The bloody goo that results from a bird/plane collision.
Each day, the Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identification Laboratory receives about a dozen packages from around the country, each containing tissue swabs of snarge for DNA analysis to identify the species of bird. The bird/plane collision data is used to improve aviation safety by having flight plans that are less likely to encounter birds and by engineering more bird-resistant planes. For example, jet engines must now be able to withstand the ingestion of an 8-pound waterfowl without failing (this is tested in the lab by firing a chicken from a cannon at point-blank range).
William Safire, in his column On Language in the New York Times, commented on this word as used in the most famous newspaper editorial ever written, titled "Is There a Santa Claus?".
"...the words, with one exception, are understandable to most 8-year-olds. The "hard" word is in this passage: "Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can . . . picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond."
Supernal? That adjective is not synonymous with "supernatural" or the slangy emphasizer "super-duper." Five centuries ago, Shakespeare had a character look upward to "that supernal Judge that stirs good thoughts," wth a capital J as one would capitalize G in God. Then why didn't The Sun's editorial writer use the familiar synonym "heavenly"? Because, I like to think, Frances Pharcellus Church in 1897 was also writing to adults far off in the future who might be "affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age."
her anger's a mystery she stomped on a cheescake and went down in history xanthus Xingu - river in Brazil xenon - heavy, colorless gas, i,e most politicians xenogamy Xit - royal dwarf to Edward VI
the best of the bochWurst from hotdogs to frankurters, no one should knockwurst
weeping brides Walcheren Expedition woman -- OE "wifeman" Wundersucht - mystical sense of the reality of magic weeping and waiting wahine waggle wadi wimple wassail
who died for a dish He ran onto his bacon knife when he ran out of fish. venal and venial vee - nuckline visible Negro votive vert veniremen vi e armis volnerary vagary valetudinarian vidience vocative vagina vandel - rapist verity viand virgule verve vitalism voluntarianism virgule
a marriage between the lip-puckering pofnelo and sweeter tangerine. ultra vires undistributed profits tax umble pie uxorious untoward ungula unguent underground kite unfunded liabiltiies usufruct ursa minor umbraging
not easily found hiding at times two feet underground. termagent tenterhooks thin one - dime torpedo - gunman; also a ballplayer who is assigned toi injure a member of the opposite team titan transubstantiation true bill - indictment tie-in sale thrall tumber - a recognition thalamus thing - a dozen defintiions torque thule - the most northerly region transtage telefacsimile tincture taurine - bovine tarlatan tete-a-tete temerarious - rash traduce triptych truckle - flat cheese; also, be servile turgid - bloated turbid - cloudy turgid, turbid prose tintinnabulation tumescent trompe l'oeil trireme threnody trencherman - parasite tinus tatterdemalion - ragged fellow
so sweet on your lips, so wild in your bloodstream, so fat on your hips. savoir faire sinuate subsume sizar - poor schoalr salient sincere - sine cere - without wax sales lady - prostitute scraps the mug shave satchel - buttocks sprinter - when winter and spring overlap salbugrious skald sock a corpse - shroud it sedulous steatorrhea sleipnir - Odin's grey eight-legged horse scratch horuse - brothel SS - siilicet - let it be known scurvy social overhead capital sesquipedalian stop over - short jail sentence stare decisis - general rule formign a precident sui generis - of the same kind standing vote sucking bamboo-- smoking opium Souther Christian Leadership Conference somnolent solipsist selector channel shilly shaly simonpure sub rosa supernal surian sciamochous stranbge bedfellows splentic sankasktachaturthivratodyapana - sanscrit work scatalogical shaman saturnine sophistry sui juris shibboleth - watchword see Judges 12:4-6 spoliation silver pheasant - beautiful aristocratic lady suacy sedge scions solstice
a root out of style; too much like turnips to merit a smile. rigol - diadem repine - complain rapine - pillage roan redoubtable rouncival - gigantic redolence resulting trust replevin reversion run - 39 different meanings redux requite rhinal radiosotope rebarbative - causing annoyance res adjudicata recis sardonicus - smile of death risible rockomastics recherche- sought after Rachmanism rapute of the deep retrometer riometer radio-pasteurization rawhider reefer den rod or rocoe- pistol rowdy dowdy rust eater - steel worker raison d etre repine - fret reticulated repletion regicide Rostov repast residual value ream - 480, 500, or 516 sheets
versatile and fantastic you can roast it, braise it, or serve it with aspic quodam quiddity qua - the the capcity of quintillion - 1000000000000000000 (US) 1000000000000000000000000000000 (Britain) quietude quietus quod erat demonstrandum - which was to be demonstrated quuits
occasionally hated one loved me once-- unreciprocated. pardox of thrift pigmentocracy -- ruling class made up of individuals of one color polylogue -- dialogure involving mroe than two people pudenicity propinquirty pungi stake parquetry perforce prime rider phalanx plashy pettifog piece de resistance pied-a-terre per curiam phenomenalistic causality penumbra pilobolus - light sentitive fungus that grows on dung philomythia philosophastering -- philosophzing in a shallow or pretentious manner PSR - program support representative prima facie -- proves the case until rebutted Piggy-wiggy Plato's Year -- 25,000 years physicalism paleophile piaya pronunciamento pulchritude pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis - disease caused by inhaling silicate dust
mature like Italian (also Spanish and shallot) or youthful like scallion. open shop ontology -- existence/being onomatopoeia oxgang - bovate itiose on the shelf - has been onus probandi - obligation of proof Osages Osier Ossining Osman Og King of Bashan obicular - leaf shaped oriflamme overlapping debt oste obi oligopsony overhead costs outre oneiromancy occlusive
and Mornay and Mousseline enriched with eggs, then thinned with real cream moxie monteith mesmerism Magliabecchi - nokworm moral turpitude maplaza megafamily macadamize mainbrace -- "splice the mainbrace" - take a draught Maleger Malum in Se- "what is of itself wrong" ,arginal propoensity to consume Maritornes Mandamus - "we command" mike - loiter masshackering and misguggling masher - lardy-dardy swell monism macerate mother-sick - histerical mother-wit - native wit- the wit our mother gave us misprison make - 20 definitions middle distillates monopsony mosey mobocracy mulct mien marmoset moral obligation myrmidon meshugga - crazy morpheme matutinal missionary - white slaver
which I shouldn't include-- except it's the only thing better than food logotheraphy lugubrious locomotor ataxia Lethwards leg it - to run loco week - marajuana lu lu - desirable longhandled underwear lepidopterist leading cases Lis Pendens - litigation pending lickety brindle l'envoi limbus of the mon Ligan Lotus Eaters leveraged lease littoral Lying for the Whetsone lungi largo Leviathan lope lagniappe lupine LIFO lexiographer - harmless drudge Lager Beer Lang Syne Lanterize loll lachrymal limn
from beefstakes to gooses, to piglets and quails all running with juices jiffy - the amount of time light travels a meter jerkin jackanapes jactitation of marriage jehu - drive like Jehu 2 Kings ix.20 jinnistan jordeloo jolly dog - bon vivant justiciar jake - OK jew flag - $ joy house brothel jungle buzzard jerratrics jodkpurs joie de vivre pronounced zhwa de vevr jejune jockette juice head joint - hangout;penis;place of robbery jolt - stiff drink;prison setence;to strike jug - jail;solitary;safe judicial notice
and it couldn't be sadder; they're the lowest known food on the gastronome's ladder. in lim - at he outset Ixion in rem versus in personam in loc intestate in pari delicti iron maiden of nuremberg iormungandur ice-blink in flagrante delicto imp of darkness indifference curve ipse dixit ingestion inter-record gap ink slinger irish turkey - corned beef inspissate igneous intaglio versus cameo ichthyology inamorta
gluttonous sinner; he cut off Anne's head, then sat down for dinner. habiliments hoboism hhd. - hogshed hoi polloi hoary hash house - restaurant hay bag - woman vagrent heifer den - brothel hook shop - brothel holophrases horizontal decalage hot short - stolen car hunky - Lithuanian - honky(?) human action theory - praxeology hereditaments hue and cry - horn and voice hieratic hibernal heyoka heckle hustings hesperus - evening star
a Brazilian dish: sausages, beef, pork, and beans-- but no fish. flagrante delicto felo de se finalism fribble fish gallery fungible fey furbelow frog's march (as for a prisoner) FASB 13 fasces faute de mieux
Eels are serpentine, slippery, and thin but impaled on boards you can peel off their skin. executory escent - being eblis ecce homo - John xix.5 ecce signum -- behold the proof ecdysiast - stripteaster elf-marked entelechy ERISA estival Eraclius escritoire ebullition escritoire euratom euphenics eidolon enounce
an onion and wincing It's smaller than cubing but larger than mincing.
diapason dipacmania DV - God willing dabaira dotterel domny - gone to the downy = gone to bed de profundis - Psalm 130 dash my wig demotic dumb-bell nebula double-barelled bond damascene defalcate deuteragonist - actor playing a part of secondary importance
in cups that won't wobble whether brulot, au lait, cafe noir, or diable.
clepsydra constitutional psychopathic inferiority chapter of possibilities-- a may-be in the course of events cy pres cat stane certiorari child of the cord-- condemned to be hanged cachecope bell cag mag cussedness cut blocks with a razor creel ceram canape closed lien chary chauvin curb height col cantrip chiliasm -- doctrine of Christ's expected return to reign on earth for 1,000 years colophon cimmerian chyme copacetic cicatrix cloisonne coulomb
superior red wine made of cabernet grapes that mature on the vine
Banquo blue stellar object beach bunny bowser bag belles-lettres billet-deux Bardolph Belmerino (Lord Belmerino was beheaded, but the executioner at the first stroke cut only half his neck and his lordship turned around and grinned at the bungler.) Baga de Secretis Beggar's Bush Bawtry black book baize barrel fever breviary bagatelle burn artist-- narcotics seller who cheats his customers biretta bardolater bathize - baptize by total immersion bibliosnitch - book stealer beltline buncombe BCD - binary coded decimal Bozonian
fireworks - gun play fish - a newly sentenced prisoner; also paper money five c's - $500 fixer - one who squares a crook's affirs with the police flag - an alias; a warning; to accost flash - a gaudy person; to display; a rumor flat - penniless flat tire - an impotent or unproductive person flimflam - cheat flip - to board a moving train; utspoken flipper - a hand floater - migratory worker flop - a bed; to sleep; to fail fluff - a blonde woman fluke - luck fluter - degnerate fly a kite - send an underground letter from prison; pass out worthless checks flying light - hungry front - a false appearance fruit - generate fry - to electrocute full - intoxicated funky - evil smelling
"By words," Aristophanes said 2,400 years ago, "is the mind excited and the spirit elated." The first verse of the Gospel According to John says that "In the beginning was the Word," and all my life, words have fascinated me. I collect words the same way other people collect stamps or coins. Between 1973 and 1993, I put together a book of almost three hundred pages for my own amusement of new words that I've encountered. To no small degree, my world is nothing more or less than my words. As my vocabulary expands, so too does my ability to reflect, to remember, and to choose.
I'm going post words in my blog that for one reason or another have intrigued me either because they are rare or because they are slang. An example is abram-man, meaning a naked vagabond. Google registers 1,280 hits for this word- of sufficient rarity to make it interesting to me.
The Abraham Ward, in Bedlam, had for its inmates begging lunatics, who used to array themselves “with party-coloured ribbons, tape in their hats, a fox-tail hanging down, a long stick with streamers,” and beg alms; but “for all their seeming madness, they had wit enough to steal as they went along.” —Canting Academy.
