redolent RED-uh-lunt, adjective:

1. Having or exuding fragrance; scented; aromatic.
2. Full of fragrance; odorous; smelling (usually used with ‘of’ or ‘with’).
3. Serving to bring to mind; evocative; suggestive; reminiscent (usually used with ‘of’ or ‘with’).

Redolent derives from Latin redolens, -entis, present participle of redolere, “to emit a scent, to diffuse an odor,” from red-, re- + olere, “to exhale an odor.”

I’ve always been intrigued by the ancient custom in China of binding women’s feet. I’ve never seen an actual picture of what they end up looking like but have heard them referred to as “lotus blossoms.” Do they end up looking like a claw or just little tiny feet? Was this an attempt to further control women by crippling them so they couldn’t get away? Jean, via AOL

Continue reading straight dope – foot binding →

genuflect JEN-yuh-flekt, intransitive verb:
1. To bend the knee or touch one knee to the ground, as in worship.
2. To be servilely respectful or obedient; to grovel.

Genuflect is from Late Latin genuflectere, from Latin genu, “knee” + flectere, “to bend.”

peremptory puh-REMP-tuh-ree, adjective:

1. Precluding or putting an end to all debate or action.
2. Not allowing contradiction or refusal; absolute; decisive; conclusive; final.
3. Expressive of urgency or command.
4. Offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power; dictatorial; dogmatic.

Peremptory comes from Latin peremptorius, “destructive,” from peremptus, past participle of perimere, “to take thoroughly, to do away with, to destroy; hence, to thwart, to frustrate,” from per-, “thoroughly” + emere, “to take, to obtain.”

A bunch of interesting web search finds. Twill probably bore you to tears, but I find it all interesting.

Continue reading fascinating collection, reprinted frem ‘s journal →

nutraceutical (noo-truh-SOO-ti-kuhl) noun, adjective

1. A food with (or believed to have) medicinal properties.

2. Pertaining to nutraceuticals.

[Blend of nutrient and pharmaceutical.]

blackguard BLAG-urg, noun:
1. A rude or unscrupulous person; a scoundrel.
2. A person who uses foul or abusive language.

adjective:
Scurrilous; abusive; low; worthless; vicious; as, blackguard language.

transitive verb:
To revile or abuse in scurrilous language.

Blackguard is from black + guard. The term originally referred to the lowest kitchen servants of a court or of a nobleman’s household. They had charge of pots and pans and kitchen other utensils, and rode in wagons conveying these during journeys from one residence to another. Being dirtied by this task, they were jocularly called the “black guard.”

The well-recognized Egyptian Ankh is actually a symbol representing the male and female sex organs.

In the original Grimm Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, the Prince rapes her while she sleeps and then leaves before she wakes up.

Australian women are the most likely to have sex on the first date.

The word “vanilla” comes from the Latin word for vagina, because of the vanilla pod’s resemblance to the female genitalia.

A man’s penis not only shrinks during cold weather but also from intense nonsexual excitement like when his favorite team scores a touchdown.

Today, Japan leads the world in condom use. Like cosmetics, they’re sold door to door, by women.

Menstrual cramps have been known, in rare cases, to induce orgasm.

Researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey found ten women ranging in age from 32 to 67 who could reach an orgasm simply by fantasizing about sex, without even having to touch themselves. Unfortunately, names and phone numbers were not released.

Women are most likely to want to commit adultery when they’re ovulating.

The name of Wyoming’s Grand Tetons mountain range literally means “Big Tits”.

Women who went to college are more likely to enjoy both the giving and receiving of oral sex than high school dropouts.

The best way to find out how well-endowed a man is, isn’t to look at his hands, feet or nose, but see (or ask) how well-endowed his father was. What is in a man’s jeans are in the man’s genes.

The word avocado comes from the Spanish word aguacate which in turn is derived from the Aztec word ahuacatl which meant testicle. You’ll probably never look at guacamole the same way again.

The word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek word gymnazein which means “to exercise naked.”

White women and those women with a college degree in particular are the most receptive to anal sex.

The first condoms made from vulcanized rubber appeared in the 1870s, were expensive and annoyingly thick. Considering the price, a man was instructed to wash it before and after use, and then reuse it until it cracked or tore.

While we think of Cupid today as an innocent youth with bow and arrow, his original representation by the pedophiliac Greeks was that of a beautiful young boy whose naked form was considered to be the embodiment of sexual love.

It was during the sexually repressive Victorian era that the formerly nude Cupid was redesigned as wearing a skirt.

Jazz fans, gun owners and those who lack confidence in the president are among the most sexually active Americans.

According to a recent survey, more Americans lose their virginity in June than in any other month (must be all those proms and weddings).

mephitic muh-FIT-ik, adjective:
1. Offensive to the smell; as, mephitic odors.
2. Poisonous; noxious.

Mephitic is the adjective form of mephitis, “a foul-smelling or noxious exhalation from the earth; a stench from any source,” from the Latin.

Newton’s litter box had quite a mephitic quality this morning…I think it was all the salmon-treats from last night.

Why is cheddar cheese orange? Do they color it that way, or is it part of the cheese-ifying process? I know that cheese is made from milk, but I don’t think that I could make the milk in my fridge turn orange, no matter how long I left it in there. What’s up?

Answer –

It’s orange because they dye it orange. You knew this, of course. The question is, Why orange as opposed to, say, a nice taupe? As near as cheese historians can make out, the practice originated many years ago in England. Milk contains varying amounts of beta-carotene, the yellow-orange stuff found in carrots and other vegetables. Milk from pasture-fed cows has higher beta-carotene levels in the spring and summer, when the cows are munching on fresh grass, and lower levels during the fall and winter, when they’re eating hay. Thus the natural color of the cheese varies over the course of a year. So cheese makers began adding coloring agents. Nowadays the most common of these is annatto, a yellow-red dye made from the seeds of a tree of the same name. Dyeing the cheese eliminated seasonal color fluctuations and also played to the fact (or anyway the belief) that spring/summer milk had a higher butterfat content than the fall/winter kind and thus produced more flavorful cheese. Figuring if yellow = good, orange = better, some cheese makers began ladling in the annatto in double handfuls, producing cheese that looked like something you’d want to carve into a jack-o’-lantern. In recent years some smaller operations have rebelled and stopped using colorants. Be forewarned–according to one cheese making text, uncolored cheese is a “sordid, unappetizing melange of dirty yellow.” But at least it’s real.

A related question: What’s the deal with so-called process cheese and cheese spreads such as the infamous Velveeta? They’re not completely synthetic, as some believe; rather, they’re made by mixing and heating natural cheeses and emulsifiers, producing a “homogenous plastic mass.” (I am quoting from my cheese book, you understand.) While we gourmands may sniff at such stuff, it does have the advantages of uniformity, long shelf life, and comparatively low production cost, no small achievement in a world where many are glad to have any cheese at all.