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General Category => Off the Record => Topic started by: Razgovory on March 05, 2021, 11:44:52 AM

Title: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: Razgovory on March 05, 2021, 11:44:52 AM
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.

(https://i.imgur.com/wh1aHVE.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/m5AgUS0.jpg)

Verve:  A low rent Mick Jagger

(https://i.imgur.com/YYwhStP.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/hJQczwA.jpg)

Prodigal:  A rent-boy with a sugar daddy.

(https://i.imgur.com/zWbWB9G.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/vsOM0YL.jpg)

Homeostasis: A gay man incapable of movement

(https://i.imgur.com/sv3Na4Y.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/iuaiziH.jpg)

Ontology:   The study of madness

(https://i.imgur.com/8tsYSBM.jpg)

stochastic:  Magic, basically

(https://i.imgur.com/xd2d1L2.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/Z8jXvsq.jpg)





Title: Re: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: Caliga on March 05, 2021, 12:34:37 PM
Razgovory.
Title: Re: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: mongers on March 05, 2021, 05:35:07 PM
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.
Title: Re: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: DGuller on March 05, 2021, 08:07:30 PM
Definitely not this.  I know what the word means.
Title: Re: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: 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.
Title: Re: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: 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.
Title: Re: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: 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.
Title: Re: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: Razgovory on March 05, 2021, 10:38:11 PM
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.
Title: Re: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: Valmy on March 05, 2021, 11:12:14 PM
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.
Title: Re: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: Maximus on March 05, 2021, 11:16:24 PM
Huh, I don't think I've ever heard it used to mean reluctant.
Title: Re: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: Admiral Yi on March 05, 2021, 11:18:15 PM
I thought it was close to shy, withdrawn.  Which I guess is in the neighborhood.
Title: Re: Words you can never remember the definitions of.
Post by: Caliga on March 06, 2021, 11:17:14 PM
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. :)