Word of the Day

[Scheherazade]

hubris noun [U] LITERARY

very great pride and belief in your own importance:

He was punished for his hubris.

source

[Fango]

incommode - v. cause inconvenience; disturb.

He always incommodes people with his bad breath.

Source

[Taliesin]

munchkin

1.A very small person.
2.Informal. A child.
3.Informal. A minor official.
[After the Munchkins, characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.]
First source

But in role-playing games, such as LARP or D&D or internet RPG-s, munchkin means:
A munchkin is a player who plays a normally cooperative game exclusively for the purposes of "winning", usually at the cost of the other players' enjoyment of in an RPG or a MUD game. The term is also frequently used in reference to powergamers and to immature players in general.

A more neutral use of the term is in reference to young players, who, not knowing yet how to roleplay, typically obsess about the statistical "power" of their characters rather than developing their characters' fictional "personalities."

Some people say this is a certain stage of a gamer's growth and that if one starts to understand the philosophy behind an RPG, they will stop these kind of Munchkin behaviours.

"He constantly begged the DM for more bonuses and better stats. What a munchkin."
Second source

[Scheherazade]

odious adj FORMAL

extremely unpleasant; causing and deserving hate:

an odious crime

an odious little man


odium noun [U] FORMAL

hate and strong disapproval

source

[Basil]

July 10

flapdoodle
also flap-doodle

NOUN: Slang foolish talk; nonsense

I could scarcely bring myself to read his posts, finding them full of so much flapdoodle.

Here ya go!

[baddad]

[QUOTE=Basil]July 10


NOUN: Slang foolish talk; nonsense[/font]

I could scarcely bring myself to read his posts, finding them full of so much flapdoodle.

[QUOTE]

Colloquialism: designating or of the words, phrases, et., characteristic of informal speech and writing; conversational.

: often/commonly regional in particular useage

[Scheherazade]

bosh exclamation, noun [U] OLD-FASHIONED

nonsense:

Don't talk such bosh!

source


bosh noun, interjection

Nonsense.

[From Turkish bos (empty). The term was popularized in English by its
use in the novels of James J. Morier (1780-1849).]

source

[Scheherazade]

Roman holiday n.

1. Enjoyment or satisfaction derived from observing the suffering of others.

2. A violent public spectacle or disturbance in which shame, degradation, or physical harm is intentionally inflicted on one person or group by another.

(From the bloody gladiatorial contests staged as entertainment for the ancient Romans.)

"There were his young barbarians all at play;
There was their Dacian mother: he, their sire,
Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday!"

Lord Byron; Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; Canto iv. Stanza 141.


source

[Scheherazade]

hoi polloi \hoi-puh-LOI\, noun:

The common people generally; the masses.


Lizzie insisted that her children distinguish themselves from the hoi polloi by scrupulous honesty.
--Kate Buford, Burt Lancaster: An American Life

The exchange of roles in "The Prince and the Pauper" suggests that a man of the people can be a benevolent ruler because of his humble roots, that a prince can become a better ruler through exposure to hoi polloi.
--Michiko Kakutani "In Classic Children's Books, Is a Witch Ever Just a Witch?" New York Times, December 22, 1992

America's cereal queen [Marjorie Merriweather Post, heir to the Post Cereal fortune] had the same problems that the hoi polloi have -- philandering husbands, messy divorces, soggy Grape-Nuts.
--Maureen Dowd, "Rich Little Rich Girl," New York Times, February 12, 1995

Hoi polloi is Greek for "the many."

http://dictionary.reference.com/word...001/05/30.html


Usage Note: Hoi polloi is a borrowing of the Greek phrase hoi polloi, consisting of hoi, meaning “the” and used before a plural, and polloi, the plural of polus, “many.” In Greek hoi polloi had a special sense, “the greater number, the people, the commonalty, the masses.” This phrase has generally expressed this meaning in English since its first recorded instance, in an 1837 work by James Fenimore Cooper. Hoi polloi is sometimes incorrectly used to mean “the elite,” possibly because it is reminiscent of high and mighty or because it sounds like hoity-toity. ·Since the Greek phrase includes an article, some critics have argued that the phrase the hoi polloi is redundant. But phrases borrowed from other languages are often reanalyzed in English as single words. For example, a number of Arabic noun phrases were borrowed into English as simple nouns. The Arabic element al- means “the,” and appears in English nouns such as alcohol and alchemy. Thus, since no one would consider a phrase such as “the alcohol” to be redundant, criticizing the hoi polloi on similar grounds seems pedantic.

http://dictionary.reference.com/sear...q=hoi%20polloi

[Jay]

August 2

bummel: stroll; leisurely journey

[Scheherazade]

pontificate V [I] DISAPPROVING

to speak or write and give your opinion about something as if you knew everything about it and as if only your opinion was correct:

I think it should be illegal for non-parents to pontificate on/about parenting.

Sourse


pon·tif·i·cate n.

The office or term of office of a pontiff.

pon·tif·i·cat·ed, pon·tif·i·cat·ing, pon·tif·i·cates intr.v.

1.To express opinions or judgments in a dogmatic way.

2.To administer the office of a pontiff.

Source

[Scheherazade]

cy·no·sure n.

An object that serves as a focal point of attention and admiration.
Something that serves to guide.

source


cynosure N [C] LITERARY

a person or thing having a quality of excellence or great beauty which attracts a lot of attention.

source

"We attracted a good deal of attention at the Alhambra. On our presenting ourselves at the paybox we were gruffly directed to go round to Castle Street, and were informed that we were half-an-hour behind our time. We convinced the man, with some difficulty, that we were not "the world-renowned contortionists from the Himalaya Mountains," and he took our money and let us pass. Inside we were a still greater success. Our fine bronzed countenances and picturesque clothes were followed round the place with admiring gaze. We were the cynosure of every eye.

It was a proud moment for us all. "

From Three Men in a Boat

[Scheherazade]

quid pro quo noun [C usually singular]

plural quid pro quos FORMAL

something that is given to a person in return for something they have done:

The government has promised food aid as a quid pro quo for the stopping of violence.


source

[Scheherazade]

The new quizes based on 'Word of the Day' thread have been added to the site:

http://www.online-literature.com/for....php?quizid=22

http://www.online-literature.com/for....php?quizid=32

[Jay]

sounding board

Oxford English Dictionary: a person or group whose reactions to ideas or opinons are used as a test of their validity or likely success.