What new word did you learn today?

[Louanne Learning]

when it comes to visualization.

In my family, we definitely have different ways of best getting language into our brains. My sister much prefers audio books, I have to read the print on the page. I guess I'm not that good at audio signals

 

[Rad Scribbler]

Gerrymandering
~ The manipulation of an electoral constituencies boundaries so as to favour one party or class.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Aye. From wikipedia:

Gerrymandering. A portmanteau of a salamander and Elbridge Gerry, a US VP until his death who -- as governor of Massachusetts in 1812 -- signed a bill that created a partisan district in the Boston area that was compared to the shape of a salamander.

The term has negative connotations, and gerrymandering is almost always considered a corruption of the democratic process. The word gerrymander can be used both as a verb for the process and as a noun for a resulting district.

A political cartoon was drawn at the time to show this. Take a look:

 

[Louanne Learning]

Barcarolle​

A barcarolle is a boating-song, generally used to describe the boating-songs of gondoliers in Venice, imitated by composers in songs and instrumental pieces in the 19th century. Chopin wrote one such Barcarolle for piano, and Mendelssohn provided four shorter piano pieces of this kind. At the end of the century and in the early 20th century the French composer Gabriel Fauré wrote thirteen Barcarolles. There is a particularly well known barcarolle in Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann).

 

[CatrionaGrace]

I saw the word and my mind immediately thought, "Daah daah-dah, dah-dah-dah daah-dah..."

 

[Louanne Learning]

A Drudenstein is a pebble with a naturally formed hole in the center. In Bavaria, such pebbles were hung in rooms, on cradles or in stables to ward off nightmares, or to protect horses against matted manes or tails

 

[Louanne Learning]

Cryptozoology is the study of "hidden animals" (cryptids) whose existence isn't scientifically proven, like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or Mokele-Mbembe, often based on folklore, eyewitness accounts, and limited evidence rather than scientific methodology, making it a pseudoscience in the eyes of many academics, though it seeks undiscovered or thought-extinct species.

 

[Naomasa298]

making it a pseudoscience in the eyes of many academics, though it seeks undiscovered or thought-extinct species.

Snuffleupagus disagrees.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

A Drudenstein is a pebble with a naturally formed hole in the center. In Bavaria, such pebbles were hung in rooms, on cradles or in stables to ward off nightmares, or to protect horses against matted manes or tails

We call those hag stones. When I was in Northern Ireland last year, I was trying to decide on a proper souvenier for my kitchen witch daughter-in-law. Looked down at my feet, and lo and behold, there lay two hag stones: one for each of us.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

There is a particularly well known barcarolle in Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann).

Beautiful piece of music, a recording of which we played at our wedding (my wife has class). I did not know that's what it meant.

 

[Louanne Learning]

a recording of which we played at our wedding (my wife has class)

that's so lovely. I found a French version of it, and it's breathtaking ...

Ah! Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour … Souris à nos ivresses …

(Beautiful night, oh night of love … Smile at our intoxications…)

 

[Rigor Mortis]

I just watched that (again). It is hard to believe that sound is coming out of a human being.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

A Drudenstein is a pebble with a naturally formed hole in the center. In Bavaria, such pebbles were hung in rooms, on cradles or in stables to ward off nightmares, or to protect horses against matted manes or tails

We call those hag stones. When I was in Northern Ireland last year, I was trying to decide on a proper souvenier for my kitchen witch daughter-in-law. Looked down at my feet, and lo and behold, there lay two hag stones: one for each of us.

I'd never found one of these, but a major subplot of the Tiffany Aching books (by Terry Pratchett, well worth reading!) concerns Tiffany's attempts to find and keep hold of one of these stones (which in parts of England, especially Cumbria, is called a "dobby stone" -- and no, the term has nothing whatsoever to do with Harry Potter).

Tiffany keeps the stone, along with other keepsakes, when she leaves her home on the Chalk to travel elsewhere and become a witch. In the books, it is considered lucky and is used for magical protection (and eventually, a type of divination).

that's so lovely. I found a French version of it, and it's breathtaking ...

Ah! Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour … Souris à nos ivresses …

(Beautiful night, oh night of love … Smile at our intoxications…)

I have heard this barcarolle before, but it is always enchanting. Speaking of Offenbach, the first operetta I was lucky enough to be a part of (in the chorus) was Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld), a comic masterpiece and probably the first operetta in history.

Although I do hold Offenbach in high regard, Gabriel Fauré is my favourite French composer, possibly because he wrote such exquisite music (especially for the voice). His Requiem is justly famous, his instrumental Pavane and Sicilienne two short masterpieces, the Cantique de Jean Racine magical ... but my current favourite (since I'm trying to learn it, but also for other reasons), is Les Berceaux ("The Ships"):

The translation is:
Along the quay, the great ships that the sea-swells tilt in silence, take no notice of the cradles rocked by the hands of women.

But the day of parting will come, because women must weep and curious men must be tempted toward horizons that will delude them!

And that day, the great ships, fleeing from the port that grows small, will feel their mass restrained by the soul of distant cradles.

The piano accompaniment, sounding so simple, is reminiscent of lullabies and the rocking of cradles, but at the same time echoes the sailors being rocked in their hammocks by the waves. This performance is elegiac and compassionate, warm but noble.

(Sorry to go on about this. French romanticism FTW!)

 

[JLT]

The New York Times crossword puzzle tells me that "on fleek" means "looking good, in slang." Merriam- Webster defines it as "perfectly done : exactly right : excellent." It's a reminder that, no matter how hip or cool I think I am, I'm still just an old fart.

 

[Louanne Learning]

"on fleek"

nah, I think you got rizz

 

[Rath Darkblade]

The New York Times crossword puzzle tells me that "on fleek" means "looking good, in slang." Merriam- Webster defines it as "perfectly done : exactly right : excellent." It's a reminder that, no matter how hip or cool I think I am, I'm still just an old fart.

nah, I think you got rizz

Even better -- you are both hoopy froods who always know where their towels are.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Even better -- you are both hoopy froods who always know where their towels are.

Mine are usually in the laundry.

 

[GoldMoon]

Auspicious - favorable

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Yes, but "auspicious" means more than just "favourable". It means "portending a likelihood of success" -- as in, "I sacrificed a chicken to Zeus, and the omens are auspicious."

The word originates from the Latin auspicium and auspex, literally meaning "bird seer" or "bird observer" (avis "bird" + specere "to look/see"). In ancient Rome, priests or augurs (from which we get the word augury, "a sign or omen of what will happen in the future") observed bird flight patterns to interpret omens, with favorable patterns indicating success, leading to its modern meaning of "favorable" or "promising".

 

[GoldMoon]

Yes, but "auspicious" means more than just "favourable". It means "portending a likelihood of success" -- as in, "I sacrificed a chicken to Zeus, and the omens are auspicious."

The word originates from the Latin auspicium and auspex, literally meaning "bird seer" or "bird observer" (avis "bird" + specere "to look/see"). In ancient Rome, priests or augurs (from which we get the word augury, "a sign or omen of what will happen in the future") observed bird flight patterns to interpret omens, with favorable patterns indicating success, leading to its modern meaning of "favorable" or "promising".

I just put in the short version but yes. It's used a lot in the Foreigner series because the alien species are avid numerologists who think the right numbers govern good fortune. =P