The Q23 Word of the Day

Everything else
522

chitlin circuit

-dictionary.com:

noun Informal

a group of clubs and theaters featuring black performers and intended to appeal to black people.

-American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:

chitlin circuit or chitlin’ circuit

n. Informal A circuit of nightclubs and theaters that feature African-American performers and cater especially to African-American audiences: “I was traveling up and down…with these little groups on what they call the chitlin circuit” (Carter Jefferson)

-Wikipedia:

The “Chitlin’ Circuit” was the collective name given to the string of performance venues throughout the eastern and southern United States that were safe and acceptable for African American musicians, comedians, and other entertainers to perform at during the age of racial segregation in the United States (from at least the late 1800s through the 1960s). The name derives from the soul food item chitterlings (stewed pig intestines) and is also a play on the term “Borscht Belt” which referred to a group of venues (primarily in New York’s Catskill Mountains) popular with Jewish comedians in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.

Contemporary Use:

Ebony magazine prefers the term “urban theater circuit” for recent work like that of playwright and actor Taylor Perry. In a January 2004 interview with Perry, the genre’s leading practitioner, Ebony wrote that his work marked…

"a new chapter in the urban theater circuit as a whole—a genre that has been dogged by criticism from some Blacks in the traditional theater. Perry, as the most visibly recognized player in the circuit, has felt the brunt of this criticism.
"'They say that Tyler Perry has set the Black race back some 500 years with these types of "[b]chitlin' circuit[/b]" shows. The problem with the naysayers is that they don't take the opportunity to see my shows,' Perry argues. 'With my shows, I try to build a bridge that marries what's deemed "legitimate theater" and so-called "[b]chitlin' circuit[/b] theater," and I think I've done pretty well with that, in bringing people in to enjoy a more elevated level of theater.'"

-No Wordcount Ranking

-Quote from This Day:

[pn: Today was one of those days on Q23. Just a great day for words. So much to choose from. I love this place. Thanks.]

-xtien

523

elegiac

-dictionary.com:

adjective Also, elegiacal

  1. used in, suitable for, or resembling an elegy.
  2. expressing sorrow or lamentation; elegiac strains
  3. Classical Prosody. noting a distich or couplet the first line of which is a dactylic hexameter and the second a pentameter, or a verse differing from the hexameter by suppression of the arsis or metrically unaccented part of the third and sixth foot.

noun

  1. an elegiac or distich verse.
  2. a poem in such distichs and verses.

-American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:

  1. Of, relating to, or involving elegy or mourning or expressing sorrow for that which is irrecoverably past: an elegiac lament for youthful ideals.
  2. Of or composed in elegiac components.

-YourDictionary.com:

adjective

  1. GR. & LATIN PROSODY of or composed in dactylic-hexameter couplets, the second line (sometimes called a pentameter) having only an accented syllable in the third and sixth feet: the form was used for elegies and various other lyric poems.
  2. Of, like, or fit for an elegy.
  3. sad; mournful; plaintive

noun

  1. an elegiac couplet
  2. a series of such couplets; poem or poems written in such couplets.

-Wordcraft Dictionary

wistfully mournful for something past and gone. [elegy- a funeral poem; a poem of lamentation]

-Merriam-Webster’s Online Thesaurus:

Text: causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer <the sight of an old ruined church or castle can be a pleasantly elegiac experience> -see GLOOMY

-Thesaurus.com:

doleful, funereal, melancholy, mournful, sad, sorrowful, threnodial

[pn: threnodial is new to me. I like that word.]

-Wordcount Ranking: 40975 (between hepatocyte and bandied)

-Quote from This Day:

-xtien

524
  1. Classical Prosody. noting a distich or couplet the first line of which is a dactylic hexameter and the second a pentameter, or a verse differing from the hexameter by suppression of the arsis or metrically unaccented part of the third and sixth foot.

eh what?

525

Xtien is previewing the words of the day for the next three weeks.

526

Although the definition doesn’t say what kind of pentameter it’s talking about (especially confusing with iambic pentameter being the default pentameter in English), it reads something like: a two line stanza composed of 1. a line composed of 6 units of unstressed, stressed, stressed syllables. 2. a line composed of 5 units of unstressed, stressed, stressed syllables. The effect is that the first line of the couplet is metrically larger and leads to the second line being more subdued, elegiac even.

I have no idea what arsis means.

527

-xtien

528

I’m someone now!

529

pudenda

-dictionary.com:

pudendum

noun, plural -da [duh]. Usually, pudenda. Anatomy.

the external genital organs, esp. those of the female; vulva.

-The Online Plain Text Dictionary:

(n.pl.) The external organs of generation.

-Wiktionary.com:

-plural form of pudendum

  1. (usually in the plural) A person’s external genitalia.
  2. (figuratively) The shameful parts of something.

-Webster’s 1828:

The parts of generation.

-Online Etymology Dictionary:

1398, from L. pudendum (pl. pudenda), lit. “something to be ashamed of,” neut. gerundive of pudere “make ashamed”, of unknown origin.

[pn: Weirdly, when you type this word into the Online Etymology Dictionary, a bunch of other terms show up. I got a little freaked out and uncomfortable, but nonetheless I shall include them because I also found them fascinating, as far as etymology is concerned.]

wife
O.E. wif “woman,” from P.Gmc. *wiban (cf. O.S., O.Fris. wif, O.N. vif, Dan., Swed. viv, M.Du., Du. wijf, O.H.G. wib, Ger. Weib), of uncertain origin. Some proposed PIE roots include *weip- “to twist, turn, wrap,” perhaps with sense of “veiled person” (see vibrate); or *ghwibh-, a proposed root meaning “shame,” also “pudenda,” but the only examples of it are wife and Tocharian (a lost IE language of central Asia) kwipe, kip “female pudenda.” The modern sense of “female spouse” began as a specialized sense in O.E.; the general sense of “woman” is preserved in midwife, old wives’ tale, etc. M.E. sense of “mistress of a household” survives in housewife; and later restricted sense of “tradeswoman of humble rank” in fishwife. Du. wijf now means, in slang, “girl, babe,” having softened somewhat from earlier sense of “bitch.” Wife-swapping is attested from 1959.

…and…

merkin
“female pudenda”, 1535, apparently a variant of malkin (q.v.) in its sense of “mop.” Meaning "artificial vagina or ‘counterfeit hair for a woman’s privy parts’ " is attested from 1617. According to “The Oxford Companion to the Body,” the custom of wearing merkins dates from c.1450, was associated with prostitutes, and was to disguise either pubic hair shaved off to exterminate body lice or evidence of venereal disease.

[pn: Malkin! What? Not to go all P&R here, but what? Sorry. I’ll leave it at that. Also, there were others. You can go look those up yourself.]

-No Wordcount Ranking.

-Quote from This Day:

-xtien

530

This is the most educational thread on this forum … by far!

531

squee

-Urban Dictionary:

  1. A noise primarily made by an over-excited fangirl, however it has spread rapidly and is now widely spread among the web community.

[pn: God I hate the Urban Dictionary.]

(1) A character in two comic books by Jhonen Vasquez, “Jhonny the Homicial Maniac” and “Squee!” Squee’s real name is Todd Casil. He earned his nickname by the squealing sound he makes whenever he is frightened.
(2) A squealing sound. Can be either happy or scared. (In Squee’s case, it’s scared.)
(3) A creature in a game called Myst III.

  1. The cry of the rabid fangirl (Usually a rabid anime fangirl), heard across many hallways.

(1) A random ecstatic exclamation.
(2) a furry rodent from Myst III: Exile.

  1. A sound of fright or joy. Commonly used with the following face: ^______^; size changes, depending how loud the joyful squee is.

  2. verb: To squeal with glee; from a combination of the two words; the sound of an excited fangirl.

noun: A feeling of excitement and happiness, such that one feels like squeeing.

-Wikipedia.com (disambiguation page):

[ul]
[li]Squee, a character in Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
[/li][li]Squee Allen, ice hockey player.
[/li][li]Squee, an animal seen in the computer game Myst III: Exile.
[/li][li]Squee, the death rattle of a robot in the “Magnus: Robot Fighter” Comic.
[/li][li]Squee, a term to express cute overload.
[/li][li]Squee, a character in the “Magic: The Gathering” card game.
[/li][/ul]

-Television Tropes & Idioms:

The sound made by excited fangirls. Especially shippers when their shipping pays off, or is promised to pay off, more or less anyway. May be followed up, when written, by: dies.

Can describe the supposed reaction of a certain subset of fandom to any real or implied erotic content (Slash Fic, some Fan Art, Ho Yay) regarding the character of their affections.

Usage:

Fanartist: Here’s my latest work, a picture of Sirius Black in bondage gear.
Fangirl: Squee!

Can also be used to describe any content intended to evoke such a reaction. In Japanese, “Squee!” often translates to “Kyaa!”.

Most likely a mutation of or derivation from “squeal”. Possibly a Portmanteau of “squeal” and “glee”. Any resemblance to Squick is purely coincidental. Although it is important to note that one person’s Squee can be another person’s Squick.

-No Wordcount Ranking.

-Quote from This Day:

-xtien

532

In Japanese, “Squee!” often translates to “Kyaa!”.

Kyaa! is what my big brother used to say as he hit me in the neck with the side of his hand.

533

Your description wouldn’t be so cumbersome if Amanpour would just do side suto already.

534

I tried that once, but seeing the first result on The Google made me realize the post was just going to go Ouroboros fairly quickly. The possibility of perfection scared me off, so I bailed.

-xtien

“…and that’s me.”

535

I think you have to holler something different for a side suto attack.

536

I bet Machfive could tell us! Man, I still crack up reading that thread.

537

Fuck yeah.

538

Okay, now people are just posting rare words to get in this thread. Although I have to admit “squee” cracked me up, I confused it with something else until I read the definition. And it doesn’t mean anything close to what I thought it meant.

539

apocryphally

-dictionary.com:

adjective

  1. of doubtful authorship or authenticity.
  2. Ecclesiastical
    (a) initial capital letter of or pertaining to the Apocrypha.
    (b) of doubtful sanction; uncanonical.
  3. false; spurious: He told an apocryphal story about the sword, but the truth was later revealed.

Related Forms:
apocryphally, adverb
apocryphalness, noun

-The Online Plain Text Dictionary:

-I[/I] In an apocryphal manner; mythically; not indisputably.

-Webster’s 1828:

adv. Uncertainly; not indisputably.

-Compact Oxford English Dictionary:

adjective: 1. widely circulated but unlikely to be true: an apocryphal story. 2. of or belonging to the Apocrypha.

-American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:

  1. Of questionable authorship or authenticity.
  2. Erroneous; fictitious: “Wildly apocryphal rumors about starvation in Petrograd . . . raced through Russia’s trenches” (W. Bruce Lincoln).

-V2 Vocabulary Building Dictionary:

adjective

  1. often considered to be true, but probably false, and of questionable authenticity.
  2. having to do with the Apocrypha, disputed religious writings.

Synonyms: spurious, questionable, dubious, false, unauthenticated, counterfeit, doubtful.

Antonyms: true, accurate, correct.

TIPS: The Apocrypha is a section of the Old Testament which is of dubious origin, and thus, excluded from most versions of the Bible. In everyday conversation, apocryphal refers to something that is probably not true but is widely believed. In literature, apocrypha refers to works that purport to have been created by somebody other than the author, usually someone famous.

-Online Etymology Dictionary:

Typing apocryphally into the search box leads to this entry.

-No Wordcount Ranking [apocryphal = 31949 (between bachelors and udr)].

[pn: Udr?]

-Quote from This Day:

-Quotes from Other Days [aka, one of those Very Special Moments in WotD]:

-xtien

540

Apocryphally, I have a tendency to start posts in the exact same manner…apparently.

541

ascetic

-dictionary.com:

noun

  1. a person who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices extreme self-denial or self-mortification for religious reasons.
  2. a person who leads an austerely simple life, esp. one who abstains from the normal pleasures of life or denies himself or herself material satisfaction.
  3. (in the early Christian church) a monk; hermit.

adjective also ascetical

  1. pertaining to asceticism.
  2. rigorously abstinent; austere; an ascetic existence.
  3. exceedingly strict or severe in religious exercises or self-mortification.

Synonyms

  1. anchorite; recluse; cenobite. 5. strict, frugal, plain. 6. fanatic.

Antonyms

  1. self-indulgent

-YourDictionary.com

adjective

of or characteristic of ascetics or asceticism; self-denying; austere

noun

  1. a person who leads a life of contemplation and rigorous self-denial for religious purposes.
  2. anyone who lives with strict self-discipline and without the usual pleasure and comforts.

-Online Plain Text Dictionary:

I[/I] Extremely rigid in self-denial and devotions; austere; severe.
I[/I] In the early church, one who devoted himself to a solitary and contemplative life, characterized by devotion, extreme self-denial, and self-mortification; a hermit; a recluse; hence, one who practices extreme rigor and self-denial in religious things.

-Webster’s 1828:

a. [Gr. exercised, hardened; from to exercise.

Retired from the world; rigid; severe; austere; employed in devotions and mortifications.

n.

  1. One who retires from the customary business of life, and devotes himself to the duties of piety and devotion; a hermit; a recluse.

  2. The title of certain books, on devout exercises; as the ascetics of St. Basil.

-Online Etymology Dictionary:

1646, from Gk. asketikos “rigorously self-disciplined”, from asketes “monk, hermit”, from askein “to exercise, train”, originally “to train for athletic competition, practice gymnastics, exercise.” The noun meaning “one of the early Christians who retired to the desert to live solitary lives of meditation and prayer” is from 1673. Asceticism is recorded from 1646; sometimes also ascetism (c.1850).

-Wordcount Ranking: 29508

-Quote from This Day:

-xtien