just a press of the screen.  For some words the definition just won't stick.  Sometimes it's a word that resembles another word or that I can't remember the proper nuance.  Sometimes I don't even understand the definition.  I don't know if this is just something I do, or something everyone does.  I assume the 2nd one, but that may just be me projecting my experiences on others.  Well anyway, here's a short list.

Peregrine:  The fastest bird and the slowest Hobbit.



Sublime:  Something directly underneath a lime "This tequila is sublime!"



Verve:  A low rent Mick Jagger



Anathema:  A hat-based religion founded by occultist Aleister Crowley in an attempt to best the mitre as the most preposterous religious headgear



Prodigal:  A rent-boy with a sugar daddy.



Praxis:  The same as "practice" but at the college level.



Homeostasis: A gay man incapable of movement



Stolid:  A type of fossilized microbial mat.  Basically ancient pound scum



Ontology:   The study of madness



stochastic:  Magic, basically



heuristic:  I don't know what this word means and neither does anyone else.







I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Caliga

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mongers

Quote from: Razgovory on March 05, 2021, 11:44:52 AM
.....

heuristic:  I don't know what this word means and neither does anyone else.

.....

This.
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

DGuller

Definitely not this.  I know what the word means.

Valmy

Reticent. I just know everybody uses it wrong and I am supposed to be outraged by that but I cannot remember what it actually means.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

grumbler

Quote from: Valmy on March 05, 2021, 08:30:27 PM
Reticent. I just know everybody uses it wrong and I am supposed to be outraged by that but I cannot remember what it actually means.

???  I can't remember the last time I saw the word seriously misused.
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

Eddie Teach

To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Razgovory

Quote from: Eddie Teach on March 05, 2021, 09:39:41 PM
Quote from: Caliga on March 05, 2021, 12:34:37 PM
Razgovory.

Something Russian I think.


Way, way back, I needed a name for AOL instant messenger.  Every name I came up with was already taken, so I looked around for something obscure.  I had a book on uniforms for the Russian Civil war so I picked the name of a tab on the front of a Soviet Uniform.  That seemed obscure enough and AOL accepted it.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Valmy

Quote from: grumbler on March 05, 2021, 09:00:30 PM
Quote from: Valmy on March 05, 2021, 08:30:27 PM
Reticent. I just know everybody uses it wrong and I am supposed to be outraged by that but I cannot remember what it actually means.

???  I can't remember the last time I saw the word seriously misused.

People use it to mean reluctant but this is outrageous since it originally meant....*looks it up*...to keep silent. I only vaguely remember who it was who was outraged by this, probably my latin teacher.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Maximus

Huh, I don't think I've ever heard it used to mean reluctant.

Admiral Yi

I thought it was close to shy, withdrawn.  Which I guess is in the neighborhood.

Caliga

Quote from: Razgovory on March 05, 2021, 10:38:11 PM
Way, way back, I needed a name for AOL instant messenger.  Every name I came up with was already taken, so I looked around for something obscure.  I had a book on uniforms for the Russian Civil war so I picked the name of a tab on the front of a Soviet Uniform.  That seemed obscure enough and AOL accepted it.
Interesting. :)
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