Word Of The Day

[Altobelli]

How very rebarbative of you not to include the word...

Posh bastid

[The Bedlington Terrier]

I know!

[Altobelli]

HYPOZEUXIS noun (hahy-puh-zook-sis)

noun
1. Rhetoric. the use of a series of parallel clauses, each of which has a subject and predicate, as in “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Quotes
Under the label hypozeuxis, Peacham actually describes a megasentence made up of a series of brief, complete clauses. His own example has eigh**** predications in a row...
--*Jeanne Fahnestock,*Rhetorical Style: The Uses of Language in Persuasion, 2011

I am afraid there is at least one New York journalist who now uses the hypozeuxis every chance he gets.
--*Arthur Quinn,*Figures of Speech: 60 Ways to Turn a Phrase, 1982


Origin

Hypozeuxis is a very rare Greek rhetorical term and an oddity. Its meaning as a rhetorical term is perfectly straightforward (a series of short parallel clauses, each having a subject and predicate, as in “I came, I saw, I conquered”). The oddity of hypozeuxis is that it is found only in the writings of Latin grammarians and literary scholars of the 4th century a.d., e.g., in the commentary of Aelius Donatus on the comic play Phormio by Terence (Publius Terentius Afer) (ca. 190–ca.159 b.c.). Hypozeuxis was first recorded and defined in English by George Puttenham (1529-1590), an English literary critic.

[Altobelli]

COMPATHY noun (kom-puh-thee)

noun
1. feelings, as happiness or grief, shared with another or others.

Quotes
Morse invented the concept 'compathy' to explain a portion of data from a qualitative study she was undertaking. It refers to the phenomenon whereby a person feels another's pain. In other words, one person's pain triggers a pain response in an observer.
--*Hugh McKenna,*Nursing Theories and Models, 1997

Whereas empathy refers to the projection of oneself into the personality of another in order to achieve better understanding, and sympathy describes and affinity of feelings between people, compathy refers to feeling with another person.
--*Peter Smagorinsky and Joel Taxel,*The Discourse of Character Education: Culture Wars in the Classroom, 2005


Origin

Compathy differs from sympathy in that compathy strictly refers to one’s feelings (happiness, sadness, joy, sorrow), whereas sympathy can also refer to political opinions, intellectual ideas, and even physiological relations. Compathy entered English in the 20th century.

[Altobelli]

SENTENTIOUS adjective (sen-ten-shuh s)

adjective
1. abounding in pithy aphorisms or maxims: a sententious book.
2. given to excessive moralizing; self-righteous.
3. given to or using pithy sayings or maxims: a sententious poet.
4. of the nature of a maxim; pithy.

Quotes

Lost amid the 10,000 words of the Presidential message, neglected alike by writers of news leads and editorials, is the most sapient and sententious utterance of Calvin Coolidge. "Water is the irreplaceable natural resource," he solemnly informs the Congress. "Its precipitations cannot be increased."
--*Bay Stater,*"Incontrovertible: To the Editor of The New York Times," New York Times, December 8, 1926

The language is cold and sententious to a degree, stuffed with political maxims conveyed in speeches of insufferable length and dreariness.
--*A. W. Verity,*The Influence of Christopher Marlowe on Shakespeare's Earlier Style, 1886


Origin

Sententious came to English from late Middle English. It ultimately derives from the Latin adjective sententiōsus “meaningful.” Sententious entered English in the 1400s.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Sounds a lot like someone who used to be on here, a proper sententious prick!

[Altobelli]

Sounds a lot like someone who used to be on here, a proper sententious prick!

Can you say that now that TEC has been put in a box ?

[Altobelli]

LEPORINE adjective (lep-uh-rahyn,-rin)

adjective
1. Zoology. of, relating to, or resembling a rabbit or hare.

Quotes

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel, the fun dad discussed how difficult it is to explain leporine mythical figures to 17-month-olds without getting too deep into biology and Christianity and what marshmallow Peeps have anything to do with the Resurrection.
--*Chelsea Peng,*"One of the Greatest Trials Ashton Kutcher Has Faced as a Dad Was Explaining the Easter Bunny to His Daughter," Marie Claire, March 29, 2016

The first rabbit, running just outside the window, had wide-open eyes, as if the race against the train required superhuman effort (super-leporine, actually, thought the lawyer).
--*Roberto Bolaño,*The Insufferable Gaucho, translated by Chris Andrews, 2010


Origin

Leporine entered English in the mid-1600s from the Latin leporīnus, which is equivalent to lepor-, the stem of lepus, meaning “hare.”

[Altobelli]

SMATTERING noun (smat-er-ing)

noun
1. a slight, superficial, or introductory knowledge of something: a smattering of Latin.
adjective
1. slight or superficial.

Quotes

He is a person well received among all sorts of men, being qualified to render himself agreeable to any; as he is well versed in history and politics, hath a smattering in law and divinity, cracks a good jest, and lays wonderfully well on the French horn.
--*Henry Fielding,*The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams, 1742

Of course it was easy to blame mother; anybody with a smattering of knowledge of psychoanalysis thought that they could point the finger at mother; but to hear that coming from somebody like Dr Fairbairn, who had even held psychoanalytical office, was most surprising.
--*Alexander McCall Smith,*Espresso Tales, 2005


Origin

Smattering has been used in English since the 1500s. Smatter predates smattering by about 200 years and is perhaps of Scandinavian origin.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

More than one or two on here have only a smattering of knowledge about football.

We need to start naming names with examples as part of a quiz question...

For example which regular poster who drives around all summer in a gas guzzling motorhome starts a fixture list with the away team going first..?