What new word did you learn today?

[Louanne Learning]

Semiological - refers to the study of signs and symbols and how they create meaning.

Also known as semiotics, this field examines how signs are organized into systems (like language, traffic signals, or logos) and how people interpret and use them to communicate ideas and interact with the world.

We can also talk about the semiotics of the moon, the sun and the stars…

 

[CatrionaGrace]

So talking about the semiotics of the moon, sun, and stars would be employing the semantics of semiotics of sidereal subjects?

 

[JLT]

Semiological - refers to the study of signs and symbols and how they create meaning.

At first, I read that as "semilogical" which is a great word for describing incomplete or inaccurate results of faulty deduction.

 

[Selluwud]

At first, I read that as "semilogical" which is a great word for describing incomplete or inaccurate results of faulty deduction.

I read that as "half-ass"

I'm not fast, I'm not slow.........I'm half fast.

 

[Catrin Lewis]

It's curious: I know that "smelt" is past-tense of "smell", but doesn't it also have something to do with blacksmithing -- smelting iron, and all that?

I thought for a second that maybe the latter use made the former fall out of fashion (maybe people thought there would be confusion), but then I realised that's ridiculous. Why would anyone be confused? The meaning of the word would depend on context, that's all.

It's also a kind of small fish, which, when I was fresh out of college, practically jobless, and poor, I once or twice bought frozen in a large bag because they were cheap protein. I told myself I was being resourceful.

I could not lie and tell myself they tasted good. Or that they didn't give me indigestion. I'm afraid most of those poor little fish died in vain.

 

[Catrin Lewis]

Speaking of fish, or not of fish, the new word I learned today is

Saltmouth

Which, at first sight, I thought was a kind of fish, but I was wrong. It's a wide-mouthed glass jar with a glass stopper, made for storing chemical salts.

 

[Catrin Lewis]

Semiological - refers to the study of signs and symbols and how they create meaning.

Also known as semiotics, this field examines how signs are organized into systems (like language, traffic signals, or logos) and how people interpret and use them to communicate ideas and interact with the world.

We can also talk about the semiotics of the moon, the sun and the stars…

I wonder if it's the same root as semaphore. Maybe not.

 

[JLT]

I wonder if it's the same root as semaphore. Maybe not.

surprise... it is. Translated from the Greek, it means "sign bearer" or "sign carrier." Those beacons atop mountains in "Return of the King" were semaphores. So are the signal lamps used by naval vessels, and those flag/light combinations used by railroads. And those flag alphabets I learned in the Boy Scouts, where I had to signal a message to my brother in order to get a merit badge or something.

All these things entail the use of signs, positions, or markers to communicate a message.

 

[Naomasa298]

It's curious: I know that "smelt" is past-tense of "smell", but doesn't it also have something to do with blacksmithing -- smelting iron, and all that?

It's also a fish.

EDIT: Damn, @Catrin Lewis beat me to it.

 

[Catrin Lewis]

It's also a fish.

EDIT: Damn, @Catrin Lewis beat me to it.

GMTA

 

[Louanne Learning]

It's also a fish.

Great childhood memories - catching smelts - and gutting them, and then coating them in flour and frying them, and oh boy they were so good

 

[CatrionaGrace]

I kinda worry about someone whose great childhood memory involves gutting fish...

 

[Naomasa298]

flâneur - a man who saunters around and observes society.

 

[Homer Potvin]

flâneur - a man who saunters around and observes society.

That's kind of me without the sauntering. How about waddling?

 

[Naomasa298]

That's kind of me without the sauntering. How about waddling?

Oh, I dunno, I don't think sauntering and waddling are mutually exclusive.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Oh, I dunno, I don't think sauntering and waddling are mutually exclusive.

What if I waddle with urgency?

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Maybe flâbneur?

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Petrichor. The pleasant, earthy smell produced when rain falls on dry soil.

 

[JLT]

Petrichor. The pleasant, earthy smell produced when rain falls on dry soil.

Always loved that word. In California, the onset of rainfall in autumn is quite welcome, at least until the rain really gets serious and starts flooding.

The word I learned today is encephalomalacia. It's "a localized softening of the substance of the brain, due to bleeding or inflammation." I learned it because it's part of the results of a CT scan given to my wife last night after a fall. She's on blood thinners, so every time she falls and really whacks something (In this case, her head), she's counseled to go to the emergency room to get checked out. Fortunately, she was released back into the wild after five hours, so I guess it wasn't too serious.

One of the conditions of getting older is that our vocabulary of medical conditions increases beyond measure. I'm learning the words for things that I never dreamed existed, not only for myself but for my family and friends. A dear friend of mine, who is now in her eighties, told me, "One thing about people our age, John, is when they start talking about their health, they never stop."

 

[Louanne Learning]

numina - the spirit or divine power presiding over a thing or a place

entia (singular = ens) - entities, beings or existing things

I learned these words from a quote I read today from Jung:

“… it becomes increasingly clear that numina are psychic entia that force themselves upon consciousness, since night after night our dreams practice philosophy on their own account."