murrayspeaks Posted April 12, 2016 at 07:10 PM Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 at 07:10 PM People have displayed daedalian ingenuity in learning all those words Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lips Posted April 12, 2016 at 11:57 PM Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 at 11:57 PM ai a three-toed sloth. good for scrabble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy-meiguoren Posted May 29, 2016 at 10:10 PM Report Share Posted May 29, 2016 at 10:10 PM Lahar: (luh-HAR) a volcanic mudflow. Added to my vocabulary on May 18, 1980, when a nearby mountain blew its top. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gharial Posted July 5, 2016 at 08:23 PM Report Share Posted July 5, 2016 at 08:23 PM omphaloskeptic ( https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/omphaloskeptic ) tergiversation ( https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tergiversation ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted January 22, 2018 at 04:18 AM Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 at 04:18 AM brobdingnagian - huge; gigantic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted January 22, 2018 at 05:17 AM Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 at 05:17 AM Formication: the sensation that ants are crawling on your skin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted January 24, 2018 at 02:05 PM Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 at 02:05 PM Pleonasm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted January 24, 2018 at 02:56 PM Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 at 02:56 PM 47 minutes ago, roddy said: Pleonasm It's funny, I've known this word since forever... in Dutch (pleonasme). I think I learned it as a child, even before 中学. It barely registers as a difficult word for me. But now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever seen it in English, so it must be rare in that language. Funny how such things can vary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted January 24, 2018 at 04:19 PM Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 at 04:19 PM 2 hours ago, roddy said: Pleonasm Having read the link, it strikes me that this word can be applied to chinese. So many words are pairs of characters or even 3 or 4, more commonly 2 to avoid confusion and ensure the meaning is transmitted even if the transmitting medium is not 100%. From the wiki page: "pleonasm can serve as a redundancy check: If a word is unknown, misunderstood, or misheard, or the medium of communication is poor—a wireless telephone connection or sloppy handwriting—pleonastic phrases can help ensure that the entire meaning gets across even if some of the words get lost." I would definitely describe chinese as Pleonastic language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edelweis Posted January 24, 2018 at 05:37 PM Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 at 05:37 PM 2 hours ago, Lu said: I think I learned it as a child Also a favorite word of French teachers. Don't say "monter en haut" (go up upstairs), it's a terrible pléonasme. (but most people say it anyway). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted January 24, 2018 at 06:21 PM Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 at 06:21 PM 3 hours ago, Lu said: I don't think I've ever seen it in English In English, this is typically called a tautology which from the linked definition, it seems that a pleonasm is slightly different from that in nuance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geiko Posted January 24, 2018 at 08:19 PM Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 at 08:19 PM "Pleonasmo" is also a normal word in Spanish schools. I'd say that in Spanish 'tautology' is used in philosophy and logic discourse and has negative connotations, whereas 'pleonasm' is used in language classes, to describe unnecessary repetitions, but it's also a rhetoric figure in poetry, and then it's seen as a way to embellish a literary text. The meaning is essentially the same, but the words are used in different contexts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted January 28, 2018 at 05:02 AM Report Share Posted January 28, 2018 at 05:02 AM sesquipedalian - given to using long words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geiko Posted February 4, 2018 at 03:50 PM Report Share Posted February 4, 2018 at 03:50 PM Ultracrepidarian: noting or pertaining to a person who criticizes, judges, or gives advice outside the area of his or her expertise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realmayo Posted February 5, 2018 at 02:12 PM Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 at 02:12 PM 22 hours ago, Geiko said: Ultracrepidarian My middle name ....! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted September 19, 2018 at 02:04 AM Report Share Posted September 19, 2018 at 02:04 AM Panchreston Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted December 16, 2019 at 08:56 AM Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 at 08:56 AM Limerence. Which I found odd as I couldn't see they etymology of it, but it turns out to have been coined in the 70s by... well, it's on the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted December 16, 2019 at 09:06 AM Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 at 09:06 AM 4 minutes ago, roddy said: Limerence. I came across this word some years ago, when the English Wikipedia lemma was linked with the Dutch one for 'Verliefdheid'. 'Verliefdheid' is now linked to 'Infatuation', but really it has components of both and there is no English term that covers it exactly. What I found interesting is that limerence was considered something somewhat unhealthy, an obsession that one should get over to have a normal relationship, while verliefdheid is considered almost a necessary condition for a romantic relationship: if you're not verliefd, then perhaps you shouldn't be with this person. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murrayjames Posted December 21, 2019 at 07:21 PM Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 at 07:21 PM metastatic adjectival form of metastasis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted August 6, 2020 at 09:40 AM Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2020 at 09:40 AM In mining, gangue (/ɡæŋ/)[1] is the commercially worthless material that surrounds, or is closely mixed with, a wanted mineral in an ore deposit. It is thus distinct from overburden, which is the waste rock or materials overlying an ore or mineral body that are displaced during mining without being processed, and from tailings, which is rock already stripped of valuable minerals. I could tell from context roughly what it was, but had to check to see it differs from tailings. And obviously you'll want to know where spoils fit in - spoils are the removed and dumped overburden. You're welcome. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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