chook
I'm sorry for the hiatus. One of those things where the longer I went without posting here, the more uncertain I got about the whole enterprise. I have some ideas...
Archive for New-to-me Words
haltere
The halteres are a pair of organs in a fly that "function as sensory flight stabilizers." (To quote from MW10.) Now that I write that, I have a vague idea...
statite
According to Wikipedia, a statite is a hypothetical type of artificial satellite that employs a solar sail to continuously modify its orbit in ways that gravity alone would not allow....
craton
A "craton" is a part of the Earth's crust that's particularly old and stable. They're apparently often found at the heart of a continent or ocean. I don't know that...
tiktaalik
Scientific American reports on a new fossil that bridges the gap between fish and four-limbed land creatures. It's thought to have lived primarily in shallow streams. The creature has been...
Taoiseach
According to Wikipedia, the Taoiseach (pronounced something like /ti Sax/) is "the head of government of the Republic of Ireland and the leader of the Irish cabinet." Basically the Prime...
pogonip
There's a park area in Santa Cruz called Pogonip, but it turns out the word itself refers to "a dense winter fog containing ice particles," making it another in a...
rusk
A rusk is hard crisp bread, possibly sliced. Encountered in a submitted story....
spoddy
According to The Free Dictionary, "spod" is British slang for someone "who spends an inordinate amount of time exchanging remarks in computer chatrooms or participating in discussions in newsgroups or...
double-dome
A "double-dome" is an intellectual. I encountered the term in the first episode of Rocky & Bullwinkle, from 1959 or 1960, but it dates back to 1938. I can see...