Wordmall: August 2015
Jason from Traverse City called
in to get an opinion on an ongoing difference that he is having with his wife.
He thinks that the term condiment should be limited to catsup, mustard, pickle
relish, salt, pepper, and items of that nature. His wife’s definition is much
broader, including salsa, hummus, hot sauce, gravy, and so on. Sorry, Jason: I
have to side with your wife after a few forays into dictionaries.
Huffpost Taste says that, "the world of condiments reaches far beyond ketchup, and even much further than your mustards and relishes. It's a vast and varied terrain of flavor-boosters, from fiery hot sauce to cooling tahini."
condiment as “anything of pronounced flavour used to season or give
relish to food, or to stimulate the appetite.” In the original Latin, condiment
involved preserving or pickling. A later figurative application refers to
anything that adds zest to a situation.
The Power Thesaurus includes as synonyms chutney, salad
dressing, applesauce, mayonnaise, radish, broth, vinegar, and gravy. Relish is
a common synonym. It came from an Anglo-Norman word that meant residue or
remainder. In America, it is usually assigned to a sauce made of chopped
Wise, Kindle Edition Listen
posted by Michael J. Sheehan at 10:49 AM
Morgan asked about the origin of G-string. Linguist Robert Hendrickson says that G (or gee) stands
for groin,
which was a taboo word in the late 1800s. Cecil Adams
Straight Dope), suggests an origin from "girdle-string",
which appears as early as 1846. In other words, no one is certain where the
term originated, though the undergarment actually exists.
At any rate, that led me to think about
words based on letters of the alphabet. These words tend to fall into two broad
categories: words based on the shape of a letter, and words that use a letter
as an abbreviation for a longer word. Here’s a sample.
F-10 (Fujita tornado scale)
Z-score Word Parts Dictionary, Nook edition
posted by Michael J. Sheehan at 2:00 PM
I’ve seen a number of notices recently that misuse
the word advanced. Here’s an example from a physician’s office: “If you know
that you are going to miss a medical appointment, please give at least a
24-hour advanced notice.” That should have been advance notice.
The adjective advanced means sophisticated, complex,
or at a level higher than others. In graduate school, you might get an advanced
degree. You could study advanced nuclear physics. Your great-grandfather is at
an advanced age. Advanced thinkers do not accept simplistic solutions. Your
five-year-old child has a more advanced vocabulary than other children her age.
The adjective advance means supplied ahead of time,
or prior. You give your employer advance notice—notice before you quit. Before
you reach a crisis in health, you give your physician an advance
directive—don’t plug me into a machine if there’s no realistic chance of
recovery. We appreciate advance warning when serious storms are approaching.
Advance ticket sales often come with a discount.
Viewed side by side, advance warning is given before
a crisis occurs; an advanced warning would be highly sophisticated—perhaps a
holographic image projected into the sky. Advance warfare would impossibly
involve armed conflict before the
fighting broke out; advanced warfare might depend on laser technology or
robots. An advance stage of cancer would be strangely pre-cancerous; an
advanced stage of cancer would probably mean that death is imminent.
Words to the Wise, Kindle Edition Listen
Wordmall: August 2015
Jason from Traverse City called
in to get an opinion on an ongoing difference that he is having with his wife.
He thinks that the term condiment should be limited to catsup, mustard, pickle
relish, salt, pepper, and items of that nature. His wife’s definition is much
broader, including salsa, hummus, hot sauce, gravy, and so on. Sorry, Jason: I
have to side with your wife after a few forays into dictionaries.
Huffpost Taste says that, "the world of condiments reaches far beyond ketchup, and even much further than your mustards and relishes. It's a vast and varied terrain of flavor-boosters, from fiery hot sauce to cooling tahini."
condiment as “anything of pronounced flavour used to season or give
relish to food, or to stimulate the appetite.” In the original Latin, condiment
involved preserving or pickling. A later figurative application refers to
anything that adds zest to a situation.
The Power Thesaurus includes as synonyms chutney, salad
dressing, applesauce, mayonnaise, radish, broth, vinegar, and gravy. Relish is
a common synonym. It came from an Anglo-Norman word that meant residue or
remainder. In America, it is usually assigned to a sauce made of chopped
Wise, Kindle Edition Listen
posted by Michael J. Sheehan at 10:49 AM
Morgan asked about the origin of G-string. Linguist Robert Hendrickson says that G (or gee) stands
for groin,
which was a taboo word in the late 1800s. Cecil Adams
Straight Dope), suggests an origin from "girdle-string",
which appears as early as 1846. In other words, no one is certain where the
term originated, though the undergarment actually exists.
At any rate, that led me to think about
words based on letters of the alphabet. These words tend to fall into two broad
categori
es: words based on the shape of a letter, and words that use a letter
as an abbreviation for a longer word. Here’s a sample.
F-10 (Fujita tornado scale)
Z-score Word Parts Dictionary, Nook edition
posted by Michael J. Sheehan at 2:00 PM
I’ve seen a number of notices recently that misuse
the word advanced. Here’s an example from a physician’s office: “If you know
that you are going to miss a medical appointment, please give at least a
24-hour advanced notice.” That should have been advance notice.
The adjective advanced means sophisticated, complex,
or at a level higher than others. In graduate school, you might get an advanced
degree. You could study advanced nuclear physics. Your great-grandfather is at
an advanced age. Advanced thinkers do not accept simplistic solutions. Your
five-year-old child has a more advanced vocabulary than other children her age.
The adjective advance means supplied ahead of time,
or prior. You give your employer advance notice—notice before you quit. Before
you reach a crisis in health, you give your physician an advance
directive—don’t plug me into a machine if there’s no realistic chance of
recovery. We appreciate advance warning when serious storms are approaching.
Advance ticket sales often come with a discount.
Viewed side by side, advance warning is given before
a crisis occurs; an advanced warning would be highly sophisticated—perhaps a
holographic image projected into the sky. Advance warfare would impossibly
involve armed conflict before the
fighting broke out; advanced warfare might depend on laser technology or
robots. An advance stage of cancer would be strangely pre-cancerous; an
advanced stage of cancer would probably mean that death is imminent.
Words to the Wise, Kindle Edition Listen