It’s been
three weeks since my last post. I’ve
crossed the 150-page mark, which is both good and bad. It’s good to see that kind of progress, but
it also means that my progress is lagging in its pace. I figured out that I need to read three pages
a day in order to wrap this thing up by next March. If you do the math, that still leaves me a
few hundred pages from the end. Some
days will see more than three pages getting read (especially over the
summer). The last 200+ pages are also
less laborious to read through (abbreviations, geographical names, and more
full-sentence reference type stuff).
A funny
thing happened after completing the letter A- reading the dictionary doesn’t
seem as difficult now. B-words seem to
be more interesting than A-words. Maybe
that’s just a mental thing. Perhaps my
brain is just excited about a new starting letter. Will I get as frustrated with B as I did with
A? Only time will tell.
Here are the
interesting words I came across in the last three weeks:
ASPECT RATIO-
MW dates this word’s popular usage to 1907, which surprised me. The term has been thrown about very casually
since flat-screen TVs rose to prominence last decade. I’ve seen it used while reading about changes
in motion pictures over the years but I never realized just how far back the
term went. Cool stuff.
ASSASSIN-
The oldest usage of this term is for a Muslim group from the age of the
Crusades who struck fear into their enemies (mostly Christians) via random
secret murders. Members of this group
were prepared to commit suicide if caught or if necessary to carry out their
kill. Wow.
ASSAULT
RIFLE- “Any of various automatic or semiautomatic rifles designed for military
use with large capacity magazines.”
Please note just how vague this definition is, tuck it away in your
brain and pull it back out the next time you hear someone harping about making
these kinds of weapons illegal in America.
Lots of room for interpretation here folks.
ASSEMBLY
LINE- This term is 100 years old. No
surprise, considering Henry Ford basically put this term and process on the map
around that same time. Still, happy
centennial assembly line!
AUSCULATION-
I love finding words like this that explain a process that is very routine but
few could actually tell you the name of.
It’s the act of listening to body organs to help diagnose health
problems. Next time the doctor comes at
you with a stethoscope, you’ll know just what’s going on.
AVANT-
Literally, it means “culturally or stylistically advanced.” This begs the question- according to
whom? Who gets to make that call? Some of the avant-garde art that I’ve seen looks
far from ‘art’ to me. This is one of
those horribly subjective terms that pseudo-intellectuals like to use to help
set themselves apart. Is the subject
really advanced or just different? Just
because something is different from everything we’ve ever known doesn’t make it
advanced.
AXEL-Not the
car part (that’s spelled axle). I’m
talking about the axel jump in figure skating.
You know, double- or triple axel?
Did you know that it is named after the person who came up with it? He was a Norwegian figure skater named Axel
Paulsen and he first performed it in competition in 1882.
BACITRACIN-
Another item that is actually named for someone. The –tracin part comes from
Margaret Tracy, and American child in whom the root compounds were discovered.
BACK-SCRATCHING-
My dictionary dates it to 1924. MW
online says 1904. Either way, this term
for less than scrupulous reciprocation celebrates an divisible-by-ten
anniversary this year.
BANE- I just wrote a review for The Dark Knight
Rises recently (yes, movie reviews are in fact coming soon). The main villain is named Bane and it is
clear that DC Comics picked his name well.
Its various definitions include: killer, slayer, poison, death, and
destruction.
BANJAX- This
is the first word in the dictionary that I can recall coming across that does
not have a known origin. No traceable
word roots? I wonder if it was a
gibberish word or a gross mispronunciation that found traction. Names aren’t the only things people make up!
BASENJI-The
word originally made me think of Benji.
Upon reading the definition, I learned that it is a breed of African
dogs that do not bark. The basenji
breed, however, looks nothing like Benji from the movies. That would have been pretty awesome.
BATTLESHIP-
Did you know that it’s short for line-of-battle ship? You do now!
Good thing it stuck too, because ‘You sunk my line-of-battle ship’ is a
mouthful.
BEACH- Here
is another word with an unknown origin, though this one is vastly more common
than basenji. Amazing how such a common
word managed to come out of nowhere.
BELLY-UP- My
dictionary dates this word’s documentation to 1939, which makes it 75 years
old. It is also as old as the films Gone
with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.
BEST BOY- I
always thought this film crew member had a funny title. They are an assistant to the equally strange
sounding gaffer or key grip.
