idyll (EYE-dl), noun:
1. A simple descriptive work, either in poetry or prose, dealing with simple, rustic life; pastoral scenes; and the like.

2. A narrative poem treating an epic, romantic, or tragic theme.

3. A lighthearted carefree episode or experience.

4. A romantic interlude.

Idyll ultimately derives from Greek eidullion, “a short descriptive poem (usually on pastoral subjects); an idyll,” from eidos, “that which is seen; form; shape; figure.” The adjective form is idyllic.

gadfly (GAD-fly) noun

1. One who persistently annoys.

2. Any of the various types of flies that bite livestock.

[From gad (a goad for cattle), from Middle English, from Old Norse gaddr.]

embonpoint (ahn-bohn-PWAN), noun:
Plumpness of person; stoutness.

Embonpoint is from French, literally “in good condition” (en, “in” + bon, “good” + point, “situation, condition”).

testudinate (te-STOOD-in-ayt) adjective, also testudinal or testudinarian

1. Slow-moving, like a turtle.

2. Curved like the carapace (shell) of a turtle; vaulted.

noun

A turtle.

[From Late Latin testudinatus, from Latin testudo (tortoise).]

Newt’s embonpoint varies by the season, more in winter than summer, due more to genetics than any testudinate workouts when it’s cold. 🙂

A “picayune” was worth 12½ ¢! (also known as a ‘piece of eight’, or a bit of eight, in pirate talk.

thus a quarter being 2 bits.

crabwise (KRAB-wyz) adjective

1. Sideways.

2. In a cautious or roundabout manner.

[From the sideways movement of crabs.]

popinjay (POP-in-jay), noun:

A vain and talkative person.

Popinjay is from Middle English papejay, popingay, meaning “parrot,” from Old French papegai, deriving ultimately from Arabic babagha.

LJ perhaps should perhaps be renamed popin-J.

ludic LOO-dik, adjective:
Of or relating to play; characterized by play; playful.

Ludic derives from Latin ludus, “play.” Ludicrous, “amusing or laughable,” shares the same root.

far from laughable – some great font sources.

been trying to post, and reply to stuff off and on since about 7:30 this morning, but as some folks know, the dang LJ was down for a bit, doing a big database move. I’m glad they *try* to do it late at night, anyhow. 🙂

poem for my beloved –

I wish I were close
To you as the wet skirt of
A salt girl to her body.
I think of you always.

–Akahito

What’s the difference between a street, a road, an avenue, a boulevard, etc.? There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to how the names of public ways are suffixed. Does it depend
on width, length, importance, or (more likely) the builder’s whim?
Continue reading straight dope on street names. →

extemporaneous ek-stem-puh-RAY-nee-us, adjective:

1. Composed, performed, or uttered on the spur of the moment, or without previous study; unpremeditated; impromptu.

2. Prepared beforehand but delivered without notes or text.

3. Skilled at or given to extemporaneous speech.

4. Provided, made, or put to use as an expedient; makeshift.

Extemporaneous comes from Late Latin extemporaneous, from Latin ex tempore, “out of time,” therefore “immediately, at the very time the occasion arises.” It is related to temporary, “lasting for a limited time”; contemporary, “belonging to the same time” (con-, “with, together”); and tempo, “the rate or degree of movement in time.”

purple passage (PUR-puhl PAS-ij) noun, also purple patch, purple prose

1. A brilliant passage in an otherwise dull and uninspiring work.

2. A piece of writing marked by ornate, florid style.

[From Latin pannus purpureus (purple patch), a phrase used by poet Horace in his Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry) to suggest a patch of royal fabric on an ordinary cloth.]

panjandrum pan-JAN-druhm, noun:
An important personage or pretentious official.

Panjandrum was coined by Samuel Foote in a piece of nonsense writing:

So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage-leaf to make an apple-pie; and at the same time a great she-bear, coming up the street, pops its head into the shop. “What! No soap?” So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber: and there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies, and the grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top, and they all fell to playing the game of catch-as-catch-can till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.

It was composed on the spot to challenge actor Charles Macklin’s claim that he could memorize anything. Macklin is said to have refused to repeat a word of it.

greenmail GREEN-mayl noun

The practice of buying a large quantity of a company’s stock as a hostile
takeover measure, and then selling it to the company at a higher price.

[From green (money) + mail (as in blackmail).]