Follow The Oikofuge: Words, filter it, and define how you want to receive the news (via Email, RSS, Telegram, WhatsApp etc.) https://follow.it/the-oikofuge-words Wed, 26 Jan 2022 14:38:29 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbAO4hQyTl6kMEFW8UNEQjUn kɒmplɪˈmɛntərɪ complimentary: 1) expressive of, or conveying, polite praise or commendation; 2) presented as a gift or gratuity So a guy’s sitting at the bar, drinking beer, when he hears a voice say, “You’re looking good tonight.” And he looks around, but there’s no-one there. After a while the same voice says, “That new haircut … Continue reading Complimentary →]]> Wed, 19 Jan 2022 14:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbAO4hQyTl6kMEFW8UNEQjUn https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbDW8AY6dtYmsETXPGaG87AR From beneath the bushy V of satanic eyebrows, Rachs’ jet eyes seemed to shower sparks at him. As usual, that immobile face was incandescent, and Toring fancied he could almost hear the creaking of a carbon-arc in the brain of his superior. The Hungarian’s incredible energies frightened, rather than soothed patrons, and for years he … Continue reading More About “Anti-Agathic” →]]> Wed, 12 Jan 2022 14:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbDW8AY6dtYmsETXPGaG87AR https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD_DsnpIw4_X58v71dCn6bG fɛˈstɪvɪtɪ Festivity: Rejoicing, mirth, gaiety, such as befits a feast Christmas time! That man must be a misanthrope indeed, in whose breast something like a jovial feeling is not roused—in whose mind some pleasant associations are not awakened—by the recurrence of Christmas. Charles Dickens, “Christmas Festivities”, Bell’s Life in London (1835) Dickens would have considered … Continue reading Festivity →]]> Wed, 22 Dec 2021 14:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD_DsnpIw4_X58v71dCn6bG https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbBqt4ompRMocxhSCv31NykC Although not much encountered these days, the original meaning of the phrase “to beg the question” refers to a piece of faulty logic, which H.W. Fowler’s Dictionary Of Modern English Usage (1926) defines as: The fallacy of founding a conclusion on a basis that as much needs to be proved as the conclusion itself Fowler … Continue reading Begging The Question →]]> Wed, 24 Nov 2021 14:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbBqt4ompRMocxhSCv31NykC https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbChcWTQF7Dzux-xWH3zZqEA strɑˈveÉ¡ stravaig: (verb) to wander aimlessly; (noun) an instance of such wandering Not all who wander are lost J.R.R. Tolkien “The Riddle Of Strider” (1954) This Scots word has been on my “to do” list for a while, linking back as it does to my recent post about useful Scottish words, and farther back to … Continue reading Stravaig →]]> Wed, 27 Oct 2021 13:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbChcWTQF7Dzux-xWH3zZqEA https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbDFSD5uEfQcOrG7Iy_4u0x9 Scotland is a picturesque country where the people are friendly yet completely incomprehensible. Adam Schlesinger Setting aside Scots accents, which most people manage to tune into after fairly short exposure, it’s the vocabulary of Scottish English which is the main source of incomprehension for visitors. Some Scots words are easily translated: to swither is to … Continue reading Five Useful Scottish Words →]]> Wed, 29 Sep 2021 13:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbDFSD5uEfQcOrG7Iy_4u0x9 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbB0U0W4wlqk1t6jHbRcHw3s wɒnhəʊp Wanhope: hopelessness, despair Now comth wanhope þat is dispeire of the mercy of god þat comth somtyme of to moch outrageous sorow and som tyme of to moch drede Geoffrey Chaucer The Parson’s Tale (c.1400) I’ve fallen into the habit, recently, of picking words from current affairs for my posts about etymology and usage. … Continue reading Wanhope →]]> Wed, 18 Aug 2021 13:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbB0U0W4wlqk1t6jHbRcHw3s https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbDghlA-nk0pKFRpWVnEcNkS ˈlæbɪrɪnθ Labyrinth: 1) A structure consisting of a number of intercommunicating passages arranged in bewildering complexity, through which it is difficult or impossible to find one’s way without guidance. 2) A structure consisting of a single passageway winding compactly through a tortuous route between an entrance and a central point. When Minos reached Cretan soil … Continue reading Labyrinth →]]> Wed, 07 Jul 2021 13:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbDghlA-nk0pKFRpWVnEcNkS https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbBK77edDk2oGFRpWVnEcNkS In my previous post about this word, I described how the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland, Alba, originated in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European albho-, meaning "white". In Proto-Celtic, this evolved into another word something like albiyu. This word seems to have meant something like "bright place" or "high place", and in the later Celtic languages Brittonic and Goidelic (spoken on the islands of Britain and Ireland, respectively) it produced place-names that ended up as Alba, Albion and Albany. Likewise in the Germanic languages, albho- gave rise to a "high place" word that gives us the name of the Alps mountain range.]]> Wed, 26 May 2021 13:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbBK77edDk2oGFRpWVnEcNkS https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbAOh5ctGUQjKu4sICfMfkNm How did "Alba" come to be a name for Scotland?]]> Wed, 14 Apr 2021 13:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbAOh5ctGUQjKu4sICfMfkNm https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH4zHgrmwRGUK6 ɪˈnɒkjʊleɪt inoculate: (horticulture) to insert a plant bud as a graft into another plant; (medicine) to insert a disease organism into the body by puncturing the skin, or into a culture medium using a needle; (medicine) to inject a vaccine In May 1796, Edward Jenner found a young dairymaid, Sarah Nelms, who had fresh cowpox … Continue reading Inoculate →]]> Wed, 17 Feb 2021 14:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH4zHgrmwRGUK6 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH4wSngkwrdsok dɪˈmɒkrəsɪ Democracy: that form of government in which the sovereign power resides in the people as a whole […] we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall … Continue reading Democracy →]]> Wed, 20 Jan 2021 14:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH4wSngkwrdsok https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH41w3HFUzDTIP nəˈtɪvɪtɪ nativity: Birth, in particular the birth of Jesus Christ This is the month, and this the happy morn, Wherein the Son of Heav’n’s eternal King, Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born, Our great redemption from above did bring; For so the holy sages once did sing, That he our deadly forfeit should release, … Continue reading Nativity →]]> Wed, 23 Dec 2020 14:00:10 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH41w3HFUzDTIP https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH41yOSYGFl6uu ʌnˈplɛd Unpled: (legal) not used as an argument; undefended by evidence This Court has been unable to find any case in which a plaintiff has sought such a drastic remedy in the contest of an election, in terms of the sheer volume of votes asked to be invalidated. One might expect that when seeking such … Continue reading Unpled →]]> Wed, 25 Nov 2020 14:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH41yOSYGFl6uu https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH49aXKMm36c-X The office of Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., announced April 9 he had a positive test for the coronavirus after visiting the emergency room “out of an abundance of caution” the evening of April 6. […] “Congresswoman Fletcher sought professional medical treatment out of an abundance of caution. At the determination of her physician, she was … Continue reading An Abundance Of Caution →]]> Wed, 14 Oct 2020 14:00:16 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH49aXKMm36c-X https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH44IAmcWJ0TmB ɪˈmjuːnɪtɪ Immunity: Exemption from a service, obligation, or duty; the condition of being insusceptible to the contagion of a specific disease Our aim is to try and reduce the peak, broaden the peak, not suppress it completely; also, because the vast majority of people get a mild illness, to build up some kind of herd … Continue reading Immunity →]]> Wed, 16 Sep 2020 14:00:13 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH44IAmcWJ0TmB https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH4y1Ly282xAAw ˈænθrɒpɔːz Anthropause: The period of reduced human mobility brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic Over the past few months, many countries around the world went into lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19. Brought about by the most tragic circumstances, this period of unusually reduced human mobility — which we suggest be coined ‘anthropause’ — … Continue reading Anthropause →]]> Wed, 05 Aug 2020 14:00:48 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH4y1Ly282xAAw https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH44vmyuk5fxzE niː knee: The joint between the thigh and lower leg; an object or structure which resembles this joint I’ve got to say, on this “taking a knee” thing—I don’t know, maybe it’s got a broader history but it seems to be taken from The Game of Thrones—feels to me like a symbol of subjugation and … Continue reading Knee →]]> Wed, 24 Jun 2020 14:00:07 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH44vmyuk5fxzE https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH45NaYRWadcX6 ˈaɪsəleɪtɪd Isolated: placed or standing apart or alone; detached or separate from other things or persons; unconnected with anything else; solitary To protect others, you must stay at home if you or someone you live with has symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19). This is called self-isolation. UK National Health Service, Self-Isolation Advice (2020) During the Current … Continue reading Isolated →]]> Wed, 27 May 2020 14:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH45NaYRWadcX6 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH4wX50KYzL9tX   DESIDERATA Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Those are the opening lines of Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann, originally written in 1927. The text has a rather complicated history of publication, and … Continue reading Latin Plurals: Nouns Ending In -um →]]> Wed, 13 May 2020 14:00:22 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/zNjpwFSEMbD7eofjeWMH4wX50KYzL9tX