Category Archives: Word Soup

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O. Henry: The Gift of Words

O. Henry

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of American writer O. Henry. Known for his twist endings, the North Carolina native also coined and popularized many words. We’ve gathered ten of our favorites here, with quotations from the O. Henry stories the words first appeared in.

banana republic

“In the constitution of this small, maritime banana republic was a forgotten section that provided for the maintenance of a navy.”

Cabbages and Kings, 1904

The term banana republic – now perhaps more popularly known as a clothing store – refers to “a small country that is economically dependent on a single export commodity, such as bananas, and is typically governed by a dictator or the armed forces.” The term was coined by O. Henry as “a pejorative political descriptor” in Cabbages and Kings, stories “derived from his 1896–97 residence in Honduras, where he was hiding from U.S. law for bank embezzlement.”

cut the mustard

“So I looked around and found a proposition that exactly cut the mustard.”

“Heart of the West,” 1907

To cut the mustard means “to suffice; to be good or effective enough.” The phrase, according to World Wide Words, is likely “a development of the long-established use of mustard as a superlative, as in phrases such as keen as mustard.” Furthermore, in 19th century America, “mustard was used figuratively to mean something that added zest to a situation, and the proper mustard was something that was the genuine article.”

El

“Behold Ikey as he ambles up the street beneath the roaring ‘El’ between the rows of reeking sweat-shops.”

“The Social Triangle,” The Trimmed Lamp, 1906

El is short for an elevated railway or train. “The Social Triangle” takes place in New York City, and refers to an elevated railway run by the Manhattan Railway.

get-rich-quick

“A get-rich-quick – excuse me – gang giving back the boodle!”

“A Tempered Wind,” 1904

Get-rich-quick schemes claim “to provide large profits quickly, with no realistic chance of success, in order to lure gullible investment victims.” In the above quote, the speaker, a newspaper man, is referring to unbelievable stories such as “a sea serpent wriggling up Broadway,” or a get-rich-quick gang giving back boodle, or money.

marcelled

“‘They wash the gold out of the mountain streams,’ says the brown man, ‘and fill quills with it; and then they empty ’em into red jars till they are full; and then they pack it in buckskin sacks of one arroba each—an arroba is twenty-five pounds—and store it in a stone house, with an engraving of a idol with marcelled hair, playing a flute, over the door.’”

“Supply and Demand,” Options, 1909

Marcelled means having the appearance of a marcel hairstyle, “characterized by deep regular waves made by a heated curling iron,” named for French hairdresser, Marcel Grateau.

megaphonist

“‘What’s eatin’ you?’ demanded the megaphonist, abandoning his professional discourse for pure English.”

“Sisters of the Golden Circle,” The Four Million, 1906

A megaphonist is “someone who uses a megaphone,” which is “a large speaking-trumpet of a conical form.”

motoring

“And there are passably good roads through the woods where we go motoring.”

“Rus in Urbe,” Options, 1909

Motoring is “the art of driving or riding in an automobile or motor-car; the sport of driving motor-cars.” By the early 20th century, mass production of automobiles had begun, thus aiding in the popularity of driving for pleasure. Motoring is also the lyric of a certain song.

short order

“There amid the steam of vegetables and the vapours of acres of ‘ham and,’ the crash of crockery, the clatter of steel, the screaming of ‘short orders,’ the cries of the hungering and all the horrid tumult of feeding man, surrounded by swarms of the buzzing winged beasts bequeathed us by Pharaoh, Milly steered her magnificent way like some great liner cleaving among the canoes of howling savages.”

“An Adjustment of Nature,” The Four Million, 1906

A short order is “an order of food that can be prepared and served quickly,” and was first attested as a noun in the above O. Henry story. The phrase in short order means “without delay” and originated around 1834.

side-kicker

“Billy was my side-kicker in New York.”

Cabbages and Kings, 1904

Side-kicker, a partner, was popularized by O. Henry around 1903, says World Wide Words, although the word is older than that, and comes from an even older term, side-partner. Side-kicker became sidekick in 1906.

spiflicated

“Bill is all to the psychopathic about her; and me? – well, you saw me plating the roadbed of the Great Maroon Way with silver to-night. That was on account of Laura. I was spiflicated, Your Highness, and I wot not of what I wouldst.”

“The Story of the Young Man and the Harness Maker’s Riddle,” 1906

Spiflicated, “drunk,” comes from spiflicate, “confound, overcome completely,” says the Online Etymology Dictionary. Spiflicate is a 1749 cant word.

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by Fried Dough]

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Breaking Bad Words: Thieves, Drugs, and Special Sauce

Just what does it mean to break bad? We discussed it in an earlier post: breaking bad is American Southern colloquialism for “turn[ing] toward a life of crime or immoral activity,” as well as, according to Partridge, “act[ing] in a threatening, menacing manner” – two counts, among many others, that Walter White and his band of not-so-merry thieves and drug dealers are guilty of.

We’re guilty of being addicted to this show, and in anticipation of this Sunday’s mid-season finale, have cooked up a glossary of words that break bad. Spoilers follow.

UPDATE: A term from the mid-season finale is now included (see queen for a day).

banjo eyes

Hank: “What about that Lydia what’s-her-name? You know, Lady Banjo Eyes at the warehouse?”

“Fifty-One,” August 5, 2012

Banjo eyes are “wide-open eyes, as from being surprised or startled,” similar in appearance to the round and white banjo body. The term seems to have originated in the early 1900s.

dark territory

Lydia: “If a freight train is stopped in transit anywhere other than the usual yards or depots, absolutely, a signal will automatically alarm the FRA and the TSA surface division of the department of Homeland Security. But what you don’t know and I do because my job requires me to keep track of buyers’ shipments – this is dark territory.”
Jesse: “What’s that?”
Lydia: “Transpeak for an area of no contact. It’s a dead zone. No automated supervision system, no alarms, no contact with control. No cellular either. I’m telling you, it’s the perfect place.”

“Dead Freight,” August 12, 2012

Dark territory refers to “a section of [railroad] track not controlled by signals,” in which “train movements in dark territory are controlled by track warrants or train order operation, with train dispatchers issuing orders by radio communication with train engineers.”

dead drop

Steven [watching Mike]: “It’s a dead drop. He just stashed something underneath that trash can.”

“Buyout,” August 19, 2012

A dead drop is “a location used to secretly pass items between two people, without requiring them to meet.”

ex parte

Saul:  “I have filed for a temporary restraining order against the DEA on behalf of Mr. Ehrmantraut. . . .Expect a visit from the sheriff, agents. You should have your ex parte within the hour.”

“Buyout,” August 19, 2012

A temporary restraining order that is filed ex parte is filed “without informing in advance the party to whom the TRO is directed,” and is usually done so “to prevent an adversary from having notice of one’s intentions.”

The definition of ex parte in law is “proceeding from or concerned with only one part or side of a matter in question: with reference to any step taken by or on behalf of one of the parties to a suit or in any judicial proceeding without notice to the other.”

flip

Saul: “If the DEA catches him and he flips, it’s good night, John Boy.”
Jesse: “Mike won’t flip.”

“Say My Name,” August 26, 2012

To flip in this context means “to cause (a person) to turn against former colleagues, such as to become a witness for the state, in a criminal prosecution in which the person is a defendant.”

Franch

Food scientist: “This one is a new concept, and it intrigues us, half-French dressing, half-ranch. We refer to it simply as ‘Franch.’”

“Madrigal,” July 22, 2012

Franch is a type of salad dressing or sauce that’s a blend, literally and linguistically, of French and ranch dressing.

huckleberry

Saul: “Do I complain? No, beg, borrow, or steal, I’m your huckleberry. I go the extra mile.”

“Live Free or Die,” July 15, 2012

The phrase I’m your huckleberry means “to be just the right person for a given job, or a willing executor of some commission,” says World Wide Words. The phrase comes from the idea of huckleberries being “small, dark and rather insignificant,” and the sense that “the man for the job isn’t obvious.” It doesn’t seem to derive directly from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.

in Dutch

Saul: “She’s been cooking Beneke’s books. He’s in Dutch with the IRS, and once they audit, it’s Rio de Caca for the both of them, to which I say, ‘Hey, let’s involve Walt in this discussion,’ to which she says, ‘No.’”

“Live Free or Die,” July 15, 2012

To be in Dutch means to be “in trouble or disfavor” with, and perhaps comes from the old stereotype, says World Wide Words, of the Dutch being “stolid, miserly, and bad-tempered.” Other Dutch phrases include go Dutch, Dutch treat, Dutch courage, and Dutch uncle.

mule

Mike: “You’re forgetting about the mules. They get a flat 20%”
Walt: “The what?”
Jesse: “The drivers that are the ones that take the product from us to the dealers.”

“Hazard Pay,” July 29, 2012

A mule is slang for “a person who serves as a courier of illegal drugs.” It comes from the idea of the mule as a pack animal, “used to carry loads,” and is first attested to 1935.

queen for a day

Lawyer: “The best I’d be willing to do is queen for a day and reduced charges.”
Hank: “He could be a fairy princess for all I care.”

“Gliding Over All,” September 2, 2012

Queen for a day agreements, according to the New York Criminal Bar Association, are also known as proffer agreements. They “govern the conditions under which prospective criminal defendants and the government agree to conduct an interview,” and

generally require criminal defendants, who hope to gain leniency through a reduced sentence or immunity grant, to waive their plea-statement rights, and they permit, in certain circumstances, the prosecution to introduce previously inadmissible proffer statements at trial.

The term comes from the television show of the same name.

second-story man

Saul: “Pest control operation’s legit. They’re licensed, they’re bonded, they do as good a job as anyone in town. But they’re also top-drawer second-story men.
Walt: “Second story?”
Saul: “B&E artists. They’re burglars.”

“Hazard Pay,” July 29, 2012

A second-story man is slang for “a burglar adept at entering through upstairs windows.” A B&E artist is adept at breaking and entering, which is “the gaining of unauthorized, illegal access to another’s premises, as by forcing a lock.”

special sauce

Hank [to Mike]: “Corporate security. What’s that, like guarding the special sauce?”

“Madrigal,” July 22, 2012

Special sauce originally referred to McDonald’s “basic ingredient in [their] Big Mac hamburgers, a sort of Thousand Island dressing (now called Big Mac sauce by the company),” but now perhaps refers to any unidentifiable fast food sauce. For more on special sauces, checkout Erin McKean’s article on saucy affixes.

[Photo: Coke & Popcorn]

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True Blood: Some Fangtastic Words

The season finale of the television show True Blood is right around the corner – are you all caught up on the vampire drama? If not (and even if you are), take a bite out of our favorite words from the little town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, where “everyone wants a taste.”

Contains possible spoilers and definite expletives.

abjure

Alcide: “I lost packmaster. I’ve been abjured.”
Jackson: “Well, you’re a lone wolf now, just like your old man.”

“Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” August 5, 2012

To be abjured means to be banished from a wolf pack. The packmaster is the leader of the wolf pack while a lone wolf refers to both “a wolf that is not part of a pack” and “a person who avoids the company of others; a loner.”

baby vamp

Pam [to Jessica]: “Since when did I become a halfway house for wayward baby vamps?”

“Sunset,” August 19, 2012

A baby vamp is a newly-turned vampire, perhaps in the last three years or so (some vampires are hundreds and even thousands of years old). Baby vamp is also 1920s slang for “a popular girl,” where vamp means “a woman who uses her sex appeal to entrap and exploit men.”

daywalk

Russell: “The legends are true. The blood of the Fae allows us to daywalk.”

“Gone, Gone, Gone,” August 12, 2012

To daywalk means to walk during the day. When True Blood’s vampires drink fairy blood, they are protected from the sun and may walk during daylight hours.

dead check

Terry: “She’s alive, sergeant!”
Patrick: “Dead check her.”

“Let’s Boot and Rally,” July 8, 2012

Dead checking is “U.S. military jargon for the practice of verifying the death of Iraqi insurgents and the subsequent killing of those who remain alive.”

drainer

Alcide: “I didn’t do anything to Debbie. She’s probably holed up with some drainer getting loaded.”

“Whatever I Am, You Made Me,” June 24, 2012

A drainer is one who attacks vampires and drains their blood supply for the purpose of selling the vampires’ blood as V, a highly addictive drug that “may cause psychotic or murderous rampages by human users upon the first use.”

fangbanger

Tara: “I never took you for no fangbanger.”
Hoyt: “I never took you for no vamper.”

“Let’s Boot and Rally,” July 8, 2012

Fangbangers are “vampire groupies—those who enjoy having sex with vampires and being bitten.” More kinds of groupies.

fang boner

Jessica [to Steve Newlin]: “Look at you, fang boner, and real boner.”

“Authority Always Wins,” June 17, 2012

A fang boner is the way a vampire shows he or she is sexually aroused – with “erect” fangs.” Boner meaning “a blunder or an error” originated around 1912, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, as baseball slang, perhaps as a shortening of bonehead. Boner meaning “erect penis” is from the 1950s.

glamour

Commander: “They know too much.”
Bill: “Nothing that a little glamouring won’t take care of.”

“Hopeless,” July 15, 2012

Glamouring is a type of hypnosis that vampires can perform on non-vampires. An archaic definition of the word glamour is “enchantment; a supposed influence of a charm on the eye, causing it to see objects under an unreal semblance; hence, anything that obscures or deceives vision, physical or mental; fascination; charm; witchery.” The word is Scottish in origin and an alteration of the English grammar, which had the “medieval sense of ‘any sort of scholarship, especially occult learning.’”

A grimoire, which comes from an altered form of the French grammaire, “grammar,” is “a book of instructions in the use of magic or alchemy, especially summoning demons.”

ground

Molly [regarding iStakes]: “These things are totally indestructible, waterproof, fireproof yada yada yada. Knows who you had for breakfast, and where you go to ground.”

“Whatever I Am, You Made Me,” June 24, 2012

To ground means, for vampires, to sleep somewhere away from the sun, which could mean literally in the ground or in a dark well-protected place such as a basement. On the television show Being Human, a grounding for a vampire has another meaning: the punishment of being buried alive, playing on the meaning of being grounded, “confined to one’s room, typically by a parent, as a punishment.”

ifrit

Brian: “It’s called ifrit. It means ‘the evil,’ an infernal being of smoke and fire, and it’s coming for us.”

“Let’s Boot and Rally,” July 8, 2012

An ifrit, also afrit and afreet, is (in Arabian mythology), “a powerful evil demon or monster,” and a type of jinn, “a class of spirits lower than the angels, made of fire, capable of appearing in both human and animal forms, and exercising supernatural influence over mankind, for both good and evil.” The word ifrit comes from either the Arabic afara, “to rub with dust,” or the Middle Persian afritan, which corresponds to the Modern Persian word for “to create.”

laid man

Jason: “Listen, I ain’t been to med school, or fairy school, or nothin’. So if you could put it in terms a laid man can understand, I’d appreciate it.”

“In the Beginning,” July 22, 2012

Laid man here is an eggcorn, a lexical misuse that makes sense to the speaker or listener. What Jason means is layman, “an unprofessional man; a man belonging to the laity or general mass of people,” but laid man makes sense to him because he is one who gets laid often, or has a lot of sex.

An eggcorn from Jason last season was parrot-phrase: “I might be parrot-phrasing a little.” He meant paraphrase, “to restate or translate with latitude.” To parrot means “to say or repeat by rote or not understandingly, like a parrot; repeat mechanically.”

mainstreaming

Roman: “Every vampire on this council has committed our careers, our lives, our destinies, to mainstreaming. Co-existence with humans is not an option. It is a necessity.”

“Authority Always Wins,” June 17, 2012

Mainstreaming refers to, according to the True Blood Wikia, “a social movement within the vampire race, in which vampires attempt to integrate themselves into everyday human society.” The term comes from mainstream, “to incorporate into a prevailing group.” The original sense of mainstream, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, was “principal current of a river,” which originated in the 1660s, and came to mean “prevailing direction in opinion, popular taste, etc.” around 1831.

True Blood’s mainstreaming may have the ironic echo of mainlining, “inject[ing] a drug intravenously,” with the idea of the vampires ingesting humans’ blood, or vice versa.

maker

Pam: “You’re my maker, Eric, and I would die for you gladly a thousand times before I would ever betray you. You know I would.”
Eric: “Then you’d be a fool.”

“We’ll Meet Again,” July 1, 2012

A maker is a vampire that has turned a human into a vampire, and plays on maker as a synonym for God. The new vampire is the maker’s progeny. Makers have full control over their progeny until the progeny are formally released.

necromancer

Bill: “You’re taking a huge risk. Why would you choose – ”
Nora: “Because I’d do anything for Eric. . .and because you did what you did protecting us from the necromancers.”

“Turn! Turn! Turn!” June 10, 2012

A necromancer practices necromancy, “divination by calling up the spirits of the dead and conversing with them; the pretended summoning of apparitions of the dead in order that they may answer questions.”

nest behavior

Jessica: “Bill, I’ve never seen him like that. He was cold. Cruel, even.”
Pam: “That’s nest behavior. When vampires live together for a long time and feed off of each other’s blood, they form a nest and become sadistic and crazy. From what you’re telling me, drinking that Lilith’s blood has made it a nest on steroids.”

“Sunset,” August 19, 2012

Nest in this context means “a place or environment that fosters rapid growth or development, especially of something undesirable; a hotbed,” and conveys a hornet’s nest, “a highly contentious or hazardous situation.” Nesting behavior is the behavior of humans or animals as they prepare to give birth to young.

peckerwood

Pam: “You exist only for Tara’s nourishment. You will consider it a privilege to let your racist, peckerwood blood shoot into her gorgeous cocoa mouth.”

“Somebody That I Used to Know,” July 29, 2012

A peckerwood is “a slur used through the mid 20th century by southern African Americans and upper class whites to describe poor rural whites.” The word originated around 1859 as a “U.S. Southern black dialectal inversion of woodpecker; in folklore, taken as the type of white folks (1929) and symbolically contrasted with blackbird.”

Sanguinista movement

Roman: “Have you heard of the Sanguinista movement?”
Steve: “They believe that humans should be farmed like cattle, owned like slaves.”

“Whatever I Am, You Made Me,” June 24, 2012

The Sanguinista movement is “a faction of rebellious vampires. . .opposed to mainstreaming,” who “believe that vampires should dominate humans instead of coexisting in peace.”

The word Sanguinista is a blend of sanguine, “bloodthirsty; bloody,” and Sandinista of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, “a social-democratic political party in Nicaragua which was communist in the 1980s” that “overthrew [the president] Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, ending the Somoza dynasty, and established a revolutionary government in its place.”

Sandinista comes from “Augusto César Sandino (1895–1934), the charismatic leader of Nicaragua’s nationalist rebellion against the US occupation of the country during the early 20th century.”

silver

Eric: “Be careful. [Russell is] the strongest vampire I’ve ever met.”
Salome: “He’s been silvered, intravenously. He’s quite impaired.”

“Hopeless,” July 15, 2012

Silver “seems to be the only element on earth able to hold down and bind a vampire,” burning their skin upon contact. In some folklore, a silver bullet is deadly to werewolves, witches, and other supernatural creatures. A silver bullet also refers to “an infallible means of attack or defense,” or “a simple remedy for a difficult or intractable problem.”

skinwalk

Sam [to Luna]: “I’m taking you back to the hospital. My brother died from skinwalking.”

“Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” August 5, 2012

To skinwalk means to change into another human, which differs from shapeshifting, which means changing from human into animal form. Symptoms after an episode of skinwalking “include running a high fever and vomiting blood,” and possibly death.

supe

Jason: “Those guys, and all those strippers, they’re fairies, like Tinkerball [sic]! They’re supes, man.”

“Let’s Boot and Rally,” July 8, 2012

Supe is short for supernatural, “that which is above or beyond the established course or laws of nature; something transcending nature.”

true death

Salome: “Her betrayal was unforgivable. She met the true death.”

“Authority Always Wins,” June 17, 2012

The true death refers to “the ultimate destruction of an otherwise immortal being, such as a vampire.” Vampires may die by a wooden stake or bullet through the heart, prolonged exposure to sunlight, being drained of all blood and not replenished in time, and decapitation.

WT

Sookie [to Luna]: “I got junk magazines, junk food because I know how awful hospital food can be, and of course some flowers to class it up a bit so I don’t seem to so WT.”

“In the Beginning,” July 22, 2012

WT stands for white trash, “a disparaging term for a poor white person or poor white people.” The terms seems to have originated around 1831 originally as “Southern U.S. black slang.”

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Favorite Food Words: Celebrating Julia Child’s 100th Birthday

Today marks what would have been the 100th birthday of Julia Child, the former OSS worker turned chef, writer, and television personality who introduced the American public to French cuisine. We’re celebrating Child with some of our favorite eating words, from French terms, to cuisines, to types of eaters. Bon appetit!

bonne bouche

“The Old Vic keep their bonne bouche to the last. Vol-au-vent, anchovy toast, devils on horseback? (These culinary similes naturally attach themselves to a play which has such a lot of eating in it; have the psycho-analysts got on to that?)”

Christopher Small, “Wilde Masterpiece Was Clear and Crisp,” The Glasgow Herald, October 31, 1960

A bonne bouche is “a choice mouthful of food; a dainty morsel: said especially of something very excellent reserved to the end of a repast.” Translated from the French as “good mouth,” bonne bouche is also used figuratively to mean a delightful ending.

In contrast, an amuse-bouche, a type of hors d’oeuvre, comes at the beginning of the meal and differs from appetizers in that it is “not ordered from a menu by patrons, but, when served, [is] done so for free and according to the chef’s selection alone.”

cuisine minceur

“It’s true, Michel Guerard says. He did indeed invent cuisine minceur to win the lovely Christine. . . . ‘Vous savez, Michel, if you would lose some weight, you’d look great,’ [Christine] said.”

“‘Minceur’ chef shifts to chocolates,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 23, 1982

Cuisine minceur is “a low-calorie style of French cooking,” and translates as “cooking thinness.” Other types of French cuisines include haute cuisine, “elaborate or skillfully prepared food” (where haute means “high or elegant” and also give us haute couture); cuisine classique; and nouvelle cuisine, “a contemporary school of French cooking that seeks to bring out the natural flavors of foods and substitutes light, low-calorie sauces and stocks for the traditional heavy butter-based and cream-based preparations.”

epicure

“No; the epicure is the lady’s humble servant, the Prince d’Athis, a man of cultivated palate and fastidious appetite, spoilt by club cooking and not to be satisfied by silver plate or the sight of fine liveries and irreproachable white calves.”

Alphonse Daudet, The Immortal

An epicure is “one given up to sensual enjoyment, and especially to the pleasures of eating and drinking.” The word originally meant “follower of Epicurus,” says Online Etymology Dictionary, where Epicouros was an ancient Greek philosopher “who taught that pleasure is the highest good and identified virtue as the greatest pleasure.” By the 1560s, epicure came to be used “pejoratively for ‘one who gives himself up to sensual pleasure,’” and non-pejoratively by the 1580s.

Some of our favorite synonyms for epicure include bon vivant, “a person with refined taste, especially one who enjoys superb food and drink”; opsophagist, “one who habitually eats dainties”; and trencher-critic, “a person curious in cookery and table-service.” Some gluttonous words we like are belly-god, “one who makes a god of his belly, that is, whose great business or pleasure is to gratify his appetite”; grand-paunch, “a greedy fellow”; and lick-fingers, also “often used by the Elizabethan dramatists as the personal name of a cook.”

gastronomer

“On the heels of the French Revolution, gastronomy developed as a self-conscious aesthetic, modeled on the eighteenth-century discourse of taste. The gastronomer around the turn of the nineteenth century began to make a fine art of food just as his better-known peer, the dandy, would do of fashion.”

Denise Gigante, “Romantic Gastronomies,” Romantic Circles, University of Maryland

A gastronomer is “one versed in gastronomy; one who is a judge of good living; a judge of the art of cookery.” Gastronomer or gastronome is a back-formation of gastronomy, a word that was coined, says Online Etymology Dictionary, in 1800 by Joseph de Berchoux. Gastronomy comes from the Greek gastro, “stomach,” and nomos, “arranging, regulating.”

Gastrology refers to either “the art of cookery or of catering to the demands of the stomach,” or “the scientific study of diseases of the stomach and of their treatment.” A gastro-tourist is, in the words of chef and writer Anthony Bourdain, “somebody who travels to eat.”

goluptious

“Mr M. Nothing! Mis Muddlebrain? You’re insulting! Is it nothing to be able to make a goluptious soup from oyster shells? That’s done by chymistry.”

Douglas William Jerrold, Nell Gwynne

Goluptious is a now obsolete term that means “delicious,” and, according to The Century Dictionary, is a blend a glorious and voluptuous.

kummerspeck

“Kummerspeck is a German word which literally means grief bacon: it is the word that describes the excess weight gained from emotion-related overeating.”

Georgina Pattinson , “Tingo, Nakkele and Other Wonders,” BBC News, September 26, 2005

Mental Floss gathered together some other wonderful non-English food words including shemomedjamo, literally, “I accidentally ate the whole thing,” a Georgian word that refers to continuing to eat when one is already full because the meal is so delicious; pelinti, translated from Ghanian as “to move hot food around in your mouth”; and pålegg, a Norwegian word that refers to anything that might go in a sandwich.

mouthfeel

“Swallowing oysters whole, therefore, is surely akin to dousing them in Tabasco – it means you don’t have to taste them. The swallow-only camp, however, argues that oysters are a sensual experience that’s more about the ‘mouthfeel‘ than flavour: I think they’re just scared.”

Felicity Cloake, “Oysters: Pearls of Wisdom,” The Guardian, February 17, 2010

Mouthfeel refers to “the texture of food or drink as perceived by the mouth,” and seems to have originated in the 1950s.

organoleptic

“If you haven’t had enough by now, drive across the Charles River to Central Square, Cambridge, for an exotic jolt of ice cream or sorbet at Toscanini’s, a funky laboratory of the organoleptic.”

Raymond Sokolov, “Boston Goes Way Beyond Cod,” The Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2009

Organoleptic means “making an impression on an organ; specifically, making an impression on the organs of touch, taste, and smell,” and comes from the French organoleptique.

smell-feast

“As vagrant followers hover on the verge of a camp, or watchful vultures circle around their prey, so these lower parasites (distinct from the other well-born, more aristocratic genus of smell-feast) prowled vigilantly without the castle walls and beyond the limits of the royal pleasure grounds, finding occasional employment from lackey, valet or equerry, who, imitating their betters, amused themselves betimes with some low buffoon or vulgar clown and rewarded him for his gross stories and antics with a crust and a cup.”

Frederic Stewart Isham, Under the Rose

A smell-feast is “one who finds and frequents good tables; an epicure,” as well as “a parasite; a sponger,” and “a feast at which the guests are supposed to feed upon the odors only of the viands.”

toothsome

“There are two sorts of these pies, both made of mincemeat, but the one is made in a dish like an apple pie and eaten hot – rather rich with its hot grease, you may think, but very toothsome I can assure you.”

“A Farmer’s Christmas in the Dales,” The Guardian, December 26, 1903

Toothsome means “palatable; pleasing to the taste,” as well as “pleasant; attractive,” and “sexually attractive or exciting.” The Online Etymology Dictionary says that the “pleasing to the taste” sense is from the 1560s while the figurative sense of “attractive” is “a bit older,” from the 1550s.

For even more celebrating, be sure to check out the special Julia Child page at PBS.

[Photo: Via Wikipedia]

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Word Soup Wednesday

Welcome to Word Soup Wednesday! While the television show The Soup brings you “the strange, obscure and totally unbelievable moments in pop culture, celebrity news and reality TV,” Word Soup brings you those strange, obscure, unbelievable (and sometimes NSFW) words from talk shows, sitcoms, dramas, and just about anything else on TV.

analog books

Anderson Cooper: “In just a few weeks, you’ll be able to download e-books – is that what the kids do with the digital download? they download them? I still read analog books for the most part.”

“The RidicuList: Classic Novels,” Anderson Cooper 360, July 18, 2012

Analog books, or paper books, are the opposite of e-books. Analog or analogue refers to “a device in which data are represented by continuously variable, measurable, physical quantities, such as length, width, voltage, or pressure,” and is opposed to digital, “expressed in numerical form, especially for use by a computer.” Analog has come to refer to technology that is older or out-of-date.

anaphor

Jon Stewart: “By using the phrase ‘you didn’t build that,’ you create confusion by using the demonstrative singular pronoun, ‘that’ instead of the plural anaphor, ‘those,’ which of course would be referring to the antecedent, ‘roads and bridges’. . . .My butt is giving myself a grammar wedgie!”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, July 25, 2012

An anaphor is “a word (such as a pronoun) used to avoid repetition; the referent of an anaphor is determined by its antecedent.” The word anaphor ultimately comes from the Greek anapherein, “to carry back, to bring up.”

breastaurant

Anderson Cooper: “Still, the breastaurant owner – not my word, by the way, it’s on their website – wants to turn [the town he bought and renamed Bikinis] into a world-class destination, possibly with a bikinis hall of fame.”

“The RidicuList: Bikinis, Texas,” Anderson Cooper 360, July 25, 2012

Breastaurant is a blend of breast and restaurant, and refers to establishments such as Hooters and, in this case, a restaurant called Bikinis, in which waitresses wear skimpy uniforms that show off their breasts.

Claus-esque

Anderson Cooper: “Plus I think changing the shirt wasn’t really going to help in this case. He happens to be highly Claus-esuqe. What’s he going to do? Take off his face?”

“The RidicuList: Santa problems in Disney,” Anderson Cooper 360, July 26, 2012

Claus-esque means having qualities similar to Santa Claus. This story is regarding Disney theme park officials asking a visitor who resembled Santa Claus to tell children approaching him for pictures that he was on vacation and should be left alone. See Kafkaesque.

epidermicide

Smitty [to criminal robot Roberto]: “You’re under arrest for attempted epidermicide.”

“The Six Million Dollar Mon,” Futurama, July 25, 2012

Epidermicide is the act of skinning someone, or “killing” their skin or epidermis.

ethanol

Bruce Babcock: “About 35-40 percent of the [corn] crop normally goes to ethanol.”

Stephen Colbert: “So am I going to have to fight my Audi for lunch?”

Bruce Babcock: “Well, there is going to be a bit of a fight between ethanol plants and livestock producers about who gets that corn.”

The Colbert Report, July 24, 2012

Ethanol is “the intoxicating agent in fermented and distilled liquors; used pure or denatured as a solvent or in medicines and colognes and cleaning solutions and rocket fuel; proposed as a renewable clean-burning additive to gasoline.” The story above refers to the effect of an ongoing drought in the midwest on corn crops.

Glass-Steagall Act

Sloan: “After the Great Depression, Congress wanted to put a firewall between the investment banks and the commercial banks. They wanted to make sure that Wall Street could melt to the ground and the commercial banks couldn’t be touched. They passed a law, the Glass-Steagall Act. Now you could be Gordon Gekko or George Bailey, but you couldn’t be both.”

“Amen,” The Newsroom, July 22, 2012

The Glass-Steagall Act is also referred to as the Banking Act of 1933, and is “named after its Congressional sponsors, Senator Carter Glass (D) of Virginia, and Representative Henry B. Steagall (D) of Alabama.” The act was “repealed through the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999 by President Bill Clinton.” Gordon Gecko is a character from the film Wall Street and is famous for his quote, “Greed is good,” while George Bailey is the main character from the film, It’s a Wonderful Life.

gotcharazzi

Stephen Colbert: “Of course the media gotcharazzi are saying that ‘Anglo-Saxon’ is some sort of racial code word, as in white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. But Mitt’s campaign isn’t saying that he’s a WASP. They never said ‘white’ or ‘Protestant.’ They’re just saying that he’s an ‘AS.’”

The Colbert Report, July 25, 2012

Gotcharazzi is a blend of gotcha and paparazzi. The paparazzi, plural for paprazzo, “a freelance photographer who doggedly pursues celebrities to take candid pictures for sale to magazines and newspapers,” may say, “Gotcha!” as they catch someone in a compromising position.

insourcing

President Obama [regarding Mitt Romney’s time at Bain Capital]: “I don’t want to pioneer in outsourcing. I want some insourcing. I want to bring companies back.”

“Keeping Them Honest,” Anderson Cooper 360, July 16, 2012

Insourcing is “the obtaining of goods or services using existing in-house resources or employees,” and is the opposite of outsourcing, “the procuring of services or products, such as the parts used in manufacturing a motor vehicle, from an outside supplier or manufacturer in order to cut costs.” The word outsourcing originated around 1981, while insourcing seems to have come about shortly afterward. See also offshoring and inshoring.

meat puppet

Robot Hermes [regarding the puppet made from his human body parts]: “That meat puppet disgusts me. It’s time for the ultimate upgrade.”

“The Six Million Dollar Mon,” Futurama, July 25, 2012

Meat puppet, or meatpuppet, has multiple meanings. In Ursula Le Guin’s short story, “The Diary of the Rose,” it seems to refer to humans as unthinking bodies. A popular current definition is “one whose sole reason for participating in a discussion or forum is to support, or express agreement with, a friend.” The Chronicle of Higher Education describes a meat puppet as “a peculiar inhabitant of the digital world—a fictional character that passes for a real person online.”

In this episode of Futurama, meat puppet is being used both literally – Robot Hermes is referring to a puppet made of human meat – and as a derogatory term for a human.

oocephalus nectar

Professor Farnsworth: “Say why don’t you just have Kif get you some nectar? It comes from a flower on his home planet.”

Kif: “You mean it’s oocephalus nectar?”

“The Butterjunk Effect,” Futurama, July 18, 2012

Oocephalus means egghead, and comes from the Greek combining word for “egg,” and kephale, “head.” The nectar here is a steroid-like performance enhancer.

world charm offensive

Stephen Colbert: “He’s on the first leg of his world charm offensive, and Mitt really grabbed England by the crumpets when he was asked about the London games.”

The Colbert Report, July 26, 2012

A charm offensive is  “a campaign of deliberately using charm and flattery in order to achieve some goal; especially in a political or diplomatic field.” The phrase seems to have originated in the mid 1950s, with offensive as a military term meaning “an aggressive attitude or course of operations; a posture of attack.” See Tet Offensive.

A world charm offensive is a world-wide charming campaign, and in this context offensive has the additional meaning of “causing or giving offense.”

That’s it for this week! Remember, if you see any Word Soup-worthy words, let us know on Twitter with the hashtag #wordsoup. Your word and Twitter handle might appear right here!

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Word Soup: The Ancient Greek Games

800px-Olympos

The summer Olympic Games began in London this week, and we’ve  already been enjoying all types of Olympian goodies. We learned about the British origins of the modern Olympic games; 27 things we didn’t know about the Olympics; 12 great Olympic nicknames; and how to talk like a Brit if we happen to be in London. In the meantime, we’ve also gathered 10 of our favorite words from the ancient Greek games, Olympic or otherwise.

agon

“The ancient Greek Olympics took place during a time of truce declared specifically for the Games. The competitions were called ‘agons’ (as in ‘agony’) and they sometimes involved fights to the death. There was no second or third place in the Greek Olympics, no silver or bronze medals. This was, like war, winner take all.”

Ronald R. Thomas, “What the Olympics teach us about the role of higher education,” The Seattle Times, February 17, 2006

Agon is “in Greek antiquity, a contest for a prize, whether of athletes in the games or of poets, musicians, painters, and the like.” Agon comes from agein, “to lead,” and gives us the word agony, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, as well as antagonist and protagonist. An agonistarch is “one who trained persons to compete in public games and contests.”

diaulos

“The inscription indicates that the Sebasta had standard Olympic events. The foot races were the stadion (on a track of about 190 meters), diaulos (two laps of the track), and a race in which runners wore a helmet and shin guards and carried a shield.”

Malin Banyasz and Mark Rose, “The Augustan Games of Naples,” Archaeology, April 30, 2008

Diaulos refers to “a double course, in which the racers passed around a goal at the end of the course, and returned to the starting-place.” The word translates from the Greek as “double pipe,” and also refers to “an ancient Greek musical instrument, consisting of two single flutes, either similar or different, so joined at the mouthpiece that they could be played together.”

discobolus

“If we may trust the old marbles, — my friend with his arm stretched over my head, above there, (in plaster of Paris,) or the discobolus, whom one may see at the principal sculpture gallery of this metropolis, — those Greek young men were of supreme beauty.”

“The Professor at the Breakfast-Table,” The Atlantic Monthly, December 1859

A discobolus is “a thrower of the discus; one engaged in the exercise of throwing the discus.”  When capitalized,  the word refers to “a famous ancient statue by Myron (fifth century B.C.), representing a man in the act of throwing a discus.”

Roma - Museo Nazionale Romano a Palazzo Massimo

Roma – Museo Nazionale Romano a Palazzo Massimo

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by Cebete]

Discobolus translates from the Greek as “discus thrower.” Bolos is related to ballein, which gives us ballistic and hyperbole. Disco- is indeed related to disco, “popular dance music, especially of the late 1970s,” in that disco also referred to the discus-shaped “phonograph record.”

epinicion

“An Epinicion is an ancient song of victory sung at the conclusion of a triumphant battle. Greeks would sing the song as they walked through the battlefield sorting the wounded from the dead.”

“A celebration of 20th century music,” Lodi News-Sentinel, April 25, 1991

An epinicion is “a song of triumph; a poem in celebration of a victory; especially, in ancient Greece, a poem in honor of a victory in an athletic contest, as at the Olympic, Pythian, Nemean, or Isthmian games.” Epinicion, also spelled epinikion, contains the Greek nike, “victory.” Nike refers to both a sneaker brand and “a type of U.S. defensive surface-to-air missiles.”

halma

“The ‘dolichos,’ or javelin-throwing, was added in 716; and as early as 708 B.C. with ‘pale’ (wrestling), ‘halma‘ (broad jump) and ‘disks’ (quoit), the ‘pentathlon,’ or ‘five events’ became complete.”

“Olympic Games, Old and New,” Albany Review, April-September, 1908

The halma, which translates from the Greek as “jump,” is “the long jump, with weights in the hands.” Halma is also “a game for two persons, played on a special board of 256 squares with 19 men apiece, the object of each player being to drive out his opponent’s men from their position and to replace them with his own.”

P1040016

A game of halma

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by dorineruter]

hederate

“No doubt the classic allusions to the laurel Apollo, the wig of Bacchus, and the rose of Venus, point to the three classes of poetry, Epic, Anacreontic, and Erotic; but is it known that the kings in that day ranked their poets thus, or one poet to pass through the subordinate steps before he won the laurel crown? I certainly never heard of Poets Hederate or Poets Roseate before, and should be much obliged by any relative to such appellations.”

Notes and Queries, July-December 1860

Hederate means “to adorn or crown with ivy, as a victor in the Olympian games.” The word comes from the Latin hedera, a type of ivy, which is related to the Greek khandanein, “to hold, contain.” Hederaceous means “pertaining to, resembling, composed of, or producing ivy.”

hellanodic

“Near the foot of the throne is a table, at which the scribe appears writing in the Olympic records of noble deeds the name, family, and country of the conqueror; near this table a victor in the foot-race, having already received a branch of palm, which he holds in his hand, crowned by an inferior Hellanodic; next him is a footracer who ran armed with a helmet spear and shield.”

The Penny Magazine, March 24, 1838

A hellanodic is “in Greek antiquity, one of the judges at the Olympic games, who awarded the prizes.” Hellanodic comes from the Greek Hellen, “Greek,”and dike, “judgment, justice, usage, custom.”

lampadedromy

“Herodotus compares this method to the Athenian lampadedromy, or torch race, a relay race in which the contestant who arrived first at the goal with his torch still burning won the prize for his side.”

“The Odd Measure,” Munsey’s Magazine, June 1918

A lampadedromy is “a torch-race,” in which “each contestant carried a lighted torch, and the prize was won by him who first reached the goal with his torch unextinguished.” The word comes from the Greek lampein, “to shine” (which also gives us lamp and lantern) and dromos, “a running.” Dromos also gives us syndrome, literally “running together”; palindrome, literally “running back again”; and dromedary, which comes from the Greek dromas kamelos, “running camel.”

Olympics

“It is understood the IOC was initially reluctant to allow the government the use of the word Olympics, which is protected by myriad copyright legislation, but agreed because the British Olympic Association (BOA) was to be the lead authority in co-ordinating and bringing together established well run competitions and adding to those to form regional and national Games.”

Jacquelin Magnay, “IOC gets caught in middle of ‘School Olympics’ dispute,” The Telegraph, December 19, 2010

The Olympics is short for the Olympic Games. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, Olympic came into English during the 16th century and referred to Olympos, a “town or district in Elis in ancient Greece, where athletic contests in honor of Olympian Zeus were held 776 B.C.E. and every four years thereafter.” This is “not the same place as Mount Olympus, abode of the gods, which was in Thessaly.” The ancient Olympic Games were part of the Panhellenic Games, “four separate sports festivals held in ancient Greece.” The modern Olympics were a revival that began in 1896.

An Olympiad is “an interval of four years between celebrations of the Olympic Games, by which the ancient Greeks reckoned dates.”

pankration

“Wrestling, boxing, and the pankration, a combination of the two, were known as ‘heavy’ events because, without weight classes or time limits, bigger athletes dominated. In the pankration, punching, kicking, choking, finger breaking, and blows to the genitals were allowed; only biting and eye gouging were prohibited.”

Donald G. Kyle, “Winning at Olympia,” Archaeology, July/August 1996

Pankration is “an Ancient Greek martial art combining aspects of boxing and wrestling, introduced in the Greek Olympic games in 648 BC.” Pankration comes from the Greek pan, “all,” plus kratos, “strength,” and may be a precursor to mixed martial arts.

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Word Soup Wednesday

While the television show The Soup brings you “the strange, obscure and totally unbelievable moments in pop culture, celebrity news and reality TV,” Word Soup brings you those strange, obscure, unbelievable (and sometimes NSFW) words from talk shows, sitcoms, dramas, and just about anything else on TV.

blind trust

Mitt Romney [on July 13, 2012]: “In order to make sure that I didn’t have a conflict of interest while I was governor, or while I was considering a run for national office, I had a blind trust established.”

Jon Stewart: “So Romney’s money was in a blind trust. I guess that’s a pretty good excuse, unless a blind trust is just a ruse.”

Mitt Romney [on October 18, 1994]: “The blind trust is an age-old ruse, if you will. Which is to say you can always tell the blind trust what it can and cannot do. You give a blind trust rules.”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, July 16, 2012

A blind trust is “a financial arrangement in which a person, such as a high-ranking elected official, avoids possible conflict of interest by relegating his or her financial affairs to a fiduciary who has sole discretion as to their management.”

blunderbuss

Joseph Gordon-Levitt [regarding a movie still of him holding two guns]: “That’s what they call a blunderbuss, and that’s what they call a gat. They’re for two different types of assassins in the world of Looper.”

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, July 16, 2012

A blunderbuss is “a short gun or firearm with a large bore and funnel-shaped muzzle, capable of holding a number of balls or slugs, and intended to be used at a limited range without exact aim.” Blunderbuss is an alteration of the Dutch donderbus, which translates as “thunder (donder) gun (bus).” Gat is short for Gatling gun, named for its inventor, Richard Jordan Gatling.

exolinguistics

Leela: “The unlikely lovebirds met at Brown University. She, a brilliant exolinguistics major, he, a laid-back sewer surfer who didn’t even know the meaning of exolinguistics.”
Morris: “I still have no idea!”
Munda: “I’ve been telling you for 40 years! It’s the study of alien languages! Why can’t you listen?”

“Zapp Dingbat,” Futurama, July 11, 2012

Exo comes from the Greek prefix meaning “outside.” Exolinguistics is also known as xenolinguistics or astrolinguistics.

Fast and Furious

News announcer: “President Obama today for the first time exerted executive privilege to shield justice department documents with what’s become known as the Fast and Furious scandal.”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, June 26, 2012

Fast and Furious refers to Operation Fast and Furious, one of the “gunwalking” sting operations run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives between 2006 and 2011. The operations were “done under the umbrella of Project Gunrunner, a project intended to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico by interdicting straw purchasers and gun traffickers within the United States.” Operation Fast and Furious was named after the “successful film franchise, because some of the suspects under investigation operated out of an auto repair store and street raced.”

Executive privilege is “the principle that members of the executive branch of government cannot legally be forced to disclose their confidential communications when such disclosure would adversely affect the operations or procedures of the executive branch.”

live tease

Anderson Cooper: “A reporter in Michigan was doing what we in the television biz call a live tease. That’s right, we have our own lingo. You can ask Wolf Blitzer about it.”

The Ridiculist, Anderson Cooper 360, July 9, 2012

A tease in this context is “a preliminary remark or act intended to whet the curiosity.” A live tease is a tease that is broadcast live. The live tease Cooper is referring to is one which a cat jumped on the reporter’s shoulders during the broadcast.

media elite

Will: “Who are we to make these decisions? We’re the media elite.”

“The 112th Congress,” The Newsroom, July 8, 2012

The media elite, or elite media, refers to “newspapers, radio stations, TV channels and other media that influence the political agenda of other mass media.” According to Geoffrey Nunberg, “Spiro Agnew first put the phrase ‘media elite’ into wide circulation and joined it with descriptions like ‘effete snobs,’ which evoked the social meaning of the word.”

Mexiknish

Jon Stewart: “Note to self: A Jewish potato treat with the flavor of the southwest. I call it the Mexiknish.”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, June 25, 2012

Mexikinish, a blend of Mexican and knish, also means “somewhat Mexican,” and plays on Romney’s claim that his father’s being born in Mexico ties him to the Latino community.

presponse

Stephen Colbert: “Of course we conservatives are confident that the court majority will rule in our favor. How confident? Richard Mourdock, Indiana GOP Senate candidate and dark lord of the withered heath, pretaped his reaction to the eventual ruling last Thursday and accidentally posted his presponse on YouTube.”

The Colbert Report, June 25, 2012

Presponse is a blend of pre, the prefix for “before,” and response.

s-bomb

Mayor Bloomberg: “Who wrote this shit?”
Anderson Cooper: “One can assume the mayor knew his mike was hot when he dropped the s-bomb. Is s-bomb even a word? It is now.”

The Ridiculist, Anderson Cooper 360, July 9, 2012

S-bomb is a play on f-bomb, a euphemism for the expletive, fuck. F-bomb seems to have originated in the late 1980s, according to Jesse Sheidlower’s The F-Word.

study drug

News announcer: “High school kids face a lot of pressure in getting into college, but it turns out an increasing number of students are abusing prescription drugs Adderall and Ritalin to help them pass their tests. They call them study drugs. They say the drugs give students a boost of energy and increase their attention span.”

Stephen Colbert: “Yes, study drugs, a sure-fire way to improve your grades if you are too lazy to sleep with your teacher.”

The Colbert Report, June 25, 2012

Study drugs refer to “drugs, particularly prescription drugs, used to increase concentration and stamina.”

takedown piece

Will: “What did she do?”
Nina: “Nothing, it’s just a takedown piece.”
Will: “A what?”
Nina: “A takedown piece. I’m going to take her down.”
Will: “Why?”
Nina: “Because that’s what you do in a takedown piece, genius.”

“I’ll Try to Fix You,” The Newsroom, July 15, 2012

A takedown is “the act of humiliating a person.” Thus, a takedown piece is an article or other piece of writing that humiliates someone and damages their reputation.

That’s it for this week! Remember, if you see any Word Soup-worthy words, let us know on Twitter with the hashtag #wordsoup. Your word and Twitter handle might appear right here!