Word Of The Day

[Hunny]

Vocabulary Word of The Day!

Come here to see or to post a good
vocabulary word for us to know.

[Hunny]

foible

1. A strange habit unique to you. A minor eccentricity in someone's character. An idiosyncrasy.

2. A minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect: an all-too-human foible.

3.The weaker part of a sword blade, between the middle and the point (opposed to forte).

EXAMPLE:
1-Hunny has many foibles, including that , when shopping, she never
takes the item from the front of the shelf, calling that one "the display model".

2-Irascibility was his sole foible ; for in fact the obstinacy of which men
accused him was anything but his foible , since he justly considered it his forte.
-- Edgar Allan Poe, "X-ing a Paragrab", Poetry and Tales

ORIGIN:
Related to the word feeble , foible is derived from the Latin word flēbilis which meant "lamentable."

[Hunny]

Types of STUPID

Read this to know just the right way to say "stupid".

First let's understand that, of all the words that mean it, "stupid" itself is one of the least insulting. In many instances one can recover from being stupid. For instance stupidity brought on by exhaustion or by lack of knowledge - these conditions can be remedied.

stu·pid
1.lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; dull
2.characterized by or proceeding from mental dullness; foolish; senseless: a stupid question.
3.tediously dull, especially due to lack of meaning or sense; inane; pointless: a stupid party.
4.annoying or irritating; troublesome: Turn off that stupid radio.
5.in a state of stupor; stupefied: stupid from fatigue.


There's Three Stooges type of stupidity...

birdbrain, blockhead, chucklehead, dunderhead, mallethead, dimwit, dope, dumbbell, numbskull, nitwit, pinhead, ninny


There are words that mean one is both stupid and clumsy...

oaf, clod, clot, dork, goon, lout, lubber, lummox, lump, stumblebum


Words that denote emptiness of the head...

bimbo, airhead, bubblehead, bonehead, blockhead, brainless, vacuous, boob


words that look down...

dolt, dullard, simpleton, obtuse, stolid, bovine, witless, jerky, asinine, vapid


Words that deride...

dumbass, dipshit, twit, cretin, stupe


Words that denote retardation...

idiot, moron, imbecile, halfwit, dummy, lamebrained, dunce, dense, dim, dull, thick, slow





_______________________________________________________________________________

* 'Idiot', 'moron' and 'imbecile' are terms from a former discarded classification of mental retardation. It went:

IDIOT ------ 25 IQ (mental age of 3)
IMBECILE - 25 to 49 IQ (mental age of 7 or 8 )
MORON ---- 50 to 69 IQ (70 IQ is the threshold)

(these terms were changed to "mild, moderate and severe"

2.2% of people are mentally retarded. In the US, that amounts to 6.5 million,
200,000 of whom are institutionalized, the rest are everywhere you go.

Explains a lot, doesn't it?

[Deleted]

Dear me, Hunny, how very un PC that sounds!


They are all learning disabled. Well, unless someone has changed it since the last time I looked.

[Hunny]

Jul 10, 2012 7:30:22 GMT @skylark said:

Dear me, Hunny, how very un PC that sounds!


They are all learning disabled. Well, unless someone has changed it since the last time I looked.

Well, I object to the "political correctness" nonsense that happened in the 90's. There's no actual need to say "African American", for example. "Black" we were told was beautiful in the decades before. Nothing had changed. Likewise the term "vertically challenged" is a word people won't use (for "short"). The PC movement was nothing more than some grad students who figured they could use the press to make a whole society do as they bid, and while that might have been an exciting little power trip for them, I object, object, object to the notion that we're to parrot words, and dutifully mimic feelings as if they're our own, simply because they said to do so. Their whole intent was to "correct" us. And who were "they"? Again, just a small handful of over-privileged students in a room.

I regret that while so many had the reaction I did to political correctness that it supported a whole spate of television shows designed to say how stupid it all was...while there was that much rejection of it, still it became a thing that all these years later still sucks to hear repeated and have to explain against.

I researched WHY the term "mental retardation" is allegedly bad to use, and the reasons were nonsensical.

And I wont just do what the crowd is doing. I'm not after all a lemming or an otter!

No, that term is fine.

As for pointing out that there are 6.2 million mentally retarded Americans, well, it's just a fact, and rather a surprising one at that.



Perhaps the worst shame here is I simply set out to list synonyms of the word "stupid", which was actually funny.

It's only at the end that i spoke of a more serious issue: mental retardation.



I mean I also found out what "twitter" means (to taunt, tease, ridicule, etc., with reference to anything embarrassing; gibe at, jeer at, mock, insult, deride.) I thought that was interesting to discover they'd named and perhaps intended their site for that, but it was off topic.

You see I find a lot of things while in the dictionary.

But in the end, they're just words. It's the intent of the user that one might be concerned about, not a dictionary listing.

[Hunny]

Jul 10, 2012 7:30:22 GMT @skylark said:

Dear me, Hunny, how very un PC that sounds!


They are all learning disabled. Well, unless someone has changed it since the last time I looked.

I hope that answer didn't make it seem i was irritated; actually i welcome the opportunity to air out the reality of the PC monster.

I looked up your term "learning disabled", because I must admit I wondered if even that term might be un PC (surely, i thought, they dont like being referred to as DIS-abled. Isn't the PC phrase "differently abled"? (it's ok, it's all silly to me, but still...to be disabled is to be broken or defective in a way that keeps one from being able to work a job. "Disabled" people collect Social Security because they can't work. So why - I wondered- did we change the assigned medical term from one which indicates slowness to learn, to one that implies IN-ability? I really thought that would be un PC, because it's changing them from they CAN (just slowly)(or remedially), to they CAN'T!!

Well anyway, so I looked up the term "learning disability", and found this official definition:

The definition of "learning disability" just below comes from the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA is the federal law
that guides how schools provide special education and related services to
children with disabilities.

Our nation's special education law defines a specific learning disability as . . .

". . . a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved
in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest
itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do
mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities,
brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia."

However, learning disabilities do not include, "...learning problems that
are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental
retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or
economic disadvantage." 34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.7(c)(10)

Huh. Having read that, I'd like to jump a gear and take exception to the legal assessment that economic disadvantage is not a learning disability. Of course it is! How many lower middle class students will be attending Ivy League colleges this Fall?

But i digress..

So according to American law, "mental retardation" and "learning disability" are two different things.

______________

AFTER MORE READING...

Okay apparently Obama signed a law ("Rosa's Law") in 2010 changing the official term from "mental retardation" to "intellectual disability".

BUT WIKIPEDIA POINTS OUT:
"The terms used to describe this condition are subject to a process called the
euphemism treadmill. This means that whatever term is chosen for this
condition, it eventually becomes perceived as an insult. The terms mental
retardation and mentally retarded were invented in the middle of the 20th
century to replace the previous set of terms, which were deemed to have
become offensive. By the end of the 20th century, these terms themselves
have come to be widely seen as disparaging and politically incorrect and in
need of replacement. The term intellectual disability or intellectually
challenged is now preferred by most advocates in most English-speaking
countries. Clinically, however, mental retardation is a subtype of intellectual
disability, which is a broader concept and includes intellectual deficits that are
too mild to properly qualify as mental retardation..."

So I guess what's going on is we used to lump all different kinds of causes of mental inability into one easy term: "retarded", but treating these people requires more precision than that.

I looked up the causes of mental retardation - since it's still a thing, and differentiated from 'disabilities'- and it said that mental retardation is when the brain is developmentally flawed, before birth, or during early childhood.

The causes can be categorized as follows:

· Genetic conditions - These result from abnormality of genes inherited from
parents, errors when genes combine, or from other disorders of the genes
caused during pregnancy by infections, overexposure to x-rays and other
factors. Inborn errors of metabolism which may produce mental retardation,
such as PKU (phenylketonuria), fall in this category. Chromosomal
abnormalities have likewise been related to some forms of mental
retardation, such as Down syndrome and fragile X syndrome.

· Problems during pregnancy - Use of alcohol or drugs by the pregnant mother
can cause mental retardation. Malnutrition, rubella, glanular disorders and
diabetes, cytomegalovirus, and many other illneses of the mother during
pregnancy may result in a child being born with mental retardation. Physical
malformations of the brain and HIV infection originating in prenatal life may
also result in mental retardation.

· Problems at birth - Although any birth condition of unusual stress may injure
the infant’s brain, prematurity and low birth weight predict serious problems
more often than any other conditions.

· Problems after birth - Childhood diseases such as whooping cough, chicken
pox, measles, and Hib disease which may lead to meningitis and encephalitis
can damage the brain, as can accidents such as a blow to the head or near
drowning. Substances such as lead and mercury can cause irreparable
damage to the brain and nervous system.

· Poverty and cultural deprivation - Children in poor families may become
mentally retarded because of malnutrition, disease-producing conditions,
inadequate medical care and environmental health hazards. Also, children in
disadvantaged areas may be deprived of many common cultural and day-
to-day experiences provided to other youngsters. Research suggests that
such under-stimulation can result in irreversible damage and can serve as a
cause of mental retardation.

Hmm. Again, I wish to jump a gear and point out this kind of proves what I said of poverty causing mental disability.

And in conclusion, let me just say that PC sure makes life complicated! Look at all which is required to properly understand this. Are we really all obligated to get a full education on the matter?

Well, that's enough generalized babbling around looking for an understanding here! I yield back the floor... ;D

[Hunny]

petulant

Moved to or showing sudden, impatient irritation, especially
over some trifling annoyance: a petulant toss of the head.

Childishly sulky or bad-tempered

synonyms: testy - pettish - peevish - cantankerous

[Big Lin]

Jul 10, 2012 16:18:27 GMT Hunny said:

petulant

Moved to or showing sudden, impatient irritation, especially
over some trifling annoyance: a petulant toss of the head.

Childishly sulky or bad-tempered

synonyms: testy - pettish - peevish - cantankerous

Yes, I've come across a couple of people like that on message boards over the last couple of days!

[Hunny]

Jul 10, 2012 20:51:13 GMT Big Lin said:

Jul 10, 2012 16:18:27 GMT Hunny said:

petulant

Moved to or showing sudden, impatient irritation, especially
over some trifling annoyance: a petulant toss of the head.

Childishly sulky or bad-tempered

synonyms: testy - pettish - peevish - cantankerous

Yes, I've come across a couple of people like that on message boards over the last couple of days!

Aaw, yea, I read your Daily.
Well they can't come here at least

[Hunny]

invidious

1. incurring or tending to arouse resentment, unpopularity, etc: an invidious task

2. unfairly or offensively discriminating

3. calculated to create ill will or resentment or give offense; hateful: invidious remarks.

[Hunny]

venial

adjective

1. able to be forgiven or pardoned; not seriously wrong, as a sin ( opposed to mortal).

2. excusable; trifling; minor: a venial error; a venial offense.

[Hunny]

recalcitrant

1. Having an obstinately uncooperative attitude toward authority. A person with such an attitude.

2. hard to deal with, manage, or operate.

3. (medical) not responsive to treatment; severe recalcitrant psoriasis; recalcitrant warts

[Big Lin]

Jul 13, 2012 11:55:38 GMT Hunny said:

recalcitrant

1. Having an obstinately uncooperative attitude toward authority. A person with such an attitude.

2. hard to deal with, manage, or operate.

3. (medical) not responsive to treatment; severe recalcitrant psoriasis; recalcitrant warts

A lot of people on message boards think that pretty well sums me up!

[Hunny]

captious


1. marked by an often ill-natured inclination to stress faults and raise objections <captious critics>

-apt to notice and make much of trivial faults or defects; faultfinding; difficult to please.

2. designed to ensnare or perplex, especially in argument <captious questions>

Examples of CAPTIOUS:
<a captious and cranky eater who's never met a vegetable he didn't hate>

Synonyms: critical, carping, faultfinding, caviling, judgmental, overcritical, rejective

[Hunny]

eviscerate

1. to remove the entrails from; disembowel: to eviscerate a chicken.

2. to deprive of vital or essential parts: The censors eviscerated the book to make it inoffensive to the leaders of the party.

3. Surgery . to remove the contents of (a body organ).

[Deleted]

Jul 14, 2012 12:51:42 GMT Hunny said:

captious


1. marked by an often ill-natured inclination to stress faults and raise objections <captious critics>

-apt to notice and make much of trivial faults or defects; faultfinding; difficult to please.

2. designed to ensnare or perplex, especially in argument <captious questions>

Examples of CAPTIOUS:
<a captious and cranky eater who's never met a vegetable he didn't hate>

Synonyms: critical, carping, faultfinding, caviling, judgmental, overcritical, rejective

A good word. Message boards would be lost without them.

[Synonym]

Jul 14, 2012 12:51:42 GMT Hunny said:

Synonyms: critical, carping, faultfinding, caviling, judgmental, overcritical, rejective

No he isn't.

[Hunny]

Jul 15, 2012 19:58:24 GMT Synonym said:

Jul 14, 2012 12:51:42 GMT Hunny said:

Synonyms: critical, carping, faultfinding, caviling, judgmental, overcritical, rejective

No he isn't.

Oh lol. oops ;D

[Hunny]

numinous

1. Of or pertaining to a numen; supernatural.
2. Filled with or characterized by a sense of a supernatural presence.
3. Inspiring awe and reverence; spiritual.


"All Quests are concerned with some numinous Object, the Waters of Life, the Grail, buried treasure etc."
-- W. H. Auden, "Secular Hobbitism" review of The Fellowship of the Ring, by J. R. R. Tolkien, New York Times

"Our culture is not much concerned with the numinous, but in language we preserve many of the marks of a culture that is."
-- Richard Mitchell, Less Than Words Can Say

"My sense of the numinous is generally keenest upstate, in the fields and forest that surround my old schoolhouse."
-- Winifred Gallagher, Working on God

[Deleted]

I had to look up "numen" and I still don't understand it!

[Hunny]

Jul 16, 2012 19:39:36 GMT @skylark said:

I had to look up "numen" and I still don't understand it!

Wow, I see what you mean (just looked up "numen") Well, never mind that then,
'numinous' is an adjective describing the power or presence of a divinity.

So in the example, "My sense of the numinous is generally keenest upstate, in the fields and forest that surround my old schoolhouse." , he means he senses God there...or a connection to the universe, the conscious of it.

A numinous experience is a spiritual experience.

A numinous object (such as the Holy Grail) is an object said to have the power of God in it, or a connection to such power.

[Big Lin]

Wonder if Tolkien was playing on that meaning of the word when he created Numenor? (I think it was Tolkien; may have been C S Lewis or Charles Williams; I can't remember but I'm practically certain it was one of those three Inklings).

There's a lot about the numinous in Rudolf Otto's 'The Idea of the Holy' which is one of the most interesting religious books I've ever read!

[Hunny]

ennui

a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction : boredom

Examples of ENNUI

1. the kind of ennui that comes from having too much time on one's hands and too little will to find something productive to do
2. When the antiproton was discovered … it sent a wave of ennui through the physics community. Not that its discovery was unimportant, but on the basis of Dirac's theory, everybody expected it. —Roger G. Newton, The Truth of Science, 1997

Synonyms: blahs, doldrums, boredom, listlessness, restlessness, tedium, weariness

[Big Lin]

'I am enuii the eighth I am!'

The Germans call it 'weltschmerz' and it's a universal human feeling at least some of the time!

[alanseago]

Jul 17, 2012 15:36:45 GMT Big Lin said:

'I am enuii the eighth I am!'

The Germans call it 'weltschmerz' and it's a universal human feeling at least some of the time!

German for 'Miserable Welsh Git'.